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Cherished Cigar Moment

ChiTown_Huck

Active Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2007
Messages
916
Alrighty, its about time I ran a contest. Here is what I am looking for.

Post your favorite or one of your favorite cigar moments and explain why. You will need to have contributed positively to CP and not be an asshat to qualify. I am the sole arbiter of the winner. This contest will run through next week and end Friday the 4th at 5 pm Chicago time. For the best story I will send out a nice fiver.

I'll start. Many years ago, I reconnected with my friend Fred from Florida, whom I met in the early 90s when I was working down in Miami. He had moved up here to Chicago for work. We started hanging out again, and he introduced me to my first premium cigar, i.e. one without a plastic tip, which happened to be a Lars Tetens Royal. It blew my mind that cigars could taste this good. (I learned about the next level when I joined CP and CF.) Anyway, we used to get together and smoke cigars like Puro Indios Pyramid No. 1 and play Madden on Play Station. It was just a couple of dudes hanging out, drinking beer, grilling brats, talking about life, and playing video games. Simple life. It didn't get much better. I've lost touch with Fred, but I cherish those days.

I look forward to reading the stories.
 
Hey #3, good to see you around and kickin'. Hope all is well on your end. My cherished cigar moment will be the same as about 20 others here on CP but I'll share nonetheless. On the patio of JackStack BBQ restaurant in downtown KC. Sitting one person removed from Jorge Padron so I was fortunate enough to get to hear all conversations and stories. (Ask him sometime about whether tobacco can taste different if it comes from different areas of the same field.) After a wonderful dinner of burnt ends and beans, Jorge handed out 1926 #6s. I've not had this particular vitola but have had number of the other sizes from the line. I'm not sure if it was the setting and the fact that Jorge handed it out or what, but that was in the top three cigars I've ever had. Good food, good people and a great cigar. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that. Thanks for the contest Brian.
 
Very nice contest! Unique, and I'm sure we'll hear some outstanding stories!



I'd say my favorite moment in personal cigar history would be when I had just gotten into cigars and discovered a few outstanding cigars thanks to CP. Both of my brothers-in-law were occasional black&mild smokers and I began explaining the intricacy of the hand rolling process and the many types of cigars/tobacco and how they each have certain characteristics. We three went out for a good cigar that evening and I handed my older brother-in law an HC Connecticut and as we smoked, showed him how peaceful and relaxing it is to actually kick back and ENJOY a cigar. He was extremely impressed with the cigar and for me, giving a cigar to someone and seeing a genuine enjoyment emanating from them is probably the best/most fufilling moment I've ever felt.
 
Hey #3, good to see you around and kickin'. Hope all is well on your end. My cherished cigar moment will be the same as about 20 others here on CP but I'll share nonetheless. On the patio of JackStack BBQ restaurant in downtown KC. Sitting one person removed from Jorge Padron so I was fortunate enough to get to hear all conversations and stories. (Ask him sometime about whether tobacco can taste different if it comes from different areas of the same field.) After a wonderful dinner of burnt ends and beans, Jorge handed out 1926 #6s. I've not had this particular vitola but have had number of the other sizes from the line. I'm not sure if it was the setting and the fact that Jorge handed it out or what, but that was in the top three cigars I've ever had. Good food, good people and a great cigar. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that. Thanks for the contest Brian.

It would have been better for me if you hadn't had your hand half way up my thigh. :p


Mine would be 2 years ago at the Outlaw Padron event. Nothing against the events after that, but that event really showed me what our whole little hobby is all about.

Meeting people from all over the country whom I had only exchanged messages here with up until that point and finding out that they're even better people than they are online personas. Sharing stories, cigars, the dinner table, and the experience of just being there was enough to make it one of the top 10 experiences of life in general for me.

Hanging out with Jorge Padron and watching the fight with him after hours was just the icing on the cake. The 1926 #1s he gave us were the cherry on top. I smoked that cigar this past Saturday at the 2010 Padron event at the same time as a good friend smoked his from the 2008 event. Connecting the two events made the first that much more special.
 
