From the (Face)Book of Jim

Unless you've been living somewhere other than Penny World (although why would you be anywhere else, since here everything is fun and sparkly. Plus unicorns.)   I wandered away from my sentence again. 

 

So unless you're new, you know how much we adore Jim Robinson, he of Leaf by Oscar and Island Jim fantabulous cigars, as well as the superfantabuloso Leaf and Bean.

Jim and our hero

 

The other day on the facebook,* Jim posted the following missive, which sums up pretty much all that is right with the cigar word.**

 

The only changes I made were adding paragraphing. He said I should change it to make him sound smarter, but I'm ignoring that for three reasons:
 

1. No way would I even attempt to alter his voice. "Find your voice and commit to it," I tell my students.  Jim's writing voice is as open and friendly and honest and awesome as he is. To mess with it would be a crime. 
2. Jim is already wicked smaht, as we say here in New England.

3. I forgot what the other thing was. 

Jim in his shop Leaf and Bean in the Pittsburgh Strip District

 

So with that, please enjoy:
 
All the time as a retailer I am asked what is your favorite cigar. What a question, how do I pick just one. There are so many great manufacturers out there making fabulous cigars, its impossible for me to pick a favorite. My goal is to try them all, yes I have certain tobaccos that I like. But to pick ONE from thousands is impossible for me. And there are so many great masters of the craft, I cannot even start naming names, mostly for the fear I will not mention one of the masters of the craft.

For the most part great cigars are in that $7 - $20 price range. Some below a few higher, but money does not make a cigar taste better to me. I respect a fair number of Master Blenders or as I refer to them the Head Chefs of a fine restaurant who know their ingredients and how to make a great recipe.

I have had fantastic $6.00 cigars, and OK $20.00 cigars. The joy of cigar smoking for me is to experiment, try them, smoke them. I have not in my opinion had a bad cigar yet! Some may not fit my taste profile, but that does not make it bad. Not one, Not one, manufacturer that I know is making a bad cigar. They are making cigars for their market, some markets I fall into, some I don't. Does not make them bad.

We are living in great times, we have choices, It was not that many years ago, that we did not have choices, there was only so many different manufactures to choose from, now every day I am hearing and trying something I never heard of. For me, that is what cigar smoking is all about, always on the quest to try something new, to find that perfect cigar, that perfect cigar that fits my budget.

Not everyone agrees with me, and you know what "Thats OK." That is what is so cool about cigar smoking we don't have to agree. What brings us together is the ritual, the socializing 10 guys and gals around a table will be smoking 10 different cigars and they all at the time think they are smoking the best. Wahoo!

What a country.... For me the quest is on, I am smoking and enjoying and looking for that next great cigar.....

You must have all of these. Go ahead. We'll wait.

So, as Jim would say, "Wahoo!!"

 

*I say this in an ironic way. 

**Imagine one of those Ven Diagrams. One circle says Cigar World and the other says Penny World. That place where it overlaps? And it does overlap. That's a bit of heaven where a handful of people live. It's very nice there, if I do say so myself.