Who does not love a cigar in the woods?

[Daniel Collins]

The tubes (tubos in spanish)come in a myriad of sizes, but most have a press fit
end cap with no seal except metal to metal, so they would not be absolutely waterproof.
The screw top tubes shown in the first post come with some Romeo y Julieta cigars from Cuba in two main sizes, both about 3/4 inch diameter – 4 and 7/8 long (Romeo #3)and 5 and 1/8 long (Romeo #2).
They both weigh 7 grams each regardless of length since my scale will not register 1/2 gram. Both tubes will hold waterproof matches stacked in two bundles one on top of the other, and are lighter that commercial waterproof match cases. The lid gaskets are real thin poly foam sheet so they will not rot.

Uses ?
Match case for one.
I am thinking of making my dryer lint firestarter wrapped around a thin piece of wire.
The case is filled with the firestarter with the wire in the middle. You pull on the wire to get the firestarter to the top where you can peel off a small piece at a time.
Simple and no plastic bags or litter involved.
The tubes are lighter than any small bottles for spices, sugar, salt,drink mixes, medications, or whatever you want to keep dry. The tubes will hold rolled up pieces of silnylon or cuben fiber repair tape in a case lighter than the commercial case, along with any glue tubes. The tubes will hold sewing or fishing kits along with a mini swiss army knife.
The fatter tubes will hold a 5 day supply of blue shop towel toilet paper or a complete mosquito head net.
Use your imagination.

[peter vacco]

tubed cubans make appropriate gifts of appreciation all across the north. they weigh very little, and are not something that occures in villages by random accident. i normally toss several in the pack for just such a situation that i need to say Thank You, money would be crass (even for me ! ), and handing out a mosquito net isn't going to cut it.

am finding the effete repulsion of outdoor smoke odor pretty ridiculous amongst a group of people familiar with say … campfires.

i have smoked one cigar in my entire existence. t'was in the middle of BC, nearly out of food, had left 1" of rum, and this world-rocking stogie to deal with.
started in on the last of my rum, lit the cuban, and 15 minutes later, am dancing naked (it's raining) around outside the tent resetting pegs.
and THAT was a pretty good afternoon.

no telling what the heck to use the tubes for. not like it's something valuable like a film can.

cheers,
v.

[Daniel Collins]

I selected three different larger tubes with the press on dome style cap and tossed them in my pool.
24 hours and none leaked, so I will consider them all waterproof.
The larger ones now open a slew of possibilities.
About 1 inch dia by 6 inches long.

[M Blick]

I keep my stogies in an OPsack, and typically go through 3-4 cigars a day on backpacking trips. When in civilization, its one or two a week. Cigars in and of themselves, (without the tubo) are multi use. Besides the great satisfaction they provide me in the great outdoors they are extremely affective at chasing away insects, the egocentric, and the self-righteous.

For the masses extolling the evils of getting a whiff of tobacco scent, do you also complain about the scent of campfire smoke? Do you forgo the evening fire to avoid inflicting the smell upon others?

The Environmental Protection Administration estimates that wood smoke is 12 times more carcinogenic than equal amounts of tobacco smoke, and that it stays active in the body up to 40 times longer than tobacco smoke. I.E. One hour smelling wood smoke is worse for your health than 12 hours smelling tobacco smoke. You sit upwind of all of your fires? Smell your campfire clothes and tell me you aren't breathing it in.

To the tobacco complainers:
Don't have a campfire, the smoke will horribly irritate my eyes and endanger my health. I have the right not to catch a whiff of your campfire's smoke in an 800 square mile park. I don't want your enjoyment of a campfire to negatively impact my personal experience or endanger my health."

[Billy Ray]

"For the masses extolling the evils of getting a whiff of tobacco scent, do you also complain about the scent of campfire smoke? Do you forgo the evening fire to avoid inflicting the smell upon others? "

Answers: Yes, and Yes.

Alright, then. It's a deal… you won't smoke out there and I won't have fires.

Billy

[Billy Ray]

BTW… haven't had a fire in 30 years or so.

Perhaps I am deluded, but I expect there are others that feel the same.

Billy

[Marko Botsaris]

"For the masses extolling the evils of getting a whiff of tobacco scent, do you also complain about the scent of campfire smoke? Do you forgo the evening fire to avoid inflicting the smell upon others? "

I absolutely do! On the other hand I don't mind if any of it is far enough from me.

[W I S N E R !]

6th post on this site and he invokes Nazis. Good start.

[Paul Andronico]

You are hiking peacefully through the woods and you start to hear some music that is offensive to you (metal, country western, pop, techno, or whatever you hate), and as you keep walking it gets louder and louder. Up the trail you find someone hiking with a boom box listening to their favorite music at a level that can be heard in a pretty wide radius. Illegal? Nope. Annoying? Yes. I probably wouldn't say anything and try and get away from them to return to the peace of the outdoors. Same approach with a cigar smoker. Unless the smoker was self-righteous about it, in which case I might hike with them while legally blasting heavy metal on my boom box :) (And no, I don't really have a boom box.)

