Okay, this may help a bit. Dwayne Thorpe recorded a self-modified version of this song on his Minstrel LP (JD-209) titled Come and Keep Me Company. He accompanies himself with guitar, but is backed by an unobtrusive banjo played by Jeff Davis. His note to the song credits jerry Rasmussen for introducing him to traditional music, but adds that he first heard the song on one of Sam Charters' collections. "To include as many songs as possible, Charters had represented each song with a couple of verses, rather than giving the whole piece. Out of frustration, I added a couple of my own verses, and somehow that evolved into adding a chorus as well."

I haven't transcribed Dwayne's text, but he does have the cheap cigar in the first one, and uses "Little piece of wood layin' on the shelf. If you don't come and get it, gonna burn it myself." This corresponds more closely to the words you remember.

Of course, someone may have been playing the Charters collection, but unless what you heard sounded like a transcription from a 1920s/30s 78rpm record, you may have heard Dwayne's recording. If you're interested, Folk-Legacy is now helping Minstrel clear out their remaining LPs (as we are doing, too), so you can find the Minstrel recording listed among our remaindered vinyl dinosaurs.

I'll drop a quick note into the Peg Leg Howell thread, too, steering you to this info.

Sandy