Cali Trip, part 2: Escape from California

This is part 2 of my travelogue of my recent California trip. For part 1, click HERE.

They never knew…

Monday

After a simple McDonalds breakfast (free coffee!) I lit up a 262 Paradigm Corona in my rental vehicle and headed over to a local park to smoke it. I didn’t dare get out of the car and smoke it while sitting or walking in the park…that’s probably some kind of felony in some jurisdictions of the People’s Republic of California! Great cigar and should be available nationwide at this point, or very soon anyway. I thoroughly enjoy the Paradigm Lancero, but the Corona is in some ways even better, lacking the tight draw that often accompanies the Lancero format. From there I headed about a block away to the local Total Wine store to see what they might have in the way of whiskies I hadn’t seen before. I picked up two bottles of Bourbon I hadn’t previously encountered: Winchester and Johnny Drum. I’ve samples both at this point and they’re both pretty great…full reviews to come at a later date!

The raison d’être of my annual California trip is always scheduled for midday Monday. So around 11:00 a.m. I trundled myself on over to the Brea Civic Center and their Art Gallery where I was tasked with viewing about 100 paintings in person and comparing them to a printed proof so I could make color corrections in an effort to make the final print as close to real-life as possible. After a couple hours I was done and headed back to my in-laws house to work for a while. I picked up a Sirloin Cheeseburger from Jack in the Box on the way. I wouldn’t mention it except for the fact that it was hands-down the best burger I’ve had from JitB since the first couple times I had one of their Sirloin burgers when they were first added to the menu. Probably the best fast food burger around (when done just right), outside of In-n-Out’s amazing meat patties.

I worked for a while in Photoshop, then took a break for dinner, then headed over to Islands Cigar Lounge to watch Monday Night Football and enjoy a couple smokes and the company of Mr. Vernon Coleman. The MNF contest between the Seahawks and the Broncos was disappointing for any Peyton Manning fan, although he did show signs that he still had greatness in him during the final quarter. I smoked one of Islands’ house blends, which was a pretty decent Nicaraguan blend. Then with the game winding down we switched over to the epic rivalry of Dodgers vs. Giants, which didn’t go well for the boys in blue…but they beat Frisco the next two games, so all’s well that ends well. The Dodgers clinched the NL West pennant and will move on hoping to get to the World Series for the first time in 26 years.

Almost 6 years on this bad boy!

I also took the opportunity to fire up a cigar that had been waiting around for much too long. Years ago, I designated one of my humidors as an “aging humidor.” I just put sticks in and try to forget they’re there. Often I put labels on the cellophane so I can write the date they went in. In prepping for the trip, I found an Oliva Serie V Robusto that I put down in November 2008, just a couple months before I moved from California to Tennessee. I fired it up and it was splendid, showing that this particular blend is a great one for aging.

Tuesday

For my last day in Cali, I asked Keith for a breakfast suggestion, having tired of the usual fast-food fare. He recommended Kimmie’s Coffee Corner, which wasn’t far from where I was staying. Coffee was excellent (if you’re going to have “Coffee” as part of your name, it really should be) and the food was pretty much to-die-for. I had the sausage patty and eggs. You might say “patty?” but that’s really all it took as this hand-made sausage patty was bigger than most burger patties. Eggs were…well, egg-y…and the country potatoes were tasty. Throw a bunch of black pepper and Tabasco on all of the above and it ended up delicious. Keith warned me that their gravy wasn’t “great” but I remedied that by cutting chunks off the massive sausage patty and mixing that in with bites of biscuit and gravy. And that’s all I ate until dinner because it was big enough for two people, really.

The sausage patty almost ate the rest of my breakfast!

I did some more work during the day, but the main event was that evening at Tap’s Fishhouse and Brewery in Brea. I met up with Keith, Vernon, Thomas Kimber and Danny De La O for the famous Taps Happy Hour (lasting a full 3 hours, from 4 to 7). I imbedded one of their brewery-fresh Irish Reds and chowed down on a Happy Hour pizza covered with pepperoni, sliced Italian sausage, and sweet peppers, all while enjoying the pleasant early fall in Southern California (which most of the time is too hot to be all that pleasant, but this time it really was).

Broadleaf!

I started off the smoking with a Tatuaje Belle Encre Reserva, a stick we never got at Burns…I was able to score a couple the day before at Islands. I really can’t say too much about any of Tatuaje’s Broadleaf-wrapped Reservas…they are just outstanding.

Danny, Vern and Thomas

That was followed up with a Curivari Gloria de Leon, one of my favorite sticks from that company and then I had some other cigar that I just can’t remember at this point (I’m writing this 5 days later…and it’s been a busy week).

Fellow Cigar Correspondent

The conversation revolved around what we are all currently doing for work, how our local sports teams are doing, how our relationship are going…all-in-all very typical for this group and a very welcome time to catch up with old friends.

Mr. Vanderwerf correctly called out “Tatuaje” based on just this photo.

All too soon, though, it was over and it was time for me to head home.

Wednesday…the Escape

I won’t go into great detail on the cross-country trip. Suffice to say that I woke at 3:30 Pacific Time, hit the airport around 5:00, spent most of the day in the air, hit Atlanta around 4:00 Eastern and Chattanooga around 7:30. I had a short visit at Burns where I picked up a couple Tatuaje TAA 2014 sticks (Broadleaf!) then headed back to mi casa, where I arrived around 9:00.
All making for a very long day…wish there were a quicker way to deal with traveling all the way across the country.

I ended up spending Thursday, Friday and Saturday catching up with work and sitting by the lake trying to sell cigars to a fishing tournament (didn’t work…do competitive anglers not smoke cigars?). I got a box of Crowned Heads’ Tennessee Waltz (Broadleaf!) and they are fantastic. I enjoyed my new iPhone 6…which miraculously did NOT bend during the entire first week of ownership. Finally today (Sunday, the day before this missive will post) I was able to relax a bit and get back to my duties as a cigar blogger.

I seem to work more on my vacation weeks than I do when my “regular” job is in full effect. Anyway, it was great to spend time with family and friends, less great to spend many hours in cramped cylindrical tubes hurtling across this great land with a bunch of strangers. Smoke on, leaf enthusiasts! Go Dodgers!