Ever get this question when smoking a cigar? Do people look at you like have some disease, like you think you are better than everyone else?

My sense is that these forums are populated by down-to-earth types who enjoy a good cigar. Then again, this magazine is aimed at people who must have the best of everything.

Where do you come out on this? I am not, of course, a snob, but I like nice stuff. I have been unfairly called a "blue-blood" once or twice.

The one area in which I am a massive snob is with literature. I cannot read popular novels and crummy poetry. Just can't do it when there are so many classics out there.

So how about you?

well since I am a college student I get the feeling some people think that I just try to look cool with a cigar in my hand. I am nice to get along with and I am definitely not a snob, not that I don't have my own faults and selfish needs at times. I came to the conclusion that luxury is not something that I need, it is certainly good, but if I aim my life at pursuing luxury it'll turn out to be a very shallow and never ending pursuit. I realized that there's always more material wise and I need to be thankful for what I have. Of course this involved lots of spiritual discoveries through God (which some of you might remember me having a post discussing a certain trip of mine this summer.) Anyways, I guess I am a bit of a snob when it comes to me studying, many of my friends can study anywhere but I have to have a quiet environment with no distractions and at least some sort of window or else I cannot concentrate on learning. I get frustrated even if people are just whispering when I am studying as I need almost complete silence to study, which is funny because I prefer people talking than whispering next to me, when they whisper a part of me always want to evasdrop and hear what they are saying

Yeah, i guess i am a snob to a certain extent. At least to the point where I admit to some measure of discriminating taste. I enjoy fine cigars, fine wine, fine spirits, and fine beer. I have certain tastes in clothing, cars, and the like. I wouldn't say that i am overboard and concerned only with image. However, the negative connotation of that word can replaced with something like, "enjoys the finer things".

This leads of course to Cigar Aficionado and the type of people it attracts. Thumbing through the pages I see just about everything beyond my means and something that i can have only in my dreams. Even if those luxury items were within reach, I would see most of them as too ostentatious, too luxurious for my tastes.

Good thoughts. Signal, perhaps it would be helpful to define the term "snob." Some people do not see it as a pejorative term and will freely call themselves a "wine snob" or the like.

I am a "beer snob," I suppose, but it is a purely economic decision. I have three or four beers a month, so I have no problem buying great beer. The guy who drinks a case of Busch every few days spends far more than I do on beer, but I'm supposedly the snob.

D, I hear you on the study space. I too need a quiet environment when I do research. I have built myself a nice study cave in my basement with a big desk and lots of bookshelves. When my kids stampede around upstairs, I usually have to take a break and go join in on the fun for a while.

I'm curious to hear from more college guys, especially those of you who want to be lawyers. I suppose some of you may want to scrape by as public defenders, but I assume some of you want to make some big dough.

I am not really a "snob". Although when it comes to certain things I will not compromise. I do not always have to have the best of everything, just things that I really like.

For Instance I play drums. I guess I am a bit of a snob. I will play Istanbul Agop Cymbals. I will not play Sabian, or Zildjian. No thanks! The best handmade cymbals for me thanks!


It works the same with other things. But I certainly do not act in anyway that would make me seem like I am a snob or better than people.

I have never been called a snob for smoking a cigar. Probably because I fit the popular perception of the demographic of a cigar smoker. Older male stuck in the past and unable to change, and will probably die any day from excessive smoking and drinking.

Although I buy high quality personal use products, I go out of my way to not mention them usually, and generally try to be the anti-snob.

There are faux elitists on this and every other BB, but they are easy to spot, and that is just part of life.

I'm sure people who don't discern consider me a snob, but the snobs consider me a hack.

I am a huge snob and I look down on all of you.

dstokely et al, I am privy to your plight. But it is a fact of life. If anyone sees someone acting out of what “the mass” "their mass" considers to be a normal behavior, the generic reaction is to scorn them and make up a reason as to why they are just trying to step outside of "the circle" – it’s a deflation tactic and we all do it.

I am that way about those stupidly huge “Tom Cruise” trendy pilot sunglasses. Every time I see a dude wearing them, I instantly roll my eyes and droll them off as a moron with no sense of creativity.

Go figure. But smoke your cigars, and fleb anyone who gives you a dirty look. I've tried to enjoy a pipe on campus, and let me tell you, everyone that looked at me beamed "look at him, trying to be cool." Bah! What do they know!? And how much of that was my own misinterpretation??? Who knows. Just do what you like.

Fifty years ago there was a nexus of joint appreciation and acceptance towards the individual. These days it is the opposite, and anything you do that is slighly unique earns you scorn. It's a side-effect of mass following. Suddenly individualism is no longer cool and respectable. Lame.

Religion, style, music, opinion: everyone is out to judge you because they HAVE to support their own self worth, it's ineveitable. You do it too. So ignore it!

Why does half of my fellow student body wear their pants off of their asses and listen to gangster rap? F*** if I know, apparently this is cool - to me they are all sheep with no real individually. But I'm sure they are as passionate about it as we are about smoking fine cigars.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: aphexafx,

I'm 23, work my ass off on night shift to buy the things that I enjoy. If that makes me a snob, then yes I am. I don't think I am better than anyone else though, I do things for my own enjoyment and not for anyone else.

I can't afford to be a snob.

quote:

Originally posted by Coriolanus:
Ever get this question when smoking a cigar? Do people look at you like have some disease, like you think you are better than everyone else?

