We're Smokin...!

OK, so we all know how iffy the weather's been. Not even iffy -- downright dastardly! That's OK, because we're going ahead with the party on Saturday the 10th!

While there's supposed to be a chance of a little rain in the morning, it's forecast to be breezy and drier later in the afternoon. That' s all the encouragement I need.

See you all through the haze and fog -- natural and man-made!

Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer!

Grey Skies Have Turned Sunny!
It’s Time To Turn Them Back!

An Invitation To A Smokin’ Event

Vincenzo’s
4th Annual
Big Stinkin’
Cigar Party!

SATURDAY * JUNE 10, 2006 *
3 p.m.— 8 P.M.

Rain Date: Saturday, June 18

“If I had taken my doctor's advice and quit smoking when he advised me to, I wouldn't have lived to go to his funeral.”-- George Burns at age 98


Start the summer right. I’m going to be serving steaks, hamburgers, chicken, baked ham, corn, side salads, pasta, Italian sausage and peppers, some dessert and….well, it doesn’t really matter. No one’s going to be able to taste anything anyway. Except for the jambalaya – that’s some spicy jambalaya!

This is a cigar party, with big Robustos, a few Panatellas, a bunch of Churchills and a whole lot of blue haze. I’ll supply the stogies, but you’re welcome to bring your own brand, if you prefer. We’ll be on my outdoor patio and lawn, and the neighbors will be alerted so they won’t call the fire department.

You don’t have to smoke cigars to come. But if you do, you can’t complain. As a matter of fact, you have to tell the rest of us how debonair we are.

Along with the fine smokes, I’ll also have bottles of wine, some cognac, good whiskey and margaritas. I suppose we’ll also have soft drinks, but I won’t be having any of those. And for those athletically inclined, we’ve got hoops, both basketball and croquet. (One tip: it’s a lot easier to play croquet than basketball when you’ve got a cigar in your mouth.)

I’ve already got lots and lots of cigars. I do, however, need to know how much food to cook. So please RSVP to let me know you’re coming. And feel free to bring your spouse, your friends, your kids. We’ve got plenty for all.




DIRECTIONS TO VALVO HOUSE


Vincent & Linda Valvo
80 Mountain Terrace Road
West Hartford, CT 06107
(860) 561-1801
CELL: (860) 922-3441
vvalvo@comcast.net

From Route 84 going west, take exit 43 (West Hartford). Turn left onto Park Road and follow the road through five lights (the street changes names twice: to Sedgwick and then to Mountain Road). The fifth light is the intersection of Mountain Road and Farmington Avenue.

After the light, take the second left off Mountain onto High Farms Road. Follow High Farms to the NO OUTLET sign, where you will turn left onto Mountain Terrace Road. Bear right at the stop sign. Very shortly, the road will bear sharply to the left. Once you go around the curve, we are the first driveway on the left ‑‑ a red Dutch Colonial house at 80 Mountain Terrace Road. Because it is a shared driveway, please park on the side of the main road.


From Route 84 going east, take exit 39 (Route 4 Farmington). At the first light, turn right onto Route 4 (towards the UConn Health Center). Eventually, you will pass the West Hartford Reservoir on your left. The second light after the reservoir is the intersection of Farmington Ave. and Mountain Road (it is also the first light immediately after Stop & Shop). Turn left here onto Mountain Road.

Take the second left off Mountain onto High Farms Road. Follow High Farms to the NO OUTLET sign, where you will turn left onto Mountain Terrace Road. Bear right at the stop sign. Very shortly, the road will bear sharply to the left. Once you go around the curve, we are the first driveway on the left ‑‑ a red Dutch Colonial house at 80 Mountain Terrace Road. Because it is a shared driveway, please park on the side of the main road.


