A year ago, I did my annual business trip to California. Quite unexpectedly, and as a response to a friend’s hassling me about the number of Davidoff cigars I was burning down, I ended up burning one every day during the trip. Not too long after that the friend gave me the nickname “Davidoff Jones.” For this year’s trip, I decided to wear the name with honor and continue the new tradition of burning down a Davidoff every day.
At the same time, this “part business trip/part vacation” was destined to be more “vacation” then ever before. August and September were extraordinarily stressful months for me as I had my regular full-time work at Burns Tobacconist, in addition to facing and preparing for the changes that were coming when I started moving my time to ClearBox Strategies, then starting that new job while my “other other” job (Smokey Design Works, my freelance graphics company) had one of its busiest times of the year. Bottom line, I needed a vacation…some time away…a change of scene…a place to find my chill again.
I ended up with seven days actually in doing my California thing…I’m going to take them a couple at a time.
Saturday, September 28
This day actually started on Friday, the 27th, as I worked 12 hours at Burns…which was actually our “Opus X-Factor” event day…and the 2nd or 3rd highest sales day in store history. I was exhausted by the end of the day, but there’s no rest for the wicked, so I drove an hour home, packed, took a shower, and was ready to go again at 2:00 a.m. (eastern) to meet my 3:30 shuttle to Nashville Airport. I slept an hour or so on the shuttle and hit the airport for my 6:00 a.m. (central) flight and was able to sleep a couple more hours on the way to Phoenix. Switched planes and got to Orange County Airport around 10 a.m. (pacific).
My traditional “first stop” is In-n-Out and I did not waver. I piled on the protein with a 4×4, then fired up my first cigar of vacation immediately afterwards…a Davidoff Winston Churchill Petite Panatela.
I dropped off my stuff at my in-laws house—where I stayed for the week—took a little more time to rest—but not sleep—then headed to Danny’s house for evening cigars, drinks and dinner. It’s a good time to mention that Danny is co-owner of a catering company since the last time I was here. He cooked brisket, potato skins, and this amazing jalapeño-and-cream-cheese-stuffed-and-bacon-wrapped-chicken-thigh dish. It was all great…I went back for thirds of the chicken thighs. If you are anywhere in Southern California and have any catering needs, check out 2 Fat Kids Catering. You won’t be disappointed.
I smoked a gifted Don Arturo Destino al Siglo at Danny’s house, along with some Knob Creek Bourbon. Later I fired up a Davidoff Superior—from the Vault program—along with some more Knob Creek and a little Me So Honey Blonde Ale from Belching Beaver Brewery.
And I slept very, very well that night.
You can find 2 Fat Kids Catering on Facebook.
Sunday, September 29
I’ve been listening to Dodger games on MLB’s At-Bat app the last few months. They play a feed from KLAC, the local Los Angeles sports station. One of the commercials that kept coming on was for Black Bear Diner and it made the breakfast sound too good to ignore…so that’s where I went first thing on Sunday morning. The Bigfoot Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs did not disappoint, although it would have taken almost another of me to plow through the entire steak (I got about 3/4 of the way) and both enormous cat-head-sized biscuits (I ate about half of one). Feeling a little like I do after Thanksgiving dinner, I headed over to wait for Vernon…and fired up a Davidoff Aniversario Entreacto.
Due to mixed signals, Vern and I had to then backtrack a bit and pick up his brother, Ray, before starting our day trip. We started off the trip with 3 guys in a convertible smoking Opus X Angel’s Share cigars. On the one hand it was fantastic…on the other, I can’t really recommend smoking a cigar in a convertible flying 75 or 80 mph down the freeway. Ash and other debris tends to get in your eyes, even when you’re wearing sunglasses.
It was a beautiful, warm day as we headed down to San Diego County and a few places I wanted to visit down that way.
We had a late breakfast/early lunch at the Crack Shack in Encinitas. I can’t recommend this place highly enough. I wanted to try their actual fried chicken, but there were no small plates on the menu, so I had a spicy chicken sandwich with pickles and ranch on it. Fantastic…delicious, even. Their fries were seasoned to perfection and the whole thing was washed down with a nice Penny Blonde ale by Booze Brothers Brewing Company.
I’ve hit the Long Beach taproom of Ballast Point the last couple years when I’m in California. This year I wanted to go to the one down south…so the next stop was Ballast Point Miramar. I wasn’t aware that Miramar was also having an air show that weekend, so we were pleasantly surprised by low fly-overs in the parking lot.
Inside, BP Miramar was spectacular-looking with an enormous bar that had dozens of taps. There were fantastic seating options inside and out. We chose inside as we had done enough roasting in the sun on the drive down. I had a flight combining some favorites with some new items: Habanero Sculpin, Dead Ringer (Marzen…I’m trying as many Oktoberfest beers as I can), Mocha Marlin Porter, and a Red Wine Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout. We stayed an appropriate amount of time so that I could safely drive, then headed to Escondido.
I had already decided that I wanted to check out Lord Puffer cigars before I saw the store profiled in a recent issue of Tobacconist magazine. They’ve been in business about a year and a half. We got to meet Angela Yue, the co-owner, and she showed us around what they’ve done and what they are working on. The cigar selection was top-notch, with the whole store acting as a humidor. We watched part of a football game in the comfortable and fairly spacious members lounge, and she showed us the future “24-hour-access” members lounge, which will be a great feature for anyone living in the area. I had a Davidoff Maduro—a cigar long-discontinued—while hanging out with Scout, the shop dog.
From there we went a few miles toward the coast and hit Belching Beaver Brewing in Vista. BB also has a very nice taproom with a very family-friendly outdoor seating area that includes plenty of games. The indoor section had a cool fake-fire bar in the middle…it was just steam with orange lights and a fan underneath, but so hot-looking.
I had a light dinner of Andouille Sausage Corndog Pops and another flight of beer. This time I had the Phantom Bride IPA, 30 Seconds to Marzen, Mexican Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout, and Tastes Like Space Milk Stout.
After waiting an appropriate time again, we headed back to Orange County, fighting Sunday-evening traffic the entire way. Really, there’s no time to avoid traffic in Southern California…well, maybe at 2 in the morning, but not really any other time.
I slept really, really well again…the next day I had to do the work I came out here for.
You can visit Lord Puffer Tobacconist at 1315 Las Villas Way, Escondido, California. They are online at lordpuffercigars.com and you can find them on Facebook.
