Goodo

See this link for controlling farts "Award winning flatulence filtering underwear" Maybe this will be compulsory attire for proven serial offenders? http://myshreddies.com/

When I lived in Melbourne some years ago there were so many complaints about taxi drivers with BO that they were all told to use deodorant

In Melbourne, Australia, smoking was banned in all bars so one of them became a private members bar and it works really well. Visitors welcome, just need to sign in, no fee. I went there when visiting Melbourne and smoked a fourteen year old R&J Churchill, with a great single malt, sunk deep into a leather chair. One and a half hours of bliss. Hopefully you guys over there have a similar loophole you can use. I really hate this nanny-state BS.

About educating Chinese re: wine. I heard a story, pretty reliable source, about a big Australian wine company (they produce a very iconic red), doing a high level exhibition tasting in China. One of the main guys from this company realised during the tasting that a lot of the wines were slightly off - none of the Chinese noticed, they all loved them. Looking into the matter they realised once the wines had arrived in China they had been stored in warehouse without temperature control. I'm not sure if this was from the Chinese end or just poor planning from the Australians. Either way, it seems they may have a fair way to come, as previous bloggers have noted

Thanks for the insight on the China market, always good to hear first hand experience. Another issue which has been alluded to here is quality of Cubans. As I write I'm smoking a Trinidad robusto T, on a Friday afternoon, wife is annoyed because she wants help at home and I'm wondering if it's worth the trouble because this thing is almost unsmokable, the draw is that tight. A mate of mine only smokes non Cubans and says he has never had that trouble with nicuraguans or Dominicans. If the quality goes down and the already high price goes up, a lot of average joe USA stogie fans are not going to go for it I reckon.

That would have been an interesting conversation. Even better to visit a great wine area - Cheers!

various

I have wondered about this myself and think there are a few things to consider: 1. A lot of Americans are already getting cubans from online stores (eg variouis swiss vendors) sending them in without bands etc 2. Americans don't like paying much for their cigars. I'm writing from Australia, where we pay a fortune, but time and time again see Americans online complaining about much cheaper prices being too much 3. I'm not sure that all Americans will prefer Cubans. I have smoked my way through most of last year's CA top 25 (only three cubans on the list), and didn't get over excited, which could be because I've grown up with Cubans, which have a very different flavour profile. I wonder if the American smokers who have grown up on the non-cubans will be the same with Cubans? 3. The Chinese - has the cigar market there taken off as much as the premium wine market has? I would imagine that it has to some degree and we haven't seen a huge price rise as a result. I guess these are all arguments against a huge increase in demand, at least after the inital novelty phase. Having said that, I would be putting my money on some permanent increase in price