‘Monk Tabaco and the Square & Compasses’

    

Monk Tabaco

An online discussion of rope tobaccos for the pipe led me to the existence of an Argentine tobacco company named Monk that, for reasons I cannot discover, employs the Square and Compasses for a logo. I thought I’d share some info here.

Monk Tabaco

I gather Monk adheres to the boutique approach, offering its mixtures in small quantities, so the oligarchy of pipe tobacco makers should fear no danger. Maybe success will produce growth. (I don’t find any distribution in the United States.)

Monk Tabaco

It uses ingredients with which we are familiar, and it makes pipe mixtures in the forms we know. There are ribbon, flake, and—impressively—the rope tobaccos. Monk sells aromatics and the usual traditional blends, so there’s something for just about everyone. They manufacture cigars also, but pipe mixtures seem to be Monk’s emphasis. Actually, I’m only assuming they make the goods.

Monk Tabaco

No hablo español, so I can’t decipher its website, but some of its Facebook posts are translated into English.

Monk Tabaco

When looking at the prices, don’t have a heart attack. The goods are valued in Argentine pesos, which is denominated with the same dollar sign we use. For example, the 100-gram tin of Mediterráneo Edición Especial retails for $3,450.00—and, in U.S. dollars, that’s $15.52. (If you think inflation here is debilitating, you won’t believe what’s happening in Argentina!)

The Grand Lodge of Argentina is among the recognized family comprised of most Freemasons. From what I’ve read, I would say our Argentine brethren practice the variety of Freemasonry favored by the Grand Orient of France, as opposed to the Anglo-American type. Click here and check it out.

     

‘The great mission of our fraternity’

    

The hundredth anniversary of the constitution of my lodge is a month away, so I am reading about that occasion and about the concurrent activities of Freemasonry in the State of New York. The latter is particularly impressive.

The Grand Lodge of New York obviously was a huge jurisdiction. Its lodges numbered 921 and had 272,634 Master Masons on the rolls in 1922-23. And it was a force internationally, having chartered lodges in Finland and Romania, with more planned in Hungary.

Europe’s wounds from the First World War were still being triaged, and the Grand Lodge became a leader in trying to establish an international federation of Masonic grand lodges to reconnect the fraternal bonds severed by the war. Ultimately, the Masonic International Association, the first of its kind in the Order’s history, did not come to fruition, but the Grand Lodge of New York was alone among the forty-nine U.S. jurisdictions to make the effort. Grand Master Arthur Tompkins, in his address to the Grand Lodge at the close of that term, said:

MW Arthur S. Tompkins

The spirit of strife is abroad in the world. National hatred, racial hatred, class prejudices, religious hatred, and individual hatreds are the curse of humanity and a blight upon the civilization of the twentieth century, and the world needs the influences of religion and the precepts of the Great Light in Masonry and the practical application of the Doctrine of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man to cure its ills and heal its wounds and calm the passions and subdue the prejudices of men and classes of men and nations and to bring concord, peace, and happiness to all nations. These are the only forces that can reach and regenerate the hearts of men and transform their brutal, selfish, and intolerance instincts into the attributes of love and service and toleration, and we American nations should welcome every opportunity to extend our activities and influences throughout the world….

Why cannot Masonry cooperate throughout the world to help suffering humanity and save the civilization now in jeopardy?

American Freemasonry, with all its prosperity and strength, owes to the Masons of all the countries of the world its sympathy, cooperation, the influence of its ideals, the power of its example, and the benefits of its counsel and leadership. We American Masons should not confine our activities and benefactions to our own country and our own national problems. The Masons of Europe are looking to us for leadership, and I believe that a union of all the Masonic forces in the world will be a great power, a potential force, for the promotion of the spirit of fraternity and brotherhood, peace and goodwill and may materially aid in the moral reconstruction of the world.

It’s a grandiose message to the modern ear. Quite a shift in Masonry’s focus from how Tompkins expressed it then to today. Now it isn’t even “our own national problems” (if only), but is merely the fraternity’s organizational maladies. But a century ago was patriotic times. The Grand Lodge made Masonic holidays of Flag Day and George Washington’s Masonic birthday for the lodges to celebrate. MW Tompkins urged the lodges to support public education, calling it “the cornerstone and bulwark of our liberties, and the only sure guarantee of our stability and perpetuity as a republic.” (Talk about changing times!) And, of course, there was the recent establishment of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Hospital.

Outside the sacred retreat, Arthur Tompkins was a major figure in civic and political life. A party chairman, a holder of judgeships, a U.S. Congressman. During the years he served as deputy grand master and grand master of the Grand Lodge of New York, Arthur S. Tompkins also was a New York Supreme Court justice. From what I’ve read, Tompkins simply could have asked for his party’s gubernatorial nomination in 1926, but he did not, and he endorsed another judge. In the thirties, near the end of his life, Tompkins was an associate justice of the Appellate Division.

And, yes, he was related to Daniel D. Tompkins; theirs was a family that established roots in America in the 1640s.

