Cigar Beat Blog

Most of you have probably heard about Stinky ashtrays at some point. If not then now you have and you can find them at www.stinkycigar.com. I seen these a while back and always thought they were very practical looking but always finding myself wanting to spend my cigar fund on cigars and not accessories. I finally got fed up with the having to use my travel single cigar ashtray that only held one ash (one to many times having to get up out of my comfortable chair) and went on a buying spree a couple weeks back. I got this at the same time I picked up my Bobken for my truck. When I placed my order Stinky (not Stinkie aka me) agreed to send me an extra one to give away to a lucky winner of an upcoming contest on the forum. I thought that deserved a review of this beautiful thing, so lets get to it.

Brand: Stinky
Color: Stainless Steal
Price: $37.50 Buy Now

About Stinky: Like me he got his online name from his wife when he started smoking cigars. The first thing I noticed is that he seems very confident in his product from the couple times I have spoke to him through email. Besides with a name like stinky he’s gotta be cool right?

The Stinky Cigar Ashtray’s Story (from his site): As you know, I developed this ashtray out of a need at our weekly herf. We need bigger ashtrays! The first Stinky Cigar Ashtray was a second hand silver bowl that I had for years. In January of 2004, I took three souvenir coins to a radiator shop and had them soldered to the rim. The guys loved it and wanted me to make some for them. It was a lot of work, so I said no. Each week they would repeat their desire to have a large bowl ashtray.

Out of curiosity I contacted a company in India and started researching the idea. In March of 2004 I attended the NATO convention here in Las Vegas. I only had the original Silver plated ashtray and one makeshift stainless steel prototype. Most of the cigar storeowners seemed to like the idea. At that time I was laid off work and found myself doing a lot of research and corresponding with a company in India. They quoted me prices for a minimum order of 10,000 pieces, tooling costs and the cost to produce and deliver samples. I figured there was plenty of time to get samples in time for the RTDA in July of 2004. Read the rest of the story!

( Stinky Ashtray Herf Edition)

The Ashtray: This ashtray was made to be used, looking good is a bonus. You can choose from a three or a four stirrup. I have the three because the other was on backorder (I think he has them in now, I just couldn’t wait). The large stirrups hold your cigar without any trouble all the way down to the nub. The shine from the stainless steal can blind you so be warned. The bowl is also a lot bigger than I thought. It should hold all the ash you can throw at it during your local in-house herf. If you need one for a large gathering you might want to look at the Herf Edition(HUGE!). It seems to be very well made and has some weight behind it. If you drop it you might dent it but I can’t see this thing breaking on you.

Over all: Like I said above, this thing looks good and is made for use. I love mine and would recommend these to anyone looking for a new ashtray. I might pick up some more to give out for Christmas this year to my cigar smoking friends.

Would you like to win one of these? Keep an eye on the forum for the blind tasting contest.

Product Review Index, R.I.P. Stinkie, Review: Bobken Car Cigar Ashtray,

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I have been looking for one of these for a long time. I could never find them local and would forget to add one to my cart while shopping online. That was before I read Brian’s review over at SR. I was on a mission to get a couple of these back here to put in my work truck. See I’m on the road about 3-4 days most weeks and get in between 500-1000 miles in travel so these would come in handy.

I picked mine up at Ebay for $4.99 each and $4.00 shipping for both of them. I have since found them at JR’s for a whopping $3.95 and $2.63 shipping.

Brand: Bobken
Colors: Brown, Tan, and Blue
Price: $3.95 (at Jr’s)

The Ashtray: The ashtray is a good concept. Made out of a thick plastic it is supposed to last over 10 years. It has a long arm to rest your cigar while you drive. It is the size of a standard cup and fits in all (old and new) cup holders in any car. It also has another arm to put between the window and door frame like the old time cup holders from the 80’s just in case the manufacturer forgot to put cup holders in your car. Come on, you remember them. They were made for big gulps so anything smaller would bounce around and spill all over the place. And you would spill it every time you would slam the door forgetting it was their. Aww, the 80’s. Big hair and spandex.

