Cigar Lounge Douchebag: Don't be a Hater--or a Generalizer (although we don't mind if you sweep)

We've discussed this before. It bears repeating. Apparently not everyone in the world reads every post. Shocking! I know!

Speaking of shocking, the other night* at an undisclosed cigar lounge, a relatively new visitor said, "Everyone always talks about their favorite cigars. That's boring. What cigars do you guys really hate?"

Valentino and I exchanged the look as this guy began listing cigar brands. Not just specific cigars or vitolas, mind you--he actually said, "Anything by____ and _____ and_____."

Whaaa?

When we were in Nicaragua last month, Nick Perdomo recommended you (we--haha not me, though) smoke all of a blend's sizes. Maybe you won't like the binder-filler combination in the bigger gauge, but scootch down to a smaller ring gauge and you could hit Nirvana with this ratio. By writing off the entire blend because of one size, you'd have done yourself a solid sad. Don't give yourself a solid sad.

Nick Perdomo is outstanding in his field.
He's also definitely NOT a douchebag.

As this guy blathered on, I held steady in that grey area where alertness and sleepiness converge. I wanted to smugly ask if he'd had all the cigars' variations these noted manufacturers manufactured, but I couldn't form complete thoughts with my foggy brain, so I kept my pie hole shut. (Mmmm. Pie.)

I did offer, "We don't say anything negative about..." but his negativity-track-mind disallowed my addition to his one-sided conversation.

Then brave, brave Valentino gave it the old community-college-try. "Maybe those don't fit your flavor profile, but that doesn't make them bad." This guy wanted no additions of logic or reason and turned away from our hero, shooting his diatribe toward another patron.

One cause of my college writing class fist-shaking (with an undercurrent of "Kids these days!") is sweeping generalizations.

Gratuitous grammar and writing lesson (no extra charge!): When you find yourself writing or speaking and using (or implying) ALL of something is true, your whole argument falls apart (unless you can prove your statement with hard facts and/or data). And since he obviously couldn't prove that every _____ cigar was "bad" (whatever that means), his argument--and therefore credibility--was shot.

So the next time you head into a cigar lounge, please please please remember:

1. Just because a cigar doesn't fit your flavor profile doesn't make it bad.
2. If you're looking for a fight, you're probably not going to find it in a cigar lounge.
3. Not every cigar of a particular company is bad. Everyone thinks that's stupid. (See what I did there?)
4. Try listening. You just might learn something. If you want to perform a monologue, go find a stage.
5. You are not the smartest person in the room. We're all good at something. Whatever you're good at doesn't make you better than anyone else.
6. Make friends, not people who dread seeing you walk into the shop.

Okay, class over. Go smoke a cigar. Try something new. You may be surprised.



*This USED to say "last night," but now it should read "many last nights ago.."