Last Friday I had a chance to talk with Bert Gottfried, the "cigar man" of Oliva, and AJ Pontillo, their agronomist, and learn quite a few interesting thing about Nicaraguan tobacco, the Oliva family, and plenty of cigar tidbits while enjoying my Olivas Special S and Series G. All in all, an enjoyable evening at Edward's of Valrico, and with plenty of prizes at the raffle to top it all off. I ended up buying a box of Oliva Series G Maduro Belicoso, and they are excellent, too.

And what a week it was! On Wednesday I went to the Tinderbox in Lakeland for the Bolivar Tasting event, an excellent smoke, and got to chat with the lovely General Cigars Ambassador, Charisma, and the new Sales Rep, John Mailander, a charming gentleman with plenty of cigar experience, who will be making appearance at future General Cigars events in the area. Next day it was back to the Tinder Box to chat with Dave Cimino, CAO Rep and great guy all around, for the CAO tasting. No free cigars on this one, although plenty of prizes for the raffle and a buy 3-get 1 deal, as well as discounted CAO boxes. But I couldn't stay for very long, as yet another event was waiting for me; by 7 pm I was arriving to South Tampa cigars, to taste an Ashton Cabinet # 6, oustanding! I got to chat with Rex Snyder, Ashton Sales Rep, as well as some of the regulars at the store, and enjoyed the vodka tasting and the food and wine made available by our hosts. It was quite an event and I am looking forward to coming back for more.

To top it all off, Sunday night we got to see the Colts win, quite satisfying since we were all rooting for Tony Dungy, and celebrate with my favorite cigar, Royal Silk. Life does not get much better than this!