On Americanism, he was an idealist. In that same speech to the Grand Lodge, he concluded:

I have heard it stated by overzealous Masons that our government is a Masonic government. If by that they mean that Masons had much to do with the early history of our Republic, its birth and growth, they are right, but if intended in the broader sense, they are wrong and such statements are only calculated to cause controversy and resentment. We hear people talk about a white man’s government, and a Protestant government. These statements are true only in the sense that there are more white people and more Protestants in our country than there are people of other colors and creeds. Our Government is not exclusively a white man’s government, or a Catholic, or a Protestant or a Jewish or a Gentile Government, in the sense that the liberties, privileges, opportunities, and all the good things of the American Republic are for one class alone or that one class or race or creed may dominate all others in respect of their liberties, rights and privileges, and never will be such a Government if the ideals and purposes of the patriot fathers, the founders of our Republic, are perpetuated. Ours is a great democracy, made up of all kinds and classes, from all nations and all tongues and creeds. It is a Government as Lincoln declared “of the people, by the people and for the people,” of and by and for all the people, Jew and Gentile, Protestant and Catholic, white and black, and we cannot set up class against class, labor against capital, Protestant against Catholic, Jew against Gentile, the white man against the black man, without impairing the stability and imperiling the perpetuity of our Republic. Our democracy cannot permanently endure unless all classes, creeds, and races are allowed to live and work and worship freely and peaceably under the equal protection of the law. Any movement that is calculated to fan and intensify the fires of religious bigotry or class antagonisms or race prejudices will be deprecated and deplored by men who love their country and who want to keep it noble and make its future greater. There are peaceful and lawful agencies for the punishment of crime, the protection of individual and property rights, the redress of wrong, the vindication of the right and the preservation of our institutions and all the things that we Masons hold dear. Let us then be true to our Masonic faith and by precept and example, by loyalty and steadfastness, strive to allay the bitterness, to close the breach, to heal the wounds that have been and are being caused by these unfortunate and unnecessary antagonisms. Let our aim and all our influence be for a universal brotherhood and a world-wide peace, that is the great mission of our fraternity.

Arthur Tompkins cocktail

In my brief reading on Arthur Sydney Tompkins, I see how he was a serious cigar lover, and that the Rockland Tobacco Company of Nyack sold a cigar named Judge Tompkins Corona with the tagline “A Supreme Cigar Verdict.” I also stumbled across the existence of a cocktail named Arthur Tompkins. I haven’t yet found its history (nor have I pinned down his politics vis-à-vis Prohibition), so I can’t conclude it is named for our past grand master, but I’ll keep looking. The recipe is simple though:

 Photos courtesy cocktailpro

     

‘Who, What, When, Where, and sometimes Wyoming’

    

Digitized proceedings from A to W. (Mark Tabbert photo)

It seems like it wasn’t even a year ago that I updated you on the digitization project underway by the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, and word came today that the work will be completed this week.

Mark Tabbert shared the good news several hours ago, explaining how the Wyoming Grand Commandery books of proceedings will be the last of the texts to be scanned and saved for eternity as searchable digital files. Well, he didn’t mention eternity. That’s just my excitement pulsing through. And I am excited because these official, published records of our grand lodges, grand chapters, etc. are big parts of the first draft of history.

When researchers like us want to get an idea of something that happened in our past, these texts are invaluable. Maybe you seek a hard fact, like the number of cigars donated in 1919 to the residents of the California Masonic Home (750). Perhaps you’re studying something that’s more of a trend, such as expulsions of Masons for being drunks or bad husbands. (Those were the days.) Or statistics might be needed. (Wisconsin’s lodges collectively rejected 294 petitions in 1875.) These books contain such data and a lot more.

Naturally, they’re written by people, so you’ll have to anticipate some errors and some very deliberate omissions, but we have to start somewhere. And somewhere is right here.

For this to happen, our grand lodges and other governing bodies must pay a nominal fee of $1,000 for the initial set-up costs, and then a thousand annually to maintain the online access to their books, so if your Freemasonry isn’t included among these digital documents, maybe tell your Grand Ones to cough up the dough and preserve the archives of Masonry from inundations and conflagrations. As Mark says, the work is done already; only the uploading is required now.

(Of course, we New York Masons have our own thing, as you might expect of us.)

     

‘New Grotto for Long Island’

     

I regret not having a credit for this one.

They say Long Island isn’t an island at all but is a peninsula. Nevertheless, a Grotto is an Enchanted Realm, and Rockville Centre will gain one this month.

On Saturday the 30th, at the Valley, Prophets from all over will gather to launch Lier Grotto of the Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm.

Formal attire. 6:30 p.m.

Hearty congratulations to all making this happen!

It’s a busy month for the Prophets.

Next Wednesday, Azim Grotto will host another cigar night, this time in partnership with Cornerstone Lodge 178. This will be at Pacificana in Brooklyn.

There’ll be a quick business meeting, but the eating, drinking, and smoking will proceed without delay. $50 per person. It’s a “brother bring a friend night.”

Six o’clock. 55th & 8th.

Meanwhile, right now actually, the Empire State Grotto Association is meeting in Buffalo. Our Grand Monarch is coming. Elections of new officers.

It’s too far for me. I’m headed a hundred miles north of the city as it is for the Cryptic Festival tomorrow.

