I've always been fascinated by cigars and the culture and as a young man I desperately wanted to know more. I was a sponge soaking up as much info as i could but i hadn't found cigar forums yet. Then Ronald Reagan died so i decided it was time to buy some cigars and smoke them in honor of The President. I still lean conservative but i'm not nearly as idealistic as i once was. So, i purchased 3 montecristo's (the only brand i recognized) and on the day they arrived me, my brother, and a close friend sat in my back yard talking about Reagan. I didn't vomit the first time and i credit that to drinking soda at the time. I don't remember much about them other than we liked them. Later i found Club Stogie and got my real education there.


The first cigar to make me sick was while traveling from Miami to PSL I stopped at a cigar store in deerfield beach with my father (i was still drugged from anesthesia) and the owner Kris came out and bought me a Padron 1964 anny. I smoked about half while there and then continued to smoke while in the car and only had water to drink. I don't know if it was a combo of the drugs and the tobacco but i was yelling for my father to pull over and got sick on the turnpike.

The only other time I remember getting ill was after my first HERF while on the way home. In fact me, my brother and my friend all got sick but i think that was just a chain reaction. So, what was your first cigar? do you even remember it? What led you to becoming a lover of the leaf? God bless you all!
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A Dutch Masters Presidente when I was 14, Ray Nitschke smoked them when I caddied for him.

Next was a Moniemaker broadleaf when I was legal at my 18th birthday.

When I went to college I smoked a pipe, so there was a day I hoped the "El" to downtown Chicago to visit Iwan Ries as I heard they had some great cheaper pipes and an incredible selection of tobacco. I was amazed at the walk-in humidor and a staff person asked what I liked. I told him I'd had cigars before, what cigars I'd had, and that while cigars intrigued me, I figured (from my experiences) that they were not for me. He gave me an Arturo Fuentes Rothschild to try, and if I did not like it he'd give me a couple ounces of tobacco to try.

I left with some pipe tobacco, and a box of AF Rothschild's at the outrageous price of $22. And, I was hooked.

Peace of the Lord be with you.
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Been smoking cigars since a teenager. Old fart now. Never got sick from smoking. Have got a head buzz and felt ill a few times though.
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Yep..I am also your age (44 this year).

First - Won one of those aluminum cases of cigars from JR Cigar from a field sales guy at one of my first jobs out of college 2001ish. The first one I smoked was one of those Onyx brand.

First to make me sick - LFD Chisel. Its a great stick but not for the new smoker

First Cuban - ERdM Choix Supreme - Still love them (in the rare rare rare case I can find them). Was gifted by a friend at the ol South Carolina SitDown Charity Herf early 2000s. I need to see if this is still happening.

First Love - Padron 1964s. This is one of the cigars I have LOVED from the beginnins and ALWAYS ALWAYS have them

First Hate - It was a Camacho. long ago before Davidoff and the redesign. Cannot even tell you which it was but it was a small gold band with yellow and red trim. Absolutely horrible. I remember it tasted like vegetable soup. Still can taste that.
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Speaking of first cuban cigar. I mentioned on CS that I had not smoked a cuban yet and this stranger whom we all address now as the Admiral (Tom) sent me a PM saying he wanted to remedy that so he sent me 3 cuban cigars and the first one I smoked I reviewed and it was a supremely nice PSD4. The conditions for getting the cigars was I had to review them but you can all blame Tom for my love of Cuban cigars now
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601 La Bomba got me... haven't touched one since... that was many, many years ago.
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I can’t remember my first. It was a maduro from a buddy’s Thompson sampler. Another friend declared “the dark ones are stronger” so he took a lighter colored one and got sick. None of us knew what we were doing, but from smoking pipes I figured inhaling wasn’t an option. That saved me whereas it didn’t save my friend.

Also, we were shooting guns at the same time. One of those friends passed away last year. I sure do miss him.

I’ve never been sick enough to throw up. I’ve been a bit woozy, but that cleared up quickly.

I did smoke a cigar while being “under the weather”. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. Turns out I had the ‘Rona.
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First cigar was a gift. In 2003 I believe, I was asked by a friend to be a groomsman at his wedding. At the reception, which was at the clubhouse of a nice golf course, the bride's father was passing out cigars. I believe it was an H Upmann (NC) but which I can't say. At the moment we were all inside so I just stuck it in the inside jacket pocket. A little while later the bulk of us were out on the patio and they started lighting up. I didn't inhale and I really enjoyed it. A couple weeks later I wanted to another. It was all downhill from there.

My first Cuban cigar was a Bolivar Royal Corona. I picked some up in Toronto, as I had not yet found CS or any other options. Yes, I paid the 175% tobacco tax there just to try them out. I was like Clark Griswold lacquered up my sled with cereal varnish for the slopes after that.:-)
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