From Avon/Simsbury/West Hartford North: From Avon, take Route 44 to Mountain Road. Turn right onto Mountain Road. From Simsbury, take Route 185 to Mountain Road. Turn right onto Mountain Road. After the Fern Street intersection (First light from Avon, second light from Simsbury), take your second right onto High Farms Road. Follow High Farms to the NO OUTLET sign, where you will turn left onto Mountain Terrace Road. Bear right at the stop sign. Very shortly, the road will bear sharply to the left. Once you go around the curve, we are the first driveway on the left ‑‑ a red Dutch Colonial house at 80 Mountain Terrace Road. Because it is a shared driveway, please park on the side of the main road.


Got lost? Want to call to say you’re coming early, or running late? Home phone is (860) 561‑1801.

Stinko De Mayo

Well, it's time to get ready for the 4th Annual Big Stinkin' Cigar party. I've got plans working, and a date picked out -- Saturday, June 10. More news coming soon. Meanwhile, I've got a few friends joining me on Friday, May 5, for a little bitty Stinko De Mayo party in the new Cigar Lounge at The Hartford Club.

Not much of a post, I know -- but a lot more coming soon!

Seems a little small to me...

Now We're Cookin'...

So I spent Memorial Day weekend carting chairs out to the front of the lawn (waiting until the landscape service comes by on Thursday to start putting things out where they belong) and picking up most of the cooking supplies I need. Now, to have everything ready on Saturday, I've got to start cooking. So I am.

Tonight I'm cooking up a huge pot of sweet and hot Italian sausages. I've sauteed up a bunch of sliced cubanelle and red bell peppers. slivered up a beautiful vidalia onion and chopped about 10 cloves of garlic, simmered them all nicely and added the sausages. I'll put them into aluminum pans at the end of the night, and reheat them in the oven on Saturday.

Once they're out of my big pot, I've got about 10 pounds of chicken to parboil, which I'll then smother in barbecue sauce, ready to go on the grill early Saturday afternoon.

Then, tomorrow night, after I go shopping, of course, I'll start marinating the sirloin tips in a sauce of teriyaki and soy. I'll also make the basic foundation for the Chicken Curry, ready to cook it up and add the yogurt and cashew finishing touches on the Big Stinkin' Day.

So the basic menu looks like this: about 2:30 p.m. we'll start putting out the appetizers: Hamburgers and hot dogs, sausages and peppers, pasta salad, and barbecue chicken. Then, about 5 p.m., I'm bringing out the sirloin tips, the baked ham, the Paella, the chicken curry, and the baked ziti. I'm also making a really nice watermelon salad, with cubes of sweet watermelon tossed in red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, vidalia onion slices and feta cheese, then sprinkled with mint leaves.

Hope people are coming hungry. My mother always told me to make sure you've got enough for everybody....

Blowing Smoke

Mike Cernovich, the fellow who runs the Crime & Federalism blog, has been adding a personal touch, talking recently about cigars and port. He just created a new blog called Blowing Smoke for any of you who want to pop over and talk about cigars you like, ones you hate, and other cigar-related discussions. Looks like fun.

The first cigar on the left is the one that hooked me...

No Fashion Follower, Me.....

As I'm getting ready to start putting together all the Big Stinkin' gear for the party, I thought I'd put up just a short post about how I got into this cigar thing in the first place.

A little over ten years ago, with the advent of Cigar Aficionado magazine, it seemed like the whole world went cigar crazy, and the fashion of the day was to be seen with a cigar. It was politically incorrect, a sign of rebellion, of power, of saying "I don't care what you think about the smell. I'm a Master of the Universe and I'm gonna smoke one of these big babies."

That's not how I got into this.

In a few weeks, in mid-June, my daughter Alison celebrates her 14th birthday. That means it's been 14 years that I've been smoking cigars. See, it's all her fault.