     

‘My Masonic research speech’

     

I had a great day last Saturday: attended the research lodge in the morning and AMD at night, with an intermission at a cigar store that happens to be popular with the brethren. At both Masonic meetings, which fortunately took place in the same room, I dusted off my stock speech on the direction Masonic research lodges should take, with an emphasis on places to find information, whether online or in a building somewhere.

I’ve written and talked about it here and there for many years. Thanks to Mark Tabbert, I gave it more focus at some point. He and I were in a hospitality suite at a Masonic Week long ago chatting about the plight of research lodges when he pointed out how their labors could be simplified by zeroing in on local subject matter. For example, New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786 would explore history and biography of the fraternity in that state. It sounds simple and obvious, but somehow that’s not what typically happens in research lodges. Too often, the few who endeavor to write papers are drawn to subjects that either are too broad (e.g., the medieval Knights Templar), are irrelevant (Templars again), or otherwise are beyond the writers’ abilities.

So write about local Masonic history. It’s in your backyard. Grand lodge archives, lodge records, historical societies, libraries, church records, the occasional graveyard, museums, and other local resources exist for you.

To illustrate the point, I pitched numerous names of lodges and Masons from the embryonic period of New Jersey Freemasonry of the last four decades of the eighteenth century that would be ideal for storytelling. I figure a man who was a Freemason during this period most likely had to be “a somebody” in society—a real pezzonovante in government or commerce or religion, etc.

Take the Ogden family. The secretary of St. John’s Lodge in Newark during the 1760s was Lewis Ogden. The brother who made possible George Washington’s St. John’s Day festivities at Morristown in 1779 by getting the lodge’s paraphernalia from Newark to the military lodge there was Moses Ogden.

Ogden is a very prominent name in the state’s history, practically right up to the present day. The first New Jersey Ogdens, the Puritans who settled there in the 1600s, were stone masons. There’s a great story there!

The other speaker at the research lodge that morning was Bro. Erich, a candidate for a doctorate in history who also is our QCCC local secretary. He discussed similar aspects of Masonic learning; because he went first, I had to trim a lot of what I usually would have said.

Between the two meetings, Bro. Byron brought me to a favorite smoke shop. Mane Street Cigars in Woodbridge is a great place to socialize and smoke, and apparently it’s very popular with Masons. We could have opened a lodge! Even without so many of us being on the Square, it is an extremely friendly place. Everyone who enters receives greetings from all, and they themselves make a point of saying hello to everyone. Very cool.

Because man cannot live by pipes alone, I chose a La Gloria Serie R Maduro—my first cigar in a really long time—and it was heavenly. One of those smokes you savor all the way up to the head. This was a No. 5, about a Toro shape.

I’ll wrap up this unusually long edition of The Magpie Mason with a reminder that I will present this Masonic research talk again on October 28 at The American Lodge of Research in Manhattan. This time, I’ll have a list of suitable New York Masonic topics to suggest for research. Seven o’clock in the French Doric Room.

     

‘A Masonic menu for our return to lodge’

     

     

These are grim days on social media, but one cry of pain I saw on Farcebook yesterday tugs at the Naked Heart. A brother in England said he was dying for a Festive Board.

Perfectly normal. Perfectly understandable. Who knows how much longer it will be?

Something else I stumbled across a day or so ago in a Masonic Standard from 1903 is a humorous item about a recent dinner, to wit:

Masonic Menu

The Quarterly Bulletin of Cedar Rapids publishes the following bill of fare of a banquet given by Emulation Lodge 255 at Clinton, Iowa:

Oysters

(Silence and Circumspection)

Celery, Olives, Pickles,

Sliced Chicken

(The Faithful Breast)

Sliced Tongue

(The Instructive Tongue)

Potato Salad

(Oil of Joy)

Ham Sandwiches

(The Hidden Mysteries)

White and Brown Bread

(Corn of Nourishment)

Ice Cream

(Here Cold and Mute)

Cake, Fruit, Nuts, Coffee

(Wine of Refreshment)

Cigars

(Brought to Light)

I’ll have to remember that cigar line and work it into conversation.

That P-J ad at the top comes from an English Masonic periodical from the same era. Piper-Heidsieck is my own favorite label, but I wouldn’t decline a flute of Perrier-Jouet at table. It’s been so long, I would effuse joy and gladness for a cup of cold duck. Vivat!

     

‘Launch of Prince Hall cigars’

     

Bro. David Blanco, of Blanco Cigars, announced Monday the release of a line of Nicaraguan sticks named for one of the most significant figures in the history of Freemasonry.

The launch was slowed by complications arising from the pandemic, but the first run of the two lines of Prince Hall cigars is reaching stores now. They are available online also.

From the publicity:

Prince Hall by Blanco Cigars are manufactured in Estelí, Nicaragua by Blanco Cigars at the family’s factory, and blended by Master Blender and fifth generation Master Mason David Blanco.

