About a month ago, at my bachelor party, a friend of mine gave me my first cigar to smoke. I have no idea what it was, but I enjoyed it!

I've had a bit of a yearning to try cigars for a while, so this kickstarted my interest. At a cookout the other day a friend shared a macundo with me, and this put me over the edge. I picked up a few Oliva Serie G tubos, and a couple padrons (yet unidentified).

I'm still working on developing my tastes, I guess. This feels just like when I began exploring craft beers!

So in short, hello all!!
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Welcome brother. Make sure to check out the Newbie Sampler Trade.

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=14254

You will not be disappointed!!
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Listen to Gator. I've been lucky enough to have a few guys around with fat humidors to get me started, but I will say this. Try as many cigars as you can now, buy singles and fivers, and don't waste your money on boxes until you know what you like!! :-) Enjoy your stay here....tons of great BOTLs here to learn from, TONS! :-)
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Welcome to the Asylum. :-)
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Welcome to the NUT HUT brother. Sit and enjoy
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Welcome! As others have said, try out the newbie PIF and buy lots of singles/samplers. You will also find that cigars you enjoy right now you may not love 12 months from now. So, to repeat others, dont' buy boxes yet. I know they offer savings but, don't over commit just yet.

Oh yea, and buy a humidor at least 3-5 times the size you think you need.
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welcome. Listen to the guys above me. And I don't know where you're from, but visit herfs in your area, you'll meet great botl's with lots of knowledge ready to be shared.
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Welcome man! Buy yourself a good sampler pack from CI.

I recently bought this for my father:

http://www.cigarsinternational.com/p...P-BC08&cat=161

He loves it, and loves how it keeps getting refilled thanks to me. :-)

Also a humidor is a must for this hobby, buy one 2-3 times the size you think you will ever need... I went about 3 times the size and its already half full... Humidors help keep the relative humidity of your cigars in check. Keeping your Oliva and Padron lovely's you just bought outside a humidor for a week will absolutely ruin their flavor and take those winners and turn them into dog rockets. So get yourself a humidor as soon as you can.

And finally, if you have any questions, come to the boards, everyone here is very helpful to our fellow BOTL's.
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Welcome to the Asylum! Pull up a chair and have a cigar :-)
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welcome to the life. 25 plus years of enjoyment here wish you the same.
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Welcome!!!
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Welcome to the Asylum! :-)
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Welcome to the Asylum Brother!

Echo what everyone said...
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From one New member to another. Welcome. And don't be afraid to try new things... however I'll go ahead and tell... stay away from anything with the word "Cremosa" in the name.
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You learn fast young Jedi...
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Hola. New meat needed in the Newbie Sampler Trade...head on over!
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Samplers are the way to go, but don't be afraid of top shelf smokes either. In my opinion you don't have to be a seasoned aficionado to appreciate a good cigar. Plus, if you only smoke 1 or 2 cigars a week, top shelf smokes won't break your bank like wine.

Try lighting a Padron Anniversary and a regular Padron at the same time. In fact, you should probably light a budget smoke anytime you decide to smoke a premium at first, so you can get a good idea of how the two differ.

also, you don't need to invest in a humidor just yet. An air tight Tupperware container works just as well. Throw some PG gel or humidification beads in there and you're good to go. Either one can be purchased at a tobacco shop for less than $10. Ask them for some cedar sheets if you want to get fancy. They probably won't even charge you anything.
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Craft beers to cigars, just like me. Good call man, seems like you're already picking up some good smokes! *waits for the humidor thread.....it is true go BIG 500+, my 300 is 75% after like 3-4 weeks*
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Aahhh the Newbs. Great to see you start on this great journey. Also welcome to the Nut House. Lots of great information floating around here...also I second or third the Newbie sampler trade...lots of good fun there too.

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Thanks for the welcome, everyone!

As for now, my smoking will be very limited. Probably one every two weeks to a month. I'll admit to be worried of the negative health aspects, so I'll probably limit this very strictly.

I'll head over to the newbie exchange when I'm ready to take on more than a couple cigars at a time.
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