What was your first cigar?

[R&JDom]

Hi guys,
what was the first cigar you ever smoked and why?
was it coz you had longed for one?
did a friend persuade you?
was it the enviroment you were in at the time?

for me it was bought for me as i played poker with a few friends my first smoke was Montecristo No.1 and to be honest i have rarely strayed far from them, i decided to have a R&J a few weeks ago as a change and got hooked
the only others i have tried are Swisher Sweets which are great but not enough of a smoke for me
but im still dubious as to what to try as im unsure, Dixie will tell you he bought some last weekend (not sure of the name, Dixie help me out) and they were rubbish, ?7 each and they fell to pieces as he smoked it and to get a draw was difficult!
the Term "you get what you pay for comes to mind"

anyway, was your first smoke one you continue to smoke today or have you found better smokes since then?

[daverave999]

Depends what you mean!

I think my first cigar was a Classic in a snooker hall in Cardiff when I was about 13. Didn't encourage me to take them up, funnily enough.

My first hand-rolled humidified cigar was a RyJ Short Churchill tubo on the 14th January this year (I keep notes ) because I didn't want to smoke the ones a friend had given me immediately. I've smoked one since but am trying as many different sticks as possible. It didn't grab me as amazing, hence I haven't rushed back, but my palate has developed and I've got one sitting in the humi courtesy of Stevieboy for the future.

[cj121]

Good post Dom,

...but sadly going to offer a poor reply as I can't remember. I didn't smoke until around 18, and would have a guestimate at nearly thirty before I tried a cigar. It would have been something from behind a bar somewhere (I can do vague really well). That was the pattern until this year: occasional smokes from behind bars when the fancy took me, or on occassions.

My first Cuban would have been, similar to Dave I think, an RyJ but I can't remember. I know it was in January though, he, he (on honeymoon in the motherland: Cuba) I'll check my old boxes and get back on this one.

[Pantomimehorse]

my first was a Monte no2 given as a birthday present about 5 or so years ago, and its still a favourite now

[Robusto]

I have pretty clear recollections of the cigar discovery moment.

I was 13 or 14. I had become entranced by my Dad's cigars. He smoked them occasionally instead of 30 cigarettes a day.

I took one of his BLACK WATCH cigars from his office. He did smoke Cubans, but my brother-in-law was a US Air Forceman based at RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk near our home in Ipswich. Larry (bro-in-law) had generous tobacco rations stationed in the UK and used to bring boxes of these cigars home.

I smoked it in our upstairs loo with the small window open - and I felt like Cock Of The Walk. My parents were downstairs watching TV usually. I was never busted and I think this was because they were too busy hoovering endless cigarettes.

I'd be interested from our US friends if this brand still exists because I'd love to smoke one out of curiosity. I'm sure it was full of garbage - like sickly King Edwards.

I got more demanding in my Dad's cigar nickings and went for Montecristos (I think) some way down the line.

I am chuffed that I took to the habit with no choking or spluttering.

I was a swot at school, and this was my secret passport to EVIL and FILTH.

I started investigating Havanas properly and reading about them in the 1990s.

I really look back at the start-up with cigar smoking in my teens with great affection because it helped turn me into one of the lads.

[Stevieboy]

I used to smoke fags so hated cigars because not knowing any better...I inhaled them!!!

It wasn't until 5 years or so after stopping that I bought a Cuban sampler of eight cigars (I can recall all eight types too!) and my first ever Cuban was a Rafael Gonzales Panatella...and I wasn't too impressed but I persevered and hit gold with the 3rd cigar which was RyJ Panatella...now sadly discontinued. I smoked it past the label to the bitter end...I'll never forget it

[nicwing]

I suspect it was a Villager of some format, probably a squarey one or possibly a King Edward but it was a Looooooong time ago so my memory is a bit hazy.

My uncle smoked Villagers and it all looked very exotic to me, I have a recollection of a King Edward with that small hole already punched in it in it's plastic wrapper.

[R&JDom]

Thanks guys for the posts, some interesting and funny memories, but robusto you win hands down!
the image of a young 13 or 14 year old nicking his dads Montecristo's is priceless!
but as you say you look on it with affection.
no one in our house smoked so couldnt sample cigs till i went to secondary school and did it to act hard and cool, but i was neither!
i am class now though with my R&J number 1 lol

[celsis]

Apart from the occasional Doncella or Castella, my first cigar was King Eddie. We used to get boxes of them when I was at sea. Ten cent cigars we called them. I only smoked about four and I was disgusted both with the taste and the stink. i especially went off them when I saw that it stated on the box, "contains non-tobacco products." So waddafeck is in them?

I started on 'real' cigars about six years ago when I was in the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin with a mate and he offered me a Siglo 1. Wooaahh!! Now that was different! Since then, I try to smoke at least one Cuban a day!

[larrysputnik]

I was given a CAO 1998 Maduro along with a small bottle of Glenlivet as a party favor form a baby shower. I sat outside and smoked it for two hours. It was a torpedo and I only snipped a tiny bit off the end so it smoked really slow. I enjoyed every minute of it.

A few weeks later my wife and I were walking past a tobacco shop called The Tinder Box in Charleston, SC that had authentic pre-embargo Cuban cigars that were finally released for sale after 50 years of judicial deliberation. Thinking it might be fun to try out a real Cuban my wife encouraged me to by one.

The next day I picked up my first issue of Cigar Aficionado and have been enjoying fine cigars ever since.

BTW, I still have the last remaining pre-embargo cigar that I know of from that shop that. Last year they informed me that they had completely sold out of that pre-embargo stock.

[Boss Hog]

It was a Acid Earthiness. Smoked at a Family BBQ on Long Island, NY 2004 with about 1.5 litres of wine. Mojitos and daquari's so not remembering too much else about it.
It was the start of an experience that eventually got me off the fags.
BTW. The fags have never forgiven me!

[Dixie1982]

Cafe Creme!!! d?h!!!

I'm afraid I will have to very embarrassingly admit to smoking Cafe Creme Mild. They would hardly even qualify as a cigar, and if i'm honest, i don't know why I smoked them. They wern't particularly enjoyable, and I had no respect from non smokers, cigarette smokers or indeed cigar smokers.

But as I matured, (and could afford to buy Cuban's) I had my first MC Number 1 about 3 years ago. And that's what I stick to today.

As for the ones R&Jdom refers to, I can happily say I have forgotten the name of them, and will hopefully never see one again.

[skyhigh]

unfortunately i to went down the cafe creme route together with the odd classic/panama then packed smoking in about 9 year ago, but started having a cigar during a round of golf latley and the baby soon to arrive excuse has kicked in well and truly and if i recall correctly the first cigar back on the block was a private stock churchill, also tried the don tomas grande coronna from local asda which appears to last at least 5 holes of golf.

[SteveGriff]

Technically my "first" Cigar - Hamlet... (Hell knows when)
First Cuban - Monte #4 I think

No real surprises there!

[kamaangir]

Monty no.4 and it was not bad, I bought some from a duty free shop on my way to croatia for a friend, and then when I got back home I wondered what they were like and then got some, then got some more... then joined this forum and smoked some more, current favourites are petit edmundo (had one this morning sitting in one of the loveliest places in southest!).
currently smoking R&J churchill.