The genesis and creation of the brand started over a year ago, but due to COVID-19, is just now making its way to market as a regular production cigar. The impetus behind the brand was a desire to recognize and honor a great man and legend in the history of the United States and Freemasonry: Prince Hall. He was known as one of the most influential free black leaders during the founding of the United States in the 1700s, fighting slavery as one of the leading abolitionists and for equal education rights. He is also famously known as the father of Black Freemasonry which, to this day, is known as Prince Hall Masonry.

Available in two wrappers.

Habano Maduro
A full body cigar with rich, robust flavors and aromas. Including notes of leather, wood and earth with a floral bouquet and hint of spice throughout the retro-hale. Culminating with a clean, smooth finish.
Wrapper: Habano Maduro (Nicaragua)
Binder: Sumatra
Fillers: Nicaraguan
5 x 50 Square
6 x 52 Compass
6 x 60 Level
7 x 70 Boaz

Habano Rosado
A medium body cigar with complex notes of oak, leather and caramel with a pleasant floral aroma. Culminating in a slightly sweet, creamy, textured smoke with a clean, smooth finish.       
Wrapper: Habano Rosado (Nicaragua)
Binder: Nicaraguan
Fillers: Nicaraguan
5 x 50 Square
6 x 52 Compass
6 x 60 Level
7 x 70 Jachin

Square, Compass and Level sizes come in 50 count boxes and are also available five packs.

Boaz and Jachin sizes come in 30 count boxes and are also available in five packs.

     

‘Weird Fact Wednesday: The Capitular cure for COVID-19?’

     
I knew the archives of Freemasonry would yield some kernel of information leading us toward a cure for the Chinese Virus, and I think I’ve got it!

“It is tobacco.”

Courtesy of the Illinois Royal Arch Companions, the “Report on Correspondence” within the 1913 Book of Proceedings of the Grand Chapter of California informs us of the surefire way to prevent cholera—and they knew a thing or two about pestilence back then, you betcha!

Excerpted:


And now comes forward a comforter for that much maligned and long-suffering Companion: the man who smokes in the Chapter room. It seems that Dr. Wenck, of the Imperial Institute of Berlin, has discovered an infallible preventive of cholera, and similar maladies. It is tobacco. He has demonstrated that cholera microbes will not survive more than half an hour when exposed to tobacco smoke, and that smokers are entirely free from the bacilli. Now, as you all know, the recent immigrations are mainly from cholera-infected countries. Hence, for hygienic reasons, smoking should be encouraged. You might cut this out and paste it on the Tyler’s door.

Note—The Professor further says: that genuine Havana is the best microbe killer, and that combinations of oakum and Michigan cabbage leaf are ineffectual. The Steward should bear this in mind when he purchases the ropes.


Cholera, of course is bacterial, whereas the Chinese Virus is, well, a virus, so my theory here isn’t foolproof but, as “Freemasonry is a progressive science,” I think this is worth investigating. While I’m not necessarily in favor of smoking in the Chapter (or Lodge) room, I suppose I could get used to it. If you insist.

(I personally abstain from Havanas, because they are made by slave labor.)
     

‘Veiled Prophet cigars’

     

I feel like I may be the only Freemason who hasn’t yet sampled Hiram and Solomon cigars, but I’m a pipe smoker, so I plead nolo contendere. The company has expanded its offerings to include a line named for the fastest growing order in the Masonic family: the Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm!

We call it the Grotto for short. Here’s what the cigar makers say about their new Veiled Prophet sticks in their publicity:


In spite of its name, the Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm is not an occult or mystical organization, but entirely a fellowship association for Master Masons. The order was created in 1889 by LeRoy Fairchild and members of a Masonic lodge in Hamilton, New York. It grew out of an expressed desire of lodge members for diversions from the mundane concerns. Meeting for the first time in September of 1889, the order was originally known as the Fairchild Deviltry Committee. The idea proved a popular one, and the next year, members of the growing organization formally instituted the Supreme Council of the Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm. From the beginning, membership was limited to Master Masons in good standing.


I’m not sure what is meant by “mundane,” but the cigars come in several shapes. The website shows a toro, named the Monarch, which is six inches in length and has a hefty 54 ring gauge. There also is a double corona, named the Grand Monarch, which measures a massive 7x60. On Facebook they also show what looks like a lonsdale, but their website doesn’t give specs on that.

The blend? It is said to consist of a Colorado wrapper from Brazil, binder leaves from Indonesia, and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and Paraguay, including some ligero, so I’m guessing this is a pretty full-bodied smoke. The publicity says the Veiled Prophet “elicits the aroma of cedar, coffee and caramel, finishing with hints of earth and pepper.”

It seems there is only one retailer in Manhattan who carries the brand, so check them out at Cigarillos on Spring Street in SoHo.
     

‘I wasn’t expecting the Spanish Inquisition!’

     
There is nothing unusual about a Masonic ring sparking a conversation, or even a ring resulting in someone being brought into the Masonic fraternity, but I’ll share my story today.

