Current Cigar and Non Cigar trends that make you go "What the Hell?"

[PigFish]

... how youth, young people in general (not all), many who consider themselves 'edgy, different and anti-establishment' align themselves with the oldest of failed socio-political systems in the world, renamed and rebranded, where the few elites rule the majority of serfs.

Even fat cigars are acceptable by comparison!

-Piggy

[bacalao]

Skinny suits...

Sales clerk: Good afternoon sir, may I interest you in a suit with super short sleeves and pants about two sizes too small so you look like a nine year old playing dress up?

Customer: Why sure, that sounds great. Make sure the jacket barely covers my belt. I'd hate to look silly.

X2 as a big boy this skinny jeans and skinny fit crap has to go. Also the lack of originality same sneakers I wore as a teenager now get rerelased at 3x what they cost me back in the day.

[Smallclub]

Most dairy farms will isolate and treat sick cows until health and dump their milk. Antibiotics will then pass through their system within 72 hours of treatment. This whole myth of treating cows that get sick and it contaminating the milk is hogwash.

You must be joking. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21469656

[Kernel]

I supplement my diet with Kale, but the kind with the silent "k"

[jwr0201]

Organic Milk:

Incorrect - The organic standards describe the specific requirements that must be verified by a USDA-accredited certifying agent before products can be labeled USDA organic. Farmers must be certified to market products labeled as 'Organic'. Also, organic milk is processed with fewer additives and therefore have much shorter expiration dates. When organic cows are treated with antibiotics, they are removed from the organic label and can still produce, but cannot produce products labeled as organic.

[bman75]

Cigars - the NC market is developing a worse "EL" problem, attempting to move more upscale by selling the same average blends with more bands, "rare" one-of-a-kind tobaccos, coffins and elaborate boxes.

Non-cigars - calling simple tricks or tips "life hacks"

[NapaNolan]

... how youth, young people in general (not all), many who consider themselves 'edgy, different and anti-establishment' align themselves with the oldest of failed socio-political systems in the world, renamed and rebranded, where the few elites rule the majority of serfs.

Even fat cigars are acceptable by comparison!

-Piggy

I don't know many young people who consider themselves oligarchists.

[PointFivePast]

It goes with cigars, whisky, potato chips, or sausage for that matter, "Ultra Premium" everything. There seems to be a new class of just about any consumer staple which is the "Ultra-Super-Reserve-Limited" line costing quite a bit more and only slightly better if that!

Try working in the wine industry... everything is about the "trade-up" that the consumer is going to make. Except that lots of them just want to drink their $5 bottle and call it good!

Cigar trends that frustrate me: The big RG trend and Hyper-Ultra-Limited-Edition that we only made 500 of so get it now thing! I think a lot of us are fed up with this to some degree. The limited thing is cool once in a while but especially the NC makers seem to have taken a page from the HSA book and now make piles of limited runs too... and they're even smaller production!

Non-cigar trends... hmm... probably the tattoo covered girls. A handful of tasteful, reasonably-sized pieces are fine but I know a lot that just seem to be covering their body... just... because. If their is a story and a reason and a plan then fine. But I notice lots of the ladies in my neck of the woods just seem to be hooked on getting them and end up with stuff going up their necks and down their arms and just all over. Then they can't even remember why they got them. I'm not against the art but it's starting to seem a lot like some weird form of Pokemon... GOTTA INK 'EM ALL!

[MrGTO]

The general lack of respect for each other.

Cigars complaint = 10 boxes of Cohiba PE's!!!! I want cabs!

[suggs]

NC Cigars: Not every blend needs a maduro version.

CC Cigars: Thick cigars.

Non-cigar: Expensive sandwiches, store-bought or otherwise. I mean, who has ever been satisfied with a sandwich? You either make something really simple because it's quick and you're starving, or you spend like $10/15 on getting "nicer" ingredients and take twenty minutes to...make an effing sandwich.

[Laxman]

Cigar trends:

Huge ring gauges

Everything is boxes of 10!

Short cigars that cost as much as box of DC's

Non cigar:

Kale no doubt

Those old lady cut off jeans the ladies are wearing

The whole raw juice invasion

[perkinke]

Cigar trend: adding 10 bucks per stick for each band.

Non-cigar: globally, as mentioned, skinny jeans on men. Seriously, where do these guys park their dangly bits?

More locally, the recent transplant hipsters who are now telling OTHER people not to move to Oregon because "new people" are ruining things. Got news for ya you unemployed, neck-beard, handle-bar mustache ******, (sorry, creative industry, sharing economy participant) nobody invited you here, nor are you a "practically native" because you slept in a tent your first week here. Oregon a beautiful, and most of us welcome anyone who wants to move here, just don't be a **** about it.

