Talk about an ‘undying’ thirst. But did you ever

Talk about an ‘undying’ thirst. But did you ever get a craving for a really good cigar? You know, one with all the superlatives: crafted from fine, perfectly aged leaves, slow burning, mellow (?) taste, classic Cuban aroma, individually wrapped and humidor fresh. None of today’s upscale ‘cigar bars’ available? What to do?

But maybe your thing is wine or one of the more potent spirits, but not in those sissy 0.750 liter bottles at the local tasting rooms. You like the grape and you want it in the volumes available to your great-greatgreat granddaddy, i.e. by the (very) large barrel. Where to go - kegs of beer yes, but wine by the barrel?

Or perhaps the situation is very dire: you have a cigar fetish on the order of Ulysses S. Grant. You require a (huge) continuing supply of stogies, each handcrafted by one of those Caribbean masters. Again, not sure what to tell you, except perhaps to refer you to the thrilling days of yesteryear when cigars with a capital ‘C’ were available in hogshead quantities. (FYI: a hogshead tobacco barrel was 48 inches long by about 30 inches in diameter and could hold approximately 1000 pounds of tobacco. Wine and spirits could also be had in hogsheads; the liquid variations of the containers could hold from 60-140 gallons, later settling at around 54 gallons. Nice choice - the exact size of a full keg at a modern frat party, if you can lift it.) ‘Twould seem therefore that, regardless of the preferred diameter of your smokes or the size of your thirst, one of these barrels could keep you stocked for a considerable period.

These days, PC may necessitate that you hide your vice(s) from your neighbors. . But back in the late seventeen to mid-eighteen hundreds, many (most) of your neighbors may have shared your tastes, tossing PC to the wind. Lots of folks in those days required hogsheads of goodies, cigars and wine included. But how to move these monster barrels around - no tractortrailers then folks (or rail