BuckyB93 wrote:Bachelor party many years ago. Started out at a pool hall, one of those billiard club thingies. They served drinks and the best man brought a variety of cigars (back in the day when you could still smoke inside bars and stuff). I was not a real cigar smoker at the time so he gave me a Macanudo Maduro Churchill or Corona.
Me: "That's dark, it must be strong." - my oldest brother basically told me the same thing. He said the wrapper color was an indication of the strength so kept that belief until really getting into cigars in 2013.
Him: "Not really, it's a nice mild one but with some nice flavor. If you don't like it, I have others you can try."
A few puffs into it... Wow! This is what a real cigar tastes like?
Currently I'm not a Macanudo fan as they are too mild for my tastes but it was the right one at the right time that started the journey past smoking a Swisher Sweet now and again while fishing. Same here but I have a couple laying around and iffin’ I get a chance to ash one up in the morning with some coffee, gonna fish ‘em out.
In the end we did end up at a strip club but I don't vividly remember that part of the night. Good thing we hired a chauffeur limo to drive us from place to place. I do, however, remember smoking and enjoying the Macanudo before the alcohol took control of my brain.
The rest is history.
Some very similar points with me although my epiphany was at Casa Fuente in Vegas with a bunch of high school classmates in October 2011. Smoked a Fuente Hemingway Signature Natural and had one of CF’s famous mojitos. The moment with close buddies made me think, “Man, this is the franking life!” And although I had smoked cigars before, the majority of them were Swisher Sweets or some unidentified / forgettable cigars that didn’t leave an impression on me but the Fuente was w-a-y better than anything I had smoked before. Bought a Signature Nat and a WOAN to take back home.
With that being said, it wouldn’t be until late 2012 as we were planning our 40th class reunion in LV that I actively searched out premium cigars locally. Suggested by HOnizuka, I bought some smokes from another online vendor. Then another classmate of mine recommended CBid and as they say, “That’s all she wrote.”