How long have you been smoking?

[Don Fernando]

I smoked the occassional cigar, maybe once a year untill I went to Singapore and Indonesia in december 05. At Singapore airport we (me and a buddy) bought some Montecristo #3 and Cohiba siglo 2 and some nice scotch. We smoked a cigar and had a glass of scotch each night after his kids & wife went to bed. That got me hooked on cigars.

[FXAdam]

Spring of 2005 I'm thinking, maybe 04, I'm not sure which. I had smoked the occasional cigar before but nothing regular. My girlfriend at the time bought me a humidor and some sticks because she thought it would be a hobby I would enjoy. Turns out she made a good call and I've ended up meeting far more cool people form all over the place than I ever would have otherwise.

[livwire68]

On and off for the past 16 years, until about 3 years ago when I started up again, then found some friends and it was all over! I am a dedicated full blowen cigar smoker who dedicates at least a few hours a day to the hobby!

[zemekone]

2004...

[dannyboy]

Used to steal Swishers, Dutch Masters, and White Owls from the grocery store when I was 13 or 14. Smoked a few here and there through high school and then every once in a while with my dad. It was about 2003 when I got into the hobby and about early 2004 when I got on cigar boards and really went down the slope.

[SmokeyNL]

Started in 2003 after a celebration dinner, my first cigar was a monte cristo A.

[MTB996]

About 3 1/2 years here. I never appreciated cigars until after I quit cigs.

[IndyRob]

I started this summer. Enjoying the hell out of it. Half the time I have no idea what you guys are on about though, but I'm working on it. ;)

[BlackDog]

I've smoked the occasional cigar for years, but really got into them this summer after I injured my wrist. I've been a long time pipe smoker, but had a hard time working the lighter with my injured wrist in a cast, and of course pipes need to be re-lit several times per bowl. So I got some cigars to smoke since they only need to be lit once. I really enjoyed them and now am hooked.

[rhdad42]

I started back in 1990 with Phillies Sweets on the softball field. Then I was waslking through the mall around Christmastime and happened to walk into Mr. Pipe. They guy sold me a box of 5 Macanudo Vintage #2 to try and I was hooked.

[poker]

First cigar was back in the late 70's. But didn't really start smoking cigars until late 80's early 90's.

[massphatness]

Got into cigars a bit during the early - mid 90's. Took a hiatus around the turn of the century, and started up seriosuly again in 2006.

[Starchild]

The first time I really appreciated a good cigar was 1994. Some friends and I drove to see Lollapalooza which was rained out. We ended up staying anyway, and went to get a couple cigars and libations to pass the time. I picked up a couple Partagas which I throughly enjoyed. I smoked the occasional cigar until about 5 months ago when I got a small humi to store a couple I had acquired. I discovered a very relaxing and enjoyable hobby that lets get a little time to myself on occasion. It also led me to discover great online cigar communities :ss

Andre

[G G]

For me it's been about a year and a half.:ss

[PSUBALL10]

About a month ago, still trying to learn

[Footbag]

Ten years for me.

[Harpo]

Started in 2003 after a celebration dinner, my first cigar was a monte cristo A.

LOL talk about jumping in the deep end! Way to go! :tu

[BamBam]

Only since May of 2007. Seems longer though.

[Buckeye Jack]

June 1997 had my first cigar at best friends bachelor's party. I enjoyed it so I asked him to get me a good cigar for being his best man.....Ashton Magnum and it was all over after that.

[Coz77]

5yrs for me..however I'd only consider my self a serious cigar smoker for 2.5 of them.

[rack04]

I think going on 2 years.

[tsolomon]

1 year, started smoking on the golf course and discovered that it was a good way to relax at when I get home.

[-MG-]

A few here and there in 2007, then pretty regularly as of about April of this year when my FIL gave me his old humi and I felt the need to fill it up.... then I found you guys and life's never been the same :tu

[wayner123]

I have been smoking for close to 10 years now. Only in the past 4 years have I really ventured out and started smoking a variety of cigars. Mostly do to the fact that my old B&M only carried Padron and Fuente and a few others, so I didn't get much outside of them.

[theycallmedan'lboone]

On and off since 2004... really picked up 2006... been free falling ever since.

[chippewastud79]

Since about 2000 for fun, since about a year and a half ago for serious :tu

[BarneyBandMan]

September 2006 :ss

[GreySmoke]

On and off for 25 years. Took a break from 2001-2003 AND 2005-2006 but now I'm building the collection again (around 1800+ sticks)

[GrtndpwrflOZ]

Started regularly smoking cigars in May of 2007.
Lovin every minute of it.

OZ

[The Dakotan]

10 years since my first but only seriously for the last 17 months or so.

[MajorCaptSilly]

Looks like about 20 years. 15 years as a serious collector.

