An acquaintance from long ago, Ali of Ali’s Electricals, formerly at Centrepoint, once remarked that if we had tails, we would all probably spend an inordinate amount of money on accessories for our tails. Merchants would be selling a wide array of different types of tail sheaths and other adornments, some will be plain, some decorated with diamonds, even. Just look at phone cases, and you get the idea. And now, just take a look at all the fanciful masks people wear, just to look better than others. Oh my! Other than preventing those around you from breathing in your oral emissions, masks allow you a certain degree of anonymity, so why wear one that makes you identifiable as always being the person who must look different from others? How imbecilic is that?
It’s the same with cigar cutters. In Cuba, home of cigars, I hardly see cutters – table-top ones or otherwise – being used. The cigar-smoking farmers in tobacco plantations simply used their fingernails to flick off the end and light it with matches. No fancy gadgets or elaborate “show” – such as those we see in cigar lounges – necessary. Of course, in all the cowboy movies, the super-macho cowboy would simply bite off the end with his mouth and simply spit it off in gusto.
But today, people have loads of money and nowhere to spend it and retailers know, so they sell you all kinds of cigar scissors, pocket clippers, punches and cutters – all “instruments” small and big – that you don’t really need.
Here’s a sampling:
