How did you start smoking Cigars!

[Stogiedog]

I have never smoked cigarettes never liked them full stop everyone to there own though. I started smoking Tom Thumb cigars in 1976 after watching the adverts on the TV I smoked them off and on for years.

I then went into a proffession where pressure was the name of the game, and an acceptable part of your pressure release was drinking, socialising and smoking. I moved to europe in the mid 80s and started to Smoke King Edward Invincibles (tax & duty free) I smoked these for many years. On my return to the UK I gave up cigars why, maybe the price!!

I returned to playing Rugby on a saturday and got into the habit of going to the club on a sunday lunch drinking Guinness accompanied by a cigar, I started to buy over the bar cigars not the best though, rangeing from Hamlet, Castella etc all pretty crap really. My brother in law then went to Cuba in the early years of 2000 and he brought back a couple of Cohibas, I am unsure as to what they where still am! but they where wonderful what a difference from all the other cigars I had smoked I tried to find some cuban cigars but at that time I did not have the internet. I again had a small break from cigars but would occaisonally buy packets of King Edward coronets from the newsagent. As time went on they banned smoking in the pubs and bars so that curtailed my sunday lunch smoke with the pint.

In the last year I have made a concise effort to research and find where I could purchase Cuban cigars, the internet is a wonderful place, suddenly here I am, table top (smokum) humidor nearly full and (ageum)igloodor growing with cigars by the month. Among all the other pleasurses of smoking cigars (although banned from the pubs) is the daily joy of being able to post on the UKCF and the complete delight and anticpation of getting together with BOTL from all over the UK (potentially the world TJ Coro), to HERF in London, to look at, smoke and to talk about all things cigars great!!!.

How did I start to smoke cigars (the power of advertising probaly) I am not really sure. However what I am sure about is the calming and relaxing way I can unwind after a stressful day by sitting down going through the satisfying ritual of opening the humidor selecting the right cigar for that moment, collect the cutter, butane lighter and cigar ensure my selected choose of drink is ready, sit down and light that Stogie correctly, take that first draw, yep thats for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whats you story?

[Pantomimehorse]

For me I was given a 3pack of Montecristo no2s by my bro for my birthday, I had never smoked before and he mainly bought them as a joke as hes allways saying I look like Tony Soprano when I get up in the morning roaming the house half asleep in my dressing gown.

Anyway I loved em and have been buying my own since, used to go to Casa Habana alot for a drink and smoke but now Im confined to taking the dog fro a walk if I want one ,,, blah

[nicwing]

This is a really interesting question, I can always look back to my Dad telling us that he would take a cigar when offered one at a business lunch. I don't know what he did with them and I was never aware of him smoking them.
My uncle smoked a pipe for a while but them moved on to exotic Dutch cigars.

Neither of them smoked cigarettes and neither have I, except at cub camp when it was a rite of passage (mentholated), however there was always the worry that the cub leader would catch you and he always carried a pack of un tipped capstan full strength and would make you smoke them one after another until you threw up.

I only got into cigars in my late 20's and found Davidoff and bought a couple of cigars every few months and got the taste.

[Robusto]

Great post, Dawg!

I followed the great aroma of my Dad's occasional Havanas. I stole my first at 13 or 14 and was hooked straight away. I went through the Castella years - I liked to dodge getting caught - and then started to research and buy true Cubans, working out my personal preferences. The taste and smell have always reminded me of the taste and smell of WOMAN, and I'm sure that's why, when I started, that I'd never want to stop.