MCS

[Mugen910]

1st one was before senior prom...then the next one wasn't until 8 months ago. I'm enjoying every cigar I missed between being 19yrs old and 29yrs old :D

[RocketMike]

A little over a year now. I average about 3-4 a week.

[D_A]

about 16 months for me

[slimm]

I smoked the occasional cigar starting with CC when I was in Spain back in 97. I did not appreciate it until 2006 and then was solidified at the Big Smoke Chicago that same year...Then after finding CS, the slope got real steep.

Ryan

[Mark C]

About a year and a half I think. First cigar was on a backpacking trip. One of the guys handed me a cigar, so I figured what the hell, why not. Have no idea what it was, but probably better that way since I've now learned he doesn't seem to believe in humidors. Whatever it was, it did the trick.

[CoroHo]

Off and on for 15 years or so. Seriously for about twelve.

[SmokinCozy]

Asked the wife to get me some nice cigars for christmas 06. She picked up a nice selection from the b&m and it's been downhill from there.

[Waynegro1]

Smoked stogies off and on in the military, nothing serious. Then in '96, at old Mizzou, I bought my first humi. So, to answer your question, 12 years and I've never looked back. Still sliding down after all these years!!

[gettysburgfreak]

Since 2004 when I was 18

[UK Bro]

Only started earlier this year! still class myself as an occasional smoker, stogies in a tupperware box all basic stuff but im happy!:ss

[Siebec]

A little over a year now, and have enjoyed every minute of it.

[Gophernut]

On and off since around 1988-89. Pretty regularly for a few years in the 90's. Now seriously again since May 08.

[rizzle]

Realistically, a couple of years.

[php007]

Got serious in 1997, I smoke about 2 to 3 times a week.

[Langod]

Smoked my first cigar in July of this year. Took me 40+ years to get around to it, I guess. Dammit -- all those wasted years of opportunity.

[dunng]

15+ for me... :ss

[Beer Doctor]

I tryed my first cigars in middle school. They consisted of Dutch Masters and Swisher Sweets. This trend continued in h.s. When I turned 18 I started visiting a local B&M and really enjoyed premium cigars but finacially couldn't really begin storing and buying. When I was 22 (2002) I smoked a CAO L'anniversaire maduro and fell in love. I started smoking more frequently after that. My father-in-law (not then but is now) gave me me a humidor loaded with cigars for the following Christmas. From then on I've been smoking fairly regularly. My collection has grown in the past few months. I used to only keep between 10-40 cigars in my humidor. I recently went a bit crazy and filled up a small coolidor along with my humidor. I'm officially free falling down the slope:ss

[RGD.]

Hmmm - started smoking cigarettes back around 1968 and quit around 1994. Cigar smoking started around 1972 and still going strong - :ss


Ron

[FriskyDingo]

Whoo! Man it has been about 10 years now. I started a year before graduating high school in '98.
I have been enjoying it ever since! Best way to spend some free time relaxing!

[groogs]

I smoked a cigar here and there in the late 90's and early 2000's but didn't start smoking seriously until mid to late 2005.

[BagfullofPings]

I have been smoking cigars religiously since Novemeber 2005. In the 90's I would smoke a cigar with my grandfather every now and then. My grandfather smoked cigars for almost 70 years. Obviously I have been around cigars my entire life.

[Tw3nty]

My cigar story is broken into section. In 1992, I did an exchange program in Italy. My house father smoked Cuban cigars. His wife said he could only smoke on special occasions. I was the special occasion at least once a week. After I came home, I started smoking swisher sweets...from great to not so great. I only smoked at poker games and once every 2 months.


I then moved to California in 1995 where I got a job working in a cigar shop. I smoked regularly and sold cigars for about 5 years.

I continued to smoke until I started smoking Cuban cigars again, more consistently this time, last January.


SO, to make my long story short, I have been smoking since my sophomore year in college, 1992.

[Tw3nty]

Hmmm - started smoking cigarettes back around 1968 and quit around 1994. Cigar smoking started around 1972 and still going strong - :ss


Ron

Nice..the year I was born.

[WyGuy]

A little over a year now. Started cigar smoking on my 18th birthday, and have become a rather serious cigar smoker. Never got into the cheap stuff either...unlike most people my age who smoke Swishers and things like that. I have noticed an increase of people my age starting to enjoy quality cigars though.

[lightning9191]

I started in February of this year. I'm pretty new at this whole game. I think the BOTLs/SOTLs here have helped shorten the learning curve though. They turned it more into a learning cliff. Throw you off and see if you can fly....most of us can't fly.

[Rabidsquirrel]

Right around a year now.

