New to Hats and to the Lounge

[tortswon]

Maguire, like me, you must be a sucker for vampires! Best, Sam ("Pun"ishing those around me for 56 years).

 

[Orvil Newton]

I really appreciate the gracious welcome from so many members. RMRDaddy, my office is a block away from that fine establishment. I love cigars and used to be a regular cigar smoker. That changed several years ago when I noticed that my palate for wine was being altered by the cigar smoking. I had to make a choice and cigars came in second to wine. Best, Sam

I've heard that from other wine snobs. Personally, I find a six dollar bottle of red compliments my Punch double corona quite nicely

Aloha e' komo mai

 

[tortswon]

Cigars and taste

Howdy Orvil! I really don't think of myself as a wine snob, those are people more concerned with labels than the content of the bottle. I teach about wine and here is an article you might find interesting on the subject of cigars and their impact on taste.

http://www.stogiefresh.com/journal/...ain/69A6B8E7-FAF1-4F0D-BBBC-05A4920D414F.html

By the way, a guy who smokes Punch Double Coronas certainly takes his cigars as seriously as I take my wine. Thankfully, there are a lot of fine $6 bottles out there these days! Take care, Sam

 

[rmrdaddy]

Great link Sam. I am familiar with both Doc Stogie Fresh and Rob Gray from other forums I belong to as well. Both great guys.
The article does a great job of giving an in-depth look at how the flavors act and react in pairings. With that said, I would think that there would be many combinations of wines and cigars that WOULD go together though. I have done some amateur tastings and written a few reviews of cigars myself. I also do a lot of field research (read: smoking at Mahogany ) with pairing different beverages and cigars. Some with lackluster results, some very pleasing. Could your selections have not been optimal ones if you noticed a desensitization in the taste of particular wines?
(I'd like a local fella to join me for a smoke once in a while! LOLOLOL, But, YMMV )

 

[Eduard]

I really appreciate the gracious welcome from so many members. RMRDaddy, my office is a block away from that fine establishment. I love cigars and used to be a regular cigar smoker. That changed several years ago when I noticed that my palate for wine was being altered by the cigar smoking. I had to make a choice and cigars came in second to wine. Best, Sam

Count Dracula never did - or rather, never does drink wine lol

 

[tortswon]

Wine and Cigars

I think I ought to clarify my thing about wine and cigars. The problem I had with cigars, other than not having enough good ones at certain times, was the cumulative effect that cigar smoking had on my taste. When I was a daily cigar smoker, the smell of cigars lingered in my mouth and on my hands constantly. It got to the point that I was going to the dentist four times a year for professional cleanings and brushing three times a day without success in getting rid of the cigar smell and taste from my mouth. Because I could never get rid of the lingering smell and taste, my ability to enjoy the taste of wine was altered in a way that was unpleasant for me.

I am not suggesting that one cannot pair cigars and wine or other beverages (try one of Orvil's Punch double coronas with a vintage JW Lees Moonraker beer for fun). An occasional cigar is still in the cards. I was not saying that abstinence is the way to go. Quite the opposite, once in a while a cigar is fine for me. I just cannot do them on a daily basis as I used to do.

And Eduard, the Count was a cognac man, preferring an an xAB negative to an xO. Best, Sam

 

[rmrdaddy]

Aha!
Sorry for the confusion. Good to hear you still enjoy the leaf on occasion. :eusa_clap

 

[Orvil Newton]

I think I ought to clarify my thing about wine and cigars. The problem I had with cigars, other than not having enough good ones at certain times, was the cumulative effect that cigar smoking had on my taste. When I was a daily cigar smoker, the smell of cigars lingered in my mouth and on my hands constantly. It got to the point that I was going to the dentist four times a year for professional cleanings and brushing three times a day without success in getting rid of the cigar smell and taste from my mouth. Because I could never get rid of the lingering smell and taste, my ability to enjoy the taste of wine was altered in a way that was unpleasant for me.

I am not suggesting that one cannot pair cigars and wine or other beverages (try one of Orvil's Punch double coronas with a vintage JW Lees Moonraker beer for fun). An occasional cigar is still in the cards. I was not saying that abstinence is the way to go. Quite the opposite, once in a while a cigar is fine for me. I just cannot do them on a daily basis as I used to do
And Eduard, the Count was a cognac man, preferring an an xAB negative to an xO. Best, Sam

Once I learned not to chew the butts, bad breath etc. was not a problem.

Using a holder, as George Burns did and holding the cigar in your hand rather than clenching it in your teeth and having a drink, a cup of coffee or tea or just water, afterwards will alleviate the bad taste in the mouth as well as the "Breath of a thousand camels"

I have been smoking cigars since gasoline was 20 cents a gallon. I started in Southeast Asia, refined my tastes in South America and was much dismayed when they became popular several years ago driving the prices up to the point where one double corona cost more than a room in the hotel I was once kicked out of for smoking one. My boss and I used to enjoy a stick every day at lunch until the State of Hawaii passed a law forbidding smoking even in private offices. I cut back to one or two a week.

