jdizzle113

Just checked and all is back up and running.

It's not so much the risk of getting sick, it's more what seeing it done elicits. Sort of like when you go to a public toilet and you see a guy leave a cubical and walk straight out and not wash their hands. Chances are those actions aren't gonna make you sick but it still makes you shudder.

Just read the following post off cigarinspector.com: It's the first time I've ever heard of this practice in cutting a cigar - I thought it would've been bad etiquette to get your saliva all over the cap before cutting and hence getting your saliva all over the cutter. Does anyone know if this is a good technique? Or does anyone practice it?

Just wanted to check to see if this site is not working for anyone else? I was using it yesterday just fine and then last night it went to some ad site and hasn't been right since.

Is there a problem with fuel residue getting into your cigar using that method to light? I always thought liquid and solid fuel (bar maybe matches?) flames don't combust the fuel completely and leave your cigar with some nasty unburned hydrocarbons.

Hi All, I'm currently performing a year of medical research and thought some of you might be interested to hear one of my findings. Smoking has been shown to be a negative risk factor for the development of Parkinson's Disease. That is, smokers have lower rates of Parkinson's Disease than non-smokers. Your first reaction may be that smokers die before they have the chance to develop Parkinson's Disease - but the numerous studies have taken this possibility into account during their statistical analysis and it is not the case. The difference in risk is pretty substantial - a smoker has 60% less risk than the non-smoker of developing Parkinson's Disease. These studies have been comparing cigarette smokers to non-smokers. But the physiological models are based upon the effect of nicotine on the body, so I don't see why this same effect would not also be true of cigar smokers. Anyway, for those interested in further reading here some of the studies that support this finding: Abbott RD, Ross GW, White LR, Sanderson WT, Burchfiel CM, Kashon M, Sharp DS, Masaki KH, Curb JD, Petrovitch H, Abbott RD, Ross GW, White LR, Sanderson WT, Burchfiel CM, Kashon M, Sharp DS, Masaki KH, Curb JD, Petrovitch H (2003) Environmental, life-style, and physical precursors of clinical Parkinson's disease: recent findings from the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study. Journal of Neurology 250 Suppl 3:III30-39 de Lau LML, Breteler MMB (2006) Epidemiology of Parkinson's disease. The Lancet Neurology 5:525-535 Miguel A. Hernán BTFC-IJJG-O (2002) A meta-analysis of coffee drinking, cigarette smoking, and the risk of Parkinson's disease. In, pp 276-284

add me please.

Those cuban anti-smoking stickers are heaps nicer and less intrusive than the ones we've got here. I think that there needs to be some sort of warning, but it's gone a bit too far here in Australia. We should go back to having just text stickers just like the ones in this photo. Am I alone on this one?

Looks real nice. Is the idea that you re-use the tubes? Because they look nicer than the standard ones.

They did this one on a recent episode of House. Damn funny.

Did he say COHIBA Piramides instead of CUABA? If it's not that, "Regional editions"? or the Romeo and Julieta name thing? Also, did Rob say that if the video reviews arn't out yet go check out the website to watch them (with them not being out yet)?

perhaps some "nutty" flavors?

Here's a great account of someone who counter-scammed an internet scammer. Not the same type of scam - this one was an e-bay scam - one I almost fell victim to until I checked the scripting in the e-mail (lucky I did). When you're selling an item and have paypal as a payment option the scammer wins the bid and then sends you a fake paypal receipt - that looks identical from a bogus server. I've always fantasied about doing something like this to someone who tried to scam me - but alas, I don't have the time or the persistence. http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/

That's the word I was looking for!

Thanks for the reply - but I think if you read my posts you'll find that I never accused the retailer in question of anything. I had suspicion - but since when is having suspicion/doubt or even healthy skepticism considered to be accusation? Maybe when I said "when something seems too good to be true it usually is" that could be considered to be insinuation - but definitely not accusation. Aside from the fact I don't feel I accused anyone - on the matter of "proof" - I felt that was the purpose of this thread - I had suspicions and I wanted the consultation of the knowledgeable members of this forum. Now, obviously these suspicions were incorrect - which I now see, but I feel I did nothing wrong by asking.

