Cigar Smoking

[Laser Man]

I know this topic can cause an outcry from some of you who are adamantly opposed to tobacco use, but I'll admit that I thoroughly enjoy smoking a good cigar, especially at the end of a long work week.  With the return of mild weather in the northern part of the U.S., I enjoy sitting in the yard with a good cigar and a drink as dusk settles in.  I find it very relaxing and almost therapeutic. 

If you enjoy cigars, please chime in and let me know your favorites or if you prefer, PM me.   And please, no harangues about the risks of smoking.  I'm an adult and am fully aware of the risks I'm taking as an occasional cigar smoker.

[wpruitt]

Love a Macanudo every now and then.

[Mike E. P.]

I feel the same way about my pipe.

[K5mow]

I fill exactly the same way.  Love a good cigar

[Laser Man]

Macanudos are very good cigars. 

[wpruitt]

Kipling summed it up quite well!

The Betrothed by Rudyard Kipling

"You must choose between me and your cigar."
- Breach of Promise Case, circa 1885.

Open the old cigar-box, get me a Cuba stout,
For things are running crossways, and Maggie and I are out.

We quarrelled about Havanas - we fought o'er a good cheroot,
And I knew she is exacting, and she says I am a brute.

Open the old cigar-box - let me consider a space;
In the soft blue veil of the vapour musing on Maggie's face.

Maggie is pretty to look at - Maggie's a loving lass,
But the prettiest cheeks must wrinkle, the truest of loves must pass.

There's peace in a Larranaga, there's calm in a Henry Clay;
But the best cigar in an hour is finished and thrown away -

Thrown away for another as perfect and ripe and brown -
But I could not throw away Maggie for fear o' the talk o' the town!

Maggie, my wife at fifty - grey and dour and old -
With never another Maggie to purchase for love or gold!

And the light of Days that have Been the dark of the Days that Are,
And Love's torch stinking and stale, like the butt of a dead cigar -

The butt of a dead cigar you are bound to keep in your pocket -
With never a new one to light tho' it's charred and black to the socket!

Open the old cigar-box - let me consider a while.
Here is a mild Manila - there is a wifely smile.

Which is the better portion - bondage bought with a ring,
Or a harem of dusky beauties, fifty tied in a string?

Counsellors cunning and silent - comforters true and tried,
And never a one of the fifty to sneer at a rival bride?

Thought in the early morning, solace in time of woes,
Peace in the hush of the twilight, balm ere my eyelids close,

This will the fifty give me, asking nought in return,
With only a Suttee's passion - to do their duty and burn.

This will the fifty give me. When they are spent and dead,
Five times other fifties shall be my servants instead.

The furrows of far-off Java, the isles of the Spanish Main,
When they hear my harem is empty will send me my brides again.

I will take no heed to their raiment, nor food for their mouths withal,
So long as the gulls are nesting, so long as the showers fall.

I will scent 'em with best vanilla, with tea will I temper their hides,
And the Moor and the Mormon shall envy who read of the tale of my brides.

For Maggie has written a letter to give me my choice between
The wee little whimpering Love and the great god Nick o' Teen.

And I have been servant of Love for barely a twelvemonth clear,
But I have been Priest of Cabanas a matter of seven year;

And the gloom of my bachelor days is flecked with the cheery light
Of stumps that I burned to Friendship and Pleasure and Work and Fight.

And I turn my eyes to the future that Maggie and I must prove,
But the only light on the marshes is the Will-o'-the-Wisp of Love.

Will it see me safe through my journey or leave me bogged in the mire?
Since a puff of tobacco can cloud it, shall I follow the fitful fire?

Open the old cigar-box - let me consider anew -
Old friends, and who is Maggie that I should abandon you?

A million surplus Maggies are willing to bear the yoke;
And a woman is only a woman, but a good Cigar is a Smoke.

Light me another Cuba - I hold to my first-sworn vows.
If Maggie will have no rival, I'll have no Maggie for Spouse!

[Laser Man]

Excellent!  Thanks for posting this poem!

[Tyler]

Nothing like a good cigar with a nice drink in your hand to end a long day.

[Laser Man]

I agree!  Just finished a good cigar and a cold gin and tonic.  A good way to end the work week.

[M C C]

There's a great cigar bar in town with nice leather couches, a good beer and whiskey selection, and an excellent rotating selection of cigars.  Perfect place to end a night out.  I go there every chance I get.

[Sly Red]

Tyler and Red, smoking cigars at Sly Bald Con, Chicago, 2008.

Smokin by Darrell, on Flickr

[TheDome]

Sorry, an old thread I know, but cigar fan here too. Macanudo, Perdomo, Joya de Nicaragua, Oliva, Camacho, Payback/Room 101, Nub and a few others are my favorites. I smoke a cigar maybe 4 times a week. Living in Florida, the weather is pretty much always good enough to sit on my porch with a cigar and a drink at night, or to visit one of the many cigar bars in the area, and I'm a 60 ring gauge kind of guy.

[Laser Man]

Those are good selections! So far the weather around here has been been so mild that my cigar season has been extended by at least six weeks. 

[TheDome]

Those are good selections! So far the weather around here has been been so mild that my cigar season has been extended by at least six weeks. 

Well that's certainly not a bad thing. It's kind of the opposite for me. The summers (and even spring and fall) can be super hot and sticky, so winter is the best time for cigars down here. It's after 11pm right now and I'm sitting here with a Camacho, wearing just a t-shirt and shorts I'm guessing the temperature is around 75 or so.

[Laser Man]

You're lucky with weather like that at this time of year!  I miss shorts-and-tee shirt weather and look forward to its return. 

Hope you enjoyed the cigar!