Hey #3, good to see you around and kickin'. Hope all is well on your end. My cherished cigar moment will be the same as about 20 others here on CP but I'll share nonetheless. On the patio of JackStack BBQ restaurant in downtown KC. Sitting one person removed from Jorge Padron so I was fortunate enough to get to hear all conversations and stories. (Ask him sometime about whether tobacco can taste different if it comes from different areas of the same field.) After a wonderful dinner of burnt ends and beans, Jorge handed out 1926 #6s. I've not had this particular vitola but have had number of the other sizes from the line. I'm not sure if it was the setting and the fact that Jorge handed it out or what, but that was in the top three cigars I've ever had. Good food, good people and a great cigar. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that. Thanks for the contest Brian.

It would have been better for me if you hadn't had your hand half way up my thigh. :p


Mine would be 2 years ago at the Outlaw Padron event. Nothing against the events after that, but that event really showed me what our whole little hobby is all about.

Meeting people from all over the country whom I had only exchanged messages here with up until that point and finding out that they're even better people than they are online personas. Sharing stories, cigars, the dinner table, and the experience of just being there was enough to make it one of the top 10 experiences of life in general for me.

Hanging out with Jorge Padron and watching the fight with him after hours was just the icing on the cake. The 1926 #1s he gave us were the cherry on top. I smoked that cigar this past Saturday at the 2010 Padron event at the same time as a good friend smoked his from the 2008 event. Connecting the two events made the first that much more special.

You knew the safe word.
 
One of my favorite and newest cigar memories was Saliva McDaniels sharing an LFD Airbender with Red Copperslong. Might I add, the Saliva also throws a hell of a beer bottle, I mean it took like 2 days to get that cleaned up.

I wonder how things turned out at Worlds of Fun?

Jack Stack with Jorge was great, as were both days at the Outlaw, but the moments after the hustle and bustle are what makes it all worth while.
 
Hey #3, good to see you around and kickin'. Hope all is well on your end. My cherished cigar moment will be the same as about 20 others here on CP but I'll share nonetheless. On the patio of JackStack BBQ restaurant in downtown KC. Sitting one person removed from Jorge Padron so I was fortunate enough to get to hear all conversations and stories. (Ask him sometime about whether tobacco can taste different if it comes from different areas of the same field.) After a wonderful dinner of burnt ends and beans, Jorge handed out 1926 #6s. I've not had this particular vitola but have had number of the other sizes from the line. I'm not sure if it was the setting and the fact that Jorge handed it out or what, but that was in the top three cigars I've ever had. Good food, good people and a great cigar. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that. Thanks for the contest Brian.

It would have been better for me if you hadn't had your hand half way up my thigh. :p


Mine would be 2 years ago at the Outlaw Padron event. Nothing against the events after that, but that event really showed me what our whole little hobby is all about.

Meeting people from all over the country whom I had only exchanged messages here with up until that point and finding out that they're even better people than they are online personas. Sharing stories, cigars, the dinner table, and the experience of just being there was enough to make it one of the top 10 experiences of life in general for me.

Hanging out with Jorge Padron and watching the fight with him after hours was just the icing on the cake. The 1926 #1s he gave us were the cherry on top. I smoked that cigar this past Saturday at the 2010 Padron event at the same time as a good friend smoked his from the 2008 event. Connecting the two events made the first that much more special.

Well said Alan. This years event was an amazing, great time, but the first year will always be #1 for me.
 
Great contest!

