What is a "Herf"

[El Presidente]

OK...I know what it is but where/how in hell did the term originate?

[First Lady]

You got me :-)

[MIKA27]

Ok, I dont have the slightest clue?

I actually looked into the thread because I thought you'd supply the answer.

Great question BTW.

[LeafLover]

http://www.uk-cigars.co.uk/herfs/herf1.htm

Yah, I agree. Not a very descriptive or flattering word for a bunch of gents/ladies sharing laughs over cigars.

[Wicky]

Herf and Turf? Huff and Puff? I don't have a clue.

[Fuzz]

HERF - High Energy Radio Frequency, a type of directed energy weapon?

From World Wide Words:

"An alternative suggestion was put forward by subscriber David Warnick, who tells me that herf was a fairly common slang term during the Vietnam War, meaning to carry a heavy load for a long way. It’s possible that a term for straining under a heavy weight could have become softened in time to the difficulty of drawing on a densely rolled cigarette."

Another origin story is attributed to Emmanuel Herfiger:

"In 1827 a man named Emmanuel Herfiger planted a bit of Cuban seed in his small backyard plot in Philadelphia. He lived near Independence Hall, it just so happens.

Old Manny vowed not to smoke another stogie until his seed grew, was harvested, aged, and rolled into what would appear today to look like a Robusto.

Well, the day before he was to smoke his first home-grown cigar happened to be July 4th.

At that time fireworks were fairly primitive things and there was of course no warning written on the package they came in. Come to think of it, they didn't come in any package at all.

Anyway, Manny's 11 year old son, who his friend's called "Herf," the way we would call someone Smitty, suggested that Manny not wait the day and instead light some 4th of July fireworks with the first of his cigars.

"Sounds good to me," said Manny, lighting up that first Robusto with the forerunner of a match. I think it was a stick with some wax on the end that one stuck into a fire. Anyway, the thing lit up like an LGC on a Blazer, prompting Manny to take two or three puffs. Man, he was in cigar smokers heaven! The damn thing tasted like it had been grown, aged, and hand rolled in Cuba! Then he made his fateful mistake... He picked up what we would today call a Cherry Bomb; one with a short fuse. Manny lit the damn thing and before he could get it clear of his cigar, never mind his face, all was lost.

Well, at Manny's wake his wife Lula (some say it was spelled Loola, records are scarce,) insisted that Manny's friends smoke his cigars and drink his whiskey. (Notice that's whiskey with an 'e,' not that other stuff.) This they did, spreading the word of what a great guy Manny had been. And so, to this day, when you sit around smoking a good cigar, perhaps with drink in hand, you will forever owe a debt of gratitude to the man, who after his death, was responsible for coining the term herf."

[ChanceSchmerr]

HERF - High Energy Radio Frequency

This is what I thought it was, originally. A term I hear a lot in the Navy when we talk about RADHAZ, etc.

I asked this question in the Shoutbox the other day! Still waiting for a good answer....

[sloth]

http://www.uk-cigars.co.uk/herfs/herf1.htm

Yah, I agree. Not a very descriptive or flattering word for a bunch of gents/ladies sharing laughs over cigars.

who are you agreeing with?

[anacostiakat]

Just a horrible term that I have no idea of the origin and dont care much as I never use the term.

[Habanos2000]

I always defined it as an overindulgence in something.

[lemmycaution]

Just a horrible term that I have no idea of the origin and dont care much as I never use the term.

I don't use it either.

[PigFish]

Sometimes I herf after eating sea urchin and sea cucumber!

I resisted using the term for years as it simply does not sound like a pleasant task. It grows on you I guess.

[Van55]

I have been given to understand that the word "herf" was coined at alt.smokers.com back in the late 1990's. http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_yo...r_or_cigarette/

[lemmycaution]

Sometimes I herf after eating sea urchin and sea cucumber!

Sea cucumber! nooooo!

[CanuckSARTech]

An ugly term.

If you google it, there's a good discussion somewhere that lists the various explanations attributed to this term....

Other Definitions of "Herf"

[ryans]

According to an unnamed online dictionary:

HERF:

1. (verb): To make an awkward HTML error while typing online, particularly on a messageboard. (also: "herfed up") 2. (noun): An example of past herfing. A herf is particularly shameful when it ruins an otherwise excellent zing. Usually a herf will result in the HTML code being displayed instead of the intended hyperlink or image. A particularly timely herf can turn the pwner into the pwned. (etymology: from a common typo of "HREF," a vital piece of hyperlinking code.)

2. Verb - To smoke a cigar, in a group of cigar smokers or alone.

[Colt45]

I go to a herf and herf ISOMs.......

[jsd]

I cannot stand the sight of the word and refuse to use it. It doesn't sound like something I would want to attend.

For some reason it is just accepted by the cigar smoking community at-large. I have never heard or seen anyone question it either. It's nice to see others here who are not fond of the term either.

I would like to see the term disappear.

[sloth]

Just a horrible term that I have no idea of the origin and dont care much as I never use the term.

I don't get the hatred for a word...

"herf"...

i don't understand why a person hates a word or how it sounds....

"herf"...

its not like it has a history of being in a derogatory matter. I'm pretty sure nonsmokers didn't walk by smokers saying... "Look at them Herfers Mable! A few of them could use a lynchin'!"

I'm just going to chock this one up as just another irrational response to change. (Although i think the popularity of the word peaked a year or so ago... now people just use it because it is an easy to type 4 letter word) Maybe I'm just defensive because I use to be on message boards called eherf.com and theherfhut.com.

