[RevSmoke]

I had a similar thing happen as I arrived at the Bonduel Corn Roast a year ago. Coming in, I ran into a member from another Lutheran Church whom I met when his pastor and I switched pulpits a few years back, and who I have gone ice fishing with since then. I asked about his son whom I knew was in the army and "had" been deployed - wondering if he still was. He said, "He's home right now, in fact, he's wandering around the fair, just went off to the beer stand to get us a couple beers. At this, the son was just coming back - with a cigar in his mouth.

Of course, we had to talk about bit about cigars. He said he had had a couple Swishers after H.S. during training and such, but hadn't had a good cigar till he was in Afghanistan. It was there that the sarge gave him cigars upon occasion, saying they were shipped from the states, from an internet group (the son couldn't remember the name of the group, even with my promptings).

The cigar in his mouth was a Swisher, so I asked him how come. He said, "There's no place in the area that sells good cigars." (this is indeed true, you have to go to Appleton or Green Bay, and if you don't know the shops, they can be hard to find)

So I asked him if I could see his cigar. I stuck it in my mouth and pulled my 3-finger case out of my back pocket, pulled out an AF Double Chateau SG, took off the cello, cedar, snipped it, and handed it to him saying, "Thanks for your service. I'll trade you this for the one in my mouth?" He asked, "Are you sure?" I just held the cigar out to him. He took it and said, "Thanks." As he was lighting it, I spit out that Swisher onto the ground, pulled out the AF's twin, and lit it up. We stood near the ball diamond fence, watching the Legion team play.

He did say that one of the few pleasures they have is to occasionally sit with cigars, and they do appreciate it. I have had a couple other incidents like this where I have met military personnel who have gotten cigars 'over there' which came from this and/or other cigar boards.

Yes, thanks for starting the thread Mike.

Thanks to all those who have served and are serving still.