Back From Jamaica... Not Smoker Friendly!

blueeyedogre · Feb 10, 2015

My wife and I just got back from Ocho Rios, Jamaica yesterday and while we had a wonderful time, and it's a beautiful place, Jamaica is not a very smoker friendly place. Our resort had 2 small smoking areas and while cigarettes and cigars are aplenty, but only tourists.... very rare to see a Jamaican smoking, pipe smoking was not. I only smoked one bowl of the Capstan tin I took with me as I had at least 5 people come to me and either bitch about me smoking pot (which I never did) or ask to "Take a hit" (again, thinking it was pot). I went to several tobacco shops and found ZERO pipe tobacco and none was found in duty-free either. So while it was a great trip it was a bust for the pipe smoker.

huntertrw · Feb 10, 2015

Outside of the resort areas I believe that much of Jamaica IS smoker-friendly...just not necessarily to tobacco if you catch my drift, Mon.

papipeguy · Feb 10, 2015

I'm not entirely surprised to hear this. There was a wonderful cigar brand from there called Royal Jamaican but that disappeared years ago. You'd think that the country's connection to England would have sustained a pipe smoking community but, alas, that too has vanished.

lochinvar · Feb 10, 2015

Poor old Royal Jamaica (and Temple Hall) it was one of my favorites. I think it was three hurricans in 5 years that basically ruined tobacco production in Jamaica. I think by 2000 Royal Jamaica was gone.

blueeyedogre · Feb 10, 2015

Didn't you check the policies of the resort before booking?

I have a meeting with my travel agent later today as we did book a smoking room that was offered by the agency and were given no info on the smoking rules. They are going to owe us a refund on a few things. Upgrades we paid for but never received, etc.

Jamaica IS smoker-friendly...just not necessarily to tobacco if you catch my drift, Mon

Lol You got that right Hunter. The ratio was about 5 to 1 on pot smokers vs tobacco. Didn't help that Friday was Bob Marley's birthday lol

buckaroo · Feb 10, 2015

When I do the resort thing I'm almost always finding myself being talked to now about my cigar habit (usually leave pipes behind) even late at night and I find myself and others usually end up venturing deep into the middle of the golf course that's usually next to the resort at night smoking and having a grand time on the hills if we don't have balconies. Sprinklers suck though.

huntertrw · Feb 10, 2015

"Jamaica IS smoker-friendly...just not necessarily to tobacco if you catch my drift, Mon"
"Lol You got that right Hunter. The ratio was about 5 to 1 on pot smokers vs tobacco. Didn't help that Friday was Bob Marley's birthday lol"
Which brings us to this...
Jamaica says Yes on Bob Marley's birthday

mso489 · Feb 10, 2015

The resort area had two small smoking areas, which is a concession. Away from resorts, I doubt anybody cares,

except the pot assumption is annoying and maybe not the best way to meet people.

cobguy · Feb 10, 2015

The "smoke" in Jamaica is horrible.

It's so humid there that the "curing" process is next to impossible!

The only good "smoke" to be found is from indoor grows and you have to know someone.

The rum, however, is quite good ... one of my fav's:

mephistopheles · Feb 10, 2015

+1 Huntertrw
Totally right. There were peers from my high school who went to Jamaica as exchange students senior year and they were offered pot right off the boat.

huntertrw · Feb 10, 2015

mephistopheles:
Perhaps your peers simply encountered Rastafarians who were eager to share their "herb" with those who they perceived as fellow believers. :roll:

frozenchurchwarden · Feb 10, 2015

I wonder if there's such a thing as a smoking-only cruise?

(Looks like most lines are banning smoking on balconies now, the outlook is grim.)

mso489 · Feb 11, 2015

No smoking on cruises? Looks like the smoking lamp isn't lit in any of the formerly authorized spaces.

That was the reveille call on the intercom on the minesweeper (MSO489, USS Gallant) and all other Navy

ships in the 1970's. "Now reveille, reveille. All hands heave out and trice up. The smoking lamp is lit

in all authorized spaces. Now reveille." Usually 6 a.m. as I recall. Translation: Heave out means get out

of your bunk, aka rack. Trice up means to fold the racks up against the bulkheads (walls/inside of ship's

hull) to make room for swabbing the decks. Of course, the officers and senior enlisted chiefs had little

staterooms. I'm not sure what the smoking lamp was; we didn't have one on our small ship; maybe some

item from the past, but the language remained the same, like many things in the Navy, captured in

tradition. One Native American guy strung a hammock in the giant tow-cabel well at the fantail (stern)

of the ship to enjoy a little private space, and they let him do it because of extra technicians and Vietnamese

military aboard who needed bunk space. It wasn't exactly the Carnival Line.

derfatdutchman · Feb 11, 2015

When we went to Jamaica we got offered their special herb blend on the ride to the resort by the bus driver and on the beach. I made sure to bring along my a good supply of cigars and pipe tobacco to see me through. As far as the resort, the only places you couldn't smoke was in the buildings.

blueeyedogre · Feb 11, 2015

No refund and the last time I will ever use them. They told me that everything I paid extra for was just a request and requests don't always get fulfilled. As to the offer of a smoking room all they said was "Oh, guess we'll have to update our system."

smeigs · Feb 11, 2015

Thats sad to hear. I guess I could see where people would automatically assume the pot thing. I spent some time in Jamaica about 12 years ago.. I wasn't smoking back then, but there was plenty of red stripe!

instymp · Feb 11, 2015

Have red stripe in the fridge right now, but won't ever go back again.

sajgre · Feb 12, 2015

I think it is very ignorant to call a country "not smoker friendly" after spending some time in a resort.

newbroom · Feb 12, 2015

Pot news gleaned from tv news this a.m.

Colorado's projected tax windfall is short of predictions

Growers in Washington have an excess and bud is going for under $800.00 according to grower Uncle Henry, and he can't make it at that price.

delro · Feb 12, 2015

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. Seems like a resort in Jamaica would be the perfect place to enjoy a smoke under a shady tree or poolside. bummer man

Back From Jamaica... Not Smoker Friendly!

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