We'll be releasing some new cigars at the Spark of Love Toy Drive / Tobacco Barn Christmas party. James is here to break it all down to you:   That's right, we'll be making available these great LIMITED AVAILABILITY cigars only at the Christmas Party this Thursday, December 17th. You'll be able to choose from: Padron Family Reserve No. 45 (Natural & Maduro). This Nicaraguan puro is made from tobaccos that have been aged at least a decade. The box-pressed "Little Hammer" is a strong cigar with the smoothness you associate with...

If you haven't head about our Spark of Love Toy Drive/Christmas Party, I'll let Richard and Adam tell you a little bit about it. Isn't that great? In addition to helping out those less fortunate during this holiday season, we'll be giving you in return a Rocky Patel cigar, hot dog (or chili dog) and a beer (or Mike's Hard Apple Cider or soda or coffee) when you attend the event. But keep your eyes peeled on your inbox because every day between now and the party, we'll be announcing a special promotion that is only...

From the No More Tobacco Taxes blog comes another rail against the hypocrisy and rampant smokerism that is being espoused by the New York City Council. And people say California is bad! Stop The Insanity New York! From the city that brought you the smoking ban in parks and other public places under the guise of protecting children from SEEING people smoking comes a new low in their erstwhile condemnation of the LEGAL smoking public. In late October, the NYC City Council voted to ban sale of ALL flavored tobacco...

Tickets to "A Night Out 3" event are on sale now but availability to this special event is limited so get your tickets NOW before they are all gone. This event will be held on the patio at Boosters Sports Grill in Mission Viejo, CA from 7pm until 10pm. For the minimal ticket price, not only will you get to mingle with other like-minded individuals, you'll get the following great items: 2 Don Pepin Cigars (chose from the Series JJ, Series JJ Maduro and the highly rated Blue Label) ...

Join us to Celebrate Fonseca Cigars Thursday, October 15th! From 3 until 7 Thursday, October 15th we'll be exploring the joys of Fonseca cigars with all of our customers. All Fonseca cigars are hand-made under the strict supervision of master cigar blender Manuel Quesada to ensure superior quality in every cigar, and are blended from the choicest tobaccos grown in the Cibao valley. Fonseca cigars are available in an outstanding Connecticut shade or a Connecticut Maduro wrapper, and in different sizes to ensure a perfect smoke for every occassion. We will be featuring a comprehensive...

The Tobacco Barn Cigar League rolls into it’s second night tonight with some changes to the rules and an even bigger pot! Since no one won the final-score prize last week, the prizes from last week have rolled over to this week. So, if you win tonight, you will win twice what you would have last week. And you have even more chances to win. How is that you ask? Well, that is as the result of some rule changes we’ve made to the league. We are now offering a prize package based on the half-time score. ...

Come join us on September 17th, from 3:00pm to 7:00pm, and enjoy some Punch cigars.  The original Punch cigar was created in 1840 by a Cuban cigar manufacturer named Manuel Lopez. Produced in Honduras for Villazon Company under the direction of a great Cuban cigar master, Frank Llaneza, Punch has been a leading premium brand ever since it was first imported from Honduras in 1969. General Cigar Company is the largest manufacturer and marketer of premium, imported, hand-made or hand-rolled cigars. Their name goes hand in hand with names like Bolivar, Cohiba, Excalibur, Hoyo De Monterrey,...

CNN ran a nice article about the demise of Hav-A-Tampa cigar company that was killed as a result of SCHIPs and moved off-shore to Puerto Rico. Ironically, children of the worker profiled in this story are now eligible for insurance under the program that put their father out of work in the first place. You can read the full story here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/worklife/08/26/mainstreet.tampa.cigars.jobs/index.html#cnnSTCText And if you know of any jobs to offer to these folks, you can check out the website at havatampaneedsjobs.com. ** Note that the embedded video has been removed since it was causing problems...

As usual, the Rocky Patel event was a highlight of the cigar circuit this year. Great Friends, great cigars and more! Join our member’s only club next time you are in the store so you too can learn about these great monthly events…

We recently received a copy of the following letter that NATO (National Association of Tobacco Outlets) has sent to New York City Council members about a proposed ban on flavored tobaccos. This is just another example of government trying to stamp out our fully-legal passion for the leaf under the guise of it being “for the children.” Don’t get me started on this justification… Anyway, please read this and pass along to any New Yorkers you know and have them speak up and stop the insanity! July 24, 2009 Proposed Flavored Cigarette...

