The Smoke Of Nostalgia While going with a co-worker to pick up an awesome New York-style pizza (I am squarely in the thin-crust camp), I noticed that there was a cigar shop nearby. It was a nice shop, pretty generic as upscale cigar shops go. The smokes weren't nearly as pricey as another place where I occasionally shop (I originally wrote "occasionally frequent"), and this place is nearer to where I work, so I will be going to this new place almost exclusively in the future. I try to be cheap when buying cigars, so I only go to these stores to buy samples of "premium" cigars for evaluation. If I like any of them, I buy them online at Thompson Cigars, or some other online vendor, at a fraction of the price.

Anyway, I guess I should get to the part about nostalgia. When the shopkeeper responded to my rote question about Royal Jamaica cigars with "I have some Robustos that I'll sell you for 40% off", I was shocked to my senses and very pleased. Royal Jamaica was the brand that introduced me to the Magical Sublime Pleasure Of Smoking Cigars, but they went out of business four or five years ago. I always ask about them whenever I'm in a cigar shop on the off-chance that there will be a box or two that some guy can't unload. This was only nine cigars, but they were nine more than I've had in a long time, so I bought 'em. Even at 40% off, I think they were still too expensive, but I smoked one tonight, and it was as good as I remembered. And even better, it was good, but not so much better and different from other brands that it makes me unhappy that I can't get them anymore. I'll smoke what I have, when they're gone, that's OK. So I guess nostalgia can have a good outcome.  ¶ 21:44