In the summer of 1996, I was very busily employed as editor of a bunch of newspapers, working a minimum of 50 hours per week. Newspaper journalism, being in many ways a highly satisfying, but particularly poorly paying line of work, left me in need of supplemental income. At around that same time, Lew Rothman moved his flagship cigar store to a new location. I can no longer remember what this new site previously had been, but it was a giant building with thousands of square feet for retail space, thousands more for office space, and yet thousands more for warehouse space, and thus this became the corporate headquarters of Rothman’s tobacco wholesale and retail empire. I took a part-time job in cigar sales there at the height of what fondly is remembered as the Cigar Boom of the 1990s, working 28 hours between Friday and Sunday nights. I loved both jobs, so I really didn’t mind working the approximately 80 hours per week, a pace I would maintain for several years, even after my newspaper work left me in charge of a dozen papers.

It was a great time to be a tobacconist. The public was rediscovering the sublime joys of setting “gentle flame to fragrant leaf,” and everyone who possessed even a mild curiosity about any of it flocked to this wonderland of a cigar store with its inventory of thousands of cigars from all over Latin America and the Caribbean—including Cuba (pre-embargo Flor de Farachs). We salesmen in this store at this time comprised a faculty of cigar experts. We had our different approaches to learning about it. I myself had been an occasional smoker since the day of my high school commencement about a decade prior, doing most of my shopping at a Perkins shop in a nearby mall, and, of course, at Mr. Rothman’s previous shop a few towns over from me. But by the mid ’90s I was devouring everything I could read: Cigar Aficionado, Cigar Insider (both published by Marvin Shanken, who I would meet at the store one day), and Smoke magazine, and Pipes & Tobaccos. I was fascinated by it all and learned all I could, from the agriculture of the various cultivations of tobacco plants and the post-harvest processes inside the tobacco barns—talk about alchemy!—to the rolling, aging, packaging, and inspecting at the cigar factories. Humidors, cutters, lighters, and the skillful ways to use them all correctly. The histories of the brands, with those poor Cuban farmers who fled for their lives, bearing scarcely more than a jar of seeds, to destinations in Florida, the DR, Nicaragua, Honduras (the source of my favorite smokes), and elsewhere.

Anyone who brings forth cherished fruits from the soil of our world works miracles that merit our admiration. Their foods sustain us, timber houses us, flowers adorn, and luxuries, such as Nicotiana, can enhance innocent social pleasures. Smoking cigars can be highly enjoyable while alone, but the magic really works when cigars are taken communally. Strangers can acquaint, and friends can bond.

The crew in the gigantic humidor we worked in was a great bunch of personalities. We had our day jobs, but loved getting together to “work” at the store. Smoking Partagas 150s like they were free. I was becoming friendly with Darren, who looked about my age (actually we vaguely resembled each other), was employed as an engineer in a smart person’s profession, and preferred a lot of the same cigars and pipes as I. We had a similar work ethic in that our hands were always busy and never idle. While he was typing away on the computerized cash register, ringing up a customer, I spied his Masonic ring. At some later point, I asked about it and about his role in the fraternity. I wasn’t completely ignorant of Freemasonry; my grandfather was Master of his lodge in the 1970s, and I knew a little about the fraternity simply from being editor of many newspapers and receiving the amateur press releases and photographs from area lodges. And I had been curious about joining. In an unusual circumstance, the town where I grew up also was home to two Masonic lodges. The unusual part was how the lodges did not share a common building, but actually were located a few miles apart, which is just odd for a small suburban town. The Shriners also were around in yet a third building. Major roads were marked with those signs that lodges erect to alert Travelling Men to the locations and meeting times of the lodges. Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m., I noted every time I passed one, so on a Wednesday night I visited the lodge that stood on the state highway that bisected the town. I was delighted to find that the lodge could not be reached by car from the highway. Instead one had to finagle around some side streets to access the lodge property. Having lived in town, I knew all about historic and obscure Old Road. I parked and knocked on the door.

It was July. Nobody was home.

But chatting with Darren about Freemasonry at the store repeatedly over time, my interest in the Craft kindled. I had told him about my grandfather, and Darren one night brought an old book of grand lodge proceedings to try to find something about him or his lodge. Nothing was in the record. Neither of us knew that only current members of the grand lodge were listed, whereas my grandfather had died several years earlier. More time passed with more conversation. Months. I learned that although Darren resided in central New Jersey, he was part of a lodge located 50 miles from home. That must be a special lodge, I figured.

I was waiting for him to ask me if I wanted to join; he was waiting for me to “ASK1 2B1,” or whatever that dumb bumper-sticker says. Darren clarified the matter at some point, and I said I’d love to apply. In fairly short order, I was taken to the city where his lodge was located to meet several lodge officers who looked me over, and I was given a petition to complete and return to the secretary. Several more months passed before I received a letter informing me of my election to membership, and instructing me to report to the lodge for initiation on June 18, 1997.

Lapel pin from Menorah Lodge’s
diamond anniversary in 1999.

