Just wondering how many of you started young like me and how long you have been in this hobby. What made you get into it?

Ill go first I started when I was 18 I started juuling because the whole hockey team did and it was the cool thing to do. Then I got a larger vape from a friend who's mom found it and was told to get rid of it so being my best friend for 6 years he gave it to me. My first cigar experience was the first month of college with my two best college friends on the golf team. It started like this my one friend is a hardcore fisherman and Ive always liked fishing at my uncles lake house and especially boat fishing on his greaty white. So Andrew asked me and Shane to go with him to some lake and we were like why not. So we get there and Andrew is mr goody toe shoes but he likes cigars but he only smokes like once a month or during fishing and Shane has smoked a bit of cigars more gas station kinds but a few acids he said he's also smokes a few other things. Then me who's never smoked but wanted to try it so Andrew gave me a victor Sinclar Classico and I liked it Andrew said he's not a fan of it but I thought it was decent. So ever since then Ive been hooked and Shane has started to smoke a few cigars with me. Nothing like golfers and cigars!
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Age 40 for me and 12 years I’ve been smoking cigars. I had the occasional cigar here and there before but got serious at 40. Kind of a second cigar boom back then and my father smokes cigars so bit of history. My dog was getting old at the time so walks took an hour to not go very far and my kid wanted me to tell him stories for an hour at a stretch so cigars occupied my time.

But now they are my relaxation therapy.
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Early teens. We smoked some real crap!:-)
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40's Except As A Teenager When I Turned Green After Smoking Dutch Masters & Swisher Sweets!:-):-):-)
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Haha yeah if we are going to be technical? Sometime in my early teens, I’m sure they were Phillies/swishers or something equivalent. Oddly enough, I remember telling my friends at that age that we were supposed to toast the ends of the cigars - pretty sure we “toasted” the first 1/3-1/2s of our cigars! :-)
And I’ve really been off and on with cigars my whole life...have become much more ardent in the last year or so though.
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nice storys everyone
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1971 ... stolen from my dad

Derrek
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Started at 18 never looked back :-)
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nice
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When did I start? Depends on your definition. I was likely about 12 when I had my first, a cheap "It's A Boy/Girl" Phillie or some such crap. Had an occasional AyC or Dutch Master during my teens, back when nobody cared how old you were if you bought smokes. Got back into them for a while when I worked in midtown Manhattan late '70s/early '80s as I'd walk down 5th Avenue during lunch to buy some tins of petits from Nat Sherman. But began my present obsession around 2000, a decade or so after I quit Kools.
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2005 at my bachelor party. I chewed on it and inhaled a bunch, and of course got pretty damn sick. I swore I'd never smoke one of those things again. I've taken a couple breaks from cigars since then for periods of a few months or more, but I've been smoking 'em ever since.
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very cool
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I spent a lot of time hanging at the beach when I was in my teens, surfing, volleyball and whatnot. Sometimes my buddies and I would spent the night pier fishing and I got in the habit of smoking Tiparillos when fishing. That was a while ago. :-)
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Started in 1998 with a Partagas with a friend of mine who I would hang out with on weekends either playing a round of golf or enjoying a few beers while watching football games.

From there I've moved onto Hoyo de Monterrey, Fuente and, now, Cigars of Miami.
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I think my first serious cigar was at a golf tournament in the summer of ‘95. The vendor provided cigars for all the participants. The other 3 people in my foursome did not want their cigars, so I smoked all four during the round (18 holes).

That happened a few more times and it was downhill from there :-)

In 2000 my wife and I along with our youngest son went on a golfing vacation to Vero Beach. We flew in to Orlando and went to Disney World for a day. While we were at Downtown Disney she saw the cigar store (Sosa) and knowing that I liked cigars while golfing, she suggested that I pick up a few cigars. She probably regrets that now, but that was the beginning of my serious slide down the slope.

After that vacation I got home and bought a humidor and started hanging out at the local cigar lounge. A few years later I met markem and several others from CS/CA. And the rest is history :-)
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If only I could smoke while playing a NCAA tournament lol
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Since 1976. Started smoking cheapies and then a relative started giving me Cubans.
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Red Auerbach used to smoke a cigar at NBA games, so there is some precedent. :-)
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Early 90's. Cigar Aficionado was on issue 2 or 3 and my roommate at the time also was getting into them. He played hockey in France and would come home with Habanos.

I also know a bunch of guys from Saudi & UAE that had great stocks Habanos from their parents and solidified my hobby.

Around 2004 or 2005 I started buying Habanos online.
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Started in my mid-teens with some Swisher Sweets, Garcia Y Vegas, and Backwoods. Was never serious about them and had them infrequently. I didn't smoke a quality cigar until I was in my middle 30s when I had some Cuban RyJs while stationed in Germany. It was shortly after that when I started down the slippery slope...
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