El Presidente

Great session guys. Merry Christmas!

Jumping in now

Two rounds to go!!!! Top of the table battle in the FOHNFL tipping comp is proving to be a battle royale! Players dropping like flies. Hot teams cooling. Flash in the pans are frying. Your SB pick right now? Great year!!! 🏈 FOHNFL 2025 – Week 16 Standings Rank Pick Set Name Total Dropped W-L 1 Chicago Bearister 159 5 159-66 2 GOODFORTUNE 159 6 159-66 3 RuggerPGH99 158 6 158-67 4 Rupe 157 6 157-68 5 Lfhard 156 6 156-69 6 JermzCC 155 5 155-70 7 chepe 154 6 154-71 8 Pick a stogie 154 6 154-71 9 smatthews607 154 5 154-71 10 LaoFan 154 6 154-71 11 Saguaro Sackers 154 0 154-71 12 YULBert 153 5 153-72 13 Will Friar 153 5 153-72 14 AndyReid 153 6 153-72 15 tcampbel’s Picks 153 5 153-72 16 EMC12 153 6 153-72 17 El Pres 152 7 152-74 18 cleelv 152 5 152-73 19 AaronD 151 6 151-74 20 Cello 151 6 151-74 21 Anthem 151 6 151-74 22 Juan More Taco 151 6 151-74 23 ChangBang 151 5 151-74 24 Stewartsvt 151 6 151-74 25 Bear Down! 151 6 151-74 26 Dwbarney12 150 8 150-75 27 kbgkbg 150 6 150-75 28 HeyMoe 150 5 150-75 29 DOYLE 150 5 150-75 30 Fuzz 150 5 150-75 31 E-Sheriff 149 0 149-76 32 Riderpride 149 6 149-76 33 GP012 149 5 149-76 34 The Noid 149 4 149-76 35 Smeltz 149 5 149-76 36 ayedfy 149 6 149-76 37 Green Birds 149 6 149-76 38 Cigar Surgeon 148 7 148-77 39 Hoops 148 6 148-77 40 Tunkat92 148 4 148-77 41 Rweg 147 5 147-78 42 TBelle7 147 5 147-78 43 SignalJoe 146 6 146-79 44 Wldkat 146 7 146-79 45 Rusty Trombones 145 7 145-80 46 HUSKYDB 144 0 144-79 47 Big Lasagna 144 4 144-81 48 MooseAMuffin 144 6 144-81 49 Rckymtn22 143 4 143-82 50 ChiBearsV 142 5 142-83 51 Ryre 142 6 142-83 52 Fireball 142 5 142-83 53 Texhex 141 5 141-84 54 Terrible Picks 141 2 141-84 55 MickVanWinkle 141 0 141-82 56 Grimlock 140 6 140-85 57 Capn_Jackson 140 5 140-85 58 Mediocre Picker 139 6 139-86 59 Gemini Dynasty 138 4 138-87 60 Virgilcain 138 5 138-87 61 Cigar Therapy Tigers 138 3 138-87 62 sv_ontour 138 0 138-85 63 Kickin’ RASS 136 6 136-87 64 Calvin broadus 135 0 135-88 65 Garifo 135 6 135-91 66 RAC 133 2 133-90 67 WideLeft 133 1 133-90 68 Captain Teebs 133 6 133-90 69 The SKOL Brothers 132 0 132-91 70 Pinkonators 130 4 130-95 71 Helix 130 0 130-93 72 Boxer31 129 4 129-96 73 BigGuns 128 2 128-97 74 Sir Diggamus 127 2 127-96 75 Sucker Bet 124 0 124-99 76 JC67 123 0 123-102 77 Dlowil 116 0 116-107 78 yadegari6 110 0 110-113 79 Habano Hit Squad 90 0 90-133 80 ElLoboLoco 90 0 90-133 81 gormag38 89 0 89-134 82 Jimmy2x 84 0 84-139 83 DrunkenMonkey 73 0 73-150 84 Hypersomniac 65 0 65-158 85 Dangolf18 52 0 52-171 86 Benfica 50 0 50-173 87 Deeg 42 0 42-181 88 PanthersNation 36 0 36-187 89 Bmac 22 0 22-201 90 dugmosk 12 0 12-211 91 Juniorp 11 0 11-212 92 Give me some Love 11 0 11-212 93 TSMITH948 10 0 10-213 94 BNM 9 0 9-214 95 mikejh 8 0 8-215

I will see you a little later this morning!

