Imagine a 100yr old CC smoker.......what questions would you ask?

[99call]

So a few threads have featured on this forum before, but never really specifically on old school CC smokers. 

One of my first questions goes out to the likes of @Nino @El Presidente  @Trevor2118   Are there any really old CC smokers you know of? or have met" Do you think such a thing exists?  i.e someone who has been routinely smoking cuban cigars since the 1940s?.   I guess a life lived between the 1920's and the 2020's you have to give someone a bit of leeway and say they start smoking in the 1940's. 

Jesus, what a that buzz! 

- 1940's starting off your career with small cheapies PL perfectos Henry Clays. Cigars are often and on mass. A strong cloud of continuous thoughtless smoke

- In your 30s you refine your tastes and mainly lean towards Ramon Private stock. You have ideas above your station, but thats ok

- In the 1960s you find yourself riding high.   Cabanas Premiers,  the occasional Gran Gener.  life is a merry-go-round of choice. .......SPOILER ALERT ..........Kids put and end to this. 

- Your 50's creep up, the 1970s are full or revolution. Cello, cedar wraps,  tubos.......everything is change. La Gloria Cubana has a bulging catalogue, and a certain Zino Davidoff is is staking his claim.  Will this brand last?, is it just flash in the pan?

- The 1980 are spent in zen. Cigars are either a myriad of glorious Lonsdales, ERDM, Davidoff, ,Cohiba, LGC, or a durge of cheapies, La Corona, Gispert, LFDC etc....... You're broke,  cheapies it is then.......PS....they all taste like really strong dirt

- The 1990 find you at the grand old age of 70! surely you should pack it in?..............no! theres life in this old fox yet.  The robusto craze is in your face, and ring gauge wars are in their infancy.  You have a stock of Davidoffs, that were too expensive when you bought them..........and prices continue to creep.......is this just a passion......or is this a business?

- The 2000's you are in your 80s, the 'Millenium bug' is about to destroy the world (spoiler alert, it's a big burger fart of nothing) More importantly!!!!!!  cigars will no longer smoke, unless you have an iron lung in your garage.  WTF is going on.?  some black magic is afoot and I don't like it.         Robustos are the only cigars that will still smoke......strange that!???

2010,  you are 90's.  life is spent, sat int the sun,  planning the tactical passing of water. Admonishing small children for little reason, and trying to communicate in strange hand gestures that no longer mean what you think they mean. but come sunset, you head off to the stash, and whether is be a Belinda Churchill, or Partagas Presidente, you have to some degree kept relevant, and always bought cigars......you are a king amongst men

2020.   The family have gladly taken over, the collection has largely gone to the auctions. What a lot of money for a big pile of leaves!!.  One way or another they've lived beyond me. Boxes opened, or sealed all relics of another time.  I hope I will be remembered like a particularly good box.... a brash eventful beginning, a wonderful indulgent halfway point, and a smooth, well accomplished finish/landing 

God I would love to meet and interrogate a 100yr old cc smoker

[Puros Y Vino]

Great post. Will follow this one closely. There are some older smokers here that imparted interesting info on cigars from the 60's and onwards. Not anyone who would have been smoking regularly from Pre-Embargo when they were fresh though.  

[Puros Y Vino]

One question I would ask. I've heard old La Escepcion were monster smokes. Very strong. So much that the brand may have fallen out of favour. Follow up. Do they have any they could spare? 😁

[99call]

2 minutes ago, Puros Y Vino said:

Great post. Will follow this one closely. There are some older smokers here that imparted interesting info on cigars from the 60's and onwards. Not anyone who would have been smoking regularly from Pre-Embargo when they were fresh though.  

Hmm to be honest I cant really see this thread getting any traction as it, in its quizzical nature is speculative.   There must be some old tobacco marinaded man or woman on the face of the planet, who has seen it all?

I think my question would be...."Are we going through the 2nd golden age of cuban cigars".   I.e.  stuff like filter tips, tubos, bakelite hip flasks,  fancy big humi's,  it all back in the day must have seemed pretty fancy pants, and stupid, yet I look back on that era with great regards, and look at the stupid gimmickry of what's being released now as something deferent.            What if, in actual fact,  it's not different?  that the pathetic bling humidors of today, will be cherished possessions of the future. 

Sadly I think the obvious answer is ....yes!.      for me I just want to see some sense prevail with materials.   No paints,  not MDF woods.  Just keep it natural.  Make sure everything that goes into a humidor, does not break down over time, and off gas chemicals.

[99call]

1 hour ago, Puros Y Vino said:

One question I would ask. I've heard old La Escepcion were monster smokes. Very strong. So much that the brand may have fallen out of favour. Follow up. Do they have any they could spare? 😁

Interestingly I think it might have been @Nino that did a review of the original Bolivar Especiales with Dalay cigars, and some comment with regards to these being very heavy on ligero.    I had 50 bolivar Espeicales tubos at one point, and in opening up a couple,  the richness of aroma was quite startling.   It obviously wasn't that barnyard leather of young cigars, but like a heavy brooding spice, the bands were totally saturated in oil, very impressive, not really seen cigars like it before or since.

Sorry to go off on a tangent, but the point was to say that maybe the original Bolivar Especiales could be a cigar you might want to track down

 

 

[BrightonCorgi]

I met an elderly CC smoker Carnegie Club.  When cigar smoking was common place like 60+ years ago, there were more people who could discern a cigar's contents down to the finca it was grown.  I reckon there's only a couple hundred that could do that today. 

Formality has diminished each decade and that includes all pomp and circumstance that goes along with it.  You can see that in today's cigar culture too.

[Bolismoker]

Nothing to add except to say what a great thread! Thank you


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[NSXCIGAR]

3 hours ago, 99call said:

I think it might have been @Nino that did a review of the original Bolivar Especiales

If @Nino is 100 years old he looks spectacular!

We could ask her though:

[Nino]

3 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

If @Nino is 100 years old he looks spectacular!

 

Still 32 years away from 100 and still going strong at 68 - can't complain 🙂

Will see what I can add to this thread but I fear I spilled all the beans in that Dalay interview, besides and as I like to say : Whadda I know bout cigars ??

[99call]

4 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

If @Nino is 100 years old he looks spectacular!

Naughty,........you know all too well my ref to Nino, was for the old CC geezers he may have met, not that he was one of that number.    Judging by the image above.....he still looks dangerous  #plentyoflifeintheolddogyet!