A post by Albert about a review of a new Tat basically said the review sounded so good, the cigar might be worth getting sick over. This got me thinking about my past, and a particular episode. I know many here are regular smokers of medium to strong cigars, and probably haven't gone the full route of smoking til it made you hurl. Maybe most of us have had such an episode in the past? I know I have, and am not ashamed to admit it! My story is as much about stupidity as it is about strong cigars (cause basically, I doubt the cigars involved were that strong)! So, here's my story:

This story takes place in the very early 2000's. The setting is 2500 plus acres of timber company land west of Tuscaloosa (i.e. a typical Alabama hunting club location). Indeed, this was my hunting club at that time. And, it was a workday (Saturday, late September). Workdays start early. Usually 6:30 am or so. I'm one of the "lucky" ones. I have a tractor and a disc plow. So I get to ride around all day instead of walking trails, chopping trees, clearing paths.

So, I'm up early. I follow my normal morning routine, which 99% of the time does not include breakfast. I throw a lunch together so I don't have to drive back to the campground to eat. I also throw my cigar case in the truck. First field I'm plowing, it's early, and still reasonably cool. The green field is level, and very sandy soil, so it's easy plowing, easy on the body also. I fire up the tractor, clip the end off a Perdomo Champagne. Good, smooth, light-bodied cigar. Big cigar. It lasted me for probably three or four green fields to finish. As I progress inward to more fields, I light up another cigar, can't really remember what it was now. Still, no problems. As time progresses, I'm getting much closer to noon, the sun is high in the sky, and I've moved into an area where the fields are deep in the woods in hollows and varying terrain. Much rougher on the body because the ground is less sandy, more lumpy, much more jostling. I've moved onto my third (and last) cigar of the day. An H. Upmann Vintage Cameroon. I have no idea, to this day, if this is a strong stick or not. But, when you combine it with No breakfast, a hot sun, lots of work to just stay in the seat of a tractor bouncing all over the place; you get a mess!

I made it about half way thru the Upmann, and I started feeling funny. Never had that feeling smoking a cigar before! Next thing, I'm sweating like a three dollar who.... er.... "lady" on a Saturday night in August! Then my stomach starts to tell me that I'm in serious trouble. And, I'm half a mile deep in the woods down a wide ATV trail on a bouncing tractor. Cigar has now been tossed, plow is out of the ground, and I'm rapidly bouncing my way back to my truck where I know there are several sweet items that I hope have enough sugar to counteract the nicotine.

Now, I have almost a cast iron stomach, and I hate to throw-up more than just about anything. Other than hurls caused by the effects of general anesthetics, I've thrown up five or six times that I can remember in my life. Never from booze or food. Thus, because I DO have a strong stomach, I actually make it to the truck, grab a bag of skittles, throw them down with a tepid Dr. Pepper, and pray for them to work. Oh yeah, that's a good plan. They worked for all of about 3 minutes, and then made a pretty pattern when it all hit the ground.

I was feeling very much like a repeat performance, but wasn't interested in a follow-up! I managed to keep down a swallow of water, found a decent size pine sapling close to my truck, curled up in a fetal position, and actually went to sleep. I slept for 3 hours under that tree. Wore up, was able to drink some water, and eat a few crackers. Then I loaded the tractor onto my trailer, found one of the club officers, told him I was feeling puny and drove back to the campground. I climbed into my school bus camper conversion, turned on the air conditioner and slept until dark!

The next morning (Sunday), I ate breakfast before I went to work, and DID NOT take the cigars with me! Just on general principles, I haven't smoked a Upmann Vintage Cameroon to this day! The next time I had a contest on CS, I included all the remaining Upmann VC's I had in my stash as part of the prize pool!

So, if any others care to fess-up, what's your story!
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Yep, been there before... The hunting club AND the experience... In fact... I think you may have been present for one episode on the backroads through Coaling making our way out of Tuscaloosa and towards home.

Same cigar in both instances I found left me with that ever so unpleasant green feeling: LFD Double Ligero Chiselito

Haven't smoked one in probably 7-8 years. Don't plan on it anytime soon either! Nothing against the stick, we have an understanding you see... I don't smoke it and it leaves my already eaten lunch in my tummy where it belongs instead of on the side of a road in rural Bibb County.
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I have gotten sick from smoking before. I almost puked while smoking for a review a while back. I think it was the Texas heat and not eating anything. I leaned over and dry heaved a bit then I was fine.

Thinking back on it I used to also get nauseous when smoking 4-5 cigars in a day up at the cigar shop. I also got the sick feeling when I was in Guatemala and smoked my first few CCs. I went to stand up at the bar and had to sit back down haha.
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My first and only Pepin Cuban Classic and Cain Maduro both made my head spin and gave me a nauseous feeling. Both were smoked on pretty hot days, without much in the belly. Only times I've felt that way. And haven't lost my lunch from a cigar... yet.
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I've felt slightly woozy before, I think most likely from smoking too fast. I have some strong cigars in my humi that I'm actually afraid to light up because of their potency! Yet, I've thoroughly enjoyed a Camacho Triple Maduro, for eg.
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Put some sugar under your tongue until fully dissolved. Works in most cases of nicotine poisoning.
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I have had a few instances, the only one that REALLY hammered me was a blind smoke sent to me by joeobx. It was going great till just over half way of the cigar. Got the sweats, buzzed feeling, nausea and :-) after that.

