Lou3
24-07-2009, 11:24 PM
I'm 41 years old and live in the Philadelphia suburbs. I'm a teacher at heart (taught English in Tokyo for six years), but currently work in a university's human resources department. I plan to start graduate studies in education next year. I'm married and have a 4-year-old son.
I started smoking cigars in 2002 when I lived in Tokyo. It's hardly a cigar city (definitely a cigarette city), but still a nice place to begin smoking cigars. The Japanese have a yen (sorry) for the best, so I had no concern about wasting my money on bad smokes. I did most of my smoking in cafes and during evening walks through my neighborhood. Because of that beginning, I usually associate cigar smoking with coffee, reading, and Tokyo. Likewise, my former students probably associate English with the faint smell of cigar smoke on their graded tests.
When I moved back to the US in 2004, I of course scouted out the local tobacconists right away. The selection was much bigger than what I had in Tokyo, but there were no Cubans and a lot of garbage. The tobacconist smoking lounges, which were almost non-existent in Tokyo, were a nice touch. Unfortunately, those tobacconist lounges are one of the very few public places where you can smoke a cigar in the US anymore.
I'm a Philadelphian only because it has been my US home base since high school. Actually, I can’t stand most of Philly. The city is grimy and rotted with blight, and, despite the ridiculous city tax people pay for working here, shows no sign of improvement. There are, however, two of the US' better known cigar shops. One is Black Cat Cigars, and the other is Holts. They're one block over from each other, which, typical of Philadelphia, makes a lot of difference. I like both, but go to Holts more often because of the lounge.
I'm into computer hardware and built all but my first PC. I like music and want a good audio system, but am waiting until my son is old enough to keep himself from playing with it. For now, my PC is my audio system (ASUS Xonar D1 sound card and Sony MDR-V6 headphones, both excellent products for a painless price). I grew up with a pool table in the basement and try to maintain and improve my game when time permits (which isn't very often these days). I have a few other interests, but competition for time and money keeps most of them rotating through an inactive period. My humidor, however, never approaches empty.
I started smoking cigars in 2002 when I lived in Tokyo. It's hardly a cigar city (definitely a cigarette city), but still a nice place to begin smoking cigars. The Japanese have a yen (sorry) for the best, so I had no concern about wasting my money on bad smokes. I did most of my smoking in cafes and during evening walks through my neighborhood. Because of that beginning, I usually associate cigar smoking with coffee, reading, and Tokyo. Likewise, my former students probably associate English with the faint smell of cigar smoke on their graded tests.
When I moved back to the US in 2004, I of course scouted out the local tobacconists right away. The selection was much bigger than what I had in Tokyo, but there were no Cubans and a lot of garbage. The tobacconist smoking lounges, which were almost non-existent in Tokyo, were a nice touch. Unfortunately, those tobacconist lounges are one of the very few public places where you can smoke a cigar in the US anymore.
I'm a Philadelphian only because it has been my US home base since high school. Actually, I can’t stand most of Philly. The city is grimy and rotted with blight, and, despite the ridiculous city tax people pay for working here, shows no sign of improvement. There are, however, two of the US' better known cigar shops. One is Black Cat Cigars, and the other is Holts. They're one block over from each other, which, typical of Philadelphia, makes a lot of difference. I like both, but go to Holts more often because of the lounge.
I'm into computer hardware and built all but my first PC. I like music and want a good audio system, but am waiting until my son is old enough to keep himself from playing with it. For now, my PC is my audio system (ASUS Xonar D1 sound card and Sony MDR-V6 headphones, both excellent products for a painless price). I grew up with a pool table in the basement and try to maintain and improve my game when time permits (which isn't very often these days). I have a few other interests, but competition for time and money keeps most of them rotating through an inactive period. My humidor, however, never approaches empty.