Daytona Bike Week And Beyond | Another Florida Cigar Adventure

Hey Cigar Pals: I decided to head for Daytona Bike Week this spring! That turned into a job, which turned into some awesome Florida cigar adventure.

Truth be told though, I wasn’t actually going for bike week, I have a friend who has a big hog roast every year up in Bunnel the first weekend of Bike Week and I went for that.

Of course, since we are just north of Daytona, during the festivities most of us go into town to see what’s happening and enjoy some of the ambiance.

On The Road To Daytona

I took off from Lytle Texas and realized just before leaving that it was an election day, so since I happened to be going by my voter precinct, I just had to stop and vote and since I was in Seguin, Texas, I just had to stop by Seguin Cigars and say hi!

To keep this from being too long, I will just hit the high points.

So I was over in Alabama and started seeing signs for Buc-ees’s, which is pretty much a Texas phenomenon. They have tons of fuel pumps and in the store, they have is everything from jerky, to hunting blinds. They are like a giant convenience store, but so much more. Look em up, you will be amazed and by all means if you start seeing signs with big beaver head on it, be sure and stop, it will blow your mind

The Hog Roast

So I arrived at my friend Calvin J’s for the big hog roast and to reunite with a lot of friends from Sturgis. There were several people there that I had not seen in a while and I was looking forward to seeing them again.

My friend has had this event for many years and folks look forward to it and there is excitement in the air as we wait for the festivities to begin. Many of us like to get there early and hang out and visit. We smoke a lot of cigars and just relax. Of course the rally in Daytona is going on so we have to head into town to check it out.

While that is somewhat exciting, the most fun happens at my buddies place where we have all kinds of excitement, from shooting off cannons, firing guns, to watching Stevie Ray Vaughn on Friday night and The Greatful Dead on Saturday night on a 50′ x 70′ screen (actually a tarp) hung in the trees.

Video of the Grateful Dead on a 50 foot screen

People come out in cars and lawn chairs or sit in the grass. My buddy Calvin has a motorized bed that he drives out and lies on it with his family and watches the show.

Then on Sunday everything culminates to the big hog roast, where of course we eat a ton of bar b cue and food, but there are also the typical biker games, like the slow ride (you try to ride as slow as you can), the weenie grab (girl rides on the back of the bike and tries to grab a hot dog on a string in her teeth) and much more.

There is also a live band playing all day!

The Phone Call

While I was there, I got this strange phone call…. I am semi retired and had been refusing work all spring, but this offer, I just had to take. I’m at Daytona Bike week in Florida and they wanted me to come to Florida (south Florida) (way down South Florida (just before you go into the Keys)).

The job would be a month long and I was already in Florida, so I figured, what the heck!

Location, Location, Location

I headed on down to Florida City, which as I said, is right as ya go into the Keys. I decided to stay at the Quality Inn, for one major reason… Cigar Bundles Of Miami! My buddy Alex owns the place and it is about 100 yards from my Motel room. There is a Denny s right next door to them (although the quality of the food was not up to standard).

There are gas stations on either side of them and a Subway (which is where I ate most frequently.

My favorite pastime while there was going to Cigar Bundles and getting a cigar and a Cuban cafe and sitting out on the veranda enjoying them.

Other than the cigars, the job was pretty uneventful.

Time To Head Back West

So the job was over and it was time to head back to San Antonio, but I just had to have a few Cigar adventures on the way and I knew just where to start.

I headed up to St Petersburgh and my friend Kelly’s place.

The cigar scene in and around Tampa is incredible, and we took off hitting some cigar lounges in St Pete shortly after I arrived.

Cigar Paradise

First stop was Cigar Paradise, where I met Caroline Connor (the cigar manager) and had a pleasant conversation.

This place is pretty upscale and more of a high end establishment. When we got our drinks and cigars, the waiter followed us around until we decided where we were going to sit with our drinks. Then after he seated us, we moved!

Nice place though and fun to people watch out on the side walk, where the have tables and chairs.

Casa Perfecto Cigars

Our next stop was Casa Perfecto Cigars, where I met Bruce and Javier. Javier is actually a member of the Plasencia family and one of the owners. I can’t remember now what I smoked, but I remember it was good and we had a big time talking cigars and watching some sci fi thing on the big screen TV (don’t remember what that was either).

They have only been at this location for about 13 months, but are doing well and that says a lot, considering all the competition in the area.

They have a medium-sized humidor and it is well stocked with name faces as well as boutique brands and of course they have Plasencia Cigars!

Assh House Cigars

Up to this point Kelly had been taking me to places he was familiar with, however the next day he was doing a search online and found a lounge that he had never been to before, called the Assh House (you can order cigars at this link,  so we went to check it out.

The minute we walked in the door, I got a great vibe from the place, which is kinda funny considering that the first thing I saw was stand up wall humidors, not walk in.

Leslie greeted us as we came in and of course I introduced myself with my Cigar Pals Shtick and right away she gave us the grand tour. There are two lounges and an outside area.

The place isn’t big, but very warm and comfortable.

They do a lot of house blends, even a line from a well-known blender (who I am not supposed to mention) who custom roll cigars just for them.

I met Morgan, who is Leslies husband and he has a vast wealth of knowledge about the cigar industry and one of the high points of the visit with him was when he told me about the candella wrapper and I smoked one of his personally blended by the guy who I can’t mention’s candella wrapped cigars.

I plan on reviewing one of those in an upcoming video and will tell you all about it at that time.

I found a really good YouTube video of a guy who did a post about the Ash House and you can watch it here https://youtu.be/y4gEkmi2oV4

Gotta Back On Outta Here

Well folks, this is running long and I need to wrap it up! I remember when I had to struggle to make a thousand words, which is what Google wants to see to rank my posts and here I am 1300 words into this one and have to cut it short!

I hope you enjoyed this Florida Cigar Adventure from Daytona Bike Week and Beyond.

Please feel free to leave comment’s, suggestions or questions in the space below.

Till next time

Smooth Smokin!