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My dad smoked an occasional Clear Havana back in the late 1950s and I stole a couple to smoke with my buddies behind the tool shed when I was about 10. I remember coughing and gagging but nothing else.

But my real epiphany was much later. When I was about 25 my brother-in-law and I went on a 4 day back pack into a remote stretch of the White River in eastern Arizona. Since we carried everything needed and fished as we traveled for small mouth bass and rainbow trout we took 2 small tins of a cigar made by Davidoff called Little Chicos which was about 4X40 RG and hand made long filler. Each night when we set up camp and cooked our fish we would break out these cigars around the fire. They don't make that cigar any longer but I never forgot what a pleasure it was and what a revelation.

What is yours?

Mine came 10+ years ago, when I finally figured out that EVERY cigar is different, even ones from the same box.
And, that different types of cigars need to be smoked differently.
Some need a good double puff, and then the draw.
Others need to be sipped gently, but consistently, while others need even more different “smoking techniques”.
Some wrappers and vitolas do better with a v-cut, or a punch, while others do best with traditional guillotine.
If you smoke a cigar improperly, it won’t taste as good as it should, and wont burn as good as it should.

Been smoking Cigars for almost 30 years (started before i was legal age) but start with Tatiana flavored Cigars while shooting pool with friends. about 20 years ago i had my first "regular" cigar i had my first epiphany that i REALLY liked cigars lol...

then my next came about 18 years ago when i had my first Cubans and realized, they aint all that special but a fun experience and a cool thing for people that have never had one.

finally my last came about 12 years ago when a buddy started splitting online orders with me (lived over seas at the time so nothing available locally except Cubans at the duty free in the airport)so i was forced to try new things. quickly started to realize that i had been missing out on all the various wrapper types and so many boutique brands as i was pretty much only smoking the major brands and in connect wrappers. found my love of Cameroon and Maduro wrappers at that point and the fact that i love variety.

My first cigar was when I was 13? A Cuban RyJ corona out of a paper 5 pack my step dad got in England. Loved it. Then a long break 2 years)

I started smoking cigars in high school, my first official job was part time at the local country club. Members would tip us cheap tubos (can’t remember the brand but they sucked. But my buddy and I enjoyed smoking these sucky cigars while driving the range cart (clearing range balls) or in the Marshall’s cart at night when we locked the gates.

After a while we decided to stop at the local smoke shop on paydays to grab a cigar, they’d let us buy cigars and chew without carding us. So we started buying a generic no band that was labeled “Churchill Rejects” I’m assuming knowing what I do now that these were mostly Honduran. The other one we leaned heavy into were Onyx. That was the first major brand I regularly bought.

Next real epiphany was again after a hiatus, I got a cigar on a whim, don’t remember what it was, but I enjoyed it and of course it brought back memories. This was the tail end of high school. At that point though it was every Christmas I bought cigars for Christmas Eve at my grandparents we burned the paper after we opened presents. The men would assemble (all ages) start the fire and smoke cigars.

Years later again, my supervisor asked me if I wanted a cigar, I said sure. It was awful. So I went to the shop and got him a good cigar, he in turn said hey can you look online for me for good cigars that are cheap. He’d gotten house blends from the 1920’s machine gun place….I had never even thought of ONLINE cigar buying.

Now THATS when the madness really began. The rich and ______ place then here.

Cigars I remember specifically?
Onyx
Macanudo maduro
Partagas Black Label
CAO Brazilia
LFD Chisiletto maduro
Then later a Tatuaje Noella Reserva from the OP.

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.”

About 35 years ago a friend of mine went with her husband to the Bahamas or somewhere down there. She knew I smoked an occasional cigar. At the time I’d smoke maybe on or two a month. Anyway she brought back what I believed at the time to be an authentic Habano Partagas corona. No idea if it was real or not. Nor is it important. See she told me that she had put it into her brassiere under one of her most ample breasts so as to not get caught smuggling contraband. I’m not sure what hooked me. Perhaps it was the robust tobacco taste or maybe the subtle taste of her sweaty breast. Either way I’ve been on a never ending journey to experience that heavenly flavor every since.

No epiphany for me...it was a gradual evolution from Swisher Sweets to flavored/infused cigars like Acids and Javas and Naturals...bought a sampler of regular cigars from CBid with RyJ, Torano, 5Vegas, Alec Bradley, Man O War and others...liked them but still smoked Naturals, until I preferred the flavor of regular cigar tobacco...still have some 10-14 year old Acids, Javas, Naturals that I keep in a candy box for noobs...rarely encounter any nowadays

Damn Commie supporter!





Oops! Upon further review, I’ve been known to support them too.

me and older brother got started back in 1960 Cuba re-lighting my Dad's half smoked
Upmanns and Partagas Churchills that he occasionally left on a back porch ashtray.
Brings back great childhood memories.

Also Competidora Oval black tobacco cigarettes bought by the each at the pool hall

If I had any epiphany it would be when I saw in the noob PIB thread what cigars were being traded. Currently I’m trying to experience different cigars daily. I try to smoke at least 2 in a day out of the same new fiver or tener in order to start getting an idea of what that stick is about…what blends I enjoy, what different wrappers taste like, which vitola I prefer, and later in the process I began to understand that some brands with “good” cigars that I like will also put their name on crummy cigars. I’m looking at you Rocky Patel. My epiphany that I was smoking / trying a lot of junk came when I saw those wonderful (and expensive) brands that were being shared. Having said that, I’m still glad that I’m trying out even the crummy stuff because it is helping me learn about cigars and tobacco and I’m quickly gaining knowledge…my tastes are changing and I assume will continue to change. If I say a rated cigar is crummy, I may not have years and years of smoking cigars under my belt, but I’ll carry the receipts for having smoked it. 😎

Tiver
for a really good Maduro experience go with Enclave Broadleaf Mad and Perla del Mar Mad..
Stay away from cheap Madurosas they are mostly "cooked" or dyed

Nice post George. I’m going to put those on my to do list.