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It's been a year or so now since I began this now great journey down tobacco road (mile one marked with a Monetecristo 4), and of late I've been a bit contemplative on the whole subject. When I started smoking cigars in earnest, it came as a surprise; I'd always thought them somewhat terrible and contrary objects, and that is probably due to the proverbial trifecta of having my first cigar too early, smoking a terribly cheap example, and inhaling its smoke as if it were a cigarette. Choking and nausea don't tend to make for great first dates, unless it takes place in French cinema.
In any case, the second, and perhaps better, surprise was the level of community I've found within this realm of leaf, flame, and smoke, and it is that which has got me thinking. When I first saw this term 'BOTL', I wondered what liquid containers had to do with cigars, but I soon learned the acronym, and thought it interesting if a bit obscure or even, I don't know, Masonic. But it turned out that it wasn't all that Dan Brownish in the end, and I've found such a great outpouring of shared knowledge, experience, and, to say the least, cigars.
I recall early on in this board when I posted someone's negative review of the Cohiba Robusto, and to my surprise Rokkitsci ups and sends me an avalanche of sticks, including three phenomenal Cohibas, the bastard. I didn't know what to think, and felt a bit small in the face of it. Since then, I've risen to the occasion and seen that what Rokkitsci did was introduce me to two things: 1) some fantastic cigars that I probably would have taken years to getting around to, and 2) what you might call an ethos of the cigar community, a sense that giving, sharing, and participating in the process is just as pleasurable and important to enjoying cigars as simply smoking one is. I'd go a bit further and say that being a part of the community actually improves upon the act of smoking, if only because that act is now joined to the knowledge you've gained, perhaps, from hearing about the cigar, or from the fact that the cigar was gifted to you unexpectedly. Or, maybe even more so, it might be because you enjoyed it and are now thinking of someone else who ought to share in the experience. I've yet to personally meet anyone on these forums, but I know it happens, and that can't but add to the experience. I have definitely begun the pleasurable process of sending out sticks to others;it was a hoot, and I'm going to do it again.
So I suppose I thought I'd share my thoughts here and see if you have some of your own on what it means to be a part of a Sister/Brotherhood of the Leaf, to have a sense that you are a part of a community rather than one who simply partakes in cigars. All thoughts are by definition welcome.
In any case, the second, and perhaps better, surprise was the level of community I've found within this realm of leaf, flame, and smoke, and it is that which has got me thinking. When I first saw this term 'BOTL', I wondered what liquid containers had to do with cigars, but I soon learned the acronym, and thought it interesting if a bit obscure or even, I don't know, Masonic. But it turned out that it wasn't all that Dan Brownish in the end, and I've found such a great outpouring of shared knowledge, experience, and, to say the least, cigars.
I recall early on in this board when I posted someone's negative review of the Cohiba Robusto, and to my surprise Rokkitsci ups and sends me an avalanche of sticks, including three phenomenal Cohibas, the bastard. I didn't know what to think, and felt a bit small in the face of it. Since then, I've risen to the occasion and seen that what Rokkitsci did was introduce me to two things: 1) some fantastic cigars that I probably would have taken years to getting around to, and 2) what you might call an ethos of the cigar community, a sense that giving, sharing, and participating in the process is just as pleasurable and important to enjoying cigars as simply smoking one is. I'd go a bit further and say that being a part of the community actually improves upon the act of smoking, if only because that act is now joined to the knowledge you've gained, perhaps, from hearing about the cigar, or from the fact that the cigar was gifted to you unexpectedly. Or, maybe even more so, it might be because you enjoyed it and are now thinking of someone else who ought to share in the experience. I've yet to personally meet anyone on these forums, but I know it happens, and that can't but add to the experience. I have definitely begun the pleasurable process of sending out sticks to others;it was a hoot, and I'm going to do it again.
So I suppose I thought I'd share my thoughts here and see if you have some of your own on what it means to be a part of a Sister/Brotherhood of the Leaf, to have a sense that you are a part of a community rather than one who simply partakes in cigars. All thoughts are by definition welcome.
. Were else on earth would something like that happen
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