Football and cigars are indeed, a very manly combination.

Cigar loving Washington Redskins fans can now enjoy the ultimate smoking experience while watching their favorite team at the elegant new Montecristo Club, which recently opened at Fed Ex Field. The Montecristo Club is Washington DC’s largest cigar lounge and the only one in America to be located in a football stadium.

Located on Fed Ex Field’s exclusive Club Level, the lounge accommodates over 1,000 guests. Spacious and warmly welcoming, the beautiful Montecristo Club features plush leather chairs, a full bar, flat panel TV’s for
football viewing and a stellar selection of Altadis U.S.A. premium cigars including Montecristo, H. Upmann,
Romeo y Julieta, Trinidad, and many more.

The Montecristo Club is the only place where smoking is permitted in the stadium. It was created to offer
enthusiasts a smoker-friendly, luxury destination for enjoying their favorite cigars while watching the game.
The Montecristo Club will also accommodate tailgaters in the Fed Ex Field parking lot where Montecristo girls
will be on hand in golf carts selling Altadis U.S.A. cigars.

Publishers Note: I hope there’s a lot of mirrors in that gorgeous club… ’cause the Red Skins are gonna need that and some smoke to win a few games this season. But at least they have the good people of Altadis to thank for saving their season.

For more information, contact Janelle Rosenfeld at (954) 938-7837 or jrosenfeld@altadisusa.com
www.altadisusa.

Marvel was always so bad-ass and rebellious. Spiderman was a wise-ass, gloating little bastard who always kicked villain tuckus. Captain America was thawed from an ice block he fell into during WW2 and came back alive to fight for justice! Ironman was high-tech robotic; Thor, with flowing golden locks and the hammer of all ass-kicking hammers, he was the mighty god of thunder; Namor, Prince of the Deep, aka the Submarnier, and the Incredible Hulk whose bad hygiene alone could wipe out an army, had those pants that always turned purple and grew along with him. “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” Now these guys were super f@#king heroes! Don’t forget the mega-teams of the Xmen and the incomparable Fantasic Four: a rubber dude, a guy who turns to flames, an invisible hottie and a fella made of rocks. Can you imagine when he would go for a massage with the happy ending? Hey Ben, is that Stonehenge in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Super hero comics were a very cool escape for me as a teen, and I loved to draw the characters so much that I actually went to school for cartoon and comic illustration at the Joe Kubert school in Dover New Jersey. Not sure how the progression to cigar blog writer happened, but hey, I’m happy. I even had a massive collection of very early Marvel comics that were worth a fortune over 25 years ago, and I sold most of them to attend my final year of school, including Avengers #1 in NM condition with both artist Jack Kirby and inker Dick Ayers signatures. Back then I sold it for $125. I bet that son of a bitch is worth ten grand around now. At least it’s not the old story that my mother threw them out while I was at college.

One of the coolest memories from comics as a little kid was the corny, bullshit advertising inside it’s pages. Remember the 98-pound weakling who got his ass kicked and his chick stolen? Yeah, Charles Atlas turned you into a man. In today’s politically correct version, the wimp would beef up and return to the beach just to walk off with the other muscle dude. FABULOUS! The best were those pages filled with little display ads for Onion Gum, the Two-Man sub, X-Ray specs, Black Face Soap, and the 7-foot Glow-in-the-Dark Monster, guaranteed to make any child soil his Underoos.

First off, X-Ray Specs was the ultimate weapon for a horn-dog little MILF Hunter like me. Damn, the thought of checkin’ out my pals cougar moms unmentionables was worth any price! All I would have to do was strap on a pair of these inconspicuous, gigantic plastic-framed, red lens glasses and I would instantly turn into a super little pervert within seconds! Yeah, that’s EXACTLY how they worked…NOT! All they did was turn stuff to shadow leaving a young and spunky Zman, very high and irritatingly dry. But hey, a Two-Man Sub for only three bucks? Man, we could navigate the world’s oceans and go on the most gnarley adventures…NOT! The bogus sub was nothing more than a flat, one-sided cardboard cutout with a little porthole window. Another blatant rip-off as Captain Zmoe, I was not to be. My friend ordered the 7-foot monster and it was a thin plastic poster of a pseudo Frankenstein. I did not soil myself as promised by the manufacturer. I never got to order the onion gum or the black face soap, but there’s still plenty of time to accomplish my life’s goals and dreams.

The biggest con we all may agree on were those little ads that simply asked you to draw Winky, or Tippy the Turtle, or the emotionally disturbed Pirate. It was the Famous Artist’s Institute that asked you to draw this inane little character then send it in for evaluation by the school’s leading illustrators and design professionals. Yeah, it was bogus as you received a big-ass packet telling you that you didn’t win a scholarship, but they would love you to take the mail order course that wasn’t free. And worse yet, they called you on the phone three times a week for months with all kinds of incentives to join. I got so god damned annoyed at these bastards that I went and drew up Wonky, the Angry Penis Head and sent it in to the Institute. Wonky was a shiny little helmet with beady eyes and a nasty disposition. I even included a note that read: Evaluate THIS you f@#king frauds! Thankfully I stopped receiving letters and calls from the Famous folks, but was repeatedly contacted by Oui, Juggs, High Society, and Cherri for the next few years. Guess them people knew talent when they saw it.

Now with all the super movies – Spiderman, Xmen, Fantastic Four, and most recently Ironman and the Hulk, and… with a Captain America, Thor, and Avengers flick in the works – it really makes me feel like a kid again and nothing is cooler than sharing these gnarley heroes with my kid.

Nuff said.

- Z