ABOUT US
We are a passionate and faith-driven organization committed to spreading God's love and guidance. Through our outreach programs and spiritual endeavors, we aim to uplift and inspire communities worldwide.
Holy Smokes Ministries is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the spiritual needs and well-being of America’s uniformed services in a very unique way. We do it, one cigar at a time! Cigars have a long history in military service and are often smoked in group settings to celebrate a successful mission or notable accomplishment. Linking them to a spiritual setting is a relatively new concept but, that is exactly what we do!
This whole concept began in January of 2022 with the arrival of a good number of cigars from the humidor of the late Rush Limbaugh via Operation Deployed, who sent cigars to deployed US troops all over the word and to the to the soldiers and airman of the Texas Military Department serving on Operation Lone Star – Border Security along the Texas/Mexico Border. Morale was relatively low amongst the troops due to a run of suicides in the previous months, the cold weather and the emotional let-down of the retiring festive Christmas Season.
CH (COL) Thomas Mohler, TXSG had an idea on how to use those cigars as a way to promote spiritual welfare and emotional well-being amongst the serving troops. Ton a cold evening, the 24th of January 2022, CH Mohler and CH (MAJ) Todd Virnoche, TXSG convened the first event of what would soon become to be known along border and around the world as Holy Smokes with 17 Service Members present.
At Holy Smokes Ministries we work with a variety of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and private citizens to accomplish our mission. Operation Deployed and it’s CEO, Kentucky Colonel Robert “Roberto” Barr has been at our side from the beginning, providing cigars, guidance and a unique access to a network of Chaplains in the US Armed Services deployed around the world. We truly could not do what we do without him and his organization as they are a well-established portal to Deployed American Servicemen and Servicewomen around the Globe. They assist in guiding us where and to whom to send our cigars and supplies and they also help fund our mission.
Currently, we have secured a private manufacturer in Nicaragua to produce our uniquely branded Holy Smokes cigars. They come in three shades, Connecticut, Maduro and Habana and all are what would be considered “premium cigars”. They are all long leaf, hand rolled products that would be comparable to a $15 cigar at a local tobacconist. The good news, it that the manufacturer discounts them tremendously to us simply because we have agreed not to sell them to retail but, we are allowed to send them as a “Gift with Donation” to those who support our ministry (See the levels on the “Favored Donor” page/Place Link here).
We need also to mention that all of us that staff this Ministry are volunteers, no one takes a paycheck. Every dime, penny or dollar that you donate to us goes into purchasing cigars, humidors and torches and shipping them to our troops where ever they might be in the world.
As we have been doing this for over a year now, we know firsthand the impact that our ministry has on our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. We witness every week on our border mission and see it come across our Signal Thread 24 hours a day from around the Globe.
