This really bugged me...

[Robertsndr68]

Personally I think he's full of shit!

My thoughts as well

 

[sean]

how he runs his business and/or his personal life is of no concern to me at all.. unless his actions are illegal, immoral, or unethical.. if he is one of those three things.. then I will not support him, regardless of product quality/lack of it.. (refusing to smoke someone elses product is none of the above..)..

Just playing devils advocate, but I think some might think his lack of support for the rest of the industry might be unethical.

 

[Craig Mac]

I was recently speaking to Christian Eiroa and asked him what his daily smokes were. His response was that he only smokes his stuff. I was a bit taken back by that, but he went on to explain he has spent the last two years developing several blends and he felt it required him to smoke 2-3 of his cigars a day. He basically said that smoking cigars was part of his job and that the 2-3 cigars a day was all he could smoke. I didn't take it as a snub at the industry and definitely didn't think that he needed to smoke everyone else's stuff to keep his game sharp. Christian certainly knows a lot about tobacco and has made a pretty good living at it.

 

[Black_Metal]

I have met a couple of the Padrons who say that they only smoke their cigars. Though coming from them I am not at all surprised, take that how you will.

 

[Poriggity]

I think it's funny that some relative new guy in the cigar biz will only smoke his stuff. Kinda stupid if you ask me. That kind of attitude is a complete turn off, and I can pretty much tell you I won't ever buy any of his products just because of that attitude.
Scott

 

[mwlabel]

I personally think it's cool to see when brands smoke/support other brands. But, I would never hold it against a person that didn't do that.

My family owns a paving company. We would never hire another company to pave our driveway. I look at it the same way.

 

[mdwest]

Just playing devils advocate, but I think some might think his lack of support for the rest of the industry might be unethical.

I see where you are coming from...

but I dont equate refusing to smoke someone elses product as a lack of ethics..

intentionally trying to do harm to your competitors, even through legal means.. might cross the line..

but saying "I wont smoke anything that isnt mine.. and oh by the way.. what I make is the best product on earth..."... while arrogant (possibly), doesnt really cross over into doing harm/damage to anyone else..

I dont smoke philles blunts.. or backwoods smokes.. or swisher sweets... or support that end of the industry at all..

but I dont think any of you would consider me unethical because of it.. (it might make the average joe on the street that gets all of his tobbacco from walgreens and gas stations think I am a bit of a snob though)..

 

[BrooksW]

how he runs his business and/or his personal life is of no concern to me at all.. unless his actions are illegal, immoral, or unethical.. if he is one of those three things.. then I will not support him, regardless of product quality/lack of it.. (refusing to smoke someone elses product is none of the above..)..

Just playing devils advocate, but I think some might think his lack of support for the rest of the industry might be unethical.

I think that is a stretch. IMHO.

Just because he only smokes his cigars does NOT mean that he does no support the industry. He just may love ONLY his cigars.

 

[vivalanation734]

I guess the thing that bugs me isn't that he only smokes his own stuff because he likes it but that he seemingly refuses to smoke other cigars.It doesn't seem to promote the brotherhood of cigars and cigar culture.

 

[mdwest]

I see your point...

but...

what is the "culture"?

every smoke shop in the US has one.. as does each forum board.. etc..

many are similar..

but some are completely different than what you find here..

doesnt really make them wrong.. it just makes them different..

several people here have expressed that they dont "get" Sinners and Saints...

but others here are active members there as well as here...

in another thread we're talking about how a customer was treated poorly (my take on it) in a B&M because he asked for acids..

some people here thought that was ok.. even said that they would have said something similar to him..

others (myself included) thought the comment was inappropriate (I went so far as to say if it were my store, I would fire the guy that made the comment)..

Sadly, I dont think most people that are into cigars share the values regarding the "cigar culture" that most people at BOTL do... If you go into your local smoke shop/club, you find people of all walks of life, whose behavior doesnt change much just because they entered the store..

the most popular private club in my area frankly is a little on the stuffy side... most of the members I am familiar with are well to do, and treat the place more like an extension of the local country club.. they go there to enjoy a nice smoke.. but also to do business networking, escape the wife for a couple of hours.. etc.. not to share information, sticks, and just be around each other... there is a distinct purpose for visiting the club... (all that said.. I actually like the place, like the members, and enjoy smoking with the people I know there..)..

What I have found here is honestly NOT what I see in a lot of other places... which is why I have been frequenting this place a good bit recently.. I like the "culture" of BOTL..

but I dont really expect to see the same behavior and attitudes that are readily displayed here to be consistent across all of cigardom...

 

[whodeeni]

I met Lou for the first time last month on Sunday night at the World of Beer party.
I came away thinking that he's a great guy. His reps were sharing stories of how
crazy things were for them at the first show in Vegas in comparison to how things
are just a year later. Great bunch of guys too!

Lou may very well be like the 'Dos Equis' guy! No one knows how much time he spent
developing his blends (to his tastes) and at the end of the day if he chooses to just smoke his sticks,
I think that's his business, and he shouldn't be drug in the mud as a result.

So many of you are quick to say "Smoke what you like, and like what you smoke" in a
thread how is this not true now? Smh

 

[Cigary43]

I guess the thing that bugs me isn't that he only smokes his own stuff because he likes it but that he seemingly refuses to smoke other cigars.It doesn't seem to promote the brotherhood of cigars and cigar culture.

His lack of being able to communicate effectively with an audience that supports the rights of people to enjoy cigars leaves them with a WTF moment. I can enjoy something but for somebody to leave an open ended thought hanging out there w/o some form of explanation about the statement makes him look less than erudite...as was said here there are a lot of enthusiasts here who would defend their fellow BOTL to smoke whatever they wanted but to insist that there is only one cigar out there worth smoking is a bit arrogant to say the least. Being somebody who surely has more than a 4th grade education would be able to make that distinction where they can brag about a certain cigar but not to the exclusion of all others.