We always talk about "the cigars". Good ones, bad ones etc. For me, the most poignant memories are of the experience of smoking with others and the memory of the specific cigar is just a place holder.

I have quite a few:

After Kait was born (emergency C section) had a HDM Excalibur #1 in the hospital parking lot. No cigar will ever taste sweeter or last longer in my memories.

On the pier with Jeff and Tom last year smoking the last 3 Partagas 898V's from SHI. From small things such great friendships arise.

With my partner Doug in the back yard 7 years ago smoking a Gurkha Regent Toro. Had just gotten the bus to a good fnancial place and ... the damn ash was concrete. We ashed once for the entire cigar.

Taking one hit off the fake glass top Cohiba a few weeks ago that was going around in the Punishment PPP. Thinking about the absolute commitment to others enjoyment being displayed by those taking more than one draw on that rolled up bunch of misc crap.
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Attending my first herf, MMHI. Walking in with my little 15ct box I felt like a little kid ridding the high school bus. Meet a lot of people and putting names to faces after being on the CS for 7 months. Also one hell of a PPP, if that isn't a kick down the slope I don't know what is.

Last one has to be Shack V, seeing some of the best people in the world again. Just watching the banter between Jeff, Patrick and Fred was absolutely hilarious. I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. Also starting the Boat Dock herfers with Perry and Greg. The cigars were great too! :-)
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My cousin aunt and uncle are home visiting my granmda for the week. I havent seen them in 10 years and last night we went out and had a wonderful italian dinner. I came home and fired up a H Upmann Coronas Major that has been sitting in my humidor for a few years and relaxed on the back deck. It was one of the better cigars I have had.


Earlier this year a really good friend of mine who I worked with in Gettysburg passed away due to Cancer. After his funeral I went on the battlefield and fired up a 2005 Cohiba Robusto and reflected on his life and the time we spent working together. To this day that Cohiba was the best cigar I have ever had.
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This summer when my three sons sat down with me to all have a cigar for the first time. Not that it mattered what we smoked but it was a nice touch that I could be with them for their first CC.


HERFing with the Massholes. A special bunch of guys that you just have to meet to really appreciate just how great they are.


Cleveland HERFing with Jermery, Robert and Dave at the Quaker Steak and Lube. Had such a nice time that night. Thanks again guys.
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The first hand rolled NC Cohiba I received....made me go :-) Oct. 2006



My first 1964 PAE :-) with my family, especially my nephew who bought it for me. Dec. 2006
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The very first BABOTL herf, it was just Me, Mikey Burr, Bobarian, Smokey Bob, and Jeff. It's amazing how much the BABOTL have grown in a few small years.

Spending an afternoon with Dball in Redwood City. Exchanging sticks, having lunch, walking around shooting the ****. It was a blast.
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Hmm...a few right off the top of my head:

Smoking an 07 Parti Short while watching a massive electrical storm pass over my place a couple of years ago. I don't know if it was the intensity of the circumstances or if I had lit the cigar at just the peak of freshness...but I've never had a better Short before or since.

The 07 Monte Joyita I lit up and passed around with the Michigan crew at this past Shack. We picked up flavors I never thought possible in a cigar (fennel seed, shifting to coriander and saffron) and we were all laughing about it.

The 1935 La Palina I got to finish off at MegaMoB I in May of '07...the first clear Havana I'd smoked, my first really aged cigar, and I couldn't believe I was smoking something literally as old as my parents.

The first Parti Short I lit up from the first box I ever bought...feeling I'd passed a major milestone of some sort in my life.

The Monte 4 I lit up with a friend from New York on my back porch three nights ago...good times!
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My wife and I were on our honeymoon in the Dominican and we met another couple from the same state, married at the same time, on the same day. So this couple and my wife and I ended up hanging out all week. The resort was all inclusive so we had free food, free drinks, good company AND the gift shop sold a variety of good cigars including genuine Cuban Cohibas. My buddy and I tried to smoke at least one cigar a day during the rigorous schedule of relaxing with the wives. One night after dinner the girls went off to do their thing and I found myself at the bar with my new friend who was into cigars. He handed me a Cohiba and we lit ‘em up.:-) Damn it was a great cigar! We sat and smoked and drank and talked about life and the world in general. It was an experience where the whole world seemed to slow down. Within a month I had my 200 capacity humidor and I have been doing my best to fill it with a wide variety of tasty treats since then.

The whole experience was awesome but specifically that one night was what gave me “The Fever”.

I am still new to smoking cigars so I am looking forward to building a lot more memories.
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monte no 2 during my best friend's bachelor party... :-)
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I've shared one particular memory before of smoking on new year's eve with a good family friend Sam. We were the last ones awake and I had brought a Padron 64 for him and a huge Tatuaje for myself. He has a pretty big humidor but doesn't ever buy expensive smokes. He broke out into the biggest goofy grin when he lit the Padron. It was priceless. After 30 minutes of good conversation his phone rings, (this was after midnight). It was his son telling him to get dressed and head to the hospital, his grandson was about to come into the world. Needless to say he rushed inside to get dressed and make a pot of coffee. About 15 minutes later he comes back outside before leaving and would you believe that Padron was still lit and smoking like he never sat it down.

