Are Cigar smokers Agoraphobic?

[Cigar-aficionado]

I love herfing in public but getting to anywhere from down here in Cornwall is always difficult with work commintments etc...that's why I plan well in advance for herfs and dinners in Gibraltar where you have the option of smoking indoors or outdoors and it is usually warm enough at any time of year

[The Freck]

To be honest I'm only 30 and I'm at a stage where I can't be arsed going out anymore. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy a nice meal with the wife, friends or family. Most nights out tend to be as my friend says like the goodfellas. Same people, same places, no outsiders ever. I go on holiday and intentionally don't talk to any one to avoid making friends and being lumbered with a nutter for two weeks. The only person I smoke with is my dad which is a very pleasant thing to share although I tend to buy the better cigars which he smokes.

Quite happy actually.

[batesy123]

i tend to smoke alone now, im 24 and seem to get alsorts of odd looks when enjoyin a stick in public. It does get to you after a while

[Vortigan]

To be honest I'm only 30 and I'm at a stage where I can't be arsed going out anymore. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy a nice meal with the wife, friends or family. Most nights out tend to be as my friend says like the goodfellas. Same people, same places, no outsiders ever. I go on holiday and intentionally don't talk to any one to avoid making friends and being lumbered with a nutter for two weeks. The only person I smoke with is my dad which is a very pleasant thing to share although I tend to buy the better cigars which he smokes.

Quite happy actually.

What a great post!! haha love it sounds so much like me,and I DID get lumbered with a nutter for a week in Lanzarote once

[Benji]

Im also 24, i think the issue for us younger cigar smokers is that the non smoker do not understand what it means to enjoy a good Cuban. I must admit when i started smoking in public i felt very awkward, now not so much.

Also relating to one of the post, cant remember which. I encounter many place which are not cigar friendly. I often call up before if a new venue to ask. So to save the embarrassment and sadness of being asked to put it out. Such a waste. Great question?

[daniel2001]

[QUOTE=L_DOG;171321I even go alone to the pub and sit outside with a pint and stogie with no hassle or odd looks, touch wood![/QUOTE]

I've only had funny looks outside my local once (I usually herf alone there)... Thankfully about half of the bar staff smoke, and at least two like the odd cigar, so they have a good view towards having a stogie.

[Simon-JG-hr]

Now to provide my proper reply to this post. I almost always go out to enjoy a smoke - saves the hassle of disconnecting all of my super-sensitive smoke alarms for the duration. I'll occasionally have one in (with a good film or major sporting event), but do tend to err towards smoking outside - which means elsewhere, what with living on the fifth floor...

There are only a couple of spots in Plymouth which are suitable for smoking in comfort, sadly that's being generous. On the plus side, they're both a very short walk from where I live, and both overlook the marina (so it could be a lot worse). Often I will go alone, but usually prefer a herfing partner. Don't think I've ever had looks or comments (with the exception of the single incident outlined by Dan on page one). Usually it's more curiosity, if nothing else - in which case I like to share the good word and educate. I even got complimented for my 'big one' by a typical Janner lass once... (It had nothing to do with the cigar I was smoking though... )

I like to think that I've got quite a few people into smoking good cigars, if only on special occasions, and now have quite a few friends or acquaintances who like to discuss the 'art of a cigar'.

And of course, I love big herfs! Just not going to as many as I would like this year (or last, for that fact). Blame it on the cost of train tickets, that's the excuse I'm using...

[AdamK]

One of the best cigars I have ever had was sat outside an Italian Restaurant at about 10pm on a summer night. The first night of a stag weekend in fact.

My Dad and I were the only ones out of around 20 who smoked cigars, but not one of them complained.

The pub I usually smoke at claims to be the oldest Free House in England. The Royal Standard of England





There is nothing better than sitting outside with cigar in the summer. I've never had any complaints, and have even had some interest in my cigar (Oooer)

If anybody is down this way it is well worth a visit.

Their website seems to be down today but it is www.rsoe.co.uk

Would be a great place for a herf if many are around the area.