[kfish]

About 3 years ago but I only started tumbling down the slope in the last year. It may have had something to do with the discovery of a certain auction site:r

[TripleF]

Just about to celebrate 2 years!!! :ss Looking forward to 100 times that :ss

[AriesOpusX]

About 5 years. I hadn't been such a heavy smoker until about 2005-2006 when I started buying boxes and smoking almost daily.

[Genetic Defect]

Fall of 99 :ss

[Boobar]

I started on Valentines Day 2007 when my then fiancee now my wife got me my first humidor and a sampler of cigars.

[Sean9689]

Seriously got into it in June 2002. I started smoking Havana cigars exclusively around May 2003.

[SmokinAFuente]

Started on the good ones in '92.

[SilverFox]

Funny someone asked me this just today and I describe it like this

Started Cigars on an occasional basis maybe 15 years ago.

On a somewhat less than regular but more than occasional 10 years ago

Semi regularly 5 years ago

Regulary 3 years ago

Passionately 2 years ago

Obsessively 1 year and counting :ss

[scroggers]

Started smoking regularly when a buddy and I took a trip to Okinawa. We stop every night at the local beer store and get some ORion and a couple of stogies to sit out side and enjoy. Been hooked ever since!!

[barbourjay]

since 99. didn't really put much thought into it. i use to just walk into a humi and grab whatever. it wasn't until i joined my first forum that i started going after better smokes.

[Bruzee]

Five years.... A buddy at work introduced me. And since then, its like a sno-ball rolling down hill. :ss

[White97Jimmy]

On and off since around 97. I didn't get serious until 2006. That's when you guys all corrupted me.

[stitch]

I started sometime around 1970 or so ... That's about 37 or 38 years ago.
God doing the math makes my brain hurt ... and looking at the numbers makes my back ache.

[Neuromancer]

Pipes and cigars on an occasional basis since I guess around the mid-80's when I ditched cigarettes for good...cigars on a regular basis for close to eight years and pipes again for the last three or so...

[Scottw]

One here or there since I was 16.When my son was born in Sept 07, I had some leftover Montes that I didn;t give out.Sat outside one night and tried one.3 weeks later my new 100 count humidor that I bought the week before was stuffed. Someone greased my slope good.

[Bubba - NJ]

I started to dabble around 1993 and have gotten more serious every year . Then I found cigar forums on the internet around 2005 and it has just gotten crazy since then .:ss

[acruce]

Little over 2 years

[King James]

has been about 3 years now

[pearson]

about a year now. i started with a 20 humi then a 100 and filled those so quick i got a vino during the great target sale of June.

[Cenookie]

About a year and a half seriously, before that 2 or 3 a year.

[RGD.]

I started sometime around 1970 or so ... That's about 37 or 38 years ago.
God doing the math makes my brain hurt ... and looking at the numbers makes my back ache.


You and me both brother . . . :ss



Ron

[Pyro]

I started trying different cigars around 1996. It took me one or two years until I really got hooked, by a Cuban RyJ Cedros De Luxe No. 3 from 1994. My first real humidor was a gift from my whife in 2002.

[ucubed]

I started smoking like the way I am since earlier this year...I've had a couple here and there couple years past

[Cigary]

I am well into my 40th year of cigar smoking and loving every single one of them.

[awsmith4]

I smoked my first cigar at 16 (1997), a CoRo (i think) with my Dad. I then would have cigars here and there but didn't really start smoking seriously until 3 years ago.

[N2Advnture]

I smoked my first cigar at 16 (1997), a CoRo (i think) with my Dad. I then would have cigars here and there but didn't really start smoking seriously until 3 years ago.

LOL! My first cc was a CoRo as well in 1995. Started smoking cigars around 1989 (macanudo crystal was my first I believe), so close to 19 years now? (good god)

~Mark

[ucla695]

I've been smoking since the mid-90s. I took a year or two off somewhere in there and then really got into it around '03/04. That's when I discovered how slippery the slope is. I've been loving it ever since.

[Cigarcop]

Long, long midnight shifts at work....passed the time and became an obsession....about 15 yrs now. Hopefully another 50 to go :)

[VirtualSmitty]

A decade of destruction :ss

[MaytagMan]

About 16ish years... wow - has it been that long?!?!?

[darb85]

Ive been smoking since jan 2005 so coming up on 4 years

[sjnovakovich]

1972 (maybe it was '71). So long ago I barely remember.

[SteelCityBoy]

Not counting the black n milds I smoked in high school (cause I thought it was cool!) off and on probably since 2001. A buddy of mine loved AF hemingway's so he would always offer me one when I would be over his spot. I didn't appreciate it at the time but smoked anyway. I might have smoked 12 a year back then, now it is like 12 a week.

[N2 GOLD]

It started back in 1996 & still going STRONG... -(P

[irratebass]

Started in 2006 or 2007, but didn't get serious about it till this year.