[Mitchell Ebbott]

> 6th post on this site and he invokes Nazis. Good start.

In accordance with Godwin's Law, I now declare this thread over.

[Marko Botsaris]

Are we counting replys that mock that references, and only mention it in the subject line? ;-P

[Billy Ray]

" Up the trail you find someone hiking with a boom box listening to their favorite music at a level that can be heard in a pretty wide radius. Illegal? Nope."

Disturbing the peace is indeed against the law.

Enforcement is another issue.

Billy

[Andy Stow]

"Disturbing the peace is indeed against the law."

Loud music is generally only considered disturbing the peace if they ignore requests to turn it down.

[M Blick]

N&*^ reference was in poor taste; my apologies.

As noted, I have posted 6 times though I joined the community over 5 years ago. I generally lurk and soak up some valuable knowledge. I'll probably go back to stealth mode. Posted a few helpful hints in the gear section yesterday and then visited the multi-use section for the first time. I saw this thread and it struck a nerve.

@Paul:
While said boombox could be annoying, it also could be part of that person's outdoor experience. I am not going to suggest my outdoor experience is any more important than theirs on public land. Who knows, maybe I would find out I enjoy hiking to music. I have a little Bluetooth speaker I might try next time I am out. While not a boombox it would get loud enough to disturb others. I would mute it when aware that others were in my vicinity, just as I avoid drawing on my cigar when passing/being passed. Courtesy is important in the commons, but I will not humor or cater to prima donnas.

Kayakers and tubers often disturb areas where I am fly fishing. I once walked 3 miles searching for a brown and had spotted a biggun. I slowly crept up to the spot, staying low, downstream, and watching my shadow. Before my first cast, it was spooked by kids on tubes. A brown that big got so by being cautious; it would likely stay in hiding not eat again that day. My potential for completing a "slam" of a Brookie, Bow, and Brown went unfulfilled that day. This was very annoying, and much more difficult to remedy than simply walking slower or faster on a trail. My personal experience on the river was no more important than theirs. I am not going to suggest that they should forgo their enjoyment in "my space".

@Billy & @Mark: I am surprised you go without campfires. Sorry Billy, I won't be taking your deal. I didn't notice either of you suggesting that getting a whiff of cigar smoke is damaging to your health, should be done in a glass helmet, ruins the experience for somebody 10 miles down the trail, or comparing to hike-by leg p|ssings and/or boot sh|tt|ngs. These people could not see a thread about the reuse of a cigar tubo without interjecting their outdoor experience is more important than one whose experience includes enjoying a cigar.

out,
– M –

[spelt with a t]

My dad used to smoke cigars around the campfire. Only time he ever smoked anything. I thought it stunk (still do; pipe smoke is more tolerable imo (and lends a classy Middle-earth expedition feel)), but as long as you're not starting forest fires I don't really care.

[Billy Ray]

I love the line from the movie, Planes, Trains and Automobiles:

John Candy: [spilling over his seat next to Steve Martin on airplane]
"Do you mind if I smoke?"

Steve Martin:
"Do you mind if I fart?"

Billy

[Jon Leibowitz]

"@Billy & @Mark: I am surprised you go without campfires."

I think most people around here, and in general people that practice LNT, go without fires in the back country and especially in wilderness areas. I wouldn't light a fire unless I absolutely had to for warmth. The impact is too great.

Then again, if you are in a developed camp ground in a national park with fire rings….let your pyromaniac side have some fun!

As someone that doesn't smoke cigars or light fires, I can say that both are equally as annoying in the back country….I can also say I really don't care when I experience them….just an excuse to keep walking :)

[Marko Botsaris]

"@Billy & @Mark: I am surprised you go without campfires."

I don't "go without". Its not remotely on my radar, and never has been. I don't need a fire for warmth. I don't need it for cooking. I have no interest in it for entertainment, especially when I'm solo, which is most of the time. I don't need it as as the psychological safety blanket I think many use one for. At this point I don't need to "push the darkness away". I'd rather embrace it – there are so few places in civilization anymore where we can even experience real dark.

I have a firestarting kit, and know how to use it in an emergency to get warm. Otherwise I think of fires in the back-country as an activity that has zero value for me.

I have nothing against a fire, and like looking into them. But for me out in the wilderness, leaving aside the wilderness ethics part, and LNT which is also important to me, I don't see a point. I think in this I'm probably right in the middle of the bell curve on this site.

