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When/What was the moment when you got into cigars

cabaiguan juan

cabaiguan juan

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Listening to a podcast where the question was asked: when was the moment that you got into cigars?

For me, the moment that got me into cigars was when I accompanied my wife to W Curtis Drappers "Little Puff" in 2005 on top of DC's Charlie Palmer's restaurant a stones throw from the US Capital. She went because it benefited a Non-profit that she worked for and we were dating at the time. I was her date and even though I didn't have a paying ticket, I left with 20 or so cigars and got to converse with numerous cigar celebrities as well as many influential people in the D.C. Community.

What was yours?
 
My step dad has been smoking them for quite awhile I'd have one with him every now and then. It wasn't until we went to the Dominican and I bought some Don Lucas Robustos for friends and family.
 
It was our second Treasure Island Beach vacation with my little Brother Doug in 2007. We were hanging out at Rick's Tiki Bar. He suggested that we smoke a cigar from the bar's humidor. I signed up here that November. It's been a down hill slide ever since.
 
Ex bro in law was all ate up with the Sopranos.
After lunch one day we went next door and grabbed a few sticks from the B&M.

He flaked out, and let his go to waste....I kept going.

That is about the only thing I can thank him for, glad he's no longer family.
 
Bought a 10 Ct. humidor from the Mile High Flea Market. Picked up some sticks from a smoker friendly,containing likeky the following from what I can recall: Cohiba red dot toro tubo, Acid Kuba Kuba tubo, Arturo Fuente exquisitos, Arturo Fuente Chateau Sungrown, Hoyo de Monterrey Rothschild, Rocky Patel 1990 and 1992 Robustos.
 
Swisher Sweets at 14? White Owls at 18? :rolleyes:

Really though it started when I graduated college in '96 (I'm older than that sounds; went back to school in my thirties) and quit smoking. Found a cigar would get me through the cravings for anywhere from a week to a month. Really kicked in when I went to a cigar event around '02 or so and they handed me an Ashton VSG Spellbound. Gods. I'd no idea up till that point and haven't been the same since.

~Boar
 
It was 1972. I read an article in Playboy magazine,(yes, some of us read the stories), about handmade cigars. There was also a part about Winston Churchill smoking Royal Jamaicas in-between H. Upmans. So I bopped down to Walnut street and bought a box of Royal Jamaica petit coronas. Took the advice of the owner, who turned out to be a famous guy. The rest is history.

Doc
 
I was a product of the cigar boom of the '90's. As with most of my hobbies, it wasn't really one defining moment that got me hooked. Perhaps the earliest thing that occurred is a part time job I was working at the time that had me catering coffee between film productions. On one production they always had cigar fridays and handed out sticks. They smelled good and of course cigars were all the rage at that point in time. I received a stick (don't remember what it was) and tried smoking it weeks later. I liked it enough to learn more about cigars and to keep trying them periodically when I could. A weekly poker night with friends helped trying new cigars and buying boxes become a regular thing.
 
The cigar boom was a despicable time. It was when people started tasting chocolate in their smokes. By the end of it, there wasn't a decent leaf of tobacco to wipe your ass with, and it was all the fault of those money grubbing sobs at Cigar aficionado. You can look it up.

Doc

The Black Cloud said:
I was a product of the cigar boom of the '90's. As with most of my hobbies, it wasn't really one defining moment that got me hooked. Perhaps the earliest thing that occurred is a part time job I was working at the time that had me catering coffee between film productions. On one production they always had cigar fridays and handed out sticks. They smelled good and of course cigars were all the rage at that point in time. I received a stick (don't remember what it was) and tried smoking it weeks later. I liked it enough to learn more about cigars and to keep trying them periodically when I could. A weekly poker night with friends helped trying new cigars and buying boxes become a regular thing.
Click to expand...
 
Oh, I don't doubt it at all, Doc. We're kinda seeing the same thing in the craft beer world currently (and I'm gonna assume in the bourbon world as well). There's just too much business expansion due to the trend to be sustainable in the long term. A lot of these breweries, like a lot of the cigar brands of the 90's, will fold once the vast majority move on to the next flavor of the month. However, a small portion, like me, will stay on after the herd has moved to a new field.
 
I'd smoked the occasional Hav-A-Tampa and Macanudo over the early years, but didn't ever give it much thought. Never was a cigarette smoker.