Pros:

• Gives you a place to rest your cigar.
• Gives you place to put your cigar out instead of throwing it out the window and fighting the wind and then catching an ash in your eye.
• Good size.
• Clean looking (hides the ash and butts)
• Easy to clean.
• Very convenient.
• The price

Cons:

• They need more colors. They need to add black at the very least.
• If your cup holders are in a bad place this will be as well.
• Smaller cigars tend to slide forward towards the black hole..
• Looks like something made in the 80’s.
• Takes up a cup holder.

Over all: If you smoke in your car a lot then this is a must for you. I have not found anything better to date for cigars. It holds any size cigar. So any FTE (you’ll know what this is if you listen to Bubba) or anyone else that drives a lot I would highly recommend this. It has worked out perfect for me so far.

I wish I had time to take some pictures. Check out Brian’s review, he is good with the camera.

Product Review Index, Review: Stinky Cigar Ashtray, R.I.P. Stinkie,

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Win one of these!

I was sent a personalized humidor from www.customlabels4u.com/cigars to play with and to see what I think. Custom Labels 4U is a personalization service personalizing many of things including cigar bands that I reviewed a while back. After finding them to be very well made I have high hopes for the humidor as well.

The Humidor: I’m not 100% sure what type of wood it is made out of but it doesn’t look like any type of cedar. I think it might be oak. It is a 50 cigar size and comes with the normal plastic humidification device and hygrometer. With any new humidor I would suggest replacing the humidification device with The Puck but that is personal preference.

The humidor seems to be made very well with a tight fit all the way around. The lid almost has a snap shut feel to it. It seasoned fine and took over a week to stabilize after I took out the sponge (that’s a good thing :). I finally had to give it a little help and put uncharged RH beads in it because I was a not patient this week. Since then it has been holding the relative humidity just fine. It works much better than my cheap ass Thompson humidor I got a couple years ago and threw away after about three months of fighting the seal. Since I really do not have the room for another humidor right now (and want to keep my wife) I have not loaded it up yet and will hold off until we get a new place.

The Look: Custom Labels 4u has many different styles to choose from. I picked the saloon style that I think will be fit in with our bar (once we get get it). The graphics are great and everything blends together good. I did not see any flaws with mine and have to give this a thumbs up. The graphics look to be done on some type of laminate and then placed on top of the humidor.

Over All: These are nice looking working humidors that you can use, not just look at. These are not humidors that you would put on your living room if you have nice Antique living room set. These would fit in much better in a relaxed atmosphere like your bar, office, “The Man Cave” (they really do exist! I almost had my wife talked into buying a house with one..), poker or pool room. A place that you would keep medium value cigars that you would hand out to the non smoking guys when they come over. These humidors make for great conversation and they are just a fun place to keep your smokes. Visit www.customlabels4u.com/JDS-humidors to see the full line that you can choose from.

Want to win one of these humidors? Join the forum and get your Super Bowl pick in by Sunday!

Here is a couple pictures of mine:

Welcome Custom Labels 4U, Last Chance To Win A Personalized Humidor, Product Review Index,

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Purchase Now Price: $10.99

Cigar Beat has released a new cigar journal to keep up on your cigar ratings. Made as a 5×8 it is a good size to take with you to the B&M. Enough room for 100 reviews and plenty room in the back for notes. It is based on a 100 point system that is set up so you just fill in the blanks. I’m no graphics designer so the cover is basic (See updates at the bottom).

Overview: Up top you have all the cigar information (name, total score, band, dates, size, purchased, drink). The rating section consists of four parts (Overall presentation, light/burn properties, construction and taste). Each section has questions to help you come up with a score. Each section has max points allowed for it. (Cigar not included)

Cigar Journal Features:

• Room for 100 reviews
• Fill in the blanks
• A place to put you band
• 5×8 makes it easy to carry with you
• Wire-O binding for easy comfortable writing
• Easy to do
• Cafepress has a full 30-day money back guarantee

For the time being this Cigar Journal can be purchased in our store at Cafepress

(Cigar not included)

Update: I’m working on a couple changes to the layout and a new cover. Once we get moved and settled in I will try to finish it up. Though I don’t know how long it will be I would think by June.

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