My dad is a cigar smoker and he often allowed me to smoke Swishers with him when my mom wasn't home. My buddies would come over to stay the night and we'd all smoke with my dad on the back porch--I think we were around 14 years old. I've spent the last 15 years smoking cigars and just started using a humidor and smoking quality stuff 3 years ago. My dad and I still smoke together a few times a month.

What's your story?
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As I stated in my “welcome” thread. After having hundreds of what must have been terrible cigars…I didn’t think twice about ever becoming a cigar smoker or buying myself a cigar. In fact, I don’t think I “enjoyed” any cigar I smoked….I endured them as long as I could…..

I purchased my neighbor a cigar as a gift, which I was going to take over and have a drink with him. When I got home, he was not home and I smoked that cigar(Padron ’64) and was “WOW.” I went back to the shop, bought 2 more and waited for him to get home…. I smoked the second with a glass of Woodford, while talking cigars with him on his back porch.

That was maybe 3.5 weeks ago and I probably averaged a cigar a day since.
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Bump - share you stories!
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I was visiting my aunt and uncle and when we finished eating at their country club he asked if I wanted to go smoke a cigar. He grabbed a couple of Macanudo Crystal Cafe glass tube cigars and showed me how to cut and light them. After that it wasn't long before I had a little 50 count humi and I was smoking 2 or 3 cigars a month. Fast forward five years, I join this site and within 8 months I have a full vinodor and coolidor and have spent more in the last 8 months on cigars than I have in 5 years of smoking :-)
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Me and my cousin used to sneak cigars that my grandmother's yard man left in the garage.
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I was on a vacation to Indonesia with one of my friends and at Singapore airport we bought some Cohiba siglo II and some MC #4. We smoked a cigar every evening, and once back I decided to keep smoking cigars because I liked it.
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Mom's boyfriend brought me back a Fauxhiba from Mexico. Well, I'm assuming it was a fake, as he bought it from a guy on the beach lol. I remember getting the cigar, and thinking "why would he get me a CIGAR? I don't smoke cigars?!?"

I bought a cutter and a bottle of Courvoisier and headed out to the deck. About 10 minutes into it, I thought "Why DON'T I smoke cigars?!?"

A couple months later, my girlfriend bought me a 10 stick sampler and humi from CI for my birthday, and it's been downhill since.
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My grandfather smoked and chewed cigars for most of his life. Primarily Philliy Blunts.

Its from him I got the habit of clipping the burn portion off what was left of the nub and chewing it. He told me during the Depression tobacco was too valuable to throw away so they got in the habit of both smoking and chewing it.

waste not want not.

I was about 10 and had bagged my first deer a 6 point buck and he gave me a cigar to celebrate my indoctrination in to manhood I guess you could say.

It's been a down hill road ever since :-)
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I had always purchased single smokes for card nights without putting too much thought into it. I decided I liked cigars and wouldn't mind having a stash was on a trip to Switzerland. On my last night there I sat on my hotel balcony overlooking the city with a friend and burned a Cohiba, not sure which one, and decided I'd smoke more often.
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My wife didn't know what kind of present to get me for my B-Day as I have a lot of "toys," so she got me a new desktop humidor with some Macanudos and Arturo Fuentes! Ever since then, I've been hooked! Best present I ever got!
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I have a home in Baja and do a lot of fishing there. As fathers sometimes do, they bang heads with their son(s), and I am no exception. About 3 years ago on the way down to Baja, I stopped off at the Costco in Ensenada, B.C. and bought a box of TeAmo cigars for no particular rhyme or reason other than they were cheap. My knowledge of cigars was zip-nada-nothing at the time. I wasnt even a cigar smoker then, but, I must have had it in mind to offer a cigar to friends when they came down to fish! I really dont know, other than I bought a box. What I know about cigars now, I dont think I would have bought Te Amo, but, that is another story. About a week later my son visited me in Baja to go fishing and the first evening, I broke out the box and offered him one. Neither of us knew anything about cigars, but, we smoked a cigar every night for about a week out on the deck and talked about everything, never having a cross word between us. Since then, we have stopped banging heads, learned alot about cigars, call one another at least once or twice a week and our relationship couldnt be better. As I said before, that was 3 years ago. Was it the cigars? Did I mellow out as a dad? I dont know, other than I have taken up the hobby very seriously and so has my son and we get along very well now. Since then, I have read lots of articles about the psychological benefits of smoking cigars with others. For me, it worked with my son!
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Hava Tampa's in the parking lot of the mall where I worked at the local Farrell's. I also later got in the habit of buying boxes of cigarillos at the Tinder Box in the same mall. I don't remember the brand (It was 1982 and I was smoking other substances that have affected my memory) but they came in little wooden boxes of 50. First premium was from the same Tinder Box. I believe it was a big ol Fuente.


MCS
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My Fiance's uncle keeps about 1,000 cigars on hand. One night he asked me if I wanted one so I said sure even though I never really enjoyed them before. He handed me an Aurora Saphire Tube and it definitely impressed me. Over the next few months as we have gone there for family gatherings he would ask me if I wanted a cigar and I would say "yeah give me one of those ones in the blue tube!". I decided to buy one for myself one day and was shocked at the price considering how freely he gave them away. Slowly I started smoking more often and I just bought my first humidor and will post pics in the appropraite thread.
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Was smoking ALL KINDS of flavored crap when JohhnyKay5 handed me a Davidoff No 2 Tubo...it was all over!!! Thanks JK!! :-)
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first cigars that i remember:

I got an after school (freshman year of college) job at a BIG cigar store near my school in NC. I didn't smoke, but was placed in the cigar store. My first cigar was a Montecristo Cabinet. Tasted like "feet and ass" as I recall. After a few different sticks I was hooked. BTW, the first cigar that I liked was a Bock y Ca something or other.

-Paul
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My Dad and uncle would always smoke cigars when we went camping. I would stay up late and we would discuss history, politics, and the world around the campfire whilst they smoked. I always thought that I wanted to smoke cigars after watching them.

I worked at a country club as a dishwasher and one of my friends was a cart-boy and they would always get the beer and cigars left in the carts. One day I was joking with him that he should give me one of the 6 cigars he found that day and he threw one at me. It was a black and mild and I enjoyed it because I was underage at the time and felt like I was thwarting society.

My first real cigar was a Romeo y Julietta Numero Dos. I bought a couple for a friend and I to celebrate graduation (high school). We smoked them on a beautiful day while playing a round of golf and I've been hooked since.
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Honestly my first cigar was a shop rolled Dominican, I was smoking cigarettes at 18 and a friend gave me a $7-$8 shop rolled Dominican. Was very good and 2 years later I visited the local smoke shop and bought whatever they suggested to go with the gallons of bourbon I was drinking. Turned out to be a Sosa, which still to this day I nub the heck out of. I need to get a box. Before I knew what good cigars were I was nubbing them. I got pretty lucky. Now I quit cigarettes, I was smoking a pack a day and now smoke only cigars unless I'm drinking.
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