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Since I turned away from the dark side (inexpensive, mass-produced cancer sticks, in other words, cigarettes) and thankfully discovered cigars, my smoking has really changed.

I don't do it because I have to fulfill some kind of animal craving. I don't have to have one every hour, or even every day. I don't have to suck it down just as fast as I can to get rid of the shakes.

It seems to me, after the addiction sets in, cigarette smoking becomes a joyless routine, like popping a pimple or passing a gallstone, you just do to fulfill a need you could do without.

Then I saw the light...and I discovered cigars!

For the first time, I enjoyed lighting up and sitting there for an hour, not just trying to suck it all in as fast as I could. I discovered tobacco can actually have taste...and a good taste at that. Not only that, but it could even smell pleasant, and not reek of tar and ammonia.

And I also learned something that never occured to me with cheap, factory-churned tobacco...that a cigar and the smoking of it is a work of human art!

The cigar itself is a masterpiece. Handcrafted by a skilled artist, adorned with a beautifully colored and designed band around it. The color can even further enhance it...all the way from a striking jade-colored candela to the pitch-black shade of an oscuro.

The shape of it is beautiful too. Whether longer, slender panatela; a short, stocky rothschilde; or even the pointed ends of a perfecto or the serpentine curls of a culebra...they all look exquisite.

But it doesn't end there. Smoking it has a beauty of it's own. The ash itself can be attractive, such as the white sandy speckles upon grey of a Cameroon wrapper. In a darkened room, the burning end of the cigar casts a cheery light, like a tiny lantern of tobacco, when you puff on it.

But my favorite has to be the smoke itself. Nothing is more pleasing to my eyes and all my other senses than seeing the thick, whispy billows of gentle white and soft grey slowly seep up from my mouth. I love it when a cigar has an exceptionally easy draw, because that means even more delightful smoke to drift in scented clouds around my head.

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Well that's my manifesto for the day. I'm sure many of you will agree with me: there's just something in a cigar and in smoking a cigar that's incredibly eye appealing.

So what aesthetic quality do you love in a cigar?

what ikonoklast7 said......

Sorry...Can't answer you about aesthetics.....I'm crying too hard to type through the tears....sob..

All kidding aside, and speaking seriously, I think you probably summed up what pretty much all of us feel about smoking cigars. Some will place more emphasis on certain characteristics than others, of course, but there is enough aggregated attraction to keep us all smoking. Nice imagery in your description.

You know el, that's funny, but I just noticed that.

I was wondering what I could compare to the smell of a good, unlit cigar. Either we have similar senses of smell or it's an apt description.
I recognize the smell from when we get our horses out to ride. Not the smell of horse poop but the smell of the horse itself. (Our horses are pretty clean).

Funny you mentioned that.