Later today will be smoking an Alec Bradley New York...most appropriate I think.
9/11: Smoke a cigar with me in remembrance/appreciation
- Thread starter THEMISCHMAN
- Start date
Was sitting with the wife last night recalling this day and noting its significance to our generation as it related to 12/7/41 for our parents. Indeed, I will light up a Las Calaveras 2014 in remembrance of that day which will live in infamy.
Mr. McSquirelly
Joe Bananas
I had just moved to San Francisco from New York after graduating college. I had driven my beat-up '92 Jeep Cherokee across the United States for a fourth time, this time taking the southern route from Chicago down past the Grand Canyon and through the Arizona desert into Berdoo and Los Angeles. I found a flat in San Francisco and moved-in on August 1st. The night before the towers fell, I was up late partying with the Dickey Betts band. I knew the keyboardist, Matt Ziner, and he invited me onto the tour-bus after the show. I remember Dickey offering me beer and champagne and then saying, "Okay, folks, we're off to L.A., if you're coming with us stay on the bus. If ya ain't, get the hell off!" I laughed and went home.
I remember being so happy and tremendously excited with life a few weeks before. My fourth trip traversing these beautiful and wild United States of ours yet again re-affirmed for me what America truly is. From the dense forests of the Northeast to the majestic peaks of the Rockies, from the swamps of Florida to the arid deserts of Sonora, from the vast blue stretches of the Great Lakes to the endless rows of cornfields in the heartland, from the grassy rangelands of Wyoming to the dusty tumbleweeds of El Paso--this is one great big beautiful fucking country. THIS IS THE PLACE GOD CREATED FOR MAN AND WOMAN TO LIVE FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Free of tyranny, free of oppression, free from the iron fist of dictators. This is the land of endless possibilities--a land of promise, of hope, of beauty and of freedom. It's our land by birth. It's humankind's last chance to make good on what our creator intended for us--to live in peace and in freedom to pursue happiness.
I awoke that morning to a ringing telephone (I didn't get a cellphone till 2005 or 2006--I hated the goddamn things at first, and I guess I still do) and a throbbing head. Thanks for the cheap champers, Dickey. The phone must've rang for 5 minutes before I rolled out of bed groaning. It was an old buddy from New York, breathlessly stammering something very urgent and very troubling. My brain was too foggy to comprehend. Turn on television...airplanes...towers burning...people jumping...black clouds of smoke...IS YOUR BROTHER OKAY!!!!!!!!!! Yes, my brother worked for Goldman Sachs at the time. He had just started there that summer and was frequently going in and out of the Trade Centers every day. Suddenly it occurred to me. Something truly horrible and awful was happening, something this country had never known. I looked outside onto a busy street in San Francisco. There were no cars to be seen!!!!!!!! What the hell is going on? It should be rush-hour here. I didn't have a television because I was broke and everything was going to rent and food. Ahhh, I loved those days. But I had a radio. I turned it on. NO MUSIC on any station!!!! Holy Jesus. Something really, truly, awful is happening in New York. Every radio station was a news feed with reporters talking in muted and incredulous tones. A commercial airliner crashed into North Tower!!! Huge plumes of black smoke fill Wall St. Debris wafting through the air...people screaming...then another plane hits the south tower!!!! Complete and utter radio silence for at least a minute. I will never forget the sound of the impact coming from a reporter's microphone somewhere in that horrible turmoil. I heard it through the radio 3000 miles away from home with the same clarity as a fastball hitting a catcher's mitt. Then the reporter, a woman working for New York CBS radio, reporting very close to those towers, was screaming, screaming, screaming. Horror, fear, terror, incomprehension. Through that reporter's mike I could hear a chorus of screams of horror. Another plane has hit World Trade Center. This is no accident.
I spoke to my brother. He was on Water St. in his boss's office looking out from the 31st floor of his building with a direct view at the two towers. His office had advised everybody to remain calm and stay inside. I told him that reports from the ground were not good and that the safety zone was Canal St. and people were evacuating up the West Side highway. I paused to comprehend what I had just said. It still made no sense. It didn't seem possible. It was truly surreal in every sense of that word. I told him to ignore the advice of his office and leave immediately. Get to the West Side highway immediately. I told him I didn't know much about the details, but something truly awful and horrible was happening there. I still to this day do not remember how I contacted him. But I told him to get the hell out of there immediately. As he was walking towards the West Side Highway, he later told me, he heard the worst sound he's ever heard in his life. The air around him was being sucked away, a concussive sucking sound that turned into thunder and roaring and rushing and crashing and ripping and wrenching. An awful, ungodly, unearthly sound. He turned to see what it was. But all he could see was a massive cloud of soot and dust flooding the street. And he ran, screaming and crying and praying to God for life and not death.
