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Posts: 365
Location: NC | Anyone like cigars first or pipe? And secondly do you smoke while playing and your favorite tobacco or cigar.
I like the La Gloria Cubana Serie R for cigars....really any ring gauge in that line.
I like McCleland Maple flavored pipe tobacco in my pipe.
Feedback always welcomed. |
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Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | And secondly do you smoke while playing
Only when I'm playing Jerry Garcia tunes. |
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January 2004
Posts: 1225
Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | I don't smoke while I'm playing as that would qualify as doing two things at once (like walking and chewing gum). My guitars and equipment are also subjected to enough cigarette smoke at gigs for my taste.
I do, however, enjoy a nice cigar every now and then. My favorite cigar (when a "Cohiba" is not available) is a Montecristo #1. Both of which are preferably enjoyed with an ice cold Samuel Adams. |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | I prefer not to smoke in the house, but when the weather's nice, I have been known to take a cigar and guitar out onto the front steps. I also occasionally will burn one while tearing down/packing up at the end of a gig.
A friend of mine recently gave up cigars and bequeathed me a somewhat sizeable collection of assorted Cubans. My faves have been the Bolivars, Partagas, and of course, Cohibas (I LOVE Cohibas!). I generally save these for the times I can sit back and savor 'em.
I've also developed a penchant for Acid "Kuba Kuba's". Acid was started by a couple of Yanks (possibly from CT) who grow and produce the cigars in Nicaraugua. When the tobacco is dried, it's done in special, climate-controlled room with a bunch of different exotic herbs & spices. The result is a very pleasingly aromatic smelling/tasting cigar. I've even had people who DETEST the smell of cigar smoke remark about the smell of these in a complimentary manner.
At the end of a gig night and we sit at the bar with the owner to book future dates, I'll order a snifter of a good, dark rum (Myers, Gosling, or 8-year-old Bacardi) and periodically dip the cut end in it (excuse me . . . lemme wipe the slather off the keyboard).
The Kuba Kuba's work well for this, as they tend to not offend even the most sensitive of barmaids.
(And you DON'T wanna offend the person who provides you with QUALITY "complimentary beverages" over the course of the evening . . .)
Whereas my partner spends his evenings with CoorsLite's and Marlboro's, I enjoy "rattling his cage" by directing my cigar exhaust in his general direction. It's the "little things" in Life . . . |
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Posts: 295
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | Alas, I gave up the habit (cigarettes) years ago; strange, though, I like the smell of a good cigar, which most non-smokers seem to find more offensive than cigarette smoke.
When I sit down for a session with one of my geetars, I have to settle for a Grolsch lager in a chilled glass, or a gin martini, extra dry, straight up, with a twist - (sigh), life is hard...
It's amazing how much better my playing sounds by the time I'm on my second Grolsch, or three-quarters of the way through my martini. |
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July 2004
Posts: 474
Location: Anchorage, Alaska | Oh Yea... A nice cold Mexican beer or a snifter of some quality aged tequila and a good cigar. If that isn't good enough, add a guitar with that cigar and it's heaven. A couple of my fav's are H.Uppman and of course Cohiba's. The Cuban's are great, but even the Cohiba's from the Dominican Republic are fantastic. |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | btw, "John B." :
United Card & Smoke Shop
13 Broadway
Denville, NJ 973.627.6718
s'got good stuff!! . . . . |
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Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | a little Dramboui and a pipe with "North Sea" |
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Posts: 295
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | Fly Guy - I've heard some cigar aficionados claim that the Dominican Republic product beats the Cuban. |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Over the years, a lot of the best growers/rollers fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic and propagated their legacy there.
You also have to take into consideration that when Cuba developed it's "heyday" in the cigar world, they did so by growing tobacco in soil that was IMPORTED onto the island . . . . . . . from the good ol' U.S. of A.
Some will argue that they're not as good as they once were, and there IS some PRIMO stuff coming from the D.R. . . . .
For some reason I just seem to have an affinity for Los Cubanos . . .
". . . Havana Daydreamin' . . . ."
. . . . si, pour me another Mojito, Xavier . . |
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Location: NJ | btw:
If you ever get the opportunity, pick up the DVD of the "Buena Vista Social Club"!!
This is a documentary that followed Ry Cooder (and his son, Joaquim) after they recorded the landmark album of the same name with a bunch of legendary old Cuban musicians.
It culminates with some footage from two live concerts (one in Amsterdam, the other in Carnegie Hall). It documents a lot of what went on in the making of the album and of the musican's personal stories/insights.
Lots of great footage of the Malecon and other parts of Havana, as well!! |
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Posts: 1225
Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | btw, "John B." :
United Card & Smoke Shop
13 Broadway
Denville, NJ 973.627.6718
Thanks Cliff. The guy I used to get them from no longer gets them. |
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March 2004
Posts: 201
Location: Vernon, CT | I prefer to have women smoke my white owl whilst I'm playing guitar oe not. Do I smoke after sex...never bothered to look! Play On!