When Ali was born, there was a great cigar store in the Hartford Civic Center mall, De La Concha (a companion store to the one in New York City). I didn't smoke -- I never even smoked a cigarette. But when your baby is born, tradition says you're supposed to offer everybody a congratulatory cigar. So in to De La Concha I went. On their recommendation, I bought a box of Arturo Fuente Hemingway cigars. I remember they were about $150 for the box.

And I couldn't give 'em away.

Everyone -- and I mean everyone -- I offered a cigar to asked me if they were chocolate. Upon hearing that they were Connecticut broadleaf-wrapped Dominican hand-rolled real tobacco, everyone would wrinkle their nose and immediately decline the offer.
Which left me with an expensive box of cigars sitting in my living room. And I wasn't about to throw those smokes away, dammit. My only alternative, of course, was to smoke them myself.

And I did. Oh, how I did.

They were well-made -- you could see the craftsmanship in them. They forced you to slow down and contemplate. They were relaxing and enticing and intriguing. And it didn't take me long to figure out that I liked to smoke cigars.

And the next thing I knew, everybody else did, too.

Like every fad, the big cigar craze faded. But I never got into this for the fashion. I got into it because I'm cheap. And in the big scope of vices one could have, this isn't really a very expensive one. A $6 cigar and about $8 of port will last me an entire evening. Sitting on the patio, cigar in hand, wine nearby, light music on the stereo, maybe even a fire in the outdoor fireplace, and that's a good night.

I'll have to remember to thank my daughter.

Waiting for his glass of port...

Port Of Call...

So I think I'm pretty well stocked up with cigars at this point -- I've got about five or six hundred, which I guess should last the afternoon. My bigger question has been, what about the Port?

Port is not for the very young, the vain and the active. It is the comfort of age and the companion of the scholar and the philosopher. -- Evelyn Waugh

I love port wine, but I'm an easy lush. I'm not as well versed as I probably should be because, if it's tawny and tempting, I'm drinking it. You have to be careful with Port though -- it's a wine fortified with brandy, and so you can really get hit hard quick. That's why it's usually served in such little cups.

I'll be doing that for the port tasting, since this isn't exactly inexpensive stuff. But when I'm alone on the patio, I have to admit -- it's goblet-fuls for me. What the heck, I'm not driving. And a nice smoke offset by the sweetness of a mellow, kitteny port is just relaxation heaven to me.

By the way, I've been eavesdropping in on this string of posts at the blog Crime & Federalism. It's fun to listen to these guys, especially the one who praises the inclusion of a Diet Coke. What he's learned is that a sweet beverage beautifully sets off the peppery, sharp draw of a cigar. Regular Coke works even better, in my opinion, but iced tea is a nice non-alcoholic alternative. It's why Port and cigars marry so well. And also why cigars match up terrifically with brandies, cognacs and scotch. Ohhh...my mouth is watering. Excuse me: I've got to take a Dewars break.

clinck, clinck, clinck....blub, blub, blub....glug, glug, glug....Ahhhh...

OK -- I'm back. So anyway, this isn't about the hard liquor, but about the Port. When I first thought about doing a port tasting, I really didn't give much thought to how I'd handle this with roughly 100 or so people visiting throughout the day. But a few months ago, I met Paul Connery, the new owner of Toast Wines in West Hartford. This is the store that used to be Spiritus, but the old owner kept the name when he sold the store in the center. Anyway, I mentioned to Paul that I was going to have this Big Stinkin' Cigar Party, with the thought that he and the manager at his fine store (and it really is a very nice wine store) could help me put together the Port tasting lineup.

"What contemptible scoundrel stole the cork from my lunch?" -- W. C. Fields

Paul and Michael (the store manager) did get me a suggested lineup, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I emailed them a clarification, and they said they understood and promised to get back to me in a day or two with a new lineup.

So a day goes by.

And another.

And another.

And then I email the two of them with a reminder that I'm still waiting.

And I guess Toast Wines is incredibly busy, or its email server is incredibly slow, or I'm the most obnoxious guy out there (which, really, is very likely), but I never heard from them again.

