Foulkes & Sons cigar reviews.......thoughts from non-uk members???

[99call]

So as a northerner,  listening to these wittering public schoolboys,  has me reaching for the nearest can of petrol, so I can douse myself in the liberating embrace of flames and eventually merciful death. 

They actually smoke a few interesting cigars (and may have interesting things to say) but their bumbling 'Rainman- esc' foppish riffing, makes anything of any use,  un-audible to my ears.  All I hear is white-noise, fingernails down a chalkboards. screaming children etc. 

I'm interested.....what do non-UK based FOH members make of these guys? I'm sure there is a market, and I'm sure they are not bad blokes, I'm just interest to see if people outside of the UK find them difficult to watch?

 

[Ginseng]

6 minutes ago, 99call said:

...these wittering public schoolboys...their bumbling 'Rainman- esc' foppish riffing

This recommends against clicking through. But I did anyway. 

Honestly, it wasn't too bad. I could sit through it. A bit chatty but when they were focusing on the cigar, it was reasonably  listenable. Bit too long at 20 minutes and rather liberally  sprinkled with chaff, but not nearly as horrible as it comes across for you I think.

[99call]

2 minutes ago, Ginseng said:

rather liberally  sprinkled with chaff

great description.  

[shippers]

Not the global view you are after but yeah it’s a bit off putting... I try my best to look past it 😂

[La_Tigre]

Nice stockings. Now, what were you saying…?

[Webbo]

As a northerner in the UK I am not allowed to comment, but will any away. Wankers, end of.

[Akela3rd]

As a northerner in the UK I am not allowed to comment, but will any away. Wankers, end of.

As a northerner in the UK, I too am not allowed to comment but wholeheartedly agree.
I'll get me coat.

Sent by spooky action at a distance

[99call]

36 minutes ago, Webbo said:

Wankers, end of.

Good man.      

 

46 minutes ago, Heels82 said:

Wally from Crocodile Dundee wore it better.

So true

[BenW]

Also as a UK northerner and having watched their reviews before, I don't mind them. Yeah, I think they play up their poshness a bit and they should focus a bit more on the actual cigar during the review, but I don't get the vibe they're being totally fake or anything. They just seem to be a father and son both enjoying a passion of theirs - cigars. Which is why we're all here for on this forum.

Honestly, I can't stand this stereotypical northern attitude of posh southerner = wanker. 

[99call]

34 minutes ago, Webbo said:

As a northerner in the UK I am not allowed to comment, but will any away

The weirdest thing for me with these guys is, they really exemplify that extreme degree of poshness, whereby they almost seem like they're retarded.

Unlike 'Rainman' I bet they can't count cards

[BenW]

Look, feel free to tell me to get off my high horse, but posting a thread on a public forum about cigar reviewers you don't like just so you can feel justified in calling them retards and wankers as soon as you find others who also hold your opinion seems to me to go against the spirit of this forum.

By all means be critical of them, but when it comes down to name calling of people, particularly of people who are not here to reply themselves, then I think its gone too far.

[mprach024]

🎤💥

[99call]

20 minutes ago, BenW said:

By all means be critical of them, but when it comes down to name calling of people, particularly of people who are not here to reply themselves, then I think its gone too far.

They are intelligent in a way I will never be, and without a doubt could quote and recite all sorts of historical accounts,  prose and poetry. It's more an observation of the oddities or class in the UK.  What they have to offer where I'm from would be worthless, but equally you could argue what I have to offer in their world,  would also be worthless. 

I never said they were retarded, rather that their riffing made them 'seem like they're retarded", and In other parts of this thread I've suggested that "I'm sure they're probably nice blokes".     

My intention of the thread is to shine a light on how odd, and awkward these guys appear to me as a Northerner, and to wonder whether it's just a class/upbringing thing,   or whether they seem to be difficult to process for non-uk residents. 

[BenW]

17 minutes ago, 99call said:

My intention of the thread is to shine a light on how odd, and awkward these guys appear to me as a Northerner, and to wonder whether it's just a class/upbringing thing,   or whether they seem to be difficult to process for non-uk residents.

Look, I don't know you personally so I'll take what you say here in good faith, but with comments of "they seem like they're retarded" along with you patting people on the back when they comment that the reviewers are wankers, I'm sure you can understand how most people viewing the thread might come away with the impression that this wasn't the intention of your post at all.

[Woody Hayes]

What is the meaning of wankers?  Thank you.

[HiDrag]

What is the meaning of wankers?  Thank you.

Wanker is literally "one who wanks (masturbates)", but is most often used as a general insult. It is a pejorative term of English origin common in Britain and other parts of the English-speaking world (mainly Commonwealth nations), including Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It initially referred to an "onanist" and is synonymous with the word tosser.