To be honest, Menorah Lodge 249 was on its last legs. New Master Masons who exhibited potential and promise silently were assigned a number—being the year they would be installed in the Solomonic Chair. Darren, I think, was 2002. I was 2003. The lodge wouldn’t endure that long, but it provided a solid grounding in what Freemasonry is supposed to be about. I believe that if I had successfully stumbled into either of those two lodges in my old hometown, I would have been denied that fundamental experience and education. As you might guess, Menorah Lodge was a lodge of Jewish Masons. Some know what that entails, but to explain very briefly, it was not a place for what Stephen Dafoe would term “Freemasonarianism”—a cultural and intellectual dead zone in the guise of a Masonic lodge. Anyway, being new, I watched what Darren did, sometimes to great surprise. One night the lodge welcomed a doctor who spoke on the medical use of magnets. Something to do with the iron in our blood, if I recall. I was interested, but when the speaker mentioned he was selling magnet kits or whatever, Darren shot out of his seat and headed for the door. The speaker merely committed a faux pas; serious lodges are not supposed to host salesmen. I wasn’t offended, but Darren’s strong reaction was a learning moment, and the memory stays with me. And along the way, he and I joined the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite together in May of 1998. We had little idea of what it was, but we heard it was the “College of Freemasonry,” and college sounded good to us.

It was a long all-day event on a Saturday with, of course the initiates seated as audience members. Lodge of Perfection degrees, followed by Council Princes of Jerusalem degrees, followed by the Rose Croix Degree, and culminating with the 32º. I’ve lost track of what this degree is today, but 20 years ago it was Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret and conveyed a lesson told in the fictional life of a soldier named Constans. He faced various trials of temptations in tests to become a knight, including the lure of salvation from a beckoning Catholic eminence attired in the scarlet robe and broad-rimmed hat familiar also to devotees of a certain venerable television comedy.

© Python (Monty) Pictures

Despite the gravity of the action on the stage, I leaned over to Darren and whispered—and I hereby sincerely promise and swear I did this as softly as possible—“I wasn’t expecting the Spanish Inquisition!” He and about eight guys encircling us in the theater seating cracked up laughing. I defy anyone who knows the Monty Python “Spanish Inquisition” sketch to not remember Michael Palin when they see that red get-up on someone else, no matter how solemn the occasion!

© Universal Pictures

(Speaking of great comedic actors, Darren went by nicknames involving John Belushi, thanks to a facial resemblance. Like he would use “belushi” in his e-mail address. It took me years to see it finally, but one day he posted a photo on Facebook, and at last I had to concede he had that look, at least from the Bluto Blutarsky era. It was in the eyes, brows, and nose.)

But my time in lodge with Darren would be short. Before the end of 1998, my first full year in the fraternity, he and Tabitha would leave New Jersey for a new start in Indianapolis upon his accepting a job with Rolls Royce. The days were running out. He wanted to get together during the last weekend of October for a final round of drinks with cigars, but by then I had left the newspaper business and became a press secretary to an inspiring local official who was said to be a favorite for a U.S. Senate seat in just two years. Tuesday, November 3 was Election Day for his re-election. It simply wasn’t possible for me to do anything unrelated to campaigning until the votes were counted late that night. Even worse, others from the lodge were unable to meet with him for a proper send-off. He was pretty sore about that for a time.

Part of getting settled in Indianapolis meant affiliating with a new Masonic lodge. He found Broad Ripple Lodge 643 and, in 2006, would become Worshipful Master, and then its secretary. (It’s a wonderful dose of serendipity, but in the early years of this century I became friendly with a new Mason who had just joined the Masonic Light group. He was from Broad Ripple Lodge too, and naturally he knew Darren. His name is Chris Hodapp and, before long, he and a band of merry rebels would welcome me into the Knights of the North before inviting me along for the ride with The Masonic Society.)

I do a shitty job of keeping in touch. I’ll never learn. It’s probably a psychological thing in that I prefer to be out of mind when out of sight, and I’m reluctant to bother people, even if just to say hello. Darren and I remained in contact via social media, but that is no substitute for shared whiskey and cigars, but he would keep me up to date on the good, the bad, and the ugly of life. I love getting his family holiday postcards, seeing the offspring grow and grow up.

Darren died just about 24 hours ago. He brawled with esophageal cancer (from unchecked reflux, but caught early) for the last four years of his life—trimodal therapy: chemo, radiation, surgery—alternating from blessed successes to cruel reversals. I asked him to come to New York City to see real experts but, as it turned out, one of his neighbors is one of the top surgeons for this particular treatment, and he cared for Darren at Simon Cancer Center.

Please remember Darren, Tabitha, Daniela, and Toni in your devotions. I don’t know what more to say. My friend had everything to live for. Hodapp’s eulogy is here.
     

‘Have a Quattro Coronati cigar’

     

I take my tobacco seriously. To quote Winston Churchill, “My tastes are simple. I am easily satisfied with the very best.” In addition to smoking cigars and pipes for just about three decades, I worked part-time for a number of years in Lew Rothman’s flagship store, learning everything I could about quality tobacco, from the agriculture to the last ash. So, I am happy to have found out this morning of the release over the weekend of Quattro Coronati cigars. “Ultra premium Dominican handmade cigars by brethren for brethren.” That’s brother Freemasons by the way.

The Feast Day of the Four Crowned Martyrs passed this month, so the timing of this launch is right. The Freemasons behind this endeavor are Eduardo R. Adam, Oliver M.S. Guillet, and Timothy W. Hogan. You’ve probably heard of Hogan, the author and traveling lecturer.

