NABOTL gets hawked at Union Square

webmost

I have never lost a dime on any transaction which did not involve money. Besides that, the same person who would gladly haggle you down to fifty cents on the dollar if you sold him something, why if you give him something, he'll feel compelled to give you back two dollars. These two facts have made me a big believer in the goodwill economy.

For example, last Winter I devised a project I called The Spline in Winter, whereby I offered to lube the transmission input splines on any beemer. This is a tedious two day job, hideous expensive at the shop, hence often neglected, which, when neglected, leads to disaster. I used to buy a too-long-parked, wrecked, or ruined bike each Fall, revive it in the garage over the Winter, and flip it in the Spring, just to have something fun to wrench on. But ever since the economy went South, you just can't flip a bike without taking a beating. So I figured this would be a way to keep my hands away from the devil's playground. I did ten of these all told last Fall and Winter. One of these was a fine young fellow who rode down from New York on his beemer chromehead cruiser on a Friday, stayed a couple nights in the guest room, and headed out Sunday with freshly lubed splines. Toward the end of the week, a surprise package arrived from cigar.com, containing a 24 stick sampler. This was the first person to bomb me. And it was also my intro to cigar.com. Not a bad deal for a weekend playing in the garage.

And this first bomber is Not A Brother Of The Leaf. He'Oddlys a guy who has never tasted a stick in his life. He's NABOTL.

Well, dial forward like ten months later. Today, NABOTL bombed me again. These two sticks:


With these saucy sotweed cylinders NABOTL included a note which read: "there's a guy in Union Square who's been hawking these 'Don Luis' for 20 years. Says they are the best cigar in the world. Thought you'd like to try them; tell me what you think." The goodwill economy is a gift that keeps on giving back.

So. What are these? Don Luis. Union Square. Street hawker. No band. Mild odor. Actual color is darker than it looks in the pic. Maduro Toro. Any idea what these are? Any chance they are actually Don Luis secretos del maestro? No band, remember.

I am astonished that a street hawker can get away with selling cigars in NYC. The safety natzis (oddly, the forum software will not allow me to spell that word correctly) must be slacking off up there. We have any BOTLs live in NYC who have seen one of these?

reggie713

i cant help ya on the sticks, but that is a very cool story!

Bigshizza

Great story!! You never know what happens after an act of kindness...paying it forward for sure..

jlmarta

webmost:

I have never lost a dime on any transaction which did not involve money. Besides that, the same person who would gladly haggle you down to fifty cents on the dollar if you sold him something, why if you give him something, he'll feel compelled to give you back two dollars. These two facts have made me a big believer in the goodwill economy.

For example, last Winter I devised a project I called The Spline in Winter, whereby I offered to lube the transmission input splines on any beemer. This is a tedious two day job, hideous expensive at the shop, hence often neglected, which, when neglected, leads to disaster. I used to buy a too-long-parked, wrecked, or ruined bike each Fall, revive it in the garage over the Winter, and flip it in the Spring, just to have something fun to wrench on. But ever since the economy went South, you just can't flip a bike without taking a beating. So I figured this would be a way to keep my hands away from the devil's playground. I did ten of these all told last Fall and Winter. One of these was a fine young fellow who rode down from New York on his beemer chromehead cruiser on a Friday, stayed a couple nights in the guest room, and headed out Sunday with freshly lubed splines. Toward the end of the week, a surprise package arrived from cigar.com, containing a 24 stick sampler. This was the first person to bomb me. And it was also my intro to cigar.com. Not a bad deal for a weekend playing in the garage.

And this first bomber is Not A Brother Of The Leaf. He'Oddlys a guy who has never tasted a stick in his life. He's NABOTL.

Well, dial forward like ten months later. Today, NABOTL bombed me again. These two sticks:L


With these saucy sotweed cylinders NABOTL included a note which read: "there's a guy in Union Square who's been hawking these 'Don Luis' for 20 years. Says they are the best cigar in the world. Thought you'd like to try them; tell me what you think." The goodwill economy is a gift that keeps on giving back.