John L. |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | A Cohiba robusto, or a Bolivar or Partigus Series D. Actually when playing the swisher sweets that are the size of cigarettes. However you tend to smoke these like cigarettes. Oh well..... The other problem is that the Nationals don't have enough room between the bass E and the peghead to slide it in there. When I realized that I quit it altogether. I had started smoking them like cigarettes anyway. Get a big lung full of a series D, OH Yeah! |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Has anybody ever seen (or smoked) "DiNobili's"??
When I was a kid growing up in a predominantly Italian neighborhood, all of the old Italian guys used to smoke 'em.
They came like 4 or 5 in short, thin box.
They were these nasty lookin' skinny cigars that looked like somebody cut off somebody's middle finger with a bolt cutter and mummified it in the hot sun for a couple of decades. Skinny, black & gnarly.
When I'd come home from school in the fall, the neighborhood air was permeated with the smell of grapes from the empty crates out on the curb from these guy making their homemade wine in the basements and DiNobili cigars. . . |
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Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | cliff
my uncle carmen smoked them |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Y'sure it's not "Carmine"?? |
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Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | nope it's carmen he was my uncle |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | They probably kilt him too. De cigars I mean.
Were these like Parodi's, little red and green box? The old guys seemed to more chew them than smoke them. |
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Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Cliff
I taped a TV show of the Buena Vista Social Club, those old guys are sooo great and they were living in poverty and ignominy under Castro. They escaped for a while and showed the world what Cuba had once had.
I smoked tobacco until I was 60, and collected and savored pipes of many kinds from the first years we were married til I quit. My wife bought me many exotic pipes for the various Christmas, birthdays, etc over the years so I have over 50 pipes collecting dust, well broke in, some as close to me as my guitars. I smoked many types of pipe tobacco, ranging from Kentucky Club to exotic store blends, Cherry Blend was usually my favorite. Pipe smoking, as pleasant as it is, has the other value and difference from cigars, that is that those around you tend to enjoy the second hand smoke, my wife used to encourage me to smoke my pipes rather than cigarettes.
Giving up my pipes that I had collected over 40 years was the hardest part of quitting smoking. But I am alive and well without them, and probably, like my deceased younger brothers, would have died if I had kept it up. |
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Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | I've had the BVSC CD for a number of years now - it's just plain great music. Ry Cooder had a hell of a time getting these musicians into the US for a recording session ... seems our government wanted to deny these poor souls entry into our country simply because they happened to live in a country that was taken over by a dictator "we" don't like.
I'm not smoking any cigars right now as I have given up smoking tobacco yet again and it's too easy to fall off the wagon. This time is for good I trust. My father died from lung cancer two months ago ... he gave up smoking about ten years ago but it still got him. Hard to watch the slow disintegration of a man who at one point held the world record for g-loading, flew the X-15, played in a band that recorded a few records, was a minor political star, and a major player in the international business scene. Worked hard his whole life, finally bought his dream home in the French countryside, and then everything ended too soon. Sometimes life sucks but it always leaves important lessons behind.
That said, a great smoke is to get a hand roll cigar from one of the small cigar shops in the Gaslamp district of San Diego, and have a nice walk past the California Classics showroom, ogling the wonderful mint vehicles, and then past Croce's, ogling the wonderful Ovation on the wall. |
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Posts: 365
Location: NC | In my opinion the Hondurans and Dominicans are better than Cubans. |
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December 2001
Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | " Hondurans and Dominicans are better than Cubans."
I must agree. The Cuban heyday ended in the mid to late 80's I think. There are still some of those cigars around in humidors of the world I guess. I have had recent Cubans in Canadia :) and Korea and a good Dominican is my favorite although I tend to let my nose be the judge. I'm also a sucker for a handmade that still uses Connecticut leaves for the wrapper. |
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Location: Anchorage, Alaska | Stonebobbo-Are you talking about the Cuban Cigar Factory in San Diego? There is that one and another small shop up the street from it as well. I went down there from here in Alaska 5 years ago for my grandmothers 95th birthday and bought several "sticks" from each shop that were fantastic. You reminded me that I have a few of them left in my box. Now I know how I am going to spend my evening! Of course the time will be shared with my "O"! |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | There's a Cuban refugee (surprise,surprise) named Felix who hand-rolls NICE ones on the sidewalk on Duval Street in downtown Key West.
Last Christmas Eve Day, I spent some "quality time" with one sitting in a big ol' chair under a shade tree in Hemingway's yard while Jeanette chased some of the six-toed cats around with her brand-new digital camera . . .
THAT was a "good, big fun". |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Sounds like it was a nice Christmas present. |
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June 2004
Posts: 365
Location: NC | There are some pre-embargo's out there that sell for about $17/stick. The tobacco is Cuban grown from 1958 pre-embargo leaf and not much left. My local tobacconist has a box but for the money a $5 Honduran Puros Indios or R&J Churchill from DR is just as good if not better and you smoke three to one!
My favorite drink is Stoli's Vanilla vodka with gingerale or a cream soda as we call it in the South!
Happy Thanksgiving guys and gals.........by the way..........anyone know where a guy can get some great X-Mas tab for guitar for the holidays? |
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December 2001
Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Watering down Vodka??? Blasphemy!!!! |
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Favorite Cigar while playing.....