A few years back, I was up in San Antonio visiting my best friend; we share a particular view of the world that enables us to refer to each other as "Shield Brothers." It's a heathen thing, but basically designates someone you trust to have your back in all circumstances. We're close, and see each other a few times a year . . . he comes down, I drive up, been that way for years now. His kids call me "Uncle Boar." :cool:


A few weeks before that visit, Rocky Patel had held an event at my local B&M, and pulled out a chest of pre-release Old World maduros . . . this was at least a year before they finally hit the market, and since he only had one chest, buy limit was two. I bought two, put 'em down for a nap, and took them up to San Antonio with me. The two of us sat out on his patio in the cool of the evening, catching up, drinking some fine tipple, and set torch to these two amazing cigars (they were a LOT better than the ones that eventually made it into stores, btw!).

It was just one of those nights you remember for a long time afterwards---treasured friendships, great cigars. What it's all about, when it comes right down to it.

~Boar
 
Hey Huck,

I do not think I have seen you around or responded to any of your posts so hello first off and thanks for the contest :thumbs: .

Of every cigar smoking day I have ever had the best revolved around the first ISOM I ever smoked and that was probably the least of it. Shortly after I started dating the love of my life, we graduated from college. Her parents had always taken the family on a trip to celebrate but her brothers and their significant others were unable to go. In order to fill out the group they invited my parents along as well. So it was her parents, my parents, my girlfriend and myself. The cruise we were on was a week long and was one of the most fun times the group had ever had together. Despite being very new to each other, everyone enjoyed themselves and we all became much closer. So where does the cigar come in? The very last night we were at sea, the girls wanted to do some shopping and the ship had a cigar lounge so us three guys decided to head over there. None of us knew anything about cigars so the shopkeeper set us each up with a Monte #2. The three of us ended up sitting in that lounge for about three hours just talking about life, love and wives and everything else under the sun each with a glass of Remmy XO and our Monte #2. Just as we finally started to quiet down the ladies burst into the lounge all giddy after their shopping with huge smiles on their faces. The three of us guys just looked at eachother and got huge grins on our faces. Real Cuban or Fake, I will remember that day until my last because of how close it brought me to my father and now father-in-law.
 
I'm a big fan of the same one Alan mentioned, but since he said it, I won't double tap that one.....great moment though, great weekend.

My other one is very simple and plain, but it was special to me.

Sitting in my shed, in freezing cold weather, in as much clothing as I could put on. Laptop outside on wireless, fingers almost too cold to type. Smoking a Padron Millennium to honor the memory of a great friend and CP Hall of Famer (Infinity).

It was the Millennium he had gifted me, and I had held on to for so long. Cigars are meant for smokin' he would say, so smoke the best you have. Well I did that night, in his honor, while chatting with friends and his family on CP chat.

One of my favorite cigar moments.
 
Thanks for the contest.
One of my favorite cigar moments was when I came back from my last tour in Iraq. I was stationed in VA and had about a month before I could go pick up my family in San Diego to move us out here to Leavenworth. As a kid I remember my Grandfather smoking cigars and a pipe. I still remember him telling me to go to his humi and picking out a good one, pulling it out and smelling it before I gave it to him. I was staying at my Grandparents house cuz it isn't far from post and I wasn't going to rent anything for a month. My Grandmother had seen my cigars and knew I smoked but hadn't seen me smoke one. There was a Herf the day before and as most Herfs go cigars get passed around. One of them was a Hoyo double corona from 01. She as me if I wanted to go sit out on the deck and smoke a cigar because it was a nice day out. So I let her pick my cigar and she grabbed that one and out we went. I sat and smoked that cigar for almost 2 hours the whole time talking to her about everything. She didn't say at the time why she wanted to be out there but I found out after we got back inside that she loves the smell of cigars and it brings back memories of when my Grandfather smoked them. It was an awesome afternoon sitting on the deck of the house I grew up in and and talking to my Grandma. I wish I had more times like that.
 