[Boss Hog]

I started off smoking cigarettes on and off for a number of years until I finally stopped for good last October. During that time I smoked a variety of things, the usual hamlet & castellas and even a pipe for a while. Then while on holiday visiting family in the states a few years back I was offered from what I remembered may have been a rocky patel vintage and discovered that there may be more to this than I thought. I also on a later trip discovered acid cigars which still remain a strong favourite for me when I fancy something really different. ( I would even recommend them to all you hardcore cuban fanatics just once for the experience!!)They also seemed far more accessible than back home. As the years passed I only smoked them while over there on holiday each year and bringing a few home time which only lasted a few weeks due to the lack of anywhere decent to store them. Over time I began to look forward to trips down to the nearest cigar shop which had a fair sized walk in humidor.
Then on my last visit in August last year within a day of arriving I had rushed down there to stock up on everthing I could. As I reached the inner sanctum of the shops humidor I opened the door and the incredible aroma once again hit me like I just remembered it and I thought I've stumbled onto something quite special. By the time I had to leave for the UKagain it seemed that I had bought far to many and would certainly need to get a humidor before I left. As it worked out I came home with a nice humidor filled to the brim with 50 or so various cigars as hand luggage and another in a box in the case and no problems at customs thankfully. Since then I have managed to keep it topped up with various family visits back and forth and the odd discrete parcel. My interest has also grown greatly since joining this forum and discovering how much more there really is to it, the time and passion the people on here put into it making so much more refined and characteristic than the drag and stubbing out of cigarettes.

Cheers


A happy Hogg

[cj121]

I dallied around with the odd stick at special events and when the taste took my fancy (prior to the smoking ban). Then went to Cuba on our honeymoon in January of this year, and smoked a couple each day until leaving. Didn't take full advantage of the place as the wife ribbed me about having loads: about 40 in reality. On my return I bought a humidor to keep them at their optimum and bought more sticks. Since joining on here, its kept the interest stoked up (nice), so that's me

[Bender]

My cigar journey is a strange one. First off, my dad used to smoke 4 packs of cigs a day. I always loathed them as a child. I would get sick off the excessive smoke sometimes. I have always stayed that way reguarding cigarettes. I have never smoked one in my life and have zero desire to.

I never even had my first cigar until I was 22. As shamefull as it is to admit, Thompson Cigar got me hooked on them. They somehow started sending me their cataloges in the mail. At first I threw them away, then one day I decided to sift thru it. Dam they sure make them cigars look tasty I thought. Then I did some research on the net about cigars. So I googled it and guess what the first hit was? cigar.com lol... So I said what the heck and ordered a 4 pack sampler not knowing a clue about what I had ordered. Turns out I order some Partigas Black label. Not your best cigar to start out with to say the least!! I didn't really care for it and about half way thru it, you guessed it, I got very light headed and ill. Never even made it thru the cigar. That almost did me in there.

I end up getting another Thompson catalog a few months later and curiousity got the best of me once again and I end up ordering some more samplers. This time I hit jackpot with some RyJ Reserve maduros, Hupmann 2000's, and some Onyx. When I went thru those I was offically down the slippery slope and dove right in buying the humidor and all the bells and whistles.

Slowly I began to expand my horizons to other places and even CC's. By then I realized that Thompson's was a rip off $$$ite and haven't been back. Oddly enough I went a whole year without having a smoke a few years ago. For some reason I lost interest in it. But when I started back up, I made up for lost time lol.

One thing I have learned so far is you will meet the greatest, nicest people who love to share the time of day with you and a cigar.

[bigjohn62]

i smoked cigeretes for many yrs before giving them up for good about 12 yrs ago. i then got hooked on cigars while on my honeymoon in jamaica . which was about 8 yrs ago. the rest is history.

[POLO]

I started smoking when i was at the high school, i was 17 years old... My friends smoked because they wants to look older... One day my father had an argue whit me but he said to me: if you want to somke, it`s better that you smoke cigars... I tried it and i liked it.. so since then i have smoked cigars and when i go out whit my friends i smoke cigarettes...

[Gary]

My story is when I was in my teens I watched a programme/documentary about some people throwing a dinner party and as a bit of entertainment they brought in a cigar roller which I thought was very cool. Roundabout the same time I worked in a newsagents and noticed in the magazine order book that one customer had an monthly subscription for Cigar Aficionado so I put my name down for it also and began to learn about cigars and everything that goes with it, that was about 16 years ago and I've thoroughly enjoy the hobby ever since.