Waiting 3 hours in line for a "brunch" restaurant. There are few things worth waiting in line for, brunch isn't one of them.

[El Presidente]

Waiting 3 hours in line for a "brunch" restaurant. There are few things worth waiting in line for, brunch isn't one of them.

[Lotusguy]

Cigar related: Most new RE and LE pricing (see LGC APAC - what a joke)

Non-cigar related: Too many to list

[Lotusguy]

Organic Milk:

OK, so you want "healthy" milk for your kids? Organic you say? It must be Organic or it's got nasty stuff in it like growth hormones and antibiotics from the cows you say? Wrong! Organic milk is ultra processed food. I had a discussion with a dairy farmer recently and he said the whole thing is rubbish! He said the best milk is the freshest locally produced milk you can find. All dairy farms have to keep their cows health, so treating sick animals is required by law. Most dairy farms will isolate and treat sick cows until health and dump their milk. Antibiotics will then pass through their system within 72 hours of treatment. This whole myth of treating cows that get sick and it contaminating the milk is hogwash. Also, in the USA there is no prescribed/enforced definitions of what "Organic" milk actually is.

In reality Organic milk is highly processed ultra pasteurized milk that the producers have successfully convinced many people is "healthier" than normal milk. Mainly through marketing! I pride myself on eating as little processed food as possible and Organic milk happens to be the most processed form of milk you can buy for one simple reason. It must stay fresh while it's shipped all over the country. Case in point, my state has no dairy farms that call themselves "Organic," so all of the "Organic" milk in the supermarkets here is shipped in from out of state. This is the reason it is ultra-pasteurized and processed . . . so it won't go bad as quickly. So in essence if you buy "Organic" milk you are paying $5-$7 per gallon for highly processed pseudo-healthy milk - when you could be paying $1.79 - $2.99 for fresher less processed milk.

Sorry, but you are way off on this.

I suggest you read up on wikipedia or other sources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_milk

[Fuzz]

Cigar related: Stealing my yet to be born children's (yeah, like I'd really have any) inheritance via exhorbitant tobacco duties. I envisage a future where little old ladies are being mugged for their pension cheque by cigar aficionados; "Gimme ya handbag, Granny! I gotta hurry if I wanna score that cab of PSP PLPCs!". And what about being told the "Smoking" section is for cigarette smokers only?

Non-cigar related: This whole "environment" thing. It's gotten to the point a poor 'ol Chinese boy can't chop down and burn an entire forest for a couple of bags of charcoal....

[Jeremy Festa]

I really want to contribute and have a whinge, but nothing really surprises me these days.

Maybe it's a generational thing.

[Bill Hayes]

Cigar related: Don't mind the large ring gauge cigars because I don't feel the need to buy them. But I am disappointed in the reduction or deletion of some thinner ring gauge cigars - LIKE THE PARTY CONNIE RANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Non-cigar related: The recent trend for y-gen and i-gen to pout when taking not only a selfie but in any photo that they appear in.

And in light of the impending Good Beer Week GABS Festival here in Melbourne, I just don't get sour beers. But I guess I'll be trying a few while a self important hipster tells me how uniquely complex they are. If I wanted a watermelon flavoured sherbet bomb I'd go to the bloody lollie shop.

[Tesoro12]

Cigar related: it's been touched on but for the NC mfg's who produce in 500 ct runs and jack up the price as super super limited. For CC's, I'd say the deletion of some really stellar smaller lines (diplo, lgc, etc.)

Non-cigar related: offshoot of Bill above. The need for people to document their lives. I'm a millennial and anytime I'm at an event with my peers (baseball game, concert, the symphony!!, eating dinner even) they feel this need to be documenting it with pictures, tweets, vines and snapchats. They spend so much time documenting the experience they miss the actual experience! Ten years from now are you going to look at one of the hundred thousand selfies you took while out to eat? Are you going to watch the awful quality video you took of a concert you were actually at? Why not put the phone away so you can soak up the details that let you relive the experience years from now.

[PigFish]

I think I have summed it up.

A family, all dressed in skinny wear, after waiting 3 hours for a kale luncheon, sit down and complain about the view of the smoking establishment across the street, order the organic milk, raw juice, kale vinaigrette, and document it all on all the social media sites. They all chew with their mouths open, yet refuse to talk to each other while playing on their electronics and texting, although still find the motivation to admonish the waitress due to the wait, and quality of the fare, some brown spots on the kale. They leave a half chewed kale mess on the floor from their screaming 3 year old (the only one who has enough sense not to eat kale) the one that they never address, much less correct and then get up and go without tipping!!!