It was late 2003- I had just come out of Northern Iraq after being there for 8 months and got my first chance to go home on leave to my parents house. My Brother came up from Nashville and took me out for a few drinks- being close in age growing up in a small town we were never close because we were so competitive so normally these outings when I'd come home were a lot of drinking and not much talk- we got home after closing the town down and he got a bottle of Talisker out and I got out a couple of Partagas that I had picked up in Stuttgart on the way home. We proceeded to have the talk at the ages of 36 and 37 that we should have had when we were 17 and 18. We bonded over that bottle of Scotch and those two cigars and have become closer than I ever thought was possible. Best Damn cigar I ever had and I couldn't tell you what it tasted like.

Cheers,

R
 
I have so many I could go on for days about all the cherished cigar moments. I think one of the funniest was when I went to Moscow, Russia. I talked to my room mate named Jens about smoking a cigar on the Carlito Event in Kansas City, Missouri in 2008. We decided to go to this Ukrainian Restaurant in the Northwest side of the Red Square. We went in and asked if we was able to smoke cigars. They said, " Да, да, да."

So we wait to be seated in the smoking section. They came up to us and offered us Vodka. We took the free shot of Vodka which seemed to be a Pepper Vodka and it was fantastic. They seat us and we sit down with a menu that you could beat someone to death with. It was around 8pm Moscow time and 11am Kansas City time. I gave my friend OpusXKC a call aka Tony so I could check on if Carlito showed up yet. I was told not yet. I made several called while eating a 1/2 a duck that was roasted in a brick oven. Every time I called Tony, I was told he hadn't shown up.

Finally after dinner, I gave Jens a opus X Reserve d'Chateau to smoke and I grabbed a Opus X Scorpio to fire up. Our waitress comes up and says we can't smoke the cigar after we asked them several times. They had said yes every time we ask. Well, the big table next to us asked me if they could get a photo of me. SImply because of the beard I had at the time. They called me Santa Claus. I said sure, go ahead. They gave up a shot of Pepper Vodka and it was awesome. Which we spoke in English and Russian. The table behind us joined in when we spoke English. Needless to say, it was a great time. Finally the manager came up to us and gave the official boot. We paid our bill and left. I was still a little upset after asking so many times if we could smoke a cigar and they said yes. I even showed them what they looked like.

I told Jens lets go and we can finish them in the Red Square. After lingering there for a bit, we got on the Metro and headed back to the Moscow State University. I told Tony I would call him several times later as there was no way I would go to bed till I spoke with Carlito even to just say thank you for such wonderful cigars. We had a little night cap of coffee before my room mate went to his room and then to bed. I grabbed my 2nd Opus X Scorpio and headed down stairs to smoke this bad boy. It was 2:30am on a Sunday in Moscow while it was 5:30pm Kansas City time. Carlito was free and Tony asked him if he would talk to me for a few. Carlito agreed and I spend around 10 minutes on the phone which cost me around $25 for the call.

He told me the story about the name of the Scorpio while I was smoking the 2nd one. He then said in the conversation that he wanted to sit down and smoke a cigar with me. Which I told him thanks for such a wonderful cigar in reference to the Opus X, Anejos and the Hemingway Maduros.

Now a year later I attended the Fuente event in Kansas City. I talked to Brad aka Smokyballs and told him the story about the 24 or 25 Opus X Power Rangers I bought and all of them had problems. He recommended me to talk to Wayne since he is in charge of production or something like that. I told Wayne what happened and I had took some pictures so they was able to see what I was talking about. Wayne gave me I think a Robusto to smoke and said I should enjoy it. Which I did and was one hell of a nub. Which Rich Perelman said to me..." Loren, you have a God like presence." I gave him one of my OR Anejo's before he left. He took a couple pictures of me and the nub that I smoke through.

Sitting there chilling with the CP'ers and other local CP'ers I know, Derik came up to me and said that my presence was requested in the Humidor by Carlito and Wayne. As I got up, I ran into Jacob who is the Fuente Rep for the KC area and wherever else he covers and I said, "Am I in trouble?" He replied with..."Oh no, its good." My heart was racing and I head in where Carlito and Wayne was standing just inside the door to the left. Carltio gave me his personal stash he took to Kansas City and said enjoy. My response was the following..."Are you f***ing kidding me?" I was in complete shock at this point and said thank you many times.

