How has your cigarscape changed?

[LordAnubis]

I don’t really know what I’m asking here. Not sure how wide to cast the net.

It recently occurred to me that my cigar circle has shrunk. It occurred to me not that the circle has shrunk but the additions have stopped. While previously I would find it easy to find new cigar friends to add to my circle, nowadays it seems I meet new people and do not align with them.

I am of course still grateful to the many people I have met and keep in touch with primarily through this forum, but I’m wondering what your cigarscape looks like nowadays compared to a few years ago?

I think I’m finding more people are moving into NCs and that in itself is not a problem for me, but I find people these days are of two bands: 1) into Cubans, have money, and absolutely no idea, and the personality of a box of hammers, or are in it to flip which is also fine but have no interest in the community in which they rely and also no idea. 2) new people starting with NCs and acting like they’re ballers. 

I think it comes down to now the cigar scape seems to have shed a lot of the every day folks and seems to be the wealthy that are in it. I think most of it comes down to cigar influencers and their dribble. 

[El Presidente]

My recent tour of the US again showed how vibrant that cigar community is and it is in no way a "glamour" pursuit. Average age in the Divans/Lounges I visited was well and truly under 45. Average cost of a cigar even in those higher priced locales would be around $14-$16 USD. 

HK continues to have a  a vibrant cigar community at much higher prices. There are now more Cigar Divans in Central HK than 7/11's. Truely! Increasingly, many of those divans are at least 50% NC. That is a good thing in my eyes. 

Europe varies and others can tell the tale. 

Oz is all over the place with small tightly knit cigar groups. In terms of global cigar culture, we really don't rate. 

I think it is a positive that Habanos is no longer the final word in cigars. They have cast their own direction and not everyone needs to hop on. 

 

 

[Fuzz]

My cigar circle has widened a little the past year, especially after the HK BR event (please Omelito, for the sake of my sanity, call Rob when you are drunk! ), but still mostly hanging with my usual crew.

[Duxnutz]

I hear ya Mus, my circle now consists of random encounters at lounges when I travel for work. I miss the regular meetups with mates. 

Lots of Americans I’ve met are pretty dismissive of Cubans but it’s still nice to chat. 

Right now I’m in Narita having a cigar sitting on the sidewalk outside my hotel. 

[MrBirdman]

NC are becoming part of the landscape outside of the US and I think it’s great. We should all just thank those pioneers of NC cigars who laid the groundwork decades ago for the vibrant scene today. Imagine if they waited for the Cubans to send prices to the moon - by the time they got NC right, cigar smoking would be practically dead. In that sense the embargo may have, ironically, preserved cigars for another generation at least. 

[GerardMichaelTX]

Did the "cigar group" thing back in 2017-2020. The guys were OK overall most of them moochers and brown nosers but the tightest group I was in did some pretty amazing stuff. Just kind of got petty in a lot of those circles so I bailed.

There were a few guys that were just getting into Habanos but overall Cubans were still a mystery to those guys. That never was a barrier to friendship though. With the extreme rash of coubterfeits when it comes to Cubans a lot of those guys were hesitant to jump into the market. We saw a lot of fakes being moved into the US so that's why a lot of Americans are of the opinion that Central American and other Carribean cigars are better than Cubans.

Lately I've come across some really great people, musicians, bikers, businessmen, oil and gas "good ole boys" that I see periodically but most smokers in my area have only been doing it for a year and a half not a quarter of a century and still have a myriad of questions. I think that is where I am at the point of "opting out" to new groups; I like to help newbies but repeating advice like a broken record at the cigar store is getting tedious. 

[Puros Y Vino]

