Coming to a close...

The year, that is. As you can see, no blogging was done since September. It's been a very busy time at Cigarista with a smoker event once a month and a 65% increase in business this year. I've also been writing a cigar column for the Tampa Bay Sun newspaper every two weeks and a cigar column for the Tobacco Retailer magazine every issue. I've also done a feature article for the magazine and have another assignment for them due in a couple of weeks.

We're just coming off one of the slower times of the year for this area. Our main season is in the winter and it seems to have just started. The holiday started slowly but kicked up a bit in the last week before Christmas. This week we seem to have a lot of tourists and snowbirds back to see us.

The Canadian dollar and the Euro are both strong against our dollar so purchases might be a little better now. Our prices are so much better than most parts of the world and even most states.

Thanks to all my loyal customers who have made this year a very successful one. I greatly appreciate it and will do my best to keep you loyal.

The Cigars for Soldiers program has also been successful this year. It was funded by donations from Camacho cigars, Bucanero cigars and Perdomo cigars. By far the largest amount of donations were by individuals dropping in money in the collection jar in the store. One of my local "angels" comes by once a month and buys himself a couple of cigars and adds a hundred dollars onto his tab for the soldiers. We've sent about $4000.00 worth of cigars to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. That's a good feeling. Thanks to all who've helped. We'll keep doing that until they all come home. Please help us with it if you can. They not only love the cigars but also that someone cares enough about them to send them. Check the web site for pictures and emails. Also check out www.soldiersangels.org, one of our supporters that do a tremendous amount for our troops. We're linked on their site at: http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=discounts-for-soldiers-angels.

Our next smoker is on January 24th from 5 to 9 P.M. with Rocky Patel Cigars. It will be a good one. We're getting 35 to 50 people attending these events. It's a great evening out with a lot of great people. Cigar smokers tend to be friendly and interesting people. Come join us. We'll add you to our email list for coming events if you like. Just drop us an email.

My sister and only sibling died a few weeks ago and today would have been her 57th birthday. Happy birthday, Gail, wherever you are. We miss you.

Mike/Cigarista