He was one of the lucky ones that day. And on this day, in the deepest mood of reverence and grace, I thank God for sparing his life and pray for those who lost theirs, like my next-door neighbor's wife and two children who no longer have a father. I'm sorry if this piece brings up all the emotions of that day again, but this is the memory that will forever live in my heart. God Bless America. Death and destruction to her enemies.
P.S. That freedom I spoke of above comes at a price, and it ain't cheap. And that price is paid for by our servicemen and women. Thanks for your service.
I remember being so happy and tremendously excited with life a few weeks before. My fourth trip traversing these beautiful and wild United States of ours yet again re-affirmed for me what America truly is. From the dense forests of the Northeast to the majestic peaks of the Rockies, from the swamps of Florida to the arid deserts of Sonora, from the vast blue stretches of the Great Lakes to the endless rows of cornfields in the heartland, from the grassy rangelands of Wyoming to the dusty tumbleweeds of El Paso--this is one great big beautiful fucking country. THIS IS THE PLACE GOD CREATED FOR MAN AND WOMAN TO LIVE FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Free of tyranny, free of oppression, free from the iron fist of dictators. This is the land of endless possibilities--a land of promise, of hope, of beauty and of freedom. It's our land by birth. It's humankind's last chance to make good on what our creator intended for us--to live in peace and in freedom to pursue happiness.
I awoke that morning to a ringing telephone (I didn't get a cellphone till 2005 or 2006--I hated the goddamn things at first, and I guess I still do) and a throbbing head. Thanks for the cheap champers, Dickey. The phone must've rang for 5 minutes before I rolled out of bed groaning. It was an old buddy from New York, breathlessly stammering something very urgent and very troubling. My brain was too foggy to comprehend. Turn on television...airplanes...towers burning...people jumping...black clouds of smoke...IS YOUR BROTHER OKAY!!!!!!!!!! Yes, my brother worked for Goldman Sachs at the time. He had just started there that summer and was frequently going in and out of the Trade Centers every day. Suddenly it occurred to me. Something truly horrible and awful was happening, something this country had never known. I looked outside onto a busy street in San Francisco. There were no cars to be seen!!!!!!!! What the hell is going on? It should be rush-hour here. I didn't have a television because I was broke and everything was going to rent and food. Ahhh, I loved those days. But I had a radio. I turned it on. NO MUSIC on any station!!!! Holy Jesus. Something really, truly, awful is happening in New York. Every radio station was a news feed with reporters talking in muted and incredulous tones. A commercial airliner crashed into North Tower!!! Huge plumes of black smoke fill Wall St. Debris wafting through the air...people screaming...then another plane hits the south tower!!!! Complete and utter radio silence for at least a minute. I will never forget the sound of the impact coming from a reporter's microphone somewhere in that horrible turmoil. I heard it through the radio 3000 miles away from home with the same clarity as a fastball hitting a catcher's mitt. Then the reporter, a woman working for New York CBS radio, reporting very close to those towers, was screaming, screaming, screaming. Horror, fear, terror, incomprehension. Through that reporter's mike I could hear a chorus of screams of horror. Another plane has hit World Trade Center. This is no accident.
I spoke to my brother. He was on Water St. in his boss's office looking out from the 31st floor of his building with a direct view at the two towers. His office had advised everybody to remain calm and stay inside. I told him that reports from the ground were not good and that the safety zone was Canal St. and people were evacuating up the West Side highway. I paused to comprehend what I had just said. It still made no sense. It didn't seem possible. It was truly surreal in every sense of that word. I told him to ignore the advice of his office and leave immediately. Get to the West Side highway immediately. I told him I didn't know much about the details, but something truly awful and horrible was happening there. I still to this day do not remember how I contacted him. But I told him to get the hell out of there immediately. As he was walking towards the West Side Highway, he later told me, he heard the worst sound he's ever heard in his life. The air around him was being sucked away, a concussive sucking sound that turned into thunder and roaring and rushing and crashing and ripping and wrenching. An awful, ungodly, unearthly sound. He turned to see what it was. But all he could see was a massive cloud of soot and dust flooding the street. And he ran, screaming and crying and praying to God for life and not death.
He was one of the lucky ones that day. And on this day, in the deepest mood of reverence and grace, I thank God for sparing his life and pray for those who lost theirs, like my next-door neighbor's wife and two children who no longer have a father. I'm sorry if this piece brings up all the emotions of that day again, but this is the memory that will forever live in my heart. God Bless America. Death and destruction to her enemies.
P.S. That freedom I spoke of above comes at a price, and it ain't cheap. And that price is paid for by our servicemen and women. Thanks for your service.