On the other hand I don't push the "wilderness ethics" part on anyone else – I rely on the local custodian to set the rules for everyone else. But to me the whole fire thing – let alone the cigar, is part of the "ultra-camping" mentality which is more about bringing as much civilization into wilderness as possible. I'm not against it at all, just not for me.

But it can be somewhat clueless to assume a set of values (like a fire) in other people, and then go an plant you fire (or cigar) right down on top of someone.

[Billy Ray]

+ + 1 Mark

Never even enters my mind to have a fire when backpacking.
Love seeing the stars at night.

Besides, where I camp (above 9 or 10,000 feet) the parks don't allow fires as it burns up the stuff that makes the already scarce soil.

Billy

[Justin Baker]

What do you guys do when camping in the winter? Crawl into your sleeping bag for 13 hours?

[Travis B.]

I think this is a situation where the climate and eco-system you are backpacking in will dictate how high fire ranks on your list of importance. I get that in densely populated, high impact areas, or areas with warm/moderate temperatures fire may not be necessary, and may even be frowned upon by LNT ethics.

However, in the boreal forest fire is an integral part of life. We use wood to heat our cabin, and whether at home or out hiking/fishing/car-camping, etc we are never far removed from bucking, splitting, gathering, or burning wood. If you asked a group of hunters, fisherman, trappers, backpackers, and weekend warriors who live in the boreal forest what was the most important survival tool they had on them when they were out, 9 times out of 10 the answer would be the ability to make fire (that 1 person who dissented would probably come around after thinking about it).

It never gets truly dark at the peak of summer here, but it can still get quite cold (near or below freezing is possible) and I can't imagine sitting around shivering or stuffing our bags with extra down jackets when a warm fire is easily had. In the winter, you'd be foolish to not have a fire whenever possible.

On our hiking trips we use fire in the morning for coffee and oatmeal. At night it cooks our suppers, boils our water, dries any wet clothes and provides us with warmth. Not to mention, if you cook with fire there's no need to haul around a stove or fuel for extra weight!

A fire starting kit is the one piece of equipment that I ALWAYS have on me, regardless of whether I'm just taking the dog for a walk on our local trails or whether it's a 50 day expedition.

Sorry for the long rant. I just can't fathom fire being viewed not only as unnecessary, but as something that has zero value. Fire certainly provides an added level of comfort on trips, and not just psychologically.

If fire is a psychological crutch that we can do without I would suggest that we can also do without sleeping bags and tarps. They are a safety blanket as well, and much more literally!

Just my thoughts…

Cheers,
Travis

PS – Again, I do recognize that the importance of fire varies from place to place, but still…

EDITED FOR SPELLING

[Bob Gross]

Travis, your views seem about right for the Far North.

Either fortunately or unfortunately, some of us live an operate in the mid latitudes. Most of California, in particular, is suffering from the driest year on record, and this drought condition is developing huge wildfire risk. So, many of the places where we operate as backpackers have simply banned wood campfires altogether. On most of the group trips that I've been on, if a person lit up a cigar, they would be shunned for the rest of the trip.

–B.G.–

[Travis B.]

Hey BG,

Yeah, that's why I wanted to make sure I prefaced my rant noting that it does vary depending on where you live/hike. And unfortunately, there are also a lot of folks who are pretty careless with fires too. We get bans on fires up here in the summer during fire season, but it's usually not enforced with much gusto. Conservation officers tend to focus on making sure people are being fire smart because I think there is an understanding that with so few conservation officers and such a large space it's pretty tough to enforce things like fire bans. (Not to mention, Yukoners can be pretty self-righteous and defiant themselves)

On the Teslin River two years ago we ended up following a group who were cutting down green spruce and trying to burn it. We were one day behind them and also came upon 2 different fires that they had left smoldering (on a hot, sunny day). Not overly impressive. We discovered later that they were German tourists.

Cheers,
Travis

[Brian Crain]

I'm all for a fire (and cigars and loud music) where it is allowed and practical. Sadly, I'm in the Southwest and whatever isn't currently on fire will be soon. This drought is really hurting.

A lot of the issues of cigars and boomboxes and obnoxious behaviours goes away if everyone does one simple thing: respect the rights of others. That includes imposing your will or the affects of your behaviours on others.

Apply the "Golden Rule" folks…

[Jon Leibowitz]

"I'm all for a fire (and cigars and loud music) where it is allowed and practical. Sadly, I'm in the Southwest and whatever isn't currently on fire will be soon. This drought is really hurting.

A lot of the issues of cigars and boomboxes and obnoxious behaviours goes away if everyone does one simple thing: respect the rights of others. That includes imposing your will or the affects of your behaviours on others.

Apply the "Golden Rule" folks…"

Come on Brian, it's 2014. We live in a society of "me me me". Rights of others? What are you, a socialist? ;)

[Author]

Posts