Yeah - I did contact them and they offered an exchange - but then I realised that I would have to mail it back, and then potentially pay duty on the new order. I only bought the El Principe because the box was something like $USD100 and I wanted to probe the service - see if it was a scam. I'm always of the opinion that if it's too good to be true, it usually is. But I don't know how to assess this situation. In any case I'm very happy with cigar czar and will just keep them as my source. I just wanted to know if these El Principles that are in my humidor are worth keeping or to be thrown out.

Sorry - poor photo - the lines are gold not black. Done. Also, I gave them several weeks to rest.

Does this mean we don't have to worry about beetle infestation anymore?

A couple of months ago (before I found out about cigar czar of course) I bought a box of San Cristobal - El Principe online from a Hong Kong/Switzerland store called ...Deleted.. When they arrived - eventually - after being intercepted by customs and having duty charged etc. They were in a pretty sorry state. Very very soggy. I put them in the humidor for a few weeks to stabilise them. When I eventually smoked them - they were just complete rubbish - just horrible. I don't really know how to describe it. Anyway, I suspect they may be fake - but I had never tried them before and hence have no basis for comparison. Also, they did take a beating in transit from overseas to my home. Hence I wanted to get your opinion on them. I've attached some photos of the box. Also - just thought I'd add. I only smoked a few of them - they were frankly quite unbearable. I've still got the majority in my secondary humidor. So if the box does not provide enough information, I can upload some photos of the sticks themselves.

I'd love to get involved in something like this. I'm considering going down to Melbourne for the Alexanders Cigar night on the 26th - but it would be my first cigar event. Has anyone ever been to their dinners before? A good experience?

Ouch! Maybe I should buy some to give to enemies as good will gifts..

Was looking at cigars-review.org. Came across this review of the Guantanamera Cristale and just had to share: "Review #73: it was like smoking ****. And the worst part is its not a metaphor. It literally tasted and smelled ****. Dont waste a penny on this. - Submitted by spreewell on February 26, 2009" http://www.cigars-review.org/Guantanamera-Cristales.htm Makes me want to try one to understand how it could inspire so much hatred. Anyone else got any experiences like this?

Thanks for that. Glad to know its been done before. Cheers James

Hello All, I've asked alot of questions in the last few days and I've now got another one - and I apologise for this - I've still got much to learn, and since I know so little on the topic, I can't contribute much back. But hopefully when I learn more I can then start to give back. Here's the question: I've posted about the high humidity woes of the wine fridge I bought (for my desktop humidors) in a previous post: http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/inde...showtopic=96455 It's a constant struggle to keep the humidity low inside the fridge - I've tried chemical means unsuccessfully - and it seems the only way I can do it (and I was so reluctant to do this) is to turn the temperature right down to just under 10C or 50F. I usually like to store my humidors at about 16C or 60.8F. But right now my humidors and hence my cigars are very cold. Keeping the humidity up at these cold temperatures isn't a problem for me (there's no shortage of humidity here). Hopefully, this sub-optimal cold temperature will only have to be a temporary measure. But in the event that I must permanently keep my cigars at this temperature I was wondering how this could negatively impact on my cigars? I know the usual concern is drying the cigars out - but I can keep humidity at a constant 65% with no problem. So re-phrasing - what are the negative effects of keeping your cigars at a cold temperature (~10C or 50F) if humidity is kept at the right conditions? I remember hearing that cold temperature inhibits the ageing process (or maybe it speeds it up?), but is there anything else?

Maybe the size of the cutter? I know my xikar cutter can't get too far down the head of my sublimes. Or maybe something to do with the draw? Maybe if the aperture is too large (like a thick cigar cut low) then you can't built up enough negative pressure for a good draw? do tell....