A question of etiquette

[NorCalCigarLover]

Doing the same as what many others have already said (ask, don't ask, f'off), I also carry an extra or two because you know after you light up someone is going to wish they had one as well .

 

[bchem]

I hate that shit where some crotchety (sp?) old bitch complains about my cigar smoke, while she is smoking cigarettes! I even had someone tell me that they were ALLERGIC TO CIGAR SMOKE while they were smoking a cigarette!!! :angry: :angry: :angry: I was once smoking a cigar gifted to me by someone here trying to celebrate some good data I had just got for my thesis, only to be asked to put out the cigar. i left my beer, asked for the check and walked out because I refused to put the cigar out. The waitress was cool and apologized profusely because the customer complaining was a regular (as was I at the time!) and was known for being a pain in the ass. I didn't come back for a fair amount of time after that, but when I did, the waitress remembered, and tole me that the owner gave that lady a talking to. She still gives me dirty looks, but I haven't had to put out a cigar there since then. I hate hypocrits!!!

 

[Mr Peat]

I have always asked the bartender when I goto a bar. One time I was at the local bar that I used to have a few drinks at every month and was well known there. I fired up a cigar as there was plenty of people smoking cigarettes and this lady comes up to me and said to me. "Put that cigar out." Mind you this was a customer and I just looked at her and said No. Continued to puff away as the owner knew me and said it was cool to smoke cigars there. Plus, I don't like to be told what to do by someone that is just a bitch. :laugh:

 

[Dave]

Story time...

Ok, I was working one day, then it was time for my lunch hour. So I had a quick bite, and with fifty minutes left, I decided to smoke a cigar. A Habana Leon to be exact. I was puffing it outside, went for a bit of a stroll, then leaned against the wall outside of my office, and continued puffing. Ah the flavors, the buzz, the aroma, I enjoyed every minute of it. Out of nowhere, an aquantence of mine came up to me and started talking.

"My friend, why are you smoking? I am very dissappointed!!! Are you that unhappy?"

I replied with "Huh?"

"My friend, over the years, I have developed this theory, smokers smoke because they want attention. They want attention because they are unhappy, lonely, low self esteem, so they spend money and engage in self destructive habits."

I replied with "I thought I was just trying to relax..." At this moment, I completely tuned him out and used a skill that worked wonders when I had conversations with my girlfriend. As he kept talking, I nodded my head at every pause and fired back with three simple answers "yes", "of course", "right".

"Blah blah blah blah"

"Yes"

"Blah blah blah blah"

"Of course..."

"Blah blah blah ba hum bug"

"Right..."

In the end, he went away and my girlfriend is now my ex-girlfriend. In the end, we smoke because we are unhappy, we crave attention, we indulge in self destructive habits as a cry for help.

Honestly, I can go on about the cigars, how many dirty looks I get from hypocrites, how many nasty remarks I recieve from passerbys, but I tend to focus more on the brighter side. Whenever a person tells me "Wow, that smells good." I fire back with a "Sir/Miss, you have excellent taste." I live in a country built on freedom... well not so much freedom as much as the idea of freedom. That's right, I am invoking my freedom to spread my cancerous byproducts and carbon monoxide. I tend to avoid places where I am not wanted, but if someone wants to make a point by putting me on the spot for smoking, I have no problem taking a big pull and blowing a voluminous cloud of death directly in their face, especially the little kids and parents.

Of course the rules change when I'm in someone else's house as a friend. Ok, you can call me a pansy now.

In retrospect, maybe I should have offered my aquaintence a cigar to shut him up. He could have helped me spread the cancer... er I mean he could have had an idea of what good taste is.

 

[Saxjazzman]

Out of courtesy, I ask both indoors and outdoors. A good story. Once I was on a park bench in NYC and this older lady sat next to me. She must have been in her 80s. I figured that she was going to complain and I would have to move. I, out of courtesy, asked her if my cigar smoked bothered her. She started to cry and said, "That is why I sat next to you son, I wanted to smell it as it reminded me of my husband. You keep on smoking". We struck up a conversation and it turned out her hubbie passed away a couple of months previously. Here was a case where someone enjoyed it.

 

[Rebel Herfer]

Out of courtesy, I ask both indoors and outdoors. A good story. Once I was on a park bench in NYC and this older lady sat next to me. She must have been in her 80s. I figured that she was going to complain and I would have to move. I, out of courtesy, asked her if my cigar smoked bothered her. She started to cry and said, "That is why I sat next to you son, I wanted to smell it as it reminded me of my husband. You keep on smoking". We struck up a conversation and it turned out her hubbie passed away a couple of months previously. Here was a case where someone enjoyed it.

A couple of weeks ago I had an "incident" where I sparked up on an OUTDOOR bar patio (Martini Park for those of you in the DFW area) surrounded by dozens of cigarette smokers and a few cigar smokers. Towards the end of my stick a table of FUBs and their Loser boyfriends started with the waving and coughing routine all while sucking down copious amounts of alcohol and cigarettes. A bunch of F-ing hypocrites, but I ignored them until they made som racist comments about my friends. On the way out I told them they could be polite & civil in public. whereupon one of the Loser boyfriends grabbed my suit jacket and he and the FUBs ended up wearing their drinks and astrays. Nobody say anything except the boyfriend grabbing me when the bouncers came round. I'm not sure if it was the cigar or their Beer Muscles (I'm kind of a big guy) or both.
Anyway, I prefer to remember a positive experience instead - About ten years ago I had a similar experience as Saxjazzman at an outdoors grill/bar. I had already had one lit when I noticed a new table had been sat and the smoke was wafting their way, so I moved chairs. Almost immediately the very elderly woman came aver and asked me to change back to my original seat. Long story short, she explained both her Father and Husband were Herfers as well and although she can't stand the smell of cigarettes she finds the smell of a good cigar brings good memories. I asked if she had ever smoked a cigar, she told me in all of her 91 years she had only wanted to smoke once but propper young ladies at that time did not smoke, so she never had. She very politely declined my offer of a Fonseca 5-50 but did sit at the table with my friends and her grandson. Great afternoon, learned many things about the finer things in life - & time well spent with friends and family.

 

[NullSmurf]

Great story, Jeff. I see that like most good Texas boys, you grew up a Cowboy fan!