Another experience I remember clearly was just about 2 years ago . I had recently gotten out of a relationship that I had been dying to end for several months. I had moved into a new place that I absolutely love. It's sort of a 2 story townhouse style place with a big balcony coming off my bedroom. There are a couple big palm trees in front that hang right over it, forming a perfect little tropical canopy.

I was very happy with my new place but I still had lingering feelings of loneliness at night. I was on my own for the first time in several years and while relatively happy, I was also desperate for some good company. I had my eye on one particular special lady and finally got the chance to take her out. We had a great time, talked and drank champagne late into the evening, so late in fact that she decided to just stay over and fall asleep.

I wasn't tired yet so I decided to step onto the balcony to smoke a Party short. Sitting there on my balcony I started to reflect on the last 12 months and how I had completely changed my life for the better. Gone was the apartment that I hated, which I shared with a woman I didn't love. just peace and quiet remained. There I was, in my own private tropical paradise, smoking one of the best cigars on the planet. Looking through the window at the beautiful lady asleep in my bedroom, I suddenly had a feeling of accomplishment and hopefulness for the future that I won't ever forget.

As a side note, that beautiful lady and I are still together today. She'll be moving in with me next month and we plan to marry sometime next year.
cheers!
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Man, JJG- how do you top that?!

Mine's modest: One of my dad's Cafe Creme in Istanbul, with my dad. I hadn't seen him in a year and we walked around and he showed me the beautiful city.
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This is probably not what you are looking for but here goes...

Back in 2006 I stumbled upon a cigar forum known as Club Stogie.
Little did I know at the time just how much of a life changing experience it would be.
When you are almost 50 years old,I for one thought I had made most of the good friends I thought I would ever make.Boy was I ever wrong.
I have made friends through the forums that I consider closer than some family members,ones that I communicate with in one form or another every day.
These friends have enriched my life more than I ever could have imagined.
All thanks to a rolled up weed.

That's my memorable Cigar Smoking Experience. :-)
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Too Many!
When my friends (old and new) come by from near (1 mile away) to far (Aussie land downunder) I am happy. Sunset with the 3 wiseman, Sunset and dinner with Marc ( wife got jealous :-)) , countless times with The D.B. laughing so hard we are crying! Times like that I am winning! :-)

Rob :-)
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A moment shared by many this year at SHV...
As Dave mentioned above, sitting around the table with Jeff, Patrick, and Fred.
Those three stole the show and had me in tears laughing aloud from the belly for about 5 minutes straight.
I cannot remember how we got started, but it was a time to remember. After all, I do believe that Patrick was left speechless from Fred's rebuttal.
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Shack V.... being handed an El Rey del Mundo Panetelas Largas and a Mimosa by the host himself will definately be one I remember for a long time. :-) I honestly felt like the guest of honor at that moment.

-Bolivar Gold Medal on the balcony of my hotel room in Aruba.

-A much needed night out here in NYC with a few good friends, I smoked: an '08 ERdM Especiales (RE), '85 Punch Ninfa, '94 CoRo, and a '70s RyJ Corona
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For me so far I have had to pleasure to Smoke with my friends DrHalle, SmokinGator, Starchild, TripleF. The best one so far was to have my son with me at a herf in Jacksonville last year.:-)
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I shared this once before, but I can repeat.

One of the most memorable moments for me was back in Iraq. We were going through a string of hard times and tough luck. All us Officer types were swamped with work to do and you could see everyone dragging. We finished up a particularly long meeting and I just threw out the idea of having a cigar. Everyone seemed to jump at the thought. I brought my humi up to the Battalion area and about 15 or so of us guys all sat down and lit one up. We BS'd for a good two hours, leaving Iraq out of the conversation entirely. Following the herf, we all went back to work and all the nonsense was back. Those few hours were a damn good time though.

In a future prediction, lighting a cigar up on the day my second child is born will be very memorable for me. I wasn't able to do that for the first kid....definitely going to make it happen for the second.
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I just remembered an amazing La Gloria Cubana #1 on a good friends patio down in S. Florida earlier this year.
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Bonfires at the Shack, with the fire crew regulars

Last Christmas at the rents house, there was 18" of snow outside but I went out and shoveled off the patio. Had my dad and two brothers pick whatever they wanted from the humi and we went outside and smoked huddled around the firepit with a fire keeping us warm. One of the coolest smoking pics I have, so very cool to be able to share it with my family.

The thursday night ppp at SHIII, my first. I was sitting between Allen and Tom... If that wasn't a forceful shove I am not sure what would be! I learned so much that night.
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One of my favorite times was when I first smoked a cigar with another person. I met chippewastud79 and his friend on a nice summer afternoon. What made it memorable was the great weather, atmosphere (Hooters), and meeting new people just because of a few dead plants.
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