• The Agape is a robusto shape. Ten to a box that retails for $144.
• The Sanctum is a figurado measuring 5 7/8 x 56. Also 10 to a box that retails for $144.
• The Magus is a double corona at 7 x 50. Ditto 10 to a box that retails for $144.
• The Gran Solomon is a monster of 7.8 inches with a 63 ring. Five cigars, each in a coffin, per box at $165.
• The Ruffians, a toro shape, also sells for $144 for a box of 10.
• The Anthology is a sampler containing two sticks of each shape. Also 10 to a box for $144.

Sales are mail order only. So far, at least.

I look forward to trying these smokes, and I wish the brethren all the best!
     

‘Have a Rose Croix cigar’

     
Don’t ask me where one might buy a Rose Croix cigar, but evidently a limited number of the sticks were released late last year by Singularé. Made in Estelí, Nicaragua, it is a Nicaraguan puro measuring seven inches with a 46 ring. Basically a Churchill shape.

MSRP on single sticks is $12.85, and a box of 15 costs $192.75.

The reason for the cigar’s name is unknown. There’s hardly any publicity on the product, except for quick announcements in January about its release. With a name that lends itself to rich and historic symbolic illustration, one would think the packaging would display some pizzazz but, again, the brand is mute. Reviewing the cigar, halfwheel.com says:

Courtesy halfwheel.com

At first appearance, the Illusione Singularé 2013 Rose Croix doesn’t offer any over the top embellishments or visual traits that make it standout, but that is in fact what makes it such an appealing cigar. It is a gorgeous shade of brown: what I would describe as between a colorado rosado and colorado maduro, with a good bit of sheen and some toothiness. The veins are prominent and the roll isn’t perfectly smooth, allowing for a bit of give when squeezed while also showing the occasional firm spot. The band is the same one that has been used on previous Singularé releases, white and silver with a black EL on the backside indicating that it is a limited edition. The pre-light aroma coming off the foot is slightly sweet, with notes of cherry and a touch of cinnamon stick at first impression, with a bit of leather in the background. The cold draw on two of the cigars is much too easy and shows hardly any resistance, while the other two are much more dialed in. Both deliver notes of chocolate with just the slightest hint of pepper, and even a touch of mint was found.

The first puffs are smooth with a pinch of white pepper and allow for an easing into the Illusione Singularé 2013 Rose Croix, but it only takes a few more and both some sweetness and more pronounced pepper notes start developing and the cigar begins to show itself. The first retrohale has plenty of pepper but manages to remain enjoyable, though in measured amounts. The burn line starts to go a bit askew in the first inch, while smoke production is average at its lowest levels and picks up from there. Notes of leather and wood are subtle but present on the palate while the pepper notes tend to grab most of the attention—particularly in the nose—yet are far from overpowering, earning this cigar a mild-plus or medium-minus rating as far as strength in the early going. It is very clean and balanced, almost to the point of being refined beyond what most tobacco tends to deliver. The intensity of the flavors begins to back off in preparation for the second third, remaining present but subdued and drawing the senses into them as opposed to reaching out for them.

The Illusione Singularé 2013 Rose Croix mellows out quite noticeable at the beginning of the second third, which allows for a resting and clearing of the taste buds and olfactory receptors. The nose is the first thing reengaged by the cigar, with a fairly light note of warm wood wafting off the cigar as it rests, followed by a touch of sweetness on the tongue and an increasing creaminess. It’s just a bit doughy at first before returning with a more pronounced wood note and very gentle pepper, giving it a mild-medium body and strength. Past the midway point, there is an increased amount of pepper on the retrohale and is now much tougher to retrohale just the smallest amount of smoke. The smoke seems to add just a touch of thickness as it moves into the second half, while the burn line has gotten itself corrected and is burning much straighter and evenly.

Courtesy halfwheel.com

The final third proved to be the one with the most differing results. Among all four cigars, a very distinct but mild leather note starts to come out in the cigar’s aroma at the beginning of the final third, which starts to slowly morph into a chewy, chalky note that takes the burn line to the band. However, when it’s time to take the band of the Illusione Singularé 2013 Rose Croix off, things finish in a number of different directions. On the first cigar, a new note comes along that combines just the slightest bit of toasted wood with a thick, cherry sweetness that shows off a completely new side of the cigar. On another, it was just a touch sour and didn’t have any sweetness. Two cigars presented a much more vibrant wood note, almost sharp on the tongue that again hadn’t been found previously. The final third will either seal the deal that this cigar is a winner or leave you questioning its final approach, an unfortunate and unpredictable way end to what had been a fantastic cigar otherwise.