The cigar turned out to be a Olivia Cain, not sure if it was an F or not, but either way, I have managed to stay away from those. :-)
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Yep. Remember that trip and the LFD. As a relative "lightweight", when I saw that stick literally turn you green, I became scared of that whole brand, and have never smoked a LFD. I figured, given your truly "cast-iron" stomach, if it made you sick, I didn't stand a chance!

Probably a lot of good LFDs out there that would be ok to smoke, but that trip on the backroads home has scared me off that brand!
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Which I knew at the time, but I didn't have any granulated sugar with me! And, afterwords, looking at the ingredients for the candy and drink I used, all HF corn syrups, no actual sugar. So I was doomed from the start!
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Cain F was the first time I got sick off of a cigar. I didn't know what to do so I went up to my room, laid down on the floor, propped my feet up, and slept on the floor all night. Felt fine after that :-)

The latest was having 2 cigars back-to-back after a hiatus of not smoking (it was after a surgery). I had not smoked in about 2 months...probably wasn't the SMARTEST thing to do.

However - didn't puke on either occasion. I just got veeeeery close. I also found my hands shaking from blood sugar going too low. I don't learn very quickly, apparently :-)
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I've definitely had the shakes from a cigar, for me personally this preceeds the nausea and is preceeded by a feeling of extreme relaxation.

So you can get an idea of how it can progress out of hand quickly:

Usually it feels like all of your muscles are just relaxed... extremely relaxed... almost TOO relaxed. You feel like your arms and legs weigh 100lbs each... but that's ok, because you don't really need to move... except to make sure you don't ash on yourself.

This is not a bad feeling, in fact, it might be the desired effect. However, this would be a good point to start to consider an answer to the addage "Is Too much of a good thing a bad thing?" If you continue down your path, you will probably find the answer whether you want it or not.

Then, after the really relaxed state, you'll maybe notice a slight twinge of the onset of a headache accompanied by a sensation of muscle weakness and shakiness. You will probably not feel like moving, but it's probably time to put the stogie down and crawl/belly-flop your way into the kitchen to find some sugar or a fully leaded Coca Cola.

If you must forego the sweets and persist in your smoking endeavors past this point... well, it basically turns into a Russian-Roulette game of "What was your last meal and do you want to see what it looks like partially digested?"
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Papajohn gave me an old blend El Rico Habano may years ago. I can remember finishing it and laying on my couch - cold sweats, feeling of impending doom, and a general malaise throughout. Really horrible feeling. I was half a thought from puking and much like you, Cliff, I'm not a puker. It was a rough 30-45 minutes. I could have given up cigars all together that night, would've been fine with me. I have had several other instances of the sweats coming on and a need to just sit still and wait for the clouds to pass. That usually happens when smoking too fast or smoking on an empty stomach. However - smoking slowly and smoking full of food has not protected me in certain instances, either. It's kind of game I play with vitamin N. Months go by, nothing...then I get over-medicated.
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The times I've given myself the "sweats" have mostly been when I used to smoke in my office, which has only moderate circulation. I think it had as much to do with breathing in a lot of heavy second-hand smoke in addition to the mouth nicotine effects. I've smoked the same cigars outside without the smoke accumulation, without any noticed effects.
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My first time getting sick was from an Oliva V Torp. Got about 3/4 of the way done at the shop and realized that I wasn't feeling so hot. I now realize that before taking on something like this I should have a decent meal in my belly.
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These are (apparently) strong smokes. However, I have never had a V give me anything but a very light "buzz", which confounds my son, who says it is one of the stronger sticks that I smoke! Maybe because I mainly smoke the Lancero size??? Don't know. Makes no sense to me, except maybe I'm doing everything right leading up to smoking it? I'd hate for it to start kicking me, because the lancero Vs rate near the top of my best five!
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Cliff, you mentioned the Perdomo Champagne in the OP. They're mild to medium, at best. Tastes grassy to me. The second one I jumped own jumped back and punched me pretty good. I was really surprised by the power it showed. Champagne my ass, more like moonshine.
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I had a JDN Antano Consul kick my butt when I decided to smoke it with my morning coffee, no food, just coffee. I didn't hurl but I felt nauseous for about an hour and a half. I still smoke them but I make sure that I have eaten before hand.
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Never puked from a cigar, but got so nauseous I couldn't stand up from a Joya de Nicaragua Celebracion many years ago. Sat on the toilet (with my pants up) for 45 minutes at work....this is before I knew about sugar and its ability to counteract the nicotine.

Most recent nicotine sickness was from the first couple Ramon Allones Gladiators I smoked. Had to put each of them down around the 3/4 mark.
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The one that did it for me was my first DPG 601 blue. I really enjoyed the flavor, but once I got about 3/4 of the way thru I started getting "That" feeling! I didn't puke but came dam close. I didn't smoke another for almost a year, but when I did I made sure I ate first and now I luv em'!
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It's funny how different smokes affect different people, Eric. Oftentimes, I smoke a 601 blue on the course at 6:30 in the morning. That usually means on an empty stomach too. Love those things :-)
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