Our annual contest has ended and lucky winner Sean McCaffrey of Gastonia, North Carolina, received, not one but three boxes of high-scoring smokes from the Top 25 cigars of 2022. | Cigar Aficionado
Tom Parnelle s heart dropped when he surveyed what was left of his beehives Saturday morning.
The Gastonia beekeeper has invested a decade into nurturing more than a dozen colonies of honey bees with partner Sean McCaffrey on a quiet plot of vacant land off Lee Street.
It s a hobby the IT professional has grown over time into a sweet side gig that usually produces enough honey annually, equating to approximately $3,000 in revenue, to treat Parnelle s family to a well deserved vacation.
He arrived Saturday, however, to find his 15 hives knocked over and bees scattered and dying in the cold. They all kind of mass together in the hive and sort of waggle to stay warm and protect the queen, Parnelle said. But with the hives opened up and the bees scattered, it s just too cold for them and they die pretty quickly.