There was a group of guys that were fellow engineers at the first engineering firm I worked at, that I became good friends with. After the company went away, we'd get together once a month or so for a whisky at one of our houses and get caught up. One afternoon, at a buddies house, I was the first to arrive. He told me he was going to have a cigar, asked me if I wanted one. I initially said 'no thanks' but he opened his desktop humidor and it smelled good. Really good, unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. I changed my mind. Told him to pick me out a smaller smoke. He handed me a nicely aged Cohiba Siglo 1.

That did it, right there, on the spot. A couple years went by, with the slide off the edge progressing faster and faster. I guess I realized I was in deep when getting the Staebell so I could get rid of all the damn coolers made perfect sense.

That was a decade ago....:cool:
 
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I smoked a few over the years when offered or when deployed... because that's just kind of what you do when there's nothing else to do, but probably sometime in the late 90's or early 00's a buddy of mine I had previously worked and been deployed with sent me a package in the mail out of the blue. Along with the box of cigars was a nice handwritten note telling me about them and how he thought I would like them. I'm sure we had a cigar or three while on the road in shitty places, but receiving that package was totally unexpected and really meant a lot. I've still got the last of them stashed away in my humidor, though it's in pretty rough shape.

I've been progressively smoking, and learning, about cigars since then.
 
I used to work out every other day at the Missouri athletic club and after showering and getting ready to go home I would stop for a beverage and go to the small humidor and buy a small Arturo Fuente for 80 cents to smoke on the way home or at the bar. This was during the 1980's. Then the boom hit and no Fuentes, so I was "all in" trying to find decent cigars. As was mentioned before by Doc it was all the doing of Marvin Shanken at CA. Many "highly rated" cigars at that time were junk and it became a quest, of sorts, for me not to get sucked into buying junk.
 
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I'd had the odd cig here and there when drunk, but I never liked them. Didn't get the attraction. Then one of my last weeks in Korea, someone handed me some cheap wood-tipped cigar. Now that was a flavor I actually liked. Kept exploring from there and never liked back.
 
A number of years ago (15+!) I was at a fishing tournament and was offered a cigar. I don't remember what it was, it was strong, but pleasurable. Fast forward a couple of years and a week long fishing trip to Canada with my father and son. I HAD to bring a box of cigars. Those were Bahia Gold. Nice, not in your face, not something I enjoy anymore for what ever reason. One thing leads to another and I found CP here. My horizons expanded! This place has been a great resource of information, and camaraderie.
Edit: I remember now the first was an Ashton VSG, no idea what vitola.
 
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Oh man picked up some stick in a glass tube late 90s (i think it was a macanudo) at a gas station that had a small countertop humi, didn't care for it, so a few weeks later I was at the "mall" and decided to walk into the tobacco shop not having a clue about anything , bought 3 sticks that looked interesting don't remember what ones , figured they need some kinda "dampness" at the time so in a ziplock two of them go with a wet paper towel , I lite the other one not knowing how to light a cigar properly I lite it like a cigarette, so gave up on them didn't enjoy them they were aweful , early 2000's was hanging out with a friend that is a cigar smoker and he gave me some CAO and showed me how to properly cut and light it and well it just took off from there , he went with me to get a humidor and pick up some sticks , at this time I was still smoking cigarettes and cigars were an occasional "treat" around 2006-2007 for whatever reason I got busy and lost a little interest, checked my humi at some point around that time and found dry sticks that day I learned humidors are not set it and forget i, 2010 I quit cigarettes some how , I missed them really bad after 3 weeks , almost bought a pack instead I decided to hit a tobbaco shop this time it went much better , I was searching something on the google don't quite remember what , and this site popped up , I probally browsed here 6 to 8 months before joining, I am just now starting to feel comfortable and relaxed here, still read more then I post tho
 
I had just turned 18, never smoked before in my life but was always intrigued about cigars. Before I knew any better, I ordered a box of Monte 5s from some online vendor who had the best prices. Luckily, they turned out to be real (as I would find out years later, I knew nothing at the time). I kept them in a metal lockbox, because, well, I knew nothing. The next time I ordered a box was 2010, this time after doing research. Tasted the same as those way back in 2003 ;)
 
I have tired them off and on for a few years. What has finally made it stick, is when I started my businesses this year and was working way too much. I found that the hour that it took to enjoy a cigar was a great way to slow down. I found myself working through breakfast and lunch a lot. Now I try to stop a few days a week to enjoy a stick.
 
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