[Woody Hayes]

2 minutes ago, HiDrag said:

Wanker is literally "one who wanks (masturbates)", but is most often used as a general insult. It is a pejorative term of English origin common in Britain and other parts of the English-speaking world (mainly Commonwealth nations), including Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It initially referred to an "onanist" and is synonymous with the word tosser.

Thank you for clarifying that. 

[RichG]

1 hour ago, Woody Hayes said:

What is the meaning of wankers?  Thank you.

Apparently it is similar to a “tosser”, but not exactly the same.

[griller]

Go to an English Premier Soccer game and you'll become intimately familiar with "wanker", "tosser", and dozens of other colorful terms of endearment. My wife & I had to get a tutorial at a pub post game from a kind local in London so we could understand the phrases/terms we'd heard during the game... It was hilarious.

[Kevin48438]

How about “posh?”   What does that mean?  It seems to be used in a way to describe the cultural differences between north and south UK.  And where is that line between the south and north?  Thanks!

[wine65]

I think these guys are pretty funny. I cant take all their banter too seriously, but nice company during the times I'm having a cigar alone.

[La_Tigre]

11 hours ago, Kevin48438 said:

How about “posh?”   What does that mean?  It seems to be used in a way to describe the cultural differences between north and south UK.  And where is that line between the south and north?  Thanks!

No documented proof but a seriously interesting background. POSH was a term ascribed to the affluent who could afford to relocate to a different room on the return boat trip. Port Out Starboard Home

But in common use, posh means high class, rich, fancy, or high-falutin.

Have heard pish-posh used as an exclamation as well. 

[99call]

13 hours ago, BenW said:

I'm sure you can understand how most people viewing the thread might come away with the impression that this wasn't the intention of your post at all

I personally do think they are a pair of bellends, and they irritate me intensely, but as triggered Northerner, what I think of these bumbling private schoolboys is an irrelevance,  I set out in the beginning of the thread suggesting they made me want to set fire to myself, but was keen to learn what sort of reaction they engendered in overseas members. 

One of the reasons I was interested was to discern if overseas members thought these guys fit into the classic 'English eccentric' bracket.  I do value genuine eccentrics greatly, but personally I feel as these guys are more, pointless peacocking dandies.  

As for me being some vicious bulling online troll, I really don't buy into that. I do think it's a terrible scourge of the modern age.   The reason I felt comfortable to have a go at these two, is a Nicolas Foulkes is a well established public figure, and his brand is very much 'look at me I'm a peacocking dandy'.  I would say there is a 95% chance that if Mr Foulkes were to learn of my indifference towards him, it would be a big green tick of approval for him. 

I think online abuse and bullying is definitely not on, but I also think we shouldn't repress our opinion of what we see as negative products of our system and society,  for example, I also think casual football hooligans are also bellends.     If you think I'm a bellend for seeing these guys as feckless dandies, that's also fine.  I put a thread out there, and if someone sees it as ill judged thats understandable. 

The purpose of my interest was that I think think the difference between the dull chaff of private schools, half remembering latin, and constantly referring to Greek tragedies, and say someone like Stephen Fry who is a national living treasure, to be all too common.       The aimless wittering often seems to gain kudos and respect from some people, I guess I was interested to see if it was a geographical thing, or whether non UK members also found them to be unimpressive and dull (despite all the outfits and accents)

[Ryan]

Nick Foulkes (the older one), won Habanos Man of the Year for communications in 2007. 

As far as I remember I haven't met him, though I've been at some of the same events as him. He is quite well liked in the UK cigar industry. He does write about cigars fairly regularly in lifestyle magazines. I think they're both hamming it up a little for the camera and that's probably part of their "schtick". 

The "Port Out Starboard Home" definition by the way, is probably a myth. Posh was used as slang for "fancy" or "a dandy". 

Similarly, I took a riverboat trip on the Thames through London to Greenwich a few years ago with the family. The tour guides were insisting that the word "Wharf" came from "WareHouse At River Front". Another example of a similar myth. Wharf is an old English/German/Dutch word meaning "yard". There seems to be a general inclination for squeezing acronyms into the meanings of obscure words. 

Then again the whole "posh" thing, where "posh" meant having money. That was maybe true once. But that's changed, starting at least as far back as when Harrods was bought by Qatar. Much of the money in London now (the 8-figure bonuses etc.) is with immigrants, Russians, Middle-Eastern, Indian, South African etc. and those people couldn't give a flying swizzle about accents. They are beginning to have discussions on the sources of their tweed though.

[99call]

20 minutes ago, Ryan said:

They are beginning to have discussions on the sources of their tweed though.

I do enjoy seeing the likes of Salvatore Parisi going on tweed purchasing holidays on Instagram, I do find it very amusing.  There is a story about him hearing some old school lavender soap maker going out of business in the UK, on hearing this, the story goes that he bought enough in one purchase just to keep them going, just so they could keep producing.........now thats dedications to the chap lifestyle.