Michael Godard (American, born 1958) limited edition giclee on canvas titled 'Gangster Love'. Featuring a mobster olive dressed in a pinstripe gangster suit, smoking a cigar, and surrounded by money, accompanied by a sultry strawberry partner holding a Tommy gun. Hand signed to the lower right corner. Numbered: 3/750. Dated: 2007.

Christmas Review Competition: Win a Box of CC from my best of 2025. Between now and January 5th, review any cigar and go into the draw for a box to be selected by myself from the best CC of 2025. it could be a Box of D4, BBF, Punch Punch, H. Upmann Magnum 54......leave it up to me All you have to do 👇 1. Pick a cigar (CC or NC) that you would like to review. 2. Start a New Thread commencing with CRC: eg CRC: Bolivar Belicoso Finos UPT NOV 23 *the CRC prequel allows us to corral all the reviews in order to draw the prize 3. Try to get a box code or production year into the review 4. Pictures are not compulsory but you receive an extra ticket in the draw if you include pictures. Let's get some great reviews in! Drawn January 6th local.

Throwback movie from James Suckling. One to revisit over the Christmas period with a cigar and a glass of your favourite drop

What a year. 🥳 Danli Hamlet and I started in a new Danli Factory January 2025. Hammy was all for it. I was 50/50 knowing deep down that I was now responsible for 35 new people and their families. First cigars rolled off the production table in May and all fears were set aside. We had worked with Factory managers Nahun and Sergio previously. We know their quality and the standards upon which they would build their team around. December 2025, 4 new cigar releases completed, full inventory in stock and a complete 2026 rollout plan (5 cigars) in place. Proud of the entire team. FOH Strength to strength. FOH holds a special place in the cigar world. It isn't Insta/YouTube/Influencer led. FOH launched in 2004 and has transitioned over the years from 100% Habanos to probably 50/50 in terms of the daily cigar appetite of members. It has weathered cigar shortages, cigarmageddon, Habanos shenanigans. FOH has grown up, doesn't take itself too seriously, supports each other, has enough "dodgy" in it that it's members enjoy taking the mickey out of each other. It also is a place of civil discourse. Not an easy thing to achieve in today's world! It is home to many of us. It is our global neighbourhood cigar lounge. Habanos What a shocker of a year. Cigar shortages, Prison rollers, Chen Zhi, Pig Butchering scams and global sanctions. You couldn't really write a worse script to finish off 2025. I will always give Habanos SA one thing. They know how to launch new product. I think it is at times forgotten that Habanos is a marketing and distribution machine. That is their sole role. It is the muppets at Tabacuba that are in charge of production/quality control and all the other "essentials". Habanos SA has some brilliant distributors in H&F/Phoenicia/PCC/ etc let alone a cohort of magnificent retailer ambassador stores around the world. Still I can't help but feel that those distributors and retailers are being let down woefully by Habanos. Get your shit together HSA. Clean up the mess and clean it up quickly. Lean on your best assets which are your distributors, retailers and loyal zealots whom you have ignored for far too long. Cuba Cuba right now is the weak link in the cigar chain...and Jesus, some of those other links are fragile. If you want to picture how the world of Cuban cigars falls apart in short order then look at the potential full or partial collapse of the Cuban state over the next 12 months. There is no good news coming out of Cuba today. Anyone looking for green shoots can stop now. If you were to ask me what are the chances that the Cuban cigar scene in December 2026 will look like December 2025, I will say less than 30% chance. Hold on to your hats people. Top CC cigars 2025 I won't do a top 25/20/15/10. There are some cracking cigars coming out of Cuba. World leading cigars. Cuba has the best tobacco in the world. No argument. Behike/Cohiba Esplendidos/V/VI...brilliant. I don't put them in my list because they are out of reach for 80% of members. My finest for the year, was the Quai d'Orsay Imperiales Travel Humidor. They are simply great. I personally haven't smoked one less than a 94 point utility. Affordable (ish) Regular production you can't go wrong with Partagas