Hey guys, I am back from a wonderful place. I went to Oregon this past weekend and had a blast. The weather up there was in the 80's but with nice breeze and the nights were awesome. I soked a ton of gars!!!!!! The best part of Oregon was that the tobacco tax is slim, at least compared to Cali taxes, and on top of that there was no sales tax. I smoked 4 PAM's 2 torpedos one diplomat and one exclusivo, I also had a DC Maduro, no maximus anywhere, 2 VSG's, a full sail and a Cap Maddie, Perla Habana Black Pearl, Punch Grand Puro, Camacho corojo, I thimk that's it. It was An awesome time, relaxing by the pool with a gar and not a care in the world, I am thinking about a move, and this place looks like it would do!!!

Coma,
Not to burst your bubble, but I am not sure where you went in Oregon, but we are having unusually warm and dry weather. One thing to consider, during the winter, it is not uncommon for it to rain for 60+ days and have winds of 75+mph.
If you were anywhere near the coast, that is what the coast can expect during the winter months. If you can stand the rain and storms, Oregon can be one of the most beautiful places in the world to live.
Where I am at, it is 3 minutes to the beach, 10 minutes to some mountains, 4 hours to Oregon desert and 2 hours to snow skiing.
I can hunt in my back yard and it is almost always green here.
We don't have a sales tax, YET. Some folks are pushing to get a sales tax here, but we get hammered by a state income tax.
One bad thing, cigar shops are not that plentiful, only in the metro areas.
If you need more info on Oregon, places to see and go, housing costs, taxes and such, e-mail me at
tm
@
batauto
.
com

Oh, if you want to know where I live, look at an Oregon map, see the very NW point of Oregon, where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean.
That is my town. 🙂

Astoria......what a cool place for old houses. To bad there weathers sucks arrsss. Portland is great though. Listed 8th best place to live in the US.

Opatience,
I went to Salem, and Portland, and although it was dry it still was beautifull. I can actually see the horizon instead of a haze of smog, in the mornings I would get up and actually was able to breathe oxygen instead of smog, boy, can you tell I am sick of Southern California, yes the weather is nice (if you don't like seasons), I am tottaly leaning towards a move to oregon. So tell me is it true that it's hard to do business in oregon? Why is there not so many cigar shops? Well I still like it there!!!!

I live in the Portland area. I have been here for 5 years but my perspective may be a little different. I grew up in Hawaii and moved here to get the kids some better schools. I don't mind the weather since I lived on the windward side of the Big Island where it rains 126 inches a year at sea level. We lived at 3500 ft. elevation in the town of Volcano in the rain forest where it rained 140 inches a year. Believe it or not besides missing the warm ocean the thing I don't like are the hot, dry summers.

http://www.alohablooms.com/storm110200.html 

coma-one,
You would like the coast, except the winter.
I will try and get some pictures of around here and get them posted.

"So tell me is it true that it's hard to do business in oregon?"
I don't think so, but then again, I've lived here for 30 years. Are you looking to start a business here or move one here? If I can be of any help, let me know.

"Why is there not so many cigar shops?"
Mostly because there isn't the volume of people to support them. There are some in the metro areas, Salem, Bend, Eugene and Portland.
Portland is the closest to me to have any cigar shops with any selection, but is 100 miles away.
But when most towns outside the metro areas are less than 20,000 people it is hard to support very many specialty stores.

IMPALAD,
I actually live a little more NW than Astoria.
Warrenton/Hammond is the next town over toward the coast.
Astoria is the first settled town on the west coast.
Alot of houses were built in the early 1800s.
The house I grew up in was built in 1870.

What irony!! My wife and I just vacationed in Oregon last week. We stayed at Welches, OR about 10 miles from Mt. Hood. Here's what we did.
Saturday - Portland Outdoor Market
Sunday - Mt. Hood and surrounding area
Monday - All day at the beaches from Canon Beach on South.
Tuesday - Morning at Rick's Cigars in Portland and then to Powell's Book Store (largest in the world). Afternoon and evening at the Aquis Spa (Ragi and Goddess Bliss) too expensive but oh so wonderful.
Wednesday - Columbia River Gorge (waterfalls and beautiful scenery)
Thursday - Crashed at the resort and spent time with my honey.
Friday - a loooooonnnnnng airpline ride home. 😞

I have family that still live in Astoria. I lived there and Lincoln City when I was a kid. Now I'm close to Portland. There's a great cigar sgow on 82nd. They carry every Bucanero!!!

Maybe its time to move to Gerhart and open a cigar bed and breakfast.

Impalad,
Are you from Astoria?
And what schools did you go to and when?

grond,
Cannon Beach is 20 miles south of me.