Some nights in the garage have a theme. A guest, a featured cigar, a big announcement. Episode 51 was not one of those nights. It was just the crew, some good smoke, and the kind of conversation that wanders from cigar storage debates to New Jersey beach smoking laws to waterbeds without ever asking permission. That’s what Tuesday nights are, and honestly, that’s the point. Smoke and Steel records every week out of my garage in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, and sometimes the best episodes are the ones where nothing is planned and everything still works.

Who Was in the Garage

Mark, Rob, Eric the Elder, Bruce, Jim, and me to start. Eric joined us later in the night. Rob had some news worth celebrating – his first grandchild arrived this week, and the Discord had been blowing up with love for him since it happened.

What Everybody Was Smoking

Mark opened with the Gris Gris Lonsdale from LACC, the Louisiana Cigar Collective. He picked up on a sweetness in the smoke that the Toro doesn’t have, and said it didn’t have the dryness he’d noticed before. I had the Oz Family Karatoba, which I’ve been working through and continuing to like. The OG Nicaragua didn’t do much for me when we blind-smoked it a while back, but the Karatoba is a different story.

Bruce had the Definition Big Iron for the first time, which he was still warming up to midway through. Jim had his standby Patina Sumatra. Eric the Elder came in with a ChiMolly Dynasty and wasn’t blown away by it, but said he’s starting to see the appeal of the Definition line overall. Mark lit up a Definition Big Iron as his second cigar of the night, and by that point in the evening it was burning perfectly with a clean straight line that he made a point of showing the camera.

The Beach Smoking Rant We All Needed to Have

Jim had a rough week on vacation in New Jersey, and when he told the story, everyone in the garage had something to add. He was walking down the street, nobody around, enjoying a cigar, when someone three stories up yelled down at him. That set off a conversation that I think every cigar smoker has been holding onto.

The rules keep changing and getting tighter. Hotels pulling ashtrays from sun decks. Beaches banning smoking entirely. Bruce emailed the mayor of Wildwood Crest once just to ask where I was actually allowed to light up. The irony we kept coming back to is that weed smoke drifts down hotel hallways without anyone saying a word, but a cigar gets you yelled at from three stories up. The rules aren’t about smoke. We all know that.

The Outer Banks is where we landed as the last real escape. You have to be considerate of the people around you, but for the most part nobody bothers you out there. You get a fire permit at the fire station for fifteen bucks, you go down to the beach, you have a bonfire. That’s how it should work.

Cigars, Orders, and Customer Service You Don’t Forget

I had a rough week with Cigar Page. I found a build-your-own ten-pack deal, got six cigars I was excited about and four to fill out the order, hit buy, and got an error. Hit it again, another error. Checked his credit card and the charge was there. Checked my account and the order wasn’t. I reached out to customer service and the experience went downhill from there. No offer to recreate the order, no flexibility. Just copy-pasted FAQ responses and a refund in a few days.

I contrasted that with Cigar Outlet, where a package that went missing got replaced same day with a personal email and real follow-through. The original package ended up at the post office down the street, but by then a fresh order was already on the way. That’s the difference. When something goes wrong, you remember how a company handled it. One of those companies is going to get repeat business and one isn’t.

Eric the Elder also tracked down a box of Tabernacles through Perfect Cigar and had good things to say about how they packaged it – the whole box sealed inside a bag with a Boveda pack, heat sealed, protected. Nice to see a retailer taking that seriously.

The Box Pass Gets an Upgrade

We have a new Smoke and Steel travel box for the Box Pass, and it’s something. Jason had it made through a craftsman named Jim Pacquet, who built custom cedar trays to fit inside an Apache case. The smell alone when we opened it up stopped the conversation for a second. Spanish cedar does that.

Jason also tucked in a Liga Privada Savage Feast for Eric, which he remembered being mentioned on the show a while back as something he has been looking for. Those boxes are limited, hard to find, and expensive when you do find them. He included one without asking. That’s the kind of guy Jason is.

Shout out to Jason. We appreciate you, brother.

The Merch Shop Is Almost Here

Eric talked to Troy last night and we are days away. He’s finalizing everything – the last steps are getting our approval on the designs, handling the shipping setup, and we’re ready to go. He’s been putting in serious hours on this and he’s genuinely excited about it. We’re going to have flags, which I made sure of. Two different versions to choose from. We wanted to do this right from day one, and I think we have.

If you’ve reached out on Discord asking when the shop opens, thank you for being patient. It’s been worth taking the time to get it right.

LACC, Lampert, and Cigar Clubs

LACC is now an official Lampert Black Card retailer, which Eric brought up and I thought was worth mentioning. The Lampert line is exclusive – their smokes don’t show up everywhere. The Black Card membership is similar in structure to the Saints and Sinners setup with Tatuaje. You pay a membership fee, get a card, discounts at the retailer and the website, some merch, that kind of thing.

Personally I’m more of a just-give-me-the-sticks guy. Bruce has tried to get us into Saints and Sinners and I understand the appeal, but the club stuff isn’t really my thing. If it’s yours, it’s worth looking into over at LACC.

Episode 51 and What’s Coming

We crossed 50 episodes last week without anyone realizing it until it was already in the rearview. Episode 51 tonight. The one-year anniversary is coming up in July and we’ll figure out something worth doing for that one. We also dropped our fan appreciation episode this week – Matt, Brad, Jason, Joe, and Sean the Burnable all on one episode. If you’re on the Discord you got the early release. If you’re not, go find it.

The numbers have been moving in the right direction. Over the last 28 days, Facebook views are up 20%, and engagement is up 43%. We’ve been watching red arrows for a while, so green ones mean something. Thank you to everyone who keeps showing up.

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Stay in the Conversation

New episodes drop every week on the Stogie Review YouTube channel. If you want early releases, behind-the-scenes conversation, and a group of guys who actually know their cigars, come find us on the Stogie Review Discord. Pull up a chair.