Smoking in Southern California

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 11:05 am

Gangs import cigarettes to NYC illegally, sell them less than the going rate and still make a hefty profit. However they fight each other over it, to the death in many cases it's said.

I guess they've just become another element in the dope wars.

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 11:21 am

Where are these supposed gangs, Glen? I want the cheap cigs!

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:01 pm

About $9.00 USD for a pack of 30 here.

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:15 pm

A pack of 30? Never seen that.
If you visit Russia, John, you'll get as much cheap smoking as you will, and maybe will even give up in the end.

(a friend of mine from US once said that a cheap RU cig is equal to hugging a train for 5 minutes... well, i've answered that i've never tried anything "crazier" than "Basic", if you know what i'm talkin' about)

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:22 pm

We have lots of different sizes here, Sheena. 20, 25, 30, 40, 50 and even 60! Not in the same brand, though. Some brands come in three different pack sizes, some only one.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:24 pm

Cheapest way to smoke is still a pipe. It's odd how people generally equate pipe smoking with snobbery and even debauchery (thanks, Mr. Hefner). In my department both I and my Director smoke a pipe. We both started the same year--1971. I recently hired a Lab Tech who is in his late 20s and also smokes a pipe. That makes 3 out of 10 who smoke pipes. Another 3 are ciggie addicts. I've recently stopped--again. This happens about twice a year, so I do a few month on, and the rest of the year off. It's not as addicting as cigarettes, it seems.

When I lived in Brasil a pouch of Captain Black tobacco that sells for $5.00 here, went for R$25.00, or slightly over twice the price. To put that into perspective, that's one week's pay at the Brasilian minimum at the time. But cigarettes were the equivalent of 75 cents a pack.

Smoking a pipe is taken there as a sign of wealth. I would drive my dune buggy around town, merrily puffing on my pipe. At stoplights people would point and exclaim, "caximbo!" ("pipe!").

That's pronounced, "kuh SHEEM boo", BTW.

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:25 pm

John, you have to go to the rougher part of the Bronx or Bed Stuy for the cheaper smokes.

How much cheaper I don't know. But at $7 plus a pop, I suspect they can make a buck or two a pack pretty easily, for significantly less cost to smokers. There is a lot of tax there which I doubt the gangs report.

My Dad was unique in that he smoked a pipe ceaslessly, whereas most pipe smokers smoke them once or twice a day and the rest of the time juust pose with them or carry them around.

davclr · Post by **davclr** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:50 am

Just go a for premuim, great cigar!

Pleasure is unequaled plus saves all of the fussing around necessary with a pipe

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:54 am

Well, David, at the 75th a few of us did indulge ourselves with some Montecristo coronas (number 4) that I somehow managed to bring into the country. Lovely!!

s4001 · Post by **s4001** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:56 am

I was indeed jealous of those Montecristos on the patio.

davclr · Post by **davclr** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:59 am

But, just be careful smoking here on the beaches of SouCal. It's now (by local city ordinances) illegal to do so on most SouCal beaches.

If you are swept away by a riptide and need assistance, the lifeguards now are forced to make a decision between saving your life or writing up an errant smoker.

Given the potential revenue to the city coffers that such a smoking fine might generate, I believe your life would be of secondary importance in such a situation.

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 5:00 am

Why didn't you step up to the plate, Scott? There were plenty to go around and the box was just sitting on the table for everybody.

davclr · Post by **davclr** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 5:06 am

QUOTE:
"Well, David, at the 75th a few of us did indulge ourselves with some Montecristo coronas (number 4) that I somehow managed to bring into the country. Lovely!"
END QUOTE

Howard,
OMG! Now I feel even worse for not being able to attend last Friday's festivities!

I've always IMMENSLEY enjoyed those MC No. 4's when I've been fortunate enough to have some.

Romeo & Julietto Churchill tubos aren't so bad in a pinch either!

s4001 · Post by **s4001** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 5:10 am

"Why didn't you step up to the plate, Scott? There were plenty to go around and the box was just sitting on the table for everybody."

DOH!!!

A little shy, I guess. I'm not shy with a bass in my hand, but otherwise...

davclr · Post by **davclr** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 5:41 am

It's fascinating to keep a "Fidel watch" over the good dictator's present health condition.

This totally archaic goofy/silly 4 decades long embargo against Cuban goods in the USA began by President Kennedy during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis makes absolutely no strategic sense anymore from a USA geo-political standpoint particularly after the Soviet Union collapse.

There are other forces at play in keeping this embargo in place that heavily have to do with Pac fund monies from the Cuban-American community which basically are used to "legally bribe" politicians from both major USA political parties.

One of their issues happens to be keeping the embargo in place under the highly dubious premise
that it will cause the Castro regime and Cuban communism to collapse.

But, since the USA has gone solo from the free world community on this outdated embargo strategy, this circa 1962 premise is laughingly ridiculous and self-defeating from a USA standpoint.

Plus it aggravatingly continues to deny us fellow USA cigar aficionados a legal means to obtain some beloved smokes!