Oh the snobbery is a whole other thing. I think that no matter how you flaunt your status, you're still flaunting it. Flaunting it to demonstrate your membership in an in-group? The in-group will put up with it. Flaunting it to members of an out-group? The out-group will murder you for it.

Charitably? Your friends ended up dick-deep in social signaling that you wanted no part of/could not be a part of. Rather than... not do that, they kept trying and ended up driving you away. I'm sure they regret it. I'm equally sure that if they were more socially adroit it never would have come to that.

I'm a misanthrope. I grew up in a house of people so misanthropic my sister is convinced our parents are on the spectrum. But I learned to read the signals as signals, rather than truth, so I can talk a real big game around whisky. I also happen to like whisky so I think I've got... six bottles? Five? I also know what I like and how to maintain appearances so while I have deep and abiding opinions about Islay I also know that I much prefer Bushmill's most of the time (and fight the siren song of Southern Comfort). So I'm not going to insist anyone bow down and worship my Sampler Pack of Ardbeg. If you ask I can fill you in and make suggestions but if you really like your margaritas made with Corona I won't judge. On the other hand, if you have opinions about Highland vs. Lowland vs. Speyside vs. Islay and you buy me a bottle of Islay Gold I will NEVER let you live it down. If you don't wanna play the game, I'm an asshole for making you play. If you're gonna play the game, though, I gain immeasurable status by playing it better than you (scotch is that easy - don't buy blends that pretend to be single malts).

I think that a lot of luxury is people who don't realize they're playing a game. The people making money off the game? Know beyond a reasonable doubt that it's a game, and study it like it's golf. The bottom line is we psychologically define ourselves by the "luxury" items we purchase, nobody should be ashamed of that, and the more honestly we can talk about why a bottle of wine doesn't need to be worth a thousand dollars to you to still be worth a thousand dollars to someone, the happier we all shall be.