Cigars made in America

[ggiese]

JC Newman machine rolls their "Factory Throwouts" in Miami from tobacco left over from their Latin American hand rolling factories. Same ingredients, just not whole leaves. If you can get past the "throwouts" name, they are some tasty smokes. Twenty three bucks gets you a bundle of twenty.

The question is: What are you really after? Good smoke or a decadent experience? It's like pups -- Do you need to impress yourself with the pedigree and price of your pampered pug, or are you content with a boon flop eared companion? When I was a kid, we got our pups from a neighbor, sired by a fence jumper. Only papers they ever had were newspapers over the snout to house train them. Loved them all the same. Got some darn good dogs that way. Old Duke could share my ice cream any day. More money does not always equal more better. You need to uncouple price from pleasure.

Yes, even among the imported hand rolled premiums. The cigars I buy by the box to always keep stocked in my humidor include the Ave Maria (Crusader), the Torano 1916 Cameroon, and the Fonseca Arana. The Fonseca runs a mere $35 a bundle of 20, but is in no way an inferior smoke to the other two, which run a buck twenty a box.

But we're getting off track. We are talking about American cigars here. What with OSHA, minimum wage, cost of living, overtime, health insurance, and all the rest, I don't see how you going to get a hand rolled pampered twelve buck gem. But you can get a darn good smoke made by machine. And you will pay less.

Fancy bands are nice. But they don't smoke worth a damn.

Are you saying that people are unnecessarily paying a premium for a "fancy band" cigar?

If I want a car - the paper is full of 'em. If I want a dog - the local shelter is full of 'em. If I want a cigar - my shop is full of 'em. Wine that comes in a box tastes like wine and will get you as drunk as those fancy-scmancy $200 a bottle wines. Does that necessarily mean one car is not better than another if both drive straight and true? Ford is the same as Lamborgini? Timex is the same as Rolex?

I investigated a complaint from a guy who bought a diamond ring from eBay. The seller advertised a 1 carat diamond well below normal retail for a 1 carat diamond. When the buyer received it, he was completely displeased the diamond was full of inclusions and fractures - it looked like "frozen spit". He thought he was being "ripped off". The diamond was truly worth the advertised price - and it was a legitimate diamond. Following your logic - what would be the problem, right?