How supporting Palestine landed me with a fully stocked cigar humidor 🇵🇸
How supporting Palestine landed me with a fully stocked cigar humidor 🇵🇸
I don't really know where else to post this, so I figured my comrades at Hexbear might appreciate it.
A couple months ago I was coming back home from the weekly Palestine solidarity rally. On my way back home I needed to somehow obtain a $5 bill to tip the grocery delivery guy that weekend, and thought "Hell, I haven't had a cigar in a while, maybe I'll pick one up". There's a cute little Cuban cigar shop down the road, so I popped in.
The owner is a short Cuban man, and he was rummaging through his cigars doing whatever cigar-store owners do in their down-time. I walk in the door. He looks at me, then looks at my keffiyeh, then back at me, then back at my keffiyeh, and then says "...Palestine?" Not knowing his politics, I reluctantly say "...yes 😬?"
This triggers a 40 minute long discussion, whereupon he goes off on how fucking despicable what's Israel is doing in Gaza is how they are getting away with mass murder in broad daylight, doing "exactly what the nazis did" etc etc. He had clearly been following what's been happening and was sickened by it and I got the impression he didn't have much of an outlet to express his thoughts (as many of us don't).
I wanted to buy two small cigars (the ones on the right in the photo) and he said that he'd give me a discount, and ended up giving me three free of charge, on the condition that the next time that I was out protesting the genocide in Gaza that I "yell a little louder for him" ✊, to which I of course agreed (there are only two in the photo because I've smoked one already) I honestly tried as hard as I could to give him my money but he simply would not accept any.
Although I left the cigar shop without the $5 bill I went in for, I did leave with three exquisite Cuban cigars free of charge.
So, I felt I needed to repay this guy for the ~$100 of free merchandise he gave me. I ordered him a keffiyeh made in the West Bank just like the one I was wearing. When it arrived, I popped back into the cigar shop and said " I have something for you." and put it on his desk.
I will never forget this for the rest of my life. How much did you pay for this?
I lied and said "Only about $60, don't worry about it."
You're lying. What cigars are your favourite?
I insisted that he not give me any more cigars because I was trying to pay him back, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. He ended up giving me four deluxe Cuban Bolivar cigars straight from Havana. On the way out he gave me a fist bump accompanied by a "Free Palestine".
So Hexbears, this is how I unintentionally stocked my cigar humidor with solidarity for Palestine 🇵🇸✊
I'm going to save a spare one so that maybe one day I can smoke it on the beaches of Gaza when Palestine is free.
Based Cuban cigar store guy.
This literally nearly brought a tear to my eye.
GOOD POST
i love cool little old guys
hell yeah
don't even like cigars (long story, associate them with abusive grandparent) but like, that's cool as shit.
i'd be so scared any stateside cuban might be a gusano.
be cool if this guy was an operative. like, the good kindi'd be so scared any stateside cuban might be a gusano.
Yeah that was exactly my fear lol but turned out he was cool as hell
A lot of them came after the fall of the USSR and the things got pretty bad in Cuba in the late 90's/early 00's. Not necessarily because they're rabid anti-communists.
Thank you for sharing this; it’s a great story!
That's so awesome!
You're in Canada, right? I remember seeing the (sorry) bland bands on cigars sold in Canada. He gave you really great cigars. That Montecristo No. 2 is expensive and rare these days, considered one of the best Montecristos along with the Double Edmundo, and that Bolivar Belicoso Fino is absolutely delicious. Those Coronitas en Cedro are nice too, have about half a box left of those.
I have to say, I was really happy when I saw this post! It really cheered me up instantly, but was surprised to see it here. I wish we had enough cigar smokers here to warrant a Hexbear cigar community. I'd be down to mod it. I smoke pretty regularly and would love to chat with comrades about it if there was a desire. Most people at lounges are reactionary chuds so I smoke alone or with close friends, I imagine it's similar for others.
Is that your main humidor? You probably know, it's generally not recommended to mix humidification devices because they counteract each other, like the puck and the bovedas. I'm a boveda fan so I'd lean towards that myself. Is there a reason you have two? Leaks maybe?
As someone that would like to learn more about cigars but is put off by the chuds surrounding them, it makes me happy to see folks posting about them on Hexbear
As I always say, we can't let the Right claim cigars too.
Cigars were first created by the indigenous population in the Antilles. Holding it down for them against the people who want to appropriate cigars with either racist disrespect or indifference to those who created it, even in this little way, is a form of decolonization.
Also, if you buy authentic Cubans then you are supporting the Cuban Revolution, which is based as fuck.
I'm always happy to talk!
Cigars are delicious and I can talk about them a lot.
Yeah I am in Canada. I did not know that about mixing humidification devices, thanks for the heads up! I don't really know shit about cigars, the humidor was a gift.
Thanks comrade!
Oh, for sure! I'd recommend switching out both for 60g Bovedas at 65rH. It will help you maintain humidity better and keep the cigars in better condition which means they will burn and taste better. The cigars are really nice so please take care of them.
Wooden humidors are sometimes tough to maintain, you also need to season it and keep it at a certain level of humidity, but I won't get into that. If you ever want an easier way just try an air-tight tupperware container and throw in some Bovedas. That's all you have to do.
Let me know if you ever have any questions!
I will disagree with anarchoilluminati here, I love mixing up humidification systems; wood humidors are always a bit leaky, and even in my tupperadors I like having a 72% gel disc running in parallel with some 70% boveda packs. Bovedas are the GOAT, and will totally eat up excess humidity as well as provide it, so by topping off the gel I end up just recharging the vastly superior bovedas continuously because they eat the excess above their target.
Me meeting most non white older men: ahh what up uncle
Me meeting most older white men: eww chud boomer
The woman who sits next to me at work has had a little watermelon pin on her bag for months. I don't talk politics at work, usually, I've been burned really badly. I finally worked up the courage to ask her about it and almost broke down, I did tear up on the way out of the office.
It's so incredibly hard to have so much impotent rage in this hellhole. I just sometimes cruise through the day reading news and seeing horrors on my phone. I know this isn't unique and I know it's not as terrible as what's happening in Gaza. But I can empathize with that cigar shop owner, you feel like you're losing your mind and someone shows you that you're not insane. It's too much to handle.
I'm going to save a spare one so that maybe one day I can smoke it on the beaches of Gaza when Palestine is free.
This is the kind of shit that fills up my heart and soul
Since when were we allowed to post pictures to c/chat
