man, rod, it looks like you're taking some sides here. it seems to me, at least on other message boards that the mods and admin try to stay as neutral as possible to keep the peace. if you side with someone, you aren't maintaining you're responsibility to keep the peace; conversly, you're actually promoting the chaos, especially when a few members of our family happen to agree with the party being ganged up on. i am not promoting lars. the guy is nuts, i give you that, but he makes some damn good smokes, which i happen to enjoy them, on a regular basis, and furthermore i fail to see how expressing my opion in this free world, not to mention in an arena in which it would be entirely appropriate to exress my opinion, should be met with such avid opposition. it's ok to talk about how cheap good cigars are, but not appropriate to refer to a higher priced cigar, based purly on the fact the cigar is manufactured by a particular individual who is not main stream, on this board anyway. i don't understand that. also, education and intelligence will only get one so far. worldly experience goes further. when one combines all three attributes, one is on the road to success. what i'm getting at is just as rod said, (well something like anyway) "i learned that a high price doesn't mean a good product, it's just a factor in deciding which cigar..." blah blah blah. just because it's high priced, doesn't mean that it's good. just because you haven't seen a $1,000.00 bottle, doesn't mean that they don't exist. i mean, there are extremities, like just because we haven't "seen" god doesn't mean he doesn't exist...and all that crap, but he henry drinks some expensive wine. ever notice that you can get a "good" car for $20,000.00, but the "really nice" cars will run ya bill around $300,000.00 to half a mil? see the correlation? good stick-10 bucks. ok. really good stick-100 bucks. ok. pretty simple there. i dont' flaunt money. the next statement i make will contradict itself in that just by me making the statement, everyone will pounce on it saying "there ya go again, braggin about how much money you have..." but i'll say it anyway. i don't rub it in peoples faces that i have money. when it comes to 150 bucks a stick, i can afford them. so what? what is the big deal. some are unfortunate. some are more fortunate. what you don't understand is that i didn't stumble into an inheritance. i earned the money i make. i'm not a millionare, but i can afford good cigars. the 2 people i sent cigars to for a review got some nice extras thrown in for fun, including an opus x, so i'm not cheap about it. i'll send a fellow herfer some good gars, just because i know that they'll enjoy them. and yet another thing, how come people speak of la luna and fuente all day long and no one attacks them for "promoting the manufacturer", or no one says "boy this is becoming the (insert manufacturers name here) message board"? i hate opus x's. i make my thoughts known and that's it. i don't avidly attack any opus x people when they post about it because it's their thing. they like them. fine. i'll send em some of mine for christs sake. i feel like i'm being pushed around because i enjoy a cigar that most people understand. puro is right, too, that when ever lars comes up, people ask questions that can and should be answered. my question for you, rod, is why would you try to silence me in respect to lars? are you actually promoting for other manufacturers and i'm biting you're style by mentioning lars tetens a few times a week? i know it's a conspiracy theory, and i'm not attacking anyone, or flaming, or being an asshole, but now you can see how ridiculous it sounds to imply that i'm promoting lars. that's crap. polititions, when falling behing in an election race will use mud slinging tactics to make the other individual seem less appropriate for the position...seems like a similar situation. that's just how i feel. thanks for reading such a long post. i appologize for that.