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The Stogie Guys

4 May 2006



 

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Patrick Ashby
Co-Founder & Editor in Chief
PatrickA -at- StogieGuys.com

Patrick Semmens
Co-Founder, Publisher & Web Editor
PatrickS -at- StogieGuys.com

George Edmonson
Tampa Bureau Chief
GeorgeE -at- StogieGuys.com

Joey Jobes
Contributor

Patrick Ashby
Co-Founder & Editor in Chief

spacer Patrick Ashby credits his father with instilling in him a deep appreciation for cigars, an appreciation that began on the golf course and blossomed in Chicago.

Patrick’s interest  in tobacco grew enormously when he moved to the nation’s capital, where he spent six years working, pursuing  post-graduate studies, and founding StogieGuys.com with Patrick Semmens. Now that he has moved back to Chicago for a career in investment research, the regard for  handmade cigars his father so graciously handed down carries on with him to this day.

Asking Patrick to name his favorite cigar is like asking him to pick his favorite song from his extensive CD collection (yes, Patrick still collects CDs). From mild- to full-bodied tobaccos, from robustos to Churchills, Patrick counts himself lucky that cigars come in a plethora of shapes, sizes, colors, and profiles.

Patrick has a BA in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MA in international commerce and policy from George Mason University. He lives with his wife, Melissa, in the Lakeview East neighborhood of Chicago. When he is not at the office, Patrick enjoys visiting tobacconists, golf, writing, liberty, and rooting for the Cubs, Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, and Illini. He can often be found on the lakefront trails between Navy Pier and Belmont Harbor.

Patrick Semmens
Co-Founder, Publisher & Web Editor

spacer Spending the late summers of his youth on Long Island golfing and teaching sailing, cigar smoking came naturally to Patrick Semmens. And to this day, afloat under the power of the wind or while enjoying a round of golf remain two of Patrick’s favorite times to partake in a fine stogie.

Despite no longer living in New York, he feels strongly that his cigar preferences reflect his Brooklyn upbringing. Like New York City itself, “big and bold” is an apt description of Patrick’s cigar inclinations. While Padrons and CAOs represent his dependable favorites, he isn’t opposed to variety in his cigar choices, at times all together dispensing with his “big and bold” mantra.

In between living in Brooklyn and his recent move to the Washington area, Patrick spent four years at Colby College in Waterville, Maine where he earned a BA in government and a minor in philosophy, and he also spent one year traveling and working around the world. During that year he bartended aboard a charter yacht in New Zealand, worked on seismic survey ships searching for oil in the North Sea and South Atlantic, and taught English and coached soccer in a small village in Ghana, Africa.

Patrick now works at a non-profit legal defense foundation, and avidly follows politics. In his free time he enjoys tennis, golf, squash, sailing, watching the New York Mets or Rangers, and just relaxing with friends. With the exception of tennis and squash, all those activities represent prime opportunities to enjoy a stogie.

George Edmonson
Tampa Bureau Chief

spacer Retirement in Florida seems to suit George Edmonson about as well as the large Hawaiian shirts that have replaced the white ones he wore for years. And what better to complement an air of relaxation than the enjoyment of a nice cigar?

After smoking for a few years, George, 56, remains a firm believer in Robert Louis Stevenson’s (slightly paraphrased) sentiments: “The world is so full of a number of cigars, I’m sure we should all be as happy as czars.” The list of cigars George enjoys is so long and changes so frequently, he’d be hard pressed to choose a favorite.

As a journalist for nearly 35 years, George’s work ranged from participating in the creation of USA Today to covering the September 11, 2001 attack at the Pentagon. Perhaps his most outstanding accomplishment was that he managed to end up with no unfinished novel yellowing in the bottom desk drawer.

He grew up in Richmond, Virginia at a time when the warm aroma of tobacco wafted freely from warehouses, and the price of a pack of cigarettes and a gallon of gas were roughly the same—around a quarter. Interests nowadays beyond cigars include listening to music (one major recent project was converting his LPs to CDs), reading, relaxing, and trying to learn more about the computer.

Living in Tarpon Springs, Florida, George is in the heart of U.S. cigar country. The Tampa-St. Petersburg area has an abundance of great shops, great selections, and great smokers. In all honesty, that wasn’t what led him to move to the area. But sometimes you just get lucky.

Joey Jobes

Contributor

spacer Joey is not really sure why he was drawn to tobacco, but something about the hobby was always interesting to him. For his eighteenth birthday his main request was to try cigars, and after about six months of casually smoking he had received his first humidor (as a gift) and dove headfirst in.

His tastes in cigars are pretty varied, as is his taste in pipe tobacco. Everything from the mild yet exciting EPC New Wave Connecticut to the full, big flavor of a Liga Privada Feral Flying Pig can be found in his collection. He certainly has preferences though, tending to lean towards the thinner ring gauges, with coronas and lanceros being his favorite vitolas.

Currently, Joey is pursuing an MA in English literature at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, where he lives. When not buried in a pile of required reading, Joey can normally be found at one of the large tobacconists in the Lehigh Valley area, or at work at KTL, the tobacco lounge where he is employed. This year he will begin work on his Certified Retail Tobacconist license.

In terms of non-tobacco interest, Joey enjoys watching baseball, tennis, and golf, and is a big fan of films and television. All of these activities are normally enjoyed with a nice craft beer, typically from Dogfish Head, Troegs, Saucony Creek, Lancaster Brewing, or Great Lakes.

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