This is our eleventh, of thirteen, prizes being given away for our First Annual Stogie Review 12 Days of Christmas. The prize is a box of Padilla Miami signed by Ernesto Padilla. To enter this contest, all that was required was that you send in a Christmas story which involved cigars.

This Prize Sponsored By Padilla Cigars

Congratulations
Chris

My Best Holiday Cigar Experience

It was December 26th 2007: I had already enjoyed Christmas Eve dinner with my girlfriend’s family, stuffed myself with Christmas dinner with my family, and was sitting down to an After-Christmas evening of pizza and beer with some of my closest childhood friends.

Every year, we all end up back at our parents’ homes to celebrate the holidays, and every year we gather at one of them to eat, drink, and laugh about various stories and anecdotes about growing up with one another. Over the years, our group had shrunk from nine to four. This was the result of two marriages, one divorce, one military deployment, and one major falling-out.

The past two years, it has been the four of us: drinking, eating, and laughing about all the things we got in trouble for in our lives. Some of the stories were about our friend Derrick. Derrick had recently been sent back to Iraq for his second tour with the army, and we were laughing about how surprising it was that he was disciplined enough to be in the military. We laughed about how in math class once, he had started whistling “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,” by Otis Redding, and how he had gotten himself stuck on the roof of our school during a football game and the police had to rescue him, only to fine his family for trespassing.

At about 1:30 in the morning, we began to wind down the festivities and say our goodbyes, so we could retire back to our parents’ homes for the night, when there was a knock at the door. We answered the door, and standing on the front porch holding a case of beer and a box of cigars, was Derrick.

None of us had seen Derrick in two years, and were surprised as hell to see him. He said “Merry Christmas” and came in hugging and laughing his way to the kitchen. He had brought with him a box of the Oliva Serie V Churchills. He handed them out, we lit them up, continued to drink, and reminisced until nearly 4:30 in the morning.

Derrick had been in town that evening to see his family, before he had to return to his base for training exercises the following evening. It was by far, one of the best Christmases in a long time. Visiting with old friends, seeing Derrick for the first time in two years, smoking an Oliva Serie V, drinking heavily, and hoping for something as wonderful next Christmas.

-Chris