Join us to Celebrate Rocky Patel Cigars Thursday, July 30th! From 3 until 7 Thursday, July 30th we'll be sharing the joys of Rocky Patel Cigars with all of our customs. Make sure you don't miss the most highly anticipated event of the year. Past Rocky Patel events have been the most well attended events that we have each year. We will be featuring a comprehensive lineup of Rocky Patel Cigars including the 90-rated Vintage 1990 and 1992, Edge and Edge Lite, Old World Reserve, 95-rated Decade, Sun Grown, Summer Collection, ITC 10th Anniversary and...

That’s right, we’ve got our first off-site event, what we hope will be the first of many to introduce our customers to some great smoker-friendly establishments in and around south and central Orange County. Our first event will be on Wednesday, March 25th from 7 until 10pm at Boosters Sports Grill in Mission Viejo. Your low-priced ticket to this event will get you the following: 2 free cigars from our friends at Perdomo Cigars A great dinner plate with 5 different sausages selected from Mad Mike’s Sausages ...

Yes, now you too have the opportunity to become one of the few, the proud, the fans of the Tobacco Barn on our newly launched FaceBook page. That’s right, the Tobacco Barn now has a presence one of the fastest growing and hottest social networking sites for adults. Yes, you must be at least 18 to become a fan but fans of all ages can come to this page and check out the latest pictures, comments, discussions and events all from the comfort of your own wall FaceBook. Our hope is that this will become a virtual extension...

The Tobacco Barn is proud to announce the arrival of Tobacconist’s Choice Pipe Tobacco Cigars from Battleground Cigars. We’ve searched high and low to find the best Pipe Tobacco Cigars and decided that these great sticks are perfect. These hand-made cigars are the brainchild of Michael Tarnowicz and are truly a family tradition. At any time you’ll find many members of the Tarnowicz clan working to turn out the best cigars from Connecticut shade and broad leaf tobaccos. But not just any Connecticut tobacco; their products are turned out from product certified to have been grown in...

Everyone who attended the Perdomo Cigar event at the Tobacco Barn really seemed to enjoy themselves. Special thanks to Chuck for being a gracious host and introducing the denizens of the Barn to some fantastic cigars from Perdomo including the value priced, single-farmed Lot 23 cigars, the fabulous Perdomo Habano cigars as well as the Perdomo 10th Anniversary cigars. Weren’t able to make the event? Here are some pictures and perhaps you’ll be able to make our next event. Keep an eye on your inbox for annoucements of our next event or in this space as we announce next...

Don’t let the popular press, and television in particular, fool you. This isn’t just about cigarette smokers and their “drain on the healthcare system”. It isn’t “about the children” as the sound bites might indicate. What it is about is the unfair taxation of a very small portion of the population (less than 10% by some estimates) to fund a program that affects ALL of the citizens of the US. The following is a press release from the National Association of Tobacco Outlets advising all responsible consumers of tobacco products to make their voices heard on this subject. It...

Please join us Thursday Evening, December 11th for our Perdomo Event We'll be rounding out the year with our favorite Perdomo rep to talk about the great Perdomo line of cigars. Lot 23 Cigars - PERDOMO LOT 23® is a medium to full flavored blend that offers a well-balanced, complex smoking experience. The dark Ecuadorian Connecticut-shade wrapper lends not only a stunning aesthetic appeal, but it adds an elegant creaminess which complements the robust Nicaraguan fillers. Perdomo Habano Cigars - Available in Corojo and Maduro, these cigars combine full-flavored tobaccos from...

Looking for that special gift for the cigar lover you know, or perhaps one to give to that killer client? Consider our custom label cigars. We just added a number of new samples in our Custom Labels Photo Gallery.  You’ll find examples of great gift ideas like Personal Labels, Military, Corporate or Special Events. Perhaps you’ll find something that spurs your imagination. Of course we also have examples of all the old stand-by’s: Birth Announcements, Wedding Bands, Bachelor Parties, Birthdays and Graduations. Here are some of my favorites   Don’t...

Ever wonder how they get those delicious looking barber pole stripes on the new America Cigar? Check out this video:

At the end of January, Camacho Cigars announced a release of their newly redesigned website. Some of the enhancements that they tout are: New Look and Feel with Interactive Flash front end New Press Room with news past and present on Camacho brand products New Events section with calendar subscription and RSS capabilities New VIP Section & Camacho Cigar Bar page (VIP accepting new members late March) New Comment & Contact options using WordPress driven Press Room Interactive 3-D Renderings of Cigar Boxes Interactive Homepage with a scrolling cigar feature Flash driven “Our Story” section Google powered Dealer...

