My Dad and Grandpa were pipe smokers. I was a cigarette smoker in my teens. I quit cigs but I used to puff cigars still. I don't even remember what kind, except one was Swishers. In the 80s I used to grab cigars from a local liquor store, Macanudo, Punch, RyJ, Partagas, that kind of stock. Nicely kept humidor. I smoked about one or two a week, handed some out to buddies. Then I occasioned to travel overseas on business. I brought back a box or two of CCs now and again and passed them around. Then in the late 90s I met a neighbor who was more into the different brands and flavors and we would sit around and exchange smokes. Then I found the internet in the 2000s and ended up with more than I can smoke for the next 15 years. Now I'm just working that pile down and trying not to impulse buy everything I read about here.
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When I was a senior in high school, (or maybe a junior - that was a while back :-)) a bunch of us would drive down to the Huntington Beach pier and spend the night pier fishing and screwing around on the beach. We'd stop at a liquor store and grab whatever consumables we'd need, and one time I grabbed a pack of the old wooden tipped Tiparillos. That must have been around '69 or '70. Had no idea at the time it was the beginning of a long term affair.
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:-) Yea, um, yea another forum, right.















:-)
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Growing up my parents both smoked cigarettes and at one time my Father and Grandfather smoked pipes. I have always loved the smell of pipe tobacco but never took up smoking until about a year ago. I occasionally tried some of my husband's cigars but never gave much thought to it as a hobby. Then some Pudgy Monsters showed up at my door with my name on them. :-) Needless to say down the slope I went, especially after smoking the Drac and Mummy. Now I'm spending more at the B&M than my husband at times. :-)
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Smoked backwoods back in the day when I would fish, then had a nice cigar off and on over the years, was in Orlando in 2008 and me and some guys grabbed some Macanudo's and sat out by the pool drinking and smoking, just got me hooked, kicked around until I found this place and it was all she wrote :-)
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Had them on and off for years. WHen I bought my first house, a co-worker gave me a small humidor filled with a Thompsons Sampler (complete with the green iguana cigar).
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Some people criticize Macanudos, but there's a large amount of smokers that cut their teeth on them.
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For me it was a mix between a job change and new coworkers who loved cigars, and trying to cozy up to my future father-in-law who was a daily cigar smoker.

I wish I could remember what my first stick was, I remember walking into a local B&M and asking for a recommendation for my first stick. I went home and smoked it, it was beyond wonderful and great introduction to the hobby.
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Buddy in college gave me a factory seconds my freshman year of college. Down the slope I went
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Must be nice to have a significant other smoke with you! I don't think mine will be trying them anytime soon :-)
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Same here. My wife has asthma so it just ain't going to happen.
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My wife tried. She said it was just "too nasty" and only made her wish she had a cigarette. She's been off those for about 10 years now so we don't want to go there.
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In 1997, when I was 19, I was going to be the best man at my best friend (since we were 5)'s wedding. I got the stripper (which was terrible! Never let a 19 year old get a stripper, no experience in what to order at all!!!) and another of our friends got a box of machine made Tinder Box brand cigars (same as above, NEVER let a 19 year old pick out a box of cigars! lol). But, I actually liked it. I think I probably liked just the fact that it was an adult type of thing to do....smoke a cigar.

Week later, he asked me what I wanted as a gift for being his best man. I told him to go buy us a couple of decent cigars and we would enjoy them together......he bought two Ashton Magnums. That was it, the cigar that hooked me. Loved that cigar.....and still enjoyed them for many years after....until my tastes started changing.

Back in the late 90's I found the usenet newsgroup cigar board ASC. Read and tried everything I could get my hands on. Opus were the huge thing and the BOOM cigar were everywhere!! Worked my way thru about 4 other boards here and there. Was a Fuente whore for a long time. Went full on habanos about 2004/05 and have been there ever since. I do still smoke occasional Fuente stuff. Hemingway Maduro's and Anejo when I do. But my experimental days are over....I know what I like now.

And as a side note, my wife has a cigar with me damn near every night after the kids go to bed. She likes the Fuente green band stuff......but...she did just ask me to find her a box of Party shorts this week.....
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Ruh roh. :-)
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I didn't really get serious about cigars until the mid-1990's. I was in Key West one evening in 1996 when I came across a small cigar shop on Duval St. that had an open air area outside with bins of cigars. The owner hooked me up with a nice handmade Dominican house blend cigar. That was my first hand-made, and it was excellent! After that, I was hooked....
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LOL! Ashton Magnums were my very first full box purchase. :-) I might still have the empty box lying around somewhere
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A Marsh Wheeling Stogie at my grandpa's drugstore in Homestead PA. He had a constant gas flame at the cigar counter for steelworkers coming in from US Steelworks No. 1 mill across the street. I was 12. That was 1962. Marsh Wheeling cigars, started in 1840, are still around, made by National Cigar Corp. in Frankfort IN.
Have a photo of me and high school girlfriend heading to the prom. I've just lit a House of Windsor Palma with a candela wrapper.
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A life changing and enlightening experience at Casa Fuente in Vegas. Stumbled on the place while in Vegas by complete chance. Walked in completely clueless, walked out feeling like I had just found God.
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Been a long time cigarette smoker. Only got serious about cigars a couple months ago, though I always kept a pack of convenience store cigars in my tackle box (the smoke seemed to keep the bugs at bay) and would have an occasional one at a wedding or on the porch in the summer time. In December I discovered a local tobacco shop. They mostly cater to the make-your-own cigarette crowd, but has a large humidor with a nice selection of higher end cigars. Bought a couple just to try. Then for Christmas my daughter bought me a Maker's Mark. I enjoyed it, then went back to the local shop to try a few more. Last month the wife brought home a Thompson catalog. I leafed through it, then went to their Web site, explored some more, and made a couple orders. She is okay with it, so I'm good to go. I will continue to visit the B&M, owners are nice and very helpful.
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After graduation 2003 smoked a cohiba red dot enjoyed.. Smoked a few here and there, dropped it. Last 2 yrs picked it up seriously. Wife surprised me with a wineador been filling it up since she supports it !!. Now my wife smokes cigars ! Its just enjoying relaxing..
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