There is a big difference between me and cigarette smokers. I don't throw my butts on the ground, I take them back home with me because I want a clean neighborhood. I consider myself a little more cultured than the average weak-minded cigarette smoker. After all, when was the last time you went outside for lunch during the work day and saw a cigar smoker huddled under an awning in the rain, trying to get a few more drags off of his cigar before he has to go back up to the 43rd floor?

Actually, after reading over that, I DO sound elitist.

I think that the look tends to run from disgust to ambivalence to jealousy. I go to the park with my kids every night after dinner and I usually have a cigar. No smoking is permitted at the park, but all of the signs show cigarettes, not cigars. Make me a sign with a slash through a cigar and I'll stop smoking them in the park.

For the most part, when I am at the park, other parents don't care that I'm smoking a cigar in front of their kids, but many of them know me by know. I have this image of a cigar-smoking bad-boy Infantryman with a shaved head. So the cigar is part of the shtick. So when I am smoking in the park, I usually get a sort of a: “Oh, that Big Tobacco is one wild guy!” kind of look. Then again, most people in my neighborhood consider a “wild time” to be writing on Shabbat so I have the advantage of ignorance on my side.

Sometimes parents just take their kids and leave the park after giving me a dirty look, but I think that they were planning to leave anyway.

Once in a while, I get a look of jealousy when I light up as I leave a restaurant. This look comes mainly from men who suddenly realize that they could have had a cigar after dinner. Sometimes, I take pity on them and offer them a cigar. They usually decline which is a shame because I always carry extra robustos since you never know when you might make someone’s day by handing them a cigar.

Now that I think of it, I wrote a blog posting about that:
http://big-tobacco.blogspot.com/2008/04/blog-post_28.html

BT

I speak French, drink fine wines, smoke great cigars, enjoy top notch gastronomy, fray among the showbiz crowd, spit upon the graves of the ignorant, live in an "exclusive upscale" neighbourhood, travel across the world, rent villas in France and Spain...

But no, no way, han han, I'm not a snob!

quote:

Originally posted by flashman:
I speak French, drink fine wines, smoke great cigars, enjoy top notch gastronomy, fray among the showbiz crowd, spit upon the graves of the ignorant, live in an "exclusive upscale" neighbourhood, travel across the world, rent villas in France and Spain...

But no, no way, han han, I'm not a snob!

Ohhhh, there's no helping you!

i would hardly consider myself a snob. i am a blue collar guy who happens to smoke cigars.and on special occasions i do like a nice glass or 2 of wine.and of course i like good restaurants. but i do not walk around with my nose up in the air.

From the dictionary: "1. one who tends to rebuff, avoid, or ignore those regarded as inferior 2. one who has an offensive air of superiority in matters of knowledge or taste"

According to those definitions, I would have to answer no, I am not a snob. I DO avoid certain types of people. I dislike rude, self-important and arrogant people and would avoid them if possible.

But it has nothing to do with wealth or social status. I wouldn't mind hanging out with Tiger Woods for an afternoon, but you couldn't pay me to get to know Donald Trump. I'd decline an invitation of dinner with Britney Spears or Paris Hilton, but would jump at the chance to dine with Lauren Bacall or Katherine Hepburn (or would have) as they would be much more interesting to me.

As for material things, I will pay more for certain things because I believe that you usually get what you pay for. If you spend $600 for a DeWalt compound miter saw, it'll probably give better service and last longer than the $200 Ryobi chop saw.

On the other hand, Walmart has great savings on paper products and other consumables, compared to other stores in our area.

Bottom line, I would have to say no, I'm not a snob; but I know what I like and what I want to avoid.

There are a lot of long winded snobs here.

quote:

Originally posted by QM:
There are a lot of long winded snobs here.

Just trying to clearly explain myself.

Snob behavior comes from what I think is that someone who thinks they are better than another person. Also I think its for showing off, and or someone does not have many friends and decides to try and out cool other people.

I am not any of these types. I am a college student who doesnt have any money and who smokes cigars and drinks quality beer. Sorry I can sit down with people and smoke a black and mild and drink any Anheuser Bush drink. I smoke fine cigars and accompany them with a fine beer. Thats all there is to it. I prefer quality over quantity in nearly everything.

Also I like to buy vinyl records instead of cds. Why because I think that vinyl is more of a personable thing rather than a cd. With vinyl you take it out and study it and look at the cool sleeve and artwork and stuff on it. With a cd you just open it up and put it in the cd player and move on.

I am a college student and like I said I have no money. I have chosen a major (English Lit.) and I have chosen a profession (English Lit. Teacher) and I have decided early in my life, that I want the importance of my job to be more than the pay. There are so many people who graduate for high school with a 5th grade reading level. They couldnt tell you anything about literature. It just saddens me and if I must me someone to help change that I will.

If all of these things make me a snob, then I must be blind to the title that has been put upon me, but I will in know way wear this title willingly.

I also think that spending alot of money on something like cigars is not snobbish. It is called, "taking pride in a hobby." If you take pride in your hobbies, then your hobbies will make you proud when others see them.

quote:

Originally posted by SubChop:
From the dictionary: "1. one who tends to rebuff, avoid, or ignore those regarded as inferior 2. one who has an offensive air of superiority in matters of knowledge or taste"

I moved from Manhattan to Denver and the way I dress, look, eat, drink, and smoke reflects my former home more than the latter. This classifies me as a snob in most eyes.

I can change the head gasket on a car, clean a gun, gut trout, and tile a kitchen floor, but show up in a pink shirt and silk pocket square and you might as well be sipping a wine spritzer and holding tickets to Streisand.

Most people seem very down-to-earth on this forum. I've only seen one or two snobs here.