Cigar events: Hot events for a Los Angeles day
Southern California has 4 seasons of hell. Intense Santa Ana winds, flooding, fires that crop up without warning, and drought. The seasons actually have no monthly boundaries, they can happen and do all the time. You do not read about them in the tourist manuals or Chamber of Commerce sites.
Several months ago my neighborhood received a pre evacuation warning as a local fire developed east of the 405 known as the Skirball fire. The fire if not contained had the distinct possibility of jumping the natural divide of the 405 and heading in my direction. Local authorities wanted all residents to be prepared to flee in a moments notice.
This meant my wife and I needed to get our clothing, important papers, photos, medical supplies and anything we deemed vital in our cars and wait for the signal. This also meant our two cats and dog needed their supplies too. Cat carriers, food, toys, kitty litter, meds and pet beds all needed to be put in the cars too.
We gathered the “stuff”filled up the cars and made priorities what was essential and what stayed at the house. You do not have much time to think about this. However, it became very clear to me.
I needed to make a very difficult decision. What cigars to bring and how many? Should I just fill up one humidor, or several portable storage carriers ? All my gear needed to be put in one suitcase of decent size but not unlimited. A solid humidor would take up a good chunk of a corner. I made a quick decision.
I filled up a small humidor which held about 25 cigars, took two mobile carriers which stored about another 15 and several leather cases which held another 10. All told about 50 cigars were going with me if we needed to evacuate.
It was a very tense day as we waited for a signal from the one responders. As the events unfolded the fire was contained but we stayed in our house for two days in case we needed to leave. It took about 2 weeks for 100% containment of the Skirball fire.
The cigars eventually made it back to the safety of their humidors and I learned what was important to me and what was not.
Keep smoking.