     

‘Ephemera in a cigar box’

    

As smoking customs changed so radically in the past 30 years, the venerable cigar box lost its status as the safest place for small personal items that otherwise would be jeopardized by the recidivist menace of occasional tidying. A cigar enthusiast since 1985 myself, I don’t even use cigar boxes to store stuff, but generations of smokers and non-smokers alike had their peculiar treasure chests to secret away the memories that the mind thus unaided inevitably blends into busy pastiches of reminiscence. And at some point more than 30 years ago, as shown by the ages of these items, my grandfather deposited various pieces of Masonic ephemera into this Bances box. (These cigars were “clear Havanas,” meaning they were made of Cuban tobacco, but rolled in the United States. That, and all commercial trade with Cuba, ceased in 1962.) Worshipful Brother Sidney would preside over Mt. Nebo Lodge No. 248 in 1976. The lodge and the Elizabeth Masonic Temple where it met are long gone, having been amalgamated into what now is Azure-Masada Lodge No. 22 in nearby Cranford. There were 11 lodges comprising what was the 13th Masonic District between 1967 and 1976, the period recalled by the items inside this cigar box, and all 11 are gone, absorbed into other lodges many years ago. Anyway, this cedar time capsule was excavated from my aunt’s basement last month. Being the Freemason in the family, it was given to me. Some of these items (e.g., the 32° diploma issued by the Consistory of the Valley of Newark in 1968) I knew had to be stashed away somewhere, but a few others took me entirely by surprise.

An assortment of lodge trestleboards  dominates this box. Dated from January 1968 to March 1976, there are 31 in all. Unlike the typical trestleboard seen in New Jersey today, which is a tri-fold sheet of letter-size paper, these are small (6 x 3 ½ inch) two-color, six-page booklets, seemingly tailored to fit in the shirt pocket.

Their contents are unremarkable. I had hoped for Lux ex Oriente, or even Lux ex Cathedra, but it seems Mt. Nebo was a lodge that emphasized sociability over exploring the great mysteries and philosophies of life. Makes me wonder if maybe that is partially why the lodge and its 10 neighbors are all gone. Mt. Nebo Lodge was chartered on April 24, 1924 – the same day that my original lodge was chartered as No. 249, something serendipitous that I didn’t realize at the time of my initiation 30 years after my grandfather was made a Mason.

On Wednesday, March 20, 1968, the brethren in the Level Club met at Townleys’ restaurant at 6:15 for dinner, and left an hour later to catch the Knick game at the Garden. (The visiting team was the Cincinnati Royals, yet another defunct entity.) The ’68 Knicks of course was the team of Dick Barnett, Bill Bradley, Dave DeBusschere, Walt Frazier, Willis Reed… the Hall of Famers who had their numbers retired. But get this: The brethren left Elizabeth, New Jersey at 7:15 p.m. for a game at Madison Square Garden. If you tried that today, you’d miss the game.

Total assets on Dec. 31, 1967: $25,631 (that’s $168,596 in today’s money). 1968 dues: $17.50, including the $1 Grand Lodge assessment. Junior Past Master Albert M. Pines was feted February 18 at Short Hills Caterers ($11.50 per person). 44th Anniversary Dinner-Dance at Richfield Regency Caterers on May 22. Met game on June 19. Picnic September 15 in Warinanco Park. The lodge’s major accomplishment of 1968 was its establishment of a blood bank. Sid served as Chaplain that year, his first full year in Masonry.

A booklet even smaller than the trestleboard was the lodge membership roster, like this one from 1962. Junior Warden Stan Glasser is still around; I chatted with him at a recent meeting of our Consistory. (New Jersey Consistory is the oldest Scottish Rite Consistory in New Jersey, chartered in 1867. It met in Newark when Stan and my grandfather joined, then was moved to Livingston in 1972, then to Lincoln Park in 1977, and this month it relocates yet again, this time to Union.)

And speaking of New Jersey Consistory, here is that aforementioned diploma issued May 18, 1968. Just as my grandfather’s first entrance into the lodge was 30 years before my own, so too was his initiation into the AASR. Thirty years almost to the day. Actually this copy of the diploma is what used to be the traveling paper, folded and protected in a wallet, used for identification when visiting other Scottish Rite bodies. The actual diploma (heavy paper, embossed seal, suitable for framing, etc.) remains unfound.

There were a few non-Masonic papers and objects inside the Bances box that stand out. The sterling silver kiddish cup is out of place. The Morgan silver dollar (1884, New Orleans) is an entirely typical, predictable item to find among personal effects in my family...

... but the handgun permit and sales receipt for a Colt .38 Special are not. The late ’60s was a violent time. Acres of Newark remain vacant today, 43 years after the riots of the summer of 1967. That was my family’s hometown, and while they had moved out before Newark began its rapid decay, they still resided and worked not too far away. The sales receipt for this revolver is dated April 4, 1968, coincidentally the day Martin Luther King was murdered, which precipitated more rioting.

But the Masonic journey of the late W. Sid begins with this letter from W. Joseph Bernstein, Secretary of Mt. Nebo Lodge No. 248. Dated January 24, 1967, it informs its happy recipient that his EA° would be Monday, February 13, and that the $200 balance of his initiation fee will be accepted that night. That $200 is in addition to whatever deposit accompanied the petition for membership. If the complete initiaton fee totaled $250, that would equal $1,644 in today’s money. Has your lodge kept up with inflation?

Perhaps more mementos will be found in the house. My grandfather smoked a brand of Havanas called Gold Label. I remain hopeful that a Past Master’s jewel has yet to be discovered in one of those boxes.