
The most coveted cigars will never be smoked - CapitalistCartr
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20160921-the-most-coveted-cigars-will-never-be-smoked-heres-why
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dageshi
There is at present a sort of golden age for the cigar afficionado, individual
countries highly regulate and tax cigars (priced even more highly than
cigarettes for reasons that escape me), but are quite happy to allow vendors
to sell internationally, the upshot is for any country outside the US it's far
cheaper to buy from neighbouring countries or from the other side of the world
for that matter...

How long it will last, who knows, sooner or later cross border sales of
tobacco will be banned, but for the time being those who can are stocking up
while they can. Cigars last for decades and peak in the 5-25 year range
depending on the cigar so right now there's no downside to buying as many as
you can, even the none special editions (cuban) are probably good for about
10% a year in appreciation.

Personally I'm buying a box a month.

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ghostbrainalpha
If you are not currently working for Big Tobacco, then you should be. You just
convinced me to start smoking.

~~~
dageshi
Hah, I'm very hesitant to discuss cigar smoking outside of forums dedicated to
it because people tend not to know a lot about it and lump it in with
cigarettes.

In reality they're quite different, for one I have personally never found
cigars in any way addictive, they certainly do have nicotine in them, lots of
nicotine but since you don't inhale (mouth only) cigar smoke it seems like you
don't get the super fast hit that cigarette smokers do which in turn means
they're not addictive? I'm not sure of the science behind it, all I know is
myself and the others who I know in the hobby do consider cigars a hobby to be
picked up and put down, in a weird way the actual collecting becomes more
important than the smoking. I know people who maybe smoke 1 cigar a month but
are constantly buying and selling to expand their collections.

~~~
CodeMage
As someone who used to smoke an average of one pack of cigarettes a day, for
five years before quitting, I am curious: what's the appeal of smoking cigars?
I only smoked one once and even then I missed out on the authentic experience,
because nobody told me you're not supposed to inhale the smoke...

~~~
elorant
Bear in mind that cigars are considered a positional good. Quite a few people
smoke them to show off. Other than that it’s a way to relax and chill down
since it takes a while to smoke the whole thing. You pair it with a good
scotch and/or a chocolate and you get the whole experience. This is especially
true with pipes which also last longer and have milder and more aromatic
flavors. Take for example Lord of the Rings. Every time someone wants to
contemplate on an issue they smoke a pipe, especially Gandalf. It’s all over
the movie although few people take notice.

~~~
joshontheweb
Dont disagree with your point but I think Gandalf was smoking hobbit weed, not
tobacco. Which would probably help with contemplation as well ;)

~~~
dTal
It's tobacco. The prologue to Lord of the Rings calls it "a variety probably
of Nicotiana", the narrator refers to it directly as tobacco in "The Two
Towers", and in The Hobbit it's exclusively referred to as tobacco.

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raldi
The headline teases "Here's why" and then never seems to explain it. Can
someone find it, or distill it down to a single sentence?

~~~
seangrant
Because people value collecting them more than they do smoking them. Would you
smoke your 5 million dollar cigar collection? Probably not. It's burning
money!

~~~
raldi
Doesn't this line of reasoning apply to everything from wine to truffles?

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fatdog
I don't know anyone in tech who appreciates cigars. It doesn't go with things
like rock climbing, kayaking, snowboarding, ultramarathoning, CrossFit, or
redditing that our fields are known for. I love them, but what's the HN
connection?

~~~
grkvlt
> rock climbing, kayaking, snowboarding, ultramarathoning

When did the IT or CS field become known for those pursuits? They seem more
like a list of modern sports, that many in their twenties would enjoy. Perhaps
you are associating with a particular age group subset, rather than the
broader cross-section of the industry from 20-80+ which is a lot harder to pin
down in terms of stereotypical hobbies.

I found it quite amusing when ESR decided to rewrite the Jargon File to re-
define martial arts as the 'true' hacker pastime [1] since that is what he
seems to enjoy...?

> [...] martial arts seems to have become firmly established as the hacker
> exercise form of choice [...]

[1]
[http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/physical.html](http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/physical.html)

~~~
Jarwain
I'm not super familiar with the history on this, but the reasoning he gave
seemed plausible. From the anectdote about a random group he joined consisting
of a high percentage of martial artists, to the slang analogizing programming
with martial arts.

Sure he might be biased because he also does martial arts, but it is also
plausible from the stance that he is unbiased.

~~~
gaius
Oh ESR is pretty notorious in these parts. Have you seen his sex tips page?

~~~
Jarwain
...

I have not. Could you link me?

