In 2004, on my 28th birthday, I quit smoking cigarettes. I needed something to ease the withdrawal and the whole hand-to-mouth fixation so I started with cigars most people use to roll other things with. Dutch Masters, King Edwards, etc.
Soon after, I was ordering the samplers from the back of magazines, Thompson’s, Cigars International, etc. Through those samplers, my two favorites were the Indian Tabac Toro Maduro and the Padron 2000 which were my first two box purchases.
An older friend of mine seen me taking a liking to cigars and suggested I try a Padron Anniversary Maduro. After that I was hooked and eventually found Club Stogie.
After participating in the FNG / FOG trades there I was gifted my very first Cubans (Bolivar PC, Partagas Short, and a Romeo y Julietta Churchill from Skip (OpusEx)
After that I pretty much smoked Cubans exclusively. I still have an occasional non-cuban, but I would say 97% of the time I’m smoking an aged Cuban. Most likely an H. Upmann.
