Different kinds of places to buy cigars
 

B & M; Online and...
Don't forget damaged freight stores and the like. Most of you are probably familiar with these. There are some quite large ones in various cities- I used to regularly go to one in Independence, Mo. They buy damaged freight, overstocks, bankrupt companies, etc. I don't ever recall seeing tobacco items at that one, but I found one today in Springfield, MO that had a tobacco "store" at one end. I'm guessing these were No high end regular cigar items, but they had quite a supply of cigarillos, flavoreds, quite an assortment of pipe tobacco, Black & Mild and all those kinds of small cigars, plus Bering Casinos, Cuban Rejects and so on. Very decent prices.

Just shows you that it pays to be alert, I probably wouldn't have noticed it at all, as I was buying mainly groceries, but they had a sign that said: "All tobacco items have to be paid for in the tobacco dept." Whoa.... you have a tobacco department?...

http://www.qsl.net/kg0yh/FreightSales0831m.jpg

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Those look like candidates for next years Punishment Puff Puff Pass at Shack.

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Look interesting thats forsure :r

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Good luck with those bro.

That Cohibo lookin thing looks gnarly.

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Don't they though? Actually, what was going through my mind when I bought them-I was thinking about some recent research I did on Mark Twain. I am working on some plans related to the stamp issue coming out next year to honor him, and I have been reading about his taste for what most of us (and his cohorts back then) would call terrible cigars. Turns out he actually liked them, something about that was the kind of cigars he started smoking when he was just a kid, and I guess he had developed a taste for them. Interesting character and cigar smoker for the ages.
http://www.qsl.net/kg0yh/mark-twain.jpg

I have low expectations for them, for sure.

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I'll agree with that! The appearance of the band to Cohiba is purely intentional, I'm sure. I'm scared to even take notes when I get the courage to try it. The smoking will be dedicated to the memory of Mark Twain, when I do.

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I was looking through a book of Vincent Van Gogh's work earlier today.

Anyone have any idea how long it'll take my earlobe to grow back? And, should I put some bactine on it?

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Reading is so overrated...

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"Terrible" to whom?

You do understand that 5 cents back then was actually good money, right? Especially for a cigar. Now read up on Oppenheimer and see how he made his zillions on "terrible cigars" (yeah, same Oppenheimer of Wall Street fame these days).

Gurkha still sells every stick made (at a premium no less), Garcia & Vega are still in business, I can go on. So, what is a "terrible cigar"?

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Apparently, it is! :r

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In my original post I was speaking "terrible" as it was defined by Twain's acquaintances. I have no idea what their standards were, but I got the impression Twain thought they were "cigar snobs." If it wasn't expensive or fancy enough, they didn't want to smoke it. He pulled a switch on them one time, I understand. He "appropriated" some of their cigars, took the bands off and handed them out at a gathering at his house, and they all couldn't recognize their own cigars and later threw them out on the street as they left, thereby exposing their cigar hypocrisy.

As far as what constitutes a terrible cigar today, my first nomination would be a cigar that has a pronounced chemical taste, as in pesticide residues or something. Had one of those that was in a sampler recently. I would call that a terrible cigar. Otherwise, I live on a fixed income, personally, and cigars I've heard others call trash cigars were satisfactory as far as I'm concerned. I'm one inmate that's far from being a cigar snob if that was the thrust of the question!

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You know what? It actually wasn't actually half bad. It was definitely a full-bodied cigar. I've never had a Cuban, but if Cuban means strong, it was on the strong side.

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I wasn't calling you a snob if that's what you're implying. Simply pointing out that Twain didn't smoke "crap" by any measure save for his early formative years and by early I mean when he was still an 11 year old smoking whatever discards he found lying on the street, that's how his love affair with cigars started. By the time he was buying cigars out of his earned income (and that's the period you were talking about) he was buying decent cigars at the least. Only because some snob called them "terrible" does not mean nor imply they actually were.

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Full bodied? Not to a seasoned smoker (quite mild) but I agree. (gasp)

The Cuban Rounds are not bad 2 dollar cigars. The others, not so much. :r

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Oh, ok. Thanks. I'm definitely not. I'm from Twain's birthplace state and he's one of our heroes. His contemporaries in later years thought he smoked terrible cigars. They all smoked Cubans, etc. I think the article I read said that some storeowner gave him cigars in return for running errands for him. He may have started smoking as early as 8. Can you imagine how quickly children's protective services would be in on such a case nowadays? Undoubtedly would be a federal offense! :) Happy Smokin...

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Yeah, I had somebody else say that the test tube and the cork was the best part of the Bering Casino deal. :2

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Some new items at the damaged freight sales place today.
http://www.qsl.net/kg0yh/grcofrt_0903.jpg
Casino Gold
Garcia y Vega Crystal
Cuban Rounds Churchill
All for about $5 total. Not Padrons, obviously, but we'll see if they smoke.