So. What are these? Don Luis. Union Square. Street hawker. No band. Mild odor. Actual color is darker than it looks in the pic. Maduro Toro. Any idea what these are? Any chance they are actually Don Luis secretos del maestro? No band, remember.

I am astonished that a street hawker can get away with selling cigars in NYC. The safety natzis (oddly, the forum software will not allow me to spell that word correctly) must be slacking off up there. We have any BOTLs live in NYC who have seen one of these?

I'm having a little trouble with NABOTL. Are you saying that's his forum moniker or is that some organization I'm not familiar with?

Ken Light

jlmarta:

webmost:

I have never lost a dime on any transaction which did not involve money. Besides that, the same person who would gladly haggle you down to fifty cents on the dollar if you sold him something, why if you give him something, he'll feel compelled to give you back two dollars. These two facts have made me a big believer in the goodwill economy.

For example, last Winter I devised a project I called The Spline in Winter, whereby I offered to lube the transmission input splines on any beemer. This is a tedious two day job, hideous expensive at the shop, hence often neglected, which, when neglected, leads to disaster. I used to buy a too-long-parked, wrecked, or ruined bike each Fall, revive it in the garage over the Winter, and flip it in the Spring, just to have something fun to wrench on. But ever since the economy went South, you just can't flip a bike without taking a beating. So I figured this would be a way to keep my hands away from the devil's playground. I did ten of these all told last Fall and Winter. One of these was a fine young fellow who rode down from New York on his beemer chromehead cruiser on a Friday, stayed a couple nights in the guest room, and headed out Sunday with freshly lubed splines. Toward the end of the week, a surprise package arrived from cigar.com, containing a 24 stick sampler. This was the first person to bomb me. And it was also my intro to cigar.com. Not a bad deal for a weekend playing in the garage.

And this first bomber is Not A Brother Of The Leaf. He'Oddlys a guy who has never tasted a stick in his life. He's NABOTL.

Well, dial forward like ten months later. Today, NABOTL bombed me again. These two sticks:L


With these saucy sotweed cylinders NABOTL included a note which read: "there's a guy in Union Square who's been hawking these 'Don Luis' for 20 years. Says they are the best cigar in the world. Thought you'd like to try them; tell me what you think." The goodwill economy is a gift that keeps on giving back.

So. What are these? Don Luis. Union Square. Street hawker. No band. Mild odor. Actual color is darker than it looks in the pic. Maduro Toro. Any idea what these are? Any chance they are actually Don Luis secretos del maestro? No band, remember.

I am astonished that a street hawker can get away with selling cigars in NYC. The safety natzis (oddly, the forum software will not allow me to spell that word correctly) must be slacking off up there. We have any BOTLs live in NYC who have seen one of these?

I'm having a little trouble with NABOTL. Are you saying that's his forum moniker or is that some organization I'm not familiar with?

If I'm not mistaken: Not A Brother Of The Leaf

webmost

NABOTL = Not A Brother Of The Leaf. I just think it's remarkable that I've been bombed twice by a guy who has never known the joy of uppowoc at all. Does not smoke and never has. I mean, unless he smoked but did not inhale, you know, once, in college, peer pressure being what it is, and all. I offered him. He gave me some chickenshut rationalization about being in training running marathons or some such booshwa. Hey, that doesn't wash with me, I burnt a stogie last night, played handball tonight, came back from the gym and fired one right up. I think inuring your body to toxins has got to be an important part of every athletic training regimen, am I right? But no. He skipped right past the kinikinik and went straight for the kicks.

Which bombing is probably more fun anyways.

NABOTL is on the fast track. I can respect that.

webmost

So I wrote NABOTL a thank you note, in which I jested "So how does this guy manage to hawk cigars on the street corner and the New York safety *** don't bust him for it?"

He wrote back today: "Safety ***? You have New York all wrong... they have bigger fish to fry than R. Kramer/hand rolled cigars. On the next corner there's a woman who sells cannabis lollipops."

That's hilarious. What's next -- dope on a rope?