Last edited:
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- Apr 9, 2015
- Messages
- 105
Im a Paramedic. That day I was home asleep after working afternoons at my job working Security/ Fire/ and EMS at the GM Proving Grounds. We were all Firefighter/ EMT's there. My wife woke me up in time to see the second plane hit. As the towers fell I just had a hollow feeling because I knew.
Tonight I will smoke a Liga 9 in rememberance of the forgotten ones. The 6 private EMS personnell who were lost. They are not included in the 343 lost of the FDNY, they're rarely mentioned when the rescuers are spoken of. Usually it is just FDNY, NYPD, and PAPD.
Tonight I will smoke a Liga 9 in rememberance of the forgotten ones. The 6 private EMS personnell who were lost. They are not included in the 343 lost of the FDNY, they're rarely mentioned when the rescuers are spoken of. Usually it is just FDNY, NYPD, and PAPD.
Ducttapegonewild
Actual Size
Here is a list of the names of the co-workers I lost on that day. Co-workers from my airline, and co-workers from the other airline involved.
American Airlines Flight 11
Pilots
Captain John Ogonowski
First Officer Thomas McGuinness
Flight Attendants
Barbara “Bobbie” Arestegui
Jeffrey Collman
Sara Low
Karen Martin
Kathleen Nicosia
Betty Ong
Jean Roger
Dianne Snyder
Madeline Sweeney
American family members
Laurie Neira
Renee Newell
United Airlines Flight 175
Pilots
Captain Victor Saracini
First Officer Michael Horrocks
Flight Attendants
Robert Fangman
Amy Jarret
Amy King
Kathryn LaBorie
Alfred Marchand
Michael Tarrou
Alicia Titus
American Airlines Flight 77
Pilots
Captain Charles “Chic” Burlingame
First Officer David Charlebois
Flight Attendants
Michele Heidenberger
Jennifer Lewis
Kenneth Lewis
Renee May
American family members
M. J. Booth
Eddie Dillard
Captain Bud Flagg (Retired)
Dee Flagg
United Airlines Flight 93
Pilots
Captain Jason Dahl
First Officer LeRoy Homer
Flight Attendants
Lorraine Bay
Sandra Bradshaw
Wanda Green
CeeCee Lyles
Deborah Welsh
American Airlines Flight 11
Pilots
Captain John Ogonowski
First Officer Thomas McGuinness
Flight Attendants
Barbara “Bobbie” Arestegui
Jeffrey Collman
Sara Low
Karen Martin
Kathleen Nicosia
Betty Ong
Jean Roger
Dianne Snyder
Madeline Sweeney
American family members
Laurie Neira
Renee Newell
United Airlines Flight 175
Pilots
Captain Victor Saracini
First Officer Michael Horrocks
Flight Attendants
Robert Fangman
Amy Jarret
Amy King
Kathryn LaBorie
Alfred Marchand
Michael Tarrou
Alicia Titus
American Airlines Flight 77
Pilots
Captain Charles “Chic” Burlingame
First Officer David Charlebois
Flight Attendants
Michele Heidenberger
Jennifer Lewis
Kenneth Lewis
Renee May
American family members
M. J. Booth
Eddie Dillard
Captain Bud Flagg (Retired)
Dee Flagg
United Airlines Flight 93
Pilots
Captain Jason Dahl
First Officer LeRoy Homer
Flight Attendants
Lorraine Bay
Sandra Bradshaw
Wanda Green
CeeCee Lyles
Deborah Welsh
THEMISCHMAN
SGT Hulka
Today seemed like an appropriate day to crack my box of these.
bdc30
BoM May '11
Always my most special cigar of the year.
THEMISCHMAN
SGT Hulka
Keep em coming guys.
I wrote in the other thread, but I'll bump here and post up a pic...
NEVER FORGET all those affected that horrific day.
And a special thank you to our courageous men and women in the armed forces, day in and day out overseas in the sandbox kicking ass and taking names for our great country!!
NEVER FORGET all those affected that horrific day.
And a special thank you to our courageous men and women in the armed forces, day in and day out overseas in the sandbox kicking ass and taking names for our great country!!
THEMISCHMAN
SGT Hulka
bdc30
BoM May '11
Never forget. Having an Oscuro from the box I posted while watching documentary on national geographic. These have rounded in to really nice cigars too, a fitting tribute to those who sacrificed so much that day and every day since.
THEMISCHMAN
SGT Hulka
Bump. I guess I missed last year. Damn.
THEMISCHMAN
SGT Hulka
bdc30
BoM May '11
My favorite cigar ritual of the year, the My Father 9/11 10th anniversary stick, of which I only smoke one per year on the anniversary. In memory of the 343 of New York's Bravest, and the almost 3,000 innocent victims of that terrible day. Never forget, brothers.
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