Great post Mus. Was thinking about posting something similar but was too apathetic to do so.  For me, a lot has changed. From around 2011 to 2015 I was part of tight knit group that was mostly borne from FOH.  Over the years we managed to organize some large herfs consisting of 30-70 people. We used to meet for cigars after work at least once a week.  Now one thing that made this possible was that we could smoke on patios in the city.  That made things easy.  In 2015 new laws were passed to ban smoking.So that instantly curbed our ability to get together as often on an ad-hoc basis. Another thing that happened around the same time was the rise of "Cigar flippers" on Facebook. I joined a few FB cigar groups to see what they were about. Left many of them as the members were not to my liking.  I quickly realized that many of these people were not even casual smokers. They were opportunists who traveled to Cuba and learned they could make money flipping cigars.  As someone who came from a group that organized group buys of HTF cigars such as Regionals where people paid what it cost. No markups.  Flipping was and is an anathema to me.  I admit I have bought some boxes that way from a few "less gougey" sellers.  But overall, I kept my distance.  During my FB foray I don't think I've met or smoked with anyone from those groups. The local cigar group I'd hang with, just fell apart. A few exited abruptly without warning or explanation.  That happens.  Others just drifted over time.  Add the Pandemic to the mix and there was barely an email between many of us. There are a few that I keep in touch with and bother to keep in touch with me. The rest are gone.  I've met a few more people over the past years. Herfed a bit here and there but I'm not really clicking with them and vice-versa. The one thing I think that could be behind it, is that much of them are far younger than I am. Anywhere from 15-20 years.   People tend to gravitate towards people like them and that includes age ranges I guess.  So, I've pulled back and started to enjoy cigars on my own again with the odd smaller herf here and there. The circle has shrunk significantly but it is better.  Quality over Quantity is fine by me. There is an older group I smoke with now and then that are very friendly.   With that said. I do notice that cigar smoking is picking up in this city.  A lot of B&M's and cigar clubs are running clandestine events throughout the year.  I attended a Havana themed Xmas hert inf 2023 that had 150 people in attendance. It was probably the best run herf I've ever been to. The organizers found a great venue, performers, etc.  Didn't recognize many from the old crew there though.  Over the last few weeks a few more events occurred and they seem to be doing well.  There does seem to be an uptick in the "tosser/inferencer" types that like the cache of the hobby.  NC's are definitely more prevalent as well.  Habanos marketing is genius isnt it?! 😁 This younger crowd, unable to find or afford Cubans en masse have a lot of dialogue over what NC's have been good, what to try next, etc.  These are conversations I'll gloss over but dont engage in as I'm not like minded.  So, yeah. Things have changed. Didn't think they would, but they did and as time passes I'm beginning to understand why.

[Chitmo]

I smoke at home alone 99% of the time, mainly for the same reasons you mentioned. The local lounge is full of “Bawlers” and “Snobs”. But then again,  I’m probably just old and grumpy. 😆 

[Sandman]

1 hour ago, Chitmo said:

I smoke at home alone 99% of the time, mainly for the same reasons you mentioned. The local lounge is full of “Bawlers” and “Snobs”. But then again,  I’m probably just old and grumpy. 😆 

Haha yeah me too. Stopped smoking at lounges  after covid and built out the garage for winter and back deck for summer. I smoke 99% by myself and I’m just fine with it. I do like seeing a lot of longtime friends at herfs, but I don’t get to many of those nowadays. All good. 

[LordAnubis]

What a ride @Puros Y Vino the foh circle here is still here. Though admittedly not that frequent at the moment. I’m more doing 1 on 1 catch-ups at the moment. I just think, and the purpose of my post, that there has been a shift in the people in this hobby. We haven’t been prohibitively stopped from cigars here. Perth is probably the most favourable city in Australia to be able to enjoy a cigar. Our taxes are of course high and increasing every year.  

Even locally. People in cigars has grown. But local events are “suits and cigars”. Not just hey let’s catch up and have cigars and share stories. Local Facebook groups are full of some shit heap cigar staged with Cohiba Ali express lighter and cutter and ashtray combos. 
Maybe I’m just getting old and grumpy 😂

[BrightonCorgi]

I have no one close by to smoke cigars with. Even if they are smoking my cigars. Years ago there were quarterly get togethers, but those are distant memory. 

 

 

[Li Bai]

7 hours ago, LordAnubis said:

But local events are “suits and cigars”. Not just hey let’s catch up and have cigars and share stories.

That's exactly the same here in Paris, I might meet a small number of good friends to share a cigar 3 or 4 times a year but that's it, I'm not interested.

[JY0]

I'm old and like my privacy. Most of the time I roll solo. I have lived in a remote mountain town without any cigar stores or lounges for 20 years and that is fine with me. When I lived in the city I smoked in the local lounges and enjoyed that too. 

That said I'd rather sit here on my porch and enjoy a cigar. 

[jazzboypro]

11 hours ago, Chitmo said:

I smoke at home alone 99% of the time, mainly for the same reasons you mentioned. The local lounge is full of “Bawlers” and “Snobs”. But then again,  I’m probably just old and grumpy. 😆 

Same here. I go to a lounge about twice a year with a friend. The rest of the time I smoke home.

