Red Meat Lovers Battleship New Jersey Meat and Cigars Event

Happy Father’s Day to everyone! Later today I will smoke an Esperanza Para Los Niños torpedo, a cigar which was my traditional Father’s Day cigar for the better part of 20 years, until I smoked the last cigar out of the box I bought in June of 2000. An old friend sent me the better part of a box earlier this year so I could continue the tradition, after taking last year off.  For those unfamiliar, this cigar was made by Christian Eiroa with the help of some members of the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group back in 1999 and sold to benefit children orphaned by hurricane Mitch. It’s a maduro cigar, and the last one’s I smoked had held up well over the 20 years, we’ll see how they’ve continued to mature later today!  Thanks Roger Farnsworth!  

Thursday evening we had the great fortune of attending the Red Meat Lover’s Club “meating” on the Battleship New Jersey, which is docked right across the river from Philadelphia in Camden, NJ. I’ve seen it, but never been aboard, one day I would love to go back and take the tour.  It’s a big ship, and we dined on the fantail. The event was a benefit for the ship, and it’s my hope that a substantial sum was raised, I know that we contributed through the silent auction (my wife purchased a Beatles piece). We arrived early and hung out with Steve Saka (my wife now refers to him as “SquishySquatch”), who was also early, so that was nice. The food was amazing and abundant. Guys were walking around sucking on tomahawk bones, we had cheese steaks, smashburgers, delicious ribeye, and “macaroni and cheese” from an outfit from my wife’s ancestral home of Abruzzo, Italy.  I was trying to steer (😉) clear of carbs and stick to proteins at this event, but the pasta was outrageously good. I also got sucked into some rolls, as the cheesesteak and smashburgers seemed to be a bad idea without them. I consumed a satisfying amount, and they had cookies too!  I skipped the pig, and there was something salad-like I saw (that’s what food eats!) Evan Darnell, the secretary of steak, the head cheese, the ringleader of this whole thing, put on an amazing event. We even got to hang out with some old and new friends! Kevin and Jessica from CigarProp were there, and I finally got to meat and hang out with Lee McClain, LeeMack912 on Youtube.  Lee was one of those guys who, even though you’ve never met, you feel like you know, and you’re instant friends, great dude. We also met some other great folks there, and saw other old friends, it was a good time. I highly recommend attending a Red Meat Lovers Club event if one comes to your area.  Since Saka was the cigar sponsor, of course the cigars were outstanding, everyone got a bag with a Sobremesa Brulee, a Mi Querida and a Sin Compromiso, all top notch smokes. Casa de Montecristo was there selling Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust cigars as well. Let me tell you, there’s not many things better than a Sin Compromiso after a smorgasbord of meat!  Thanks Evan!

That’s enough for today, until the next time, 

CigarCraig