[Robusto]

I've smoked at family weddings, in decent pubs when I still could, on nights out with friends who didn't know I like cigars, at herfs through UKCF or meet-ups with cigar buddies locally.

I was shit scared of being known as a smoker a few years ago. As a cigar smoker. This forum was a great help to get over being bloody neurotic about it. I feel I'm as happy as a sandboy now whereas I was once plain weird about public cigar smoking.

I (no joke) took to dressing up a bit in a Stetson and striding out in public in local high streets to get over a real sense of nerves about smoking in public.

I occasionally post cigar snaps on Facebook but have to be a bit cautious because of the sort of job I do.

I'm a teacher and kids get stupid about the most stupid things.


I think I'm getting older.

I prefer nothing more than a prolonged cigar smoke in my garden smoking shack.

Either alone or with a kosher aficionado mate or two.

An hour or two in bliss.

Sometimes the only way to finish off a crap working day like today, in fact.


So I don't think I've become agorophobic. (sp?)

I think I just like homely surroundings.

My dog is often with me.

And I think my wife is getting off on the whiff because she will come and sit with me during the moment whereas once she would moan for Britain.

It's a win.

[Robusto]

I have to add that I was playing with my band at a private do last Saturday and the guests went in and out to smoke, as per.

If I am stuck playing and the whiff of even a standard cigar comes into the room, my nostrils and mind go beserk.

I'm in a newish (for me) band and we don't know each other very well so they don't quite know the cigar fixation thing.

I just sat there playing away last Saturday looking around at the other guys in the band to see if anyone had become more alert.

No. As far as I can tell, it was just me on the sniff.

Being onstage, busy, and getting it up the nostrils is one of the oddest things about playing.

[RogMcDodge]

I occasionally post cigar snaps on Facebook but have to be a bit cautious because of the sort of job I do.

I'm a teacher and kids get stupid about the most stupid things.

Same here. Must be a neurotic teacher thing.

Don't think I have any cigar pics on Facebook. I'm not 'out' to my work colleagues.

Although the informing of the fact we have a no-notice inspection tomorrow nearly outed me...

[El Catador]

I just sat there playing away last Saturday looking around at the other guys in the band to see if anyone had become more alert.

No. As far as I can tell, it was just me on the sniff.

I've missed your posts.
Hope you're 'honking' a good one.

[Robusto]

Cat - I've missed your crackers leaning at times.

Rog - I like my job but I feel we're drowning in crap at the moment. It's very, very demoralising.

I feel I'm responding to endless inspections - internal and OFSTED at the gate threats - that I'm an automaton to other people's agendas and no longer doing pretty naturally what I'm able to do.

I'm tired of making explicit the bleeding obvious in five hours' worth of daily lesson planning into central PC banks and print-offs on the desk in case an inspector walks in.

And occasionally having to follow the lead of people who manage who don't know what they are doing. They are just pre-empting 'trends' to look good.

(Not exclusive to education, hey).

It all makes sense - and it's all simultaneously complete bullshit. Time and energy-wasting.

Anyway I'm up before 5 and ranting.

Beautiful.

I'm supposed to be finding a picture of my dog.

That's more fun.

[Robusto]

Same here. Must be a neurotic teacher thing.

Don't think I have any cigar pics on Facebook. I'm not 'out' to my work colleagues.

Although the informing of the fact we have a no-notice inspection tomorrow nearly outed me...

Best of luck with this today.

[AdamK]

Robusto,

I work in the education sector and an issue coming up a lot locally at the moment is Head teachers.

One of the upper schools around here has just become an Academy and have a new head coming in who seems to be causing a stir.

The thing is he was an IT Director for a multi national company.

While I can see the benefit in having an academy run by a business minded individual, do you think he will actually be able to empathise with the teachers? Do you have any opinions on what makes a good Head Teacher?

Sorry for being a bit OT it's just something we're having to go over at work at the moment and would be nice to hear some inside opinions.