Tobacco.org

• A very smoky nonprofit 

In January when Clay Carlton decided to send a box of 25 of his hand-rolled cigars to the troops in Iraq, he had no idea that his simple act of patriotism would become a mission.

But that's what's happening. Carlton, who owns Timberline Barbers in West Vail, wants to take his cigar-rolling hobby from a simple one-man demonstration of support for the troops to a national mobilization.

All it took was a story in this newspaper about his efforts, and donations began to roll in and his idea began to spread like the smoke from his aromatic hobby. . . .

Now he's starting a nonprofit organization, Cigars to the Troops, so he can begin raising money to ship up to 10,000 cigars a month to members of the armed services in Iraq and Afghanistan. He wants to collect donations from individuals and corporate sponsors, he said.

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