As we walked out of the Humidor, Carlito reached into his pocket and pulled out a Opus X BBMF with only 1 band on it and said, "You will enjoy this." Needless to say I walked back to the boys and out little table. You can read the rest of the story here. By the way, Carlito did sit down with me and the others for a good 5 mins or so smoking I think a Opus X #5. It was a great time for me. :thumbs:

http://www.cigarpass.com/forumsipb/index.php?showtopic=56904&st=0&p=854160&hl=Carlito's%20Stash%20&fromsearch=1&#entry854160
 
Yep I am still kicking around Clint. Life is good here. I can't complain. The boys are getting big and keeping me busy.

Nice to meet ya T2P! Thanks for playing.

Great stories guys! Keep them coming.
 
I had just started dating my GF about 13 years ago. She was living with her sister and BIL. It was 4Th of July and we went to a party together. We were on the roof when the fireworks started going off. f Eric said "You ever smoke cigars?" I said not really. He said here, give this one a try. It was an Arturo Fuente. I don't remember which one but from that day forward, he and I have become best friends and family. We now enjoy cigars at least once or twice a week and have for the past 13 years. He's extremely intelligent which makes for good conversations every time we get together. He's also my best friend. That's one cigar that was truly life changing. :thumbs:
Gonna smoke a couple Sharks with him tonight. :D

BTW, no matter who wins, these are some great experiences from everyone. Great contest.
 
At one of our Delaware Deer Park Herfs, Dan(Mr Wolf) heard Chris(from Puff) mention he'd never seen a BTL so Dan calmly and generously reached into his kit:

DECasualHerf04.jpg


and produced a BTL eliciting a precious expression of amazement from Chris! :D

DECasualHerf03.jpg


It would be great to get everyone together at the DP again for a repeat herf this summer!

You in, Dan? :)

Edit to add link to Delaware Herf post

Steve
 
My Kurdish smoking experience- in 2003 when we went into Iraq in the North I came in with the Special Forces into Bashur and then down into Irbil/Arbil to set up Forward Air Bases for Helos and C-130s... initially I was only in command of 5 AF Maintainers and we had about 25 Green Berets. The rest of our defense was provided on our perimeter by the Kurdish forces. One night my security guy came to me and asked me to go out and talk to the Kurds with him because the Kurd Officers were getting upset that on Non Coms were going out to see them and no officers. So I obliged but only after reaching into my Pelican case humi and grabbing a couple of Churchills for Scott and I to take out there since previous experience told me if I didn't I'd be forced to smoke their nasty clove type cigarrettes along with the boatload of tea that always goes with negotiations in the Middle East.

What I didnt' think about was the impression I was sending...I'm 6'1 and about 235, Scott is 6'5 and about 245 and I bring Churchills....the avg. Kurd is about 5'5 and 130. So while we're out there talking thru interpreters and drinking and smoking these 12 officers are just staring at Scott and I and our cigars. At the end of the night as we are saying our goodbyes one of the officers asks through the interpreter if we could come back the next night and could I please bring them some of my cigars? I said I could and we left.

The next night I brought out cigars for everyone and showed them how to cut and light them and then had the interp. explain that you didn't inhale cigars like cigarettes. They didn't get it and proceeded to smoke and inhale entire churchills looking like they were taking hits off a bong. This pattern continued for 3 months almost every night ( I wore JR's cheap lines out ) with these guys choking and turning green every night and then with bloodshot eyes and pale faces thanking me profusely and inviting me to do it again the next night with them...

I personally think that I single handedly must have changed the mortality rate for the Kurdish Officer Corps! :eek:)
Every time I smoke a Churchill sized cigar I think of those 12 Kurds and how it was like the scene from Fast times at Ridgemont High where they roll up in the smoke filled van...only we were doing it in a Ramshackle Tent...
 
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