Thomas Riley Marshall is probably best known for saying "What this county needs is a good 5 cent cigar" as a wise-acre comment to a colleague in the U.S. Senate when a long-winded senator paused his speech after "what this country needs...". We've come a long way since then in terms of quality and varieties of cigars available in the industry. Adjusting 5 cents for the GDP per capita, those 5 cents would be equivalent to about $3.00 today. And guess what, we've got some fantastic bundle cigars available at the Tobacco Barn that will fill that bill. These...

From a press release: Current SCHIP Program to be Extended to 2009 Veto Override Attempt of Current SCHIP Legislation Unlikely As you know, the President vetoed the current SCHIP legislation on December 12. The House leadership has scheduled a vote for January 23 to attempt to override that veto. It appears that the House will not be able to muster the 2/3 vote necessary to override the veto. Late last week there was talk regarding a short term extension of the current SCHIP program through March 31, 2008. However, on December 17, negotiators agreed to extend...

Save Even More During November Sale The Tobacco Barn is proud to announce that we have modified our cigar pricing structure to provide you, our favorite customers, with better pricing. In the past, our 10% box discount was applied on just that, box sales. The problem was that we had boxes of cigars that only had 5 cigars in them at one extreme to 100 cigars per box at the other extreme. As such, we've instituted a policy that cigar sales on the website where you purchase 20 or more of the same cigar will get you the "box discount"...

News from the IPCPR: Legislation Proposed Excessive Tax on Cigars October 18, 2007- Finally, this critical vote failed to pass the House of Representatives in a floor vote today. The final vote was 273-156, short of the necessary two-thirds majority (of present voting members) needed. We wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your perseverance, tenacity, vigilance, and persistence in contacting your U.S. congressmen and congresswomen, and your senators through phone calls, emails, faxes, and personal visits to their district and Capital Hill offices. Without your support and direct action we simply would not...

Looking for bullet points or help to craft a message to your local senator/congressman to UPHOLD the SCHIPs veto. Going to http://capwiz.com/rtda/issues/alert/?alertid=10386901 and inputting your zip code will not only give you a list of representatives near you, but it will also give you bullet points appropriate to how the legislator had previously voted. The time to act is now so don't wait. We think you'll find this tool from the IPCPR will assist you in knocking this down. SCHIP supporters are gearing up with a multi-million dollar TV campaign to get the uninformed electorate to pressure legislators who voted...

Well, smokers here in California successfully (but narrowly) avoided an overly onerous tax burden last fall but it appears that this tax has reared it's head at the federal level and we need ALL of you out there to hound your Senators and Representatives at the federal level to knock this one down. Current Tax Rate ...

Congratulations to our own Chad Meisinger for finishing his first ever marathon this weekend. 26.2 miles after starting the San Diego Rock And Roll Marathon he crossed the finish line at the MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot). High spirits at the 7.5 mile point Still going strong at hill (bridge) climb at 20 miles.

While updating pricing on some of our La Flor Dominicana cigars (yes, the online pricing has GONE DOWN for some of these great cigars in the Ligero and Double Ligero lines) , I stumbled on this great article on the La Flor Dominicana blog. It is titled The Power Train and it appears to be a reprint from Cigar Aficionado from February of 2002. The opener describes a scene that happens sometimes when smokers of milder cigars like the Macanudo or Davidoffs hop on that dragon... Rich was in trouble. A casual cigar smoker, he had only minutes before...

Our friends over at The Stogie Guys have a great blog post today about smoking bans hitting 007 and the notoriously smoky French. "In an interview with Parade Magazine, Daniel Craig, the current 007 and star of Casino Royale, expressed his frustration with the movie's producers for prohibiting Bond from smoking cigars in the film “in order not to send a bad message to young fans.” Noting the obvious hypocrisy, Craig quipped: "But here's the reality, I can blow off someone's head at close range and splatter blood, but I can't light a good Cuban." That is so...

Ok, so I know this isn't aviation related but thought I would post about it just to continue testing it. I d/led and installed a beta copy of Windows Live Writer and WOW! This is a blog editor from Microsoft that works with a number of sources (Live Spaces of cource but more importantly it supports the metaweblog API so I can use it to maintain this site. Some times using a dedicated client like this is easier than using the web-based admin interface. So far so good. If you want to check it out yourself, go here to...