Yo yo yo... Wassup mah herfers..... YEAH BOI!

[scinmyheart]

I think a prerequisite has to be non-Cuban cigars

[sloth]

I think a prerequisite has to be non-Cuban cigars

I think herfers smoke ISOM's...

[jsd]

I think a prerequisite has to be non-Cuban cigars

Yes...probably NUBs

[Mr. Japan]

[What Is A Herf?

Herf? What the heck IS a herf? You're new to this cigar business; you're surfing from site to site, and this word keeps cropping up- 'herf'. Lot's of people write 'herf', but nobody tells to what on earth 'herf' means. Well, we will!

It's a term coined in the alt.smokers.cigars newsgroup, way back in 1996. 'Herf' caught on, and has been part of the cigar lexicon ever since. Below is the definitive posting at ACS on the origin of 'herf'...

HERF - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The un-official word of ASC is Herf. Herf is a unique part of speech. It can be correctly used as a noun, a verb, an adjective, an adverb, an infinitive, a prefix, a suffix and an explicative.

The arcane word "herf" first entered the ASC lexicon on November 21, 1996, and was quickly elevated to frenetic and common use by ASCers. The Prince of Skeeves exposed ASC to the word herf in a casual posting to the group... however it was ASCers, as a budding collective, who took the word and made it divine.

Herf is now virulently spreading to worldwide common use as hip cigar parlance.

HERF - CHRONOLOGY:

As for the origin of Herf, here's the History of Herf (it's a matter of record on DejaNews)...

The word "herf" first appeared on ASC...

-------- ----------------------------------

It was November 21, 1996... the elections were over, and "herf" unceremoniously beams into our lexicon... And, you were there (here's the exact post)...

************************************************** ****

Subject: worst cigars IMHO

From: [email protected] (Prince of Skeeves)

1996/11/21

Message-ID: <[email protected]>

Newsgroups: alt.smokers.cigars

I bought a Canaria d'Oro(sic?)Robusto out of curiousity

and it was really a horrible, stale,grassy smoke with a

peed-on taste. I gave it about 2 inches before I put it

out. Also, anything Macanudo...I tried several when I

first began smoking cigars and found them all to be very

bland and almost impossible to herf, they were so tightly

wrapped. I think the list of `Mediocre Smokes' for most

folks would be huge.

************************************************** ****

And, the voices of ASCers cry out immediately... saying, "what is this _herf_ thing?" In answer... on November 23, Prince of Skeeves elucidates,

Message-ID: <[email protected]>:

To `herf' is to draw on a cigar.

The voices of ASC follow in chorus: "this herf thing... it is good" And, in a grand gesture, full grace is shared...

Subject: an early definition of the word...

From: [email protected] (Prince of Skeeves)

1997/07/11

Message-ID: <[email protected]>

Newsgroups: alt.smokers.cigars

EVERYONE MUST HERF

The first time I heard the word `herf' and recognized

it's potential for the enrichment of my vocabulary was

in junior college in Clyde, Texas in 1982 from a blueblood

derelict friend of my named Stu. In the context of the

time it was used to describe the ungainly and humorous

facial contortion required to deeply draw on a large,

hand-rolled cigarette of unknown filling while driving

a motor vehicle and keeping an eye peeled for the

Callahan County sheriff. Later I found the term `herf'

described nicely the method for getting a good mouthful

of tasty smoke from my favorite cigars.(Padron and HDM

Rothschilds)

S. delaVega

Prince of Skeeves

-------- [end quoted post] ----------------------------------

So, that's the herf story... on 11/21/96 "Prince of Skeeves" (whoever he/she/it is/was) introduced our newsgroup to its very own beloved word... And, as a bonus...

HERF LEVITY:

Herf... a word which is now spreading to virtually all corners of the cigar world... thanks to the likes of the many and varied distinguished herfing enthusiasts (herfnicks)... such as:

the good Dr. Miguelit (used on his many national radio interviews),

Mr. Lew Rothman (used proudly and prominently on JR's Winter catalog issue's front cover),

ASC elder Mr. Bob Curtis (used liberally all over the ICG website),

the Hon. Steven Saka (used strategically at least four times in the course of the 1997 New Hampshire state senatorial debate and once as an invective following the debate's broadcast, which, btw, was televised on CSPAN-3 to over a half-billion viewers worldwide, including the space shuttle mission crew),

Connie Whittager, perky weatherwoman on Montgomery, Alabama's WKKG-TV (used to describe the fog which paralyzed suburban roadways for two straight days in April 1997... in an interview on the Weather Channel, she explained, "...motorists were advised to avoid the western beltway and all lakeside arteries due to a stationary fog bank thicker than a hundred hounddogs herfin' Hondurans in a hayloft", and

by Jorge Jesus Delgado, Jr., now departed, (who ardently pleaded to "herf a cigar" before his execution in the Texas death-house in October 1997)... ...just to mention a few of the notables!

PS: Remember... November 21 is World Herfing Day!!! Sorry you asked, huh?<g> Regards, ...JC

So now you know the meaning of 'herf'! LOL

[Wicky]

Well.........There it is!

I'm gonna go herf a Sig III.

Thanks MJ.

[BlackFriar]

Maybe "herf" is just the word for a group of cigar smokers? Like...

A gaggle of geese

A pride of lions

A pod of whales

A herd of cows...

A herf of smokers!