D4/Ramon Allones Specially Select/H Upmanns 54/46/50/2/ Hoyo de Monterrey San Juan/Rio Seco/Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill/Bolivar Royal Corona/Petit Corona/Sancho Panza Belicoso/Vegas Robaina Unicos/Punch Punch/Trinidad Topes/Esmeralda. There are plenty of others. QC has been on a steady path since 2022 which is "OK" to good. It isn't "great" and anyone who says it is...well...is playing with themselves. If you have to reach for a "drawpoker" on a $25 cigar...bugger me...a $6 cigar...then it is a FAIL. We made some half a million cigars in Danli this year and my team screws up. They screw up less than I do...but don't tell them. Our fail rate is around 2%. My team are not machines and that is an acceptable rate in my eyes. We retrain/refund/replace/apologise and put systems in place to get better. We pay well, we listen, we train and we support. How on earth can Cuba continue, at today's prices, to have a "good box" still arrive with 3-4 dodgy sticks. FOH Mods. You guys are immense and I haven't thanked or engaged with you enough this year. That will change in 2026. It has been a year of transition for me and you have worked together to allow me the freedom to pursue what needed to be done. Thank you. Legends one and all. Your canvas of work is reflected in the beautiful, informative and inclusive nature of this forum. Kudos. Members 27500 members and only 5 members banned this this year! And none of them were named Ken ! Members of FOH are our family. You are the front door to our house. You are all welcome to lunch/dinner dine/cigar with Dee and myself anytime. Through your friendships you have enriched our lives no end. God we love you good people. Thank you. My Team Steve, Ben, Alex Groom, Alex Retamal, Haley, Katrina. Immense each and every one of you. You call me out, you shorten me up, you believe in the mission where people and ethics come before profit. Not much below...but a smidgeon. You remind me of personal shortcomings (endlessly), you celebrate our wins, you polish our near misses so that they become "wins" or are ditched quickly to the oblivion. I couldn't do it without you. To Diana and Lisa. Combined 50 years with me. We built this together. Love you both. For members I have something special coming in 2026. We will be releasing a line of cigars celebrating these two wonderful cigar community women's 50 years in the cigar world. We have blended 4 cigars along the lines of the Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo Series. Depute/Du Prince/Dauphin/Dieux. The blends are very much along the lines of our Ninfa. Honey, elegant, edgy. They will be boxes (SLB) 25's. 1. Sorellina 110 mm × 38 RG — The Little Sister 2. Bella Sorella 130 mm × 40 RG — The Beautiful Sister 3. Sorella di Notte 155 mm × 42 RG — The Sister of the Night 4. Sorella Reale 152 mm × 38 RG — The Royal Sister Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. To each and every one of you and your families, a heartfelt Merry Christmas and a Magnificent New 2026 Year. As things wind down over the coming days, perhaps take the time to reach out to those family and members who you haven't touched base with for a while. It may make a huge difference to their lives. Huge hug good people. Merry Christmas! Rob

So what have the "Hands of Time" done with the H. Upmann Propios? 2018 LE released sometime 2020. 5 years down and they should be showing their true personality. This cigar had a fairly good market reception. At 46 × 120mm (4¾″) it is a size that fits many a need. I found them to be relatively rich in flavour in a Mag 46 meets H. Upmann Half Corona sort of way. I found construction to be patchy but at 46 gauge this cigar is fairly robust in putting up with lacklustre roller attention. I enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) the Propios. Of course this cigar was conceived and released before the dramatic price increases. I don't think it would even be considered today which is a shame because the world of EL's should push boundaries. 1. In your opinion, how has the H. Upmann Propios aged? Can you see an evolution from release? What do you think its ageing sweet spot will be?

I am doing my best to be well enough to attend but 24 hours out and I am still struggling health wise. Let's see if those new antibiotics kick in today or I will put it off to a 2026 New Years bonanza

ANTIQUE MAJOLICA CIGAR TRAY WITH FIGURAL CIGAR