They hop in their AMG and while complaining about the cost of the event, refuse to tip the valet as well!

In other words, it sounds like a lot of us don't care for yuppies!

-Piggy

[Blazer]

Food friendly cigars with double bands that cot $30 each!

http://robbreport.com/wine-spirits-cigars/davidoff-chefs-edition-food-friendly-cigar

[MooseAMuffin]

Cigars- price increases and legislation that keep us from smoking pretty much anywhere.

Non-cigar- the US election coming up...I'm not sure if either side is capable of producing a good candidate. I feel like I'm in the South Park episode where they have to vote for a giant ****** or **** sandwich for their school's new mascot.

[Fugu]

Dunno what you guys dislike so much about kale (is that the sort of curly kale you are talking of?).

A traditional "rural" dish in my neck of the woods, with kale being chopped and cooked for hours together with piles of smoked meats and sausages - to give it taste ... haha. Even better when warmed up the next day. Absolutely non-hip, heavy-caloric, fatty, traditional winter dish, which is best served with loads of Akvavit to help digestion. Try it people (guess, climatewise that's nothing for our Australian brethren)!

Back on topic -

Non-cigar:

Food - roquette.
Not being able to spontaneously talk to people while they are obsessed with their smart phones...

Cigar:

None really. Am able to avoid most that annoys me, apart from the deplorable reduction in smaller, L&S formats and smaller marcas.

But, oh yes..., perhaps one thing - not a new trend but a rather still unbroken trend:

Still being confronted today with draw issues (in particular loose draw / underfilled cigars) in times of draw-testing machines.
(Funny thing is, most of us will be able to instantly foresee a problematic draw before even cutting, without any technical falderal, just by weighing a stick in our hand - so why can't Cuban QC do that as well?)

[Orion21]

Sorry, but you are way off on this.

I suggest you read up on wikipedia or other sources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_milk

I'm sorry Claus, but maybe my critical reading is rusty, but that Wiki supports my entire statement. Everything associated with "organic" milk is inconclusive or hasn't been tested.

"One review of the literature concluded the "available evidence indicates that regular and organic milk contain similar trace levels of chemical and pesticide residues.""

"Studies have examined chemical differences in the composition of organic milk compared with conventional milk. These studies generally suffer from confounding variables, and are difficult to generalize due to differences in the tests that were done, the season of testing and brand of milk tested, and because the vagaries of agriculture affect the chemical composition of milk."

" the animals not be treated with drugs (although it is also illegal to withhold necessary drugs from a sick animal in order to maintain that animal's organic status)."

"A 2012 meta-analysis of the scientific literature did not find significant differences in the vitamin content of organic and conventional plant or animal products, and found that results varied from study to study."

"The authors found no significant differences between organic raw milk and conventional milk with respect to total protein, total fat, or 7 other vitamins and fatty acids tested.^{[note 1][4]} A different review concluded, "Results to date suggest that the nutritional content of organic milk is similar to that of conventional milk. There may be a different profile of fatty acids in organic milk, with a higher proportion of PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids) relative to other fatty acids, but this effect does not appear to be consistent. This difference will be smaller in fat-reduced milk.""

"The authors of the 2012 meta-analysis ultimately concluded that the review "(...) identified limited evidence for the superiority of organic foods. The evidence does not suggest marked health benefits from consuming organic versus conventional foods, "

[Fugu]

OT: Not that I did this here - but always check, who funded those studies, I'd say as a general remark. Often, those studies claiming 'no differences' are initiated and funded by the conventional industry....

That aside, more than conventional or organic, the way dairy cows are being held and fed, like pasturing or year round silage fodder and the amount of mixed provender, is much more determining to milk quality (and taste people! taste!) and animal health than anything else. And 'organic' usually (depending on cert-labels) has to be held on pasture during the growing season.

That alone is a huge difference to cows held in zero-grazing (as is the case for the majority of conventional producing farms nowadays). So that it makes me wonder how at all any studies can claim sameness between products of the two production forms.

Another issue is the health and physiological problems occurring in high-producing cows, which are fed with high-energetic (unnatural high starch component) fodder and are prone to rumen acidosis and milkfeaver, carriage issues etc., etc.. Those less robust breeds are simply not in use in organic production forms (as they would starve on pasture...)

I am not saying conventional is bad but you need to properly check provision and thus best obtain it from small dairy-cooperatives where you get to know their standards. I get my milk fresh directly from a "conventional" farmer round the corner. But I know him and his farming, know even his cows, which are grazing in summer, and he is producing to almost "organic" standards.

Ok, not everybody will be able to do that, but you can get a lot of info for the grocery product as well, if you invest just a minimum of time.