Smoked lots of cigars for many years, most of them machine made stuff "aged" behind the counter at Walgreens.

The one that really started my love for cigars was a Bolivar Royal Corona from one of only the legit places in Nassau. It was all "uphill" from there.
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Started off with the acid blondie, smoked only flavored cigars for a few months. The downhill started when a guy at the local cigar store informed me that there was a world of better cigars out there and handed me a 1999 Montecristo (Dominican).
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A Montecristo #4 started it all for me when I was 18
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For me the cigar was a Punch Deluxe Royal Coronation. That was my first good, handmade cigar and it was eye-opening for me. I still really enjoy that cigar.

I'd been a pipe smoker for years but I'd always ignored the walkin humidors (what a waste of space! think of all the pipes, accessories and tobacco they could display if it weren't for those cigars!!! :-) :-) :-) )

A little over a year ago some friends and I had smoked a drug store cigar every Friday for a few weeks and I was really, REALLY not liking it. So I got the bright idea to try a good, handmade cigar and see what all the fuss was about.

:-) My pipes languished in the corner for a couple of months because I went hog wild over cigars! How could I have been missing all this good tobacco for all these years?

Anyway, I'm on an even keel now and pay equal attention to my pipes and my cigars. I usually smoke pipes through the week and savor a cigar or two on the weekend. This thread reminds me ... I'm out of Royal Coronations and I need to pick some up.
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Padron 3000 5 pk

I had smoked a handful of good cigars before and enjoyed them but the Padrons were definitely the ones that got me collecting and obsessing over cigars.
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first cigar i really remember liking was the punch rare corojo
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Awesome thread! This should be a sticky!

I started because my best friend for the last 25 years called me up and wanted me to join him and a few of his buddies for a fishing trip. I decided that a guys weekend like that called for some good whiskey and cigars, although I'd never smoked ANYTHING my entire life up until that point.

I went to my local tobacconist, and they suggested four different cigars for me (don't remember exactly what they were, but there was at least a Fonseca and a Punch in the mix). We got so caught up in drinking the whiskey that we never made it to the cigars. So when I got home from the trip I sat on my back porch and lit one up. I've been hooked ever since.
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I started dabbling with some original Royal Jamaica's about 15 years ago . Then once I found the Fuente Château natural I was hooked . To bad they don't still make the original Royal Jamaica line , I have 2 Churchill's left I bought a few years ago and one is gonna burn soon . :-)
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First cigar was a Macanudo Hyde Park back in college. The cigar that pushed me over the edge was an AF 898 Sungrown. At the time I had no idea they were that rare. The local B&M had a box of them and I kept coming back buying singles until they were all gone. Have never looked back since. :-)
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Cusano M1 Robusto on the golf course started it all.....surprisingly though, I have never smoked another.
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About 3 years ago a customer of mine sent me a Macanudo Hampton Court Tubo that I liked very much. However he also included an unbanded CC that was out of this world.
I started getting samplers form JR until I found ones I liked. My first box was a 10pk of the MAC Hampton Courts. Then the Don Diego Privada No1 Maduros, then the Mac Gold Shakespears. I thought I was in love w/ Mild Dominicans and Maduros. That is until I started branching out.
Oh, the Nic's, oh the Hondurans Oh the CC's oh oh oh etc.
Then I found all the sites to buy from, OMG I need a bigger Humi.
Now its Screw the Humi's, get more Tupperdores. More, more more :-)
I Love it.
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Not my first cigar, but the first one I smoked that made me think "oooh, I could get used to this," was a Padron 2000 maduro.
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I remember that it was R&J (can`t remember the exact size) and I smoked it at my graduation night. This is when all started for me.
BTW not only the size of my cigar I can't recall on my graduation night:-):-)

Thanks for this cool thread.

Frenchie
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Smoked a Padilla 1932 Robusto that I'd been holding on to for almost a year. Finished that puppy & thought, "man, I'd like to do that again!"

:-)

That really started the ball a-rollin downhill fast. That's when I started searching out forums, online dealers, etc. Went from a little baggie in the fridge to a couple of 48 quart & one 25 quart coolers, six humis of varying sizes, snaplock boxes out the wazoo & a little baggie in the fridge...all FULL.

:-)

And all in a years time...

:-)
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Kahlua, then a Perdomo Lot 23
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A Fidalo (?) Nero that somebody had been pushing on me for months. I decided to just smoke it and "get it over with"...then I decided maybe this cigar thing wasn't so bad after all.
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I smoked a variety of Macanudos that were available at liquor stores and convenient stores in the area. But I believe the first cigar that really "wowed" me was a Sosa Pyramid I picked up at (what I now affectionately call) a B&M. That was 10+ years ago and I kind of got away from cigars for several years thereafter (constant issues with RH that I didn't want to deal with).

Then, I bought a few sticks while in North Carolina at JR's about 3-4 years ago and started back up. I remember grabbing a Rothschild size NC Partagas and loving it. That trip to NC drove me to the internet for mucho research where I ultimately found the old jungle.

Now I have an end table humidor and several hundred cigars (and I don't think I have one NC Partagas! :-)).

Crazy but tons of fun. :-)
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I was tired of cigarettes and quit. Then a few months after I quit cigarettes a friend was smoking a Kuba Kuba. Boom, I was hooked. With the Acids, I was like most others, got sick of them fast.

The first moment when I knew I was in trouble was sitting out back on a lounge chair with a fire going and I was listening to the Fergie. It was a warm night, but not uncomfortable. A slight breeze from the west........damnit, I am drifting.

I was out back and I was listening to Fergie though, smoked a Cohiba Black and had an awesome Irish Coffee with it. Done, boom, pow, game over.

Tastes have changed ALOT since then. Acids are a distant memory and a Maduro that isn't named Padron doesn't even really happen anymore.

Started with big and dark, and now I like 'em thin and light.
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smoke a gas station cigar for about 5 years... then one day i decide to get into walk in humidor at a shopping complex...

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my first purchase was don diego robusto,padron 3000 maduro and monte no 4...

the money started to burn since then... :-)
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Me and my bro were sitting in his garage and he hands be a PSD #4 and tells me to enjoy... never smoking or even thinking about smoking cigars I now realize this was completely wasted on me as far as the enjoyment aspect of it goes. On the other hand here it is 5 years later and I am still enjoy the hell out of the great cigars and the better company :-)
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