I tried a couple of other wine stores, but none had either the selection I was seeking or the expertise to really make the picks count. That is, not until I swing into Dotcom Wines at Bishop's Corner in West Hartford, in the plaza behind Waldbaum's Foodmart. Nelson Veiga is the store's director of operations, and boy, did he know his port. We spent the better part of an hour going over the choices and how this would all work. So here's what he came up with:

We're going to start with a very nice Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) 1999 Porto from Taylor Fladgate. Actually, I didn't need Nelson to make this choice. A co-worker of mine, Rena Haefner, graciously gave me a bottle of this last year during the holidays. It's full-bodied, nutty and plum and clearly a strong contender for a tasting where lots of people's tastebuds will need a little massage after being coated with smoky wisps of pepper and caramel .

Nelson also picked out a so-called "California Fake" -- wines from California in the Port style, but made with traditional grapes, such as cabernet. I was pleased that he suggested an offering from Bogle, a petite shirah port. I tried this wine orginally a couple of weeks ago on the suggestion of the fine folks at Cork 'n' Bottle Liquors in West Hartford. The wine boasts a "concentration of raspberries, blackberries and chocolate flavors." My pals at Cork 'n' Bottle wisely suggested decanting this nectar, letting it breathe for a couple of days before drinking it. Mmmm. It was a real treat, fruity and surprising.

"I made wine out of raisins so I wouldn't have to wait for it to age." - Steven Wright

Now, my favorite type of Port is tawny, a sensuous, silky, fuzzy drink. Tawny is aged in wood barrels, and therefore exposed to more air than its bottle vintage siblings. Mr. Veiga pointed to a 10-year old Ramos Pinto tawny as his choice. I've never had this particular wine, but Nelson's picks were compelling so far, so I'm pretty sure I'll be pleased with this one. But the first I'll be trying it is at the party, so surprises may await me.

We've also got a very nice Barros 1997 Vintage port to help round out the selection. This is a nice rich, nutty and deep dessert wine, a very nice representative of the best Ports Portugal has to offer (and a nice way to tip my hat to the non-Sicilian side of my family!).

(And for those of you who've been clicking through on the port wine links above: Am I the only one who's noticed that people who own port wine vineyards also seem to own stock in the Flash Player company? Every website starts with a little movie. If they could only figure out how to actually dispense the wine over the Internet, they'd really have something...)

Nelson would probably blanch if he knew that I was also planning to include another selection. This is an Australian Port-style wine. It's called Clocktower by Yalumba. Australians like sweet wines they call "stickies," and this is in that style. It's very good with a cigar, and it comes in at only about $10 a bottle, which has got to be a terrific value overall.

Life is too short to drink bad wine. - Winston Churchill

So now, you may be wondering....uh, Vincenzo, where's the Churchill? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to have a few bottles of the really good stuff. I've even picked up a nice pair of bottles of Churchill's 2000 Vintage Porto. Delicious now, delectable in another 10 years. But we'll have to see how much of the primo stuff gets poured. You don't deaden your palate with three strong stogies, polish off a six-pack and then follow it with the Churchill's. We'll be sharing this with the folks who control themselves...and, probably, who bring a bribe. I like twenties.

Delicious! 

Mr. J.R. Cigar 

Stocking Up...

One of the things I love about the Big Stinkin' Cigar Party is that it's when I really start looking at my cigar suppliers and get a chance to start drooling over adding to my stash. Plus, I don't know how the timing could have been any better: one day after I distribute the invitations, the latest catalog from J.R. Cigar comes in the mail.

I love this company. The catalog alone is a great read -- it's written by (or supposedly so) Lew Rothman, the owner of J.R. Cigar. The catalog is beautiful, the photography succulent, and you'd expect an elegant turn of phrase on each page expounding on the virutes of the cigars. That's not what you get with J.R. Cigar.