[Jasonw560]

Since 1987. Dutch Masters and Swisher Sweets to LGC and Fuente Hemingways. When I got married (this time), slowed down to about twice a month for 8 years (finances). Now back to once a week. Sometimes twice.

[Blak Smyth]

I smoked many crap sticks when I was growing up, Swishers, Backwoods, etc...
I also used to smoke BeeDees.
I started grabbing red dot cohibas on occasion over the last couple years with friends for special occasions, like my wedding or cabin trips.
I only consider myself a serious cigar smoker since the beginning of June, so I am still a huge newb. I do feel like I have progressed extremely fast due to all the BOTL here at CA. I can blame all of you for throwing snowballs at me as I stood on the tip of the slippery icy slope looking down.
Also I gotta blame my neighbors and good BOTL who showed me their humidors and inspired me to make this a full time hobby. Two of them have recently joined CA!!!
Thanks everybody, I plan to be here at CA forever! I am commited and insane!

[CigarSquid]

I have had 3-4 cigars in my lifetime until January this year. Now, I've hit the slope and continue to slide! FUN

[Lonely Raven]

I've had about a dozen cigars in my life, and I've been "smoking" for about 4 weeks now. LOL

[kelmac07]

Seriously enjoying the hobby...in three years now. No turning back now. :D

[kaisersozei]

Since the early-90's, but I took a hiatus while my kids were in their formative, questioning years and I didn't want to risk being a hypocrite. Started up again about 4-5 years ago

[audio1der]

Started in high scool ('93ish) but didn't get serious until '05/'06.

[Skywalker]

Four years now!:tu

[bishjd123]

Since the Summer of 2009 for me. It all started with a Padron 1926 #9. Downhill from there and I still haven't hit the bottom of the slope.

[Nathan King]

I began enjoying cigars exactly one year ago this month.

P.S. The '26 No. 9 is a heck of a cigar to begin with! It's still one of my favorites.

[J.W.]

Off & on for 25-30 yrs.

J.W>

[STEVE S]

I started my enjoyment of the slippery slope in early 2001 at a rate of 1 or 2 per month. I picked up the pace in 2002 to maybe 1 or 2 a week,now I enjoy 1 or 2 per day on average. But some days I will enjoy 5 or 6.

[Crownedone]

About 2 yrs now with full support from the wife.

[Sonic04GT]

Iraq got me to start smoking cigarettes in 2008. Platoon Sergeant was a cockbag and that was my means of getting a break away from him. Quit around 2010 and just started smoking cigars about a month ago.

[Lanks85]

Just started about 6 months ago with a Trinidad Coloniales. I was hooked and haven't looked back since. This ia dangerous hobby as I already have two stocked humi with 100+ cigars from my trip to the US. My modest student budget doesn't allow me to purchase too many cigars in Canada.

[alwayslit]

First cigar was in 1982. Off and on until 1997, then down the rabbit hole I went.

[Mattso3000]

Started smoking cigars in 1995 and smoked the occasional cigar during college (1996-2000), more while fishing. Bought my first humidor in 1998. Averaged probably two a month at this time. Upgraded to a 150 count in 2002 and still am there now. Also keep a vault at the local B&M and try to give him a lot of business. Not sure about the slope they keep talking about on here, my cigar purchases have more clearly mirrored my income than any website. Do love me some CA, tho. Guess that means I've been smoking for 16 or 17 years then. Officially half my life.

[tsolomon]

4 years now. :tu

[Apoco]

Lets see....my first cigar was when I was 14 (2002). I didn't start smoking regularly until I was legal (2006). 5 years going on 6 I guess. My first box purchase was Arturo Fuente: Hemmingway in 2007 and I still buy boxes of them. Some things don't change :tu
Posted via Mobile Device

[zencyl]

had my first one freshmen year of highschool, had another one when I got my drivers license. A few junior year and started buying 2 a week senior year of highschool and have been buying 2 or 3 every week ever since (graduated HS 2006). Currently I can only afford to smoke 2 or 3 a week but once I have the $ ill start building a collection and can jump in to the trading and everything y'all do here.

[Col. Kurtz]

Lets see....my first cigar was when I was 14 (2002). I didn't start smoking regularly until I was legal (2006). 5 years going on 6 I guess. My first box purchase was Arturo Fuente: Hemmingway in 2007 and I still buy boxes of them. Some things don't change :tu
Posted via Mobile Device

That's a great first box purchase. :dr

[thebayratt]

I've been smoking cigars since I was 17 (13yrs ago). Have been enjoying them for about 4 or 5 years.

[taltos]

I started with pipes and cigars in college when I was 19. Still smoking but not as much as in the past. Approaching 60 years of age so I have been smoking for a little over 40 years.