[loose_axle]

I've got a couple of good mates I've been smoking cigars with for years. Still smoke with them, it's always a treat and my favourite social event especially if we have a long lunch beforehand. Rarer and rarer now as we've all moved around a bit, and some of them have kids now too, but gee its good when we make it work. 

The few times I've been to a cigar event its usually to listen to someone talk about themselves for an hour before they rack off to bend someone else's ear over or someone trying to worm a free cigar off you. 

[Fuzz]

I usually try to round up the Sydney boys once every month for either a dinner or lunch. A few of us take turns hosting, or we go to a cigar friendly locale. Oddly enough, we are starting to see an increase in cigar friendly places in Sydney.

[NeoGeo]

I too enjoy most of smoking time alone, which works out just fine for me. I have a couple of good friends that I'll catch up with when one of us travels into the others' towns, but that's about. My son, who is now 26, is my best smoking companion when we get together! I have always preferred it this way though.

[GVan]

Great question. The cigar scape is much smaller for me. The normal place that I would get together with a reasonably large group of cigar buddy's was the golf club after a round of golf in the men's league. We'd smoke cigars and drink beer / bourbon and sit around and talk until everyone was done with their cigar. Then, some of the new younger, female members started to complain about us smoking on the porch of the club. Funny, we were always very careful to ensure we were down-wind so as not to bother any non-smokers. Most days we were actually all by ourselves on the far end of the porch (which is about 150 feet long) and always far away from anyone that was just out enjoying the view.

Because of the complaints of a few members all smoking at the club is now relegated to a new "sitting area" that was built on the opposite side of the club-house bar. No access to the bar, no servers - have to go to the bar to order a drink. Most importantly for Florida, no roof over the sitting area. Too hot in the sun in the summer and no cover when it rains. Now we all just smoke cigars on the course. No one uses the new area they built. I never see anyone in it. No more camaraderie, no more 1 to 2 hour discussions, everyone just goes home. The anti-smokers won again.

[Fuzz]

7 hours ago, GVan said:

Great question. The cigar scape is much smaller for me. The normal place that I would get together with a reasonably large group of cigar buddy's was the golf club after a round of golf in the men's league. We'd smoke cigars and drink beer / bourbon and sit around and talk until everyone was done with their cigar. Then, some of the new younger, female members started to complain about us smoking on the porch of the club. Funny, we were always very careful to ensure we were down-wind so as not to bother any non-smokers. Most days we were actually all by ourselves on the far end of the porch (which is about 150 feet long) and always far away from anyone that was just out enjoying the view.

Because of the complaints of a few members all smoking at the club is now relegated to a new "sitting area" that was built on the opposite side of the club-house bar. No access to the bar, no servers - have to go to the bar to order a drink. Most importantly for Florida, no roof over the sitting area. Too hot in the sun in the summer and no cover when it rains. Now we all just smoke cigars on the course. No one uses the new area they built. I never see anyone in it. No more camaraderie, no more 1 to 2 hour discussions, everyone just goes home. The anti-smokers won again.

So on top of the extra expense of building a new spot and no-one using it, they can't recoup the costs due to lost bar sales, as everyone goes home instead of drinking after a round.

[Duxnutz]

On 6/25/2024 at 2:14 PM, Fuzz said:

I usually try to round up the Sydney boys once every month for either a dinner or lunch. A few of us take turns hosting, or we go to a cigar friendly locale. Oddly enough, we are starting to see an increase in cigar friendly places in Sydney.

That’s cool. After Cohibar closed I just hung out in parks looking over my shoulder. 

[VivaLosFatman]

Twenty-plus years as a cigar smoker. Nearly stopped about 8 or so years after the first child was born. Also have moved 3 times since. No longer in an area with a large cigar scene. I am finding that there is still the #1s and 2s from the OP around, just like they were 20 years ago. They are still annoying, and I am just not much into the available scene. The local events are well, disappointing in that the event marca rarely brings more than 10 or so boxes to sell (a drastic change from what I was used to 10 years ago at events).

So here I am at FoH, which I joined 15 or so years ago now, I think, reading again and seeing if there is anything worthwhile to pursue. 

So yes, its changed for me in several ways and I miss the herfs both arranged and impromptu. I miss the info exchange, and sharing of cigars, especially those once in a lifetime and never again holy grails shared out of the highest and most sincere stations of brotherhood.

[Fuzz]

1 hour ago, Duxnutz said:

That’s cool. After Cohibar closed I just hung out in parks looking over my shoulder. 

No kink shame....