You get Rothman talking about his Magnum Force brand: "The world's first universally disliked premium cigar -- well, let me qualify that...almost universally disliked. As I recall, there's a guy in Missouri that actually reordered a box of these."

You get the lead off sales page, page 2: " We get a lot of complaints. (yeah...we do. People are always complaining about something or other. I don’t know why they can’t just relax and ignore little mistakes the same way we ignore their letters... but apparently, they feel better if they write me a letter with all kinds of stuff underlined or highlighted with yellow magic markers.)"

This isn't the way most marketers would handle this. But J.R. Cigar makes you feel like you're having a conversation with your buddy. Your no B.S. buddy. I remember one entry from a few years ago. J.R. Cigar was offering something like a bundle of 20 cigars for $5. "They taste like you're smokin' the Wall St. Journal," the copy said, "but what do you want for $5?"

So the catalog is fun to read, but the prices and service are great. They have terrific specials, pretty good prices everyday on most items, and an online or phone order service that's fast and efficient.

So what can I say? I'm a sucker for good marketing. I put in an order for Dominican "Red Dot" Cohiba Robusto's--a nice mild smoke with a 4.75 length and a 47 ring gauge. The ring gauge--which measures how fat the cigar is--is a little small for my tastes (I generally like ring gauges of 50 plus), but not so small that I wouldn't want to light up one of these babies.

But, ummm, I didn't stop there. I also ordered a box of Arturo Fuente Chateu Fuente's (4.5 x 50), which are just heavenly (but since it's from Arturo Fuente, that's being redundant). I grabbed a five-pack Romeo & Julieta Reserva, which comes with a very nice R&J branded cigar ashtray. And since a lot of folks like smaller (I read that to mean shorter) smokes, I also picked up a nice 10 pack Robusto sampler. I got one of these last year, and I enjoyed the variety and opportunity to have such a nice selection.

Since I was already paying shipping charges, I figured why not go all out, and throw in an order for another box of Hoyo Excalibur No. 1's. These are not fancy cigars, but they're my all-time favorite smoke. They're Churchill-sized--7.25 inches long with a 54 ring gauge--and even though they're Honduran, they draw and taste like one of the best Dominican's. Summer evenings on the patio, there's nothing better for me than an Excalibur.

Of course, this is all to complement the few hundred other cigars I've already got. Frankly, I think Linda's gonna kill me.

Well, now to try to get my port tasting lined up. This hasn't been going as smoothly as I'd hoped. If only there were a www.jrport.com...

Vincenzo 

Any Port Will Do...

Three years ago, I started Vincenzo's Big Stinkin' Cigar Party as a little lark, an excuse to have an outdoor cookout that lit up more than just a couple of burgers. Now we're inviting the world. Here's the invitation for this year's party. Check in for updates on types of cigars, and as the event draws closer on weather/rain delay news.

ANY PORT IN A STORM WILL DO…IF THERE’S A STOGIE WITH IT
Cigar Party & Port Tasting

An Invitation To A Smokin’ Event

Vincenzo’s
3rd Annual
Big Stinkin’
Cigar Party!

SATURDAY * JUNE 4, 2005 * 2 — 8 P.M.

Rain Date: Saturday, JUNE 18

“I drink a great deal. I sleep a little, and I smoke cigar after cigar.
That is why I am in two-hundred-percent form.” -- Winston
Churchill

That guy Churchill was on to something. And who are we to argue with a fellow who’s got a port wine with his name on it, a cigar size in his honor, and a little first place trophy for a contest called World War II?

I’ve got lots of cigars to share, so let’s take a tip from the great man. We’ll tip our hat to Churchill, clip the tips off our cigars, and tip back a glass of smooth port wine.



Not a port fan? You want single malt scotch to go with your torpedo? You want a smooth, icy lager to cool the heat from your toro? You think a margarita is the perfect counterpoint to a maduro? You want to dip your little robusto into a little Hennessy? You’re covered. This may be an outdoor party, but we’ve got style, you know.