Now that I am retired and have the freedom to do so, I generally smoke one cigar a day, in the afternoon. I customarily have two glasses of wine with dinner. On rare occasions, like the recent holiday, I may have two cigars, the second one after dinner with a glass of small batch bourbon. I also enjoy a really good draft beer, just a pint or two, with a cigar.

Frankly, I don't know how men like George Burns, Winston Churchill and others did it; smoking fifteen large cigars a day. Sigmund Freud is said to have smoked even more.

Even at only one a day, and sometimes not even that, I am known around here as the guy who wear the hat and smokes cigars. lol

I didn't mean to imply that you are in any way a snob, only that I drink cheap wine

"You must choose between me and your cigar."
-- BREACH OF PROMISE CASE, CIRCA 1885.

The Betrothed​

Open the old cigar-box, get me a Cuba stout,
For things are running crossways, and Maggie and I are out.

We quarrelled about Havanas -- we fought o'er a good cheroot,
And I knew she is exacting, and she says I am a brute.

Open the old cigar-box -- let me consider a space;
In the soft blue veil of the vapour musing on Maggie's face.

Maggie is pretty to look at -- Maggie's a loving lass,
But the prettiest cheeks must wrinkle, the truest of loves must pass.

There's peace in a Larranaga, there's calm in a Henry Clay;
But the best cigar in an hour is finished and thrown away --

Thrown away for another as perfect and ripe and brown --
But I could not throw away Maggie for fear o' the talk o' the town!

Maggie, my wife at fifty -- grey and dour and old --
With never another Maggie to purchase for love or gold!

And the light of Days that have Been the dark of the Days that Are,
And Love's torch stinking and stale, like the butt of a dead cigar --

The butt of a dead cigar you are bound to keep in your pocket --
With never a new one to light tho' it's charred and black to the socket!

Open the old cigar-box -- let me consider a while.
Here is a mild Manila -- there is a wifely smile.

Which is the better portion -- bondage bought with a ring,
Or a harem of dusky beauties, fifty tied in a string?

Counsellors cunning and silent -- comforters true and tried,
And never a one of the fifty to sneer at a rival bride?

Thought in the early morning, solace in time of woes,
Peace in the hush of the twilight, balm ere my eyelids close,

This will the fifty give me, asking nought in return,
With only a Suttee's passion -- to do their duty and burn.

This will the fifty give me. When they are spent and dead,
Five times other fifties shall be my servants instead.

The furrows of far-off Java, the isles of the Spanish Main,
When they hear my harem is empty will send me my brides again.

I will take no heed to their raiment, nor food for their mouths withal,
So long as the gulls are nesting, so long as the showers fall.

I will scent 'em with best vanilla, with tea will I temper their hides,
And the Moor and the Mormon shall envy who read of the tale of my brides.

For Maggie has written a letter to give me my choice between
The wee little whimpering Love and the great god Nick o' Teen.

And I have been servant of Love for barely a twelvemonth clear,
But I have been Priest of Cabanas a matter of seven year;

And the gloom of my bachelor days is flecked with the cheery light
Of stumps that I burned to Friendship and Pleasure and Work and Fight.

And I turn my eyes to the future that Maggie and I must prove,
But the only light on the marshes is the Will-o'-the-Wisp of Love.

Will it see me safe through my journey or leave me bogged in the mire?
Since a puff of tobacco can cloud it, shall I follow the fitful fire?

Open the old cigar-box -- let me consider anew --
Old friends, and who is Maggie that I should abandon you?

A million surplus Maggies are willing to bear the yoke;
And a woman is only a woman, but a good Cigar is a Smoke.

Light me another Cuba -- I hold to my first-sworn vows.
If Maggie will have no rival, I'll have no Maggie for Spouse!

Rudyard Kipling wearing a boater

 

[tortswon]

Thanks for the information, Orvil

Orvil, thanks for the tip. I'll try to use the information you kindly supplied the next time I light one up and let you know. FYI, I took no offense at all about the snob thing. I'm a trial lawyer and, therefore, utterly devoid of the ability to feel

Finally, thanks for the poem. That boater was covering a very remarkable brain. Best, Sam

 

[Maguire]

Maguire, like me, you must be a sucker for vampires! Best, Sam ("Pun"ishing those around me for 56 years).

Not at all i've just been fascinated by the historical Vlad and Romania in general for a while. I should visit the place one day.

 

[funneman]

Welcome Tortswon!

Philly eh?

Do you ever get down to South Street hats?

It's right across from the Police Station at about 17th.

It's a great Old School shop with a great selection and
a staff right out of the 1940s.

 

[tortswon]

Thanks for the Tip

Funneman, I live right off South Street, between 2d and 3d. Next time I'm arrested in that area, I'll be sure to stop in the shop! Best, Sam

 

[rmrdaddy]

You live right there?
Too cool!
Are you in that newish half block townhouse renovation with the curved "alley" thru it? Right on Lombard is it?
I have a friend with a restaurant/bar right on Bainbridge. Been to Southwark?