I’ll be doing the Patio Daddio bit, cooking up a bunch of food – like sirloin steak tips, paella, hamburgers, hot dogs, watermelon salad, sausages and peppers, potato salad, and who knows what else I’ll find on the Food Network’s “Boy Meets Grill.” We’ll have soft drinks and iced tea, juices and lemonade, cheeses and desserts. Bring the kids. They can have anything they want -- as long as it’s neither on fire nor combustible.

We’ll have a few games – some that even require that you get out of your comfy lawn chair, such as hoops or croquet or bocce. But we’ll also be hosting a friendly little game of cards for which exertion means not moving facial muscles. No aces up the sleeves, please.

Remember, you don’t have to smoke cigars. We’re holding this outdoors to make it easier on those who inexplicably don’t enjoy the traces of pepper and coffee in a good panatela. But no whining! We’re giving you a hint what you’re in for right there in the name. So please RSVP. Bring your spouse, your friends, your kids. We’ve got plenty for all.

HOME: (860) 561-1801 CELL: (860) 922-3441 EMAIL: vvalvo@alm.com

WEB:http://vincenzosmokes.blogspot.com

* And to all those who would have us stub out our Habanas and refrain from pickling our olives, I can only refer to Churchill again: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight under the market umbrellas, we shall fight on the lawns and in the streets of West Hartford; we shall never surrender…” or something like that.

VINCE & LINDA VALVO 80 MOUNTAIN TERRACE ROAD WEST HARTFORD



DIRECTIONS TO VALVO HOUSE


Vincent & Linda Valvo
80 Mountain Terrace Road
West Hartford, CT 06107
(860) 561-1801

From Route 84 going west, take exit 43 (West Hartford). Turn left onto Park Road and follow the road through five lights (the street changes names twice: to Sedgwick and then to Mountain Road). The fifth light is the intersection of Mountain Road and Farmington Avenue.

After the light, take the second left off Mountain onto High Farms Road. Follow High Farms to the NO OUTLET sign, where you will turn left onto Mountain Terrace Road. Bear right at the stop sign. Very shortly, the road will bear sharply to the left. Once you go around the curve, we are the first driveway on the left ‑‑ a red Dutch Colonial house at 80 Mountain Terrace Road. Because it is a shared driveway, please park on the side of the main road.


From Route 84 going east, take exit 39 (Route 4 Farmington). At the first light, turn right onto Route 4 (towards the UConn Health Center). Eventually, you will pass the West Hartford Reservoir on your left. The second light after the reservoir is the intersection of Farmington Ave. and Mountain Road (it is also the first light immediately after Stop & Shop). Turn left here onto Mountain Road.

Take the second left off Mountain onto High Farms Road. Follow High Farms to the NO OUTLET sign, where you will turn left onto Mountain Terrace Road. Bear right at the stop sign. Very shortly, the road will bear sharply to the left. Once you go around the curve, we are the first driveway on the left ‑‑ a red Dutch Colonial house at 80 Mountain Terrace Road. Because it is a shared driveway, please park on the side of the main road.


From Avon/Simsbury/West Hartford North: From Avon, take Route 44 to Mountain Road. Turn right onto Mountain Road. From Simsbury, take Route 185 to Mountain Road. Turn right onto Mountain Road. After the Fern Street intersection (First light from Avon, second light from Simsbury), take your second right onto High Farms Road. Follow High Farms to the NO OUTLET sign, where you will turn left onto Mountain Terrace Road. Bear right at the stop sign. Very shortly, the road will bear sharply to the left. Once you go around the curve, we are the first driveway on the left ‑‑ a red Dutch Colonial house at 80 Mountain Terrace Road. Because it is a shared driveway, please park on the side of the main road.


Got lost? Want to call to say you’re coming early, or running late? Home phone is (860) 561‑1801.