What was the cigar that started it all for you?

[Whee]

CAO Italia Piazza at the Mandalay Bay Sports book, with 3 buddies for my 40th birthday.

first was a Helix tube.
San Luis Rey serie G got me hooked

[eboniknight]

Cusano M1 Robusto on the golf course started it all.....surprisingly though, I have never smoked another.

[Mr B]

About 3 years ago a customer of mine sent me a Macanudo Hampton Court Tubo that I liked very much. However he also included an unbanded CC that was out of this world.
I started getting samplers form JR until I found ones I liked. My first box was a 10pk of the MAC Hampton Courts. Then the Don Diego Privada No1 Maduros, then the Mac Gold Shakespears. I thought I was in love w/ Mild Dominicans and Maduros. That is until I started branching out.
Oh, the Nic's, oh the Hondurans Oh the CC's oh oh oh etc.
Then I found all the sites to buy from, OMG I need a bigger Humi.
Now its Screw the Humi's, get more Tupperdores. More, more more
I Love it.

[Tredegar]

Back in '06 I was getting married and I wanted to have some smokes for my wedding. I knew nothing about cigars so I had my dad tasked to get the cigars. He knew about JRCigars and always went there to get some pipe tobacco. Since he's retired and mobile he was also going to visit my sister, who lived in the Durham, NC area, and also pick up some other relatives flying into the states from Europe. Now mind you the wedding was in going to be in Wisconsin, where my bride to be lived. So they were all going to make a grand trek from North Carolina to Wisconsin for the wedding. No problems there, this was all planned out. The one thing that was not planned was that my sisters husband would die in a fishing accident two weeks before the wedding. I talked with my sister and she was upset and I volunteered to fly up there if she needed me to. She accepted. I flew up there and during some downtime my father and I went to the JRCigar store in Burlington, NC. I was amazed at all the different smokes available. My father picked up the wedding smokes, some JR bundles, and a I picked up a few loose sticks for myself. I had a Casa Blanca, a Punch Rothschild Maduro and an H. Upmann. The Casa Blanca was sort of nasty, the Punch was wonderful and the H. Upmann was meh. You can guess which one started it for me.

[icehog3]

Smoked lots of cigars for many years, most of them machine made stuff "aged" behind the counter at Walgreens.

The one that really started my love for cigars was a Bolivar Royal Corona from one of only the legit places in Nassau. It was all "uphill" from there.

Started off with the acid blondie, smoked only flavored cigars for a few months. The downhill started when a guy at the local cigar store informed me that there was a world of better cigars out there and handed me a 1999 Montecristo (Dominican).

[Jimbo14]

A Montecristo #4 started it all for me when I was 18

[TheTraveler]

For me the cigar was a Punch Deluxe Royal Coronation. That was my first good, handmade cigar and it was eye-opening for me. I still really enjoy that cigar.

I'd been a pipe smoker for years but I'd always ignored the walkin humidors (what a waste of space! think of all the pipes, accessories and tobacco they could display if it weren't for those cigars!!! )

A little over a year ago some friends and I had smoked a drug store cigar every Friday for a few weeks and I was really, REALLY not liking it. So I got the bright idea to try a good, handmade cigar and see what all the fuss was about.

My pipes languished in the corner for a couple of months because I went hog wild over cigars! How could I have been missing all this good tobacco for all these years?

Anyway, I'm on an even keel now and pay equal attention to my pipes and my cigars. I usually smoke pipes through the week and savor a cigar or two on the weekend. This thread reminds me ... I'm out of Royal Coronations and I need to pick some up.

[JJG]

Padron 3000 5 pk

I had smoked a handful of good cigars before and enjoyed them but the Padrons were definitely the ones that got me collecting and obsessing over cigars.

first cigar i really remember liking was the punch rare corojo

[FretSpot]

Awesome thread! This should be a sticky!

I started because my best friend for the last 25 years called me up and wanted me to join him and a few of his buddies for a fishing trip. I decided that a guys weekend like that called for some good whiskey and cigars, although I'd never smoked ANYTHING my entire life up until that point.

I went to my local tobacconist, and they suggested four different cigars for me (don't remember exactly what they were, but there was at least a Fonseca and a Punch in the mix). We got so caught up in drinking the whiskey that we never made it to the cigars. So when I got home from the trip I sat on my back porch and lit one up. I've been hooked ever since.

[Bubba - NJ]

I started dabbling with some original Royal Jamaica's about 15 years ago . Then once I found the Fuente Château natural I was hooked . To bad they don't still make the original Royal Jamaica line , I have 2 Churchill's left I bought a few years ago and one is gonna burn soon .

[cle_smoker]

First cigar was a Macanudo Hyde Park back in college. The cigar that pushed me over the edge was an AF 898 Sungrown. At the time I had no idea they were that rare. The local B&M had a box of them and I kept coming back buying singles until they were all gone. Have never looked back since.

[cricky101]

Not my first cigar, but the first one I smoked that made me think "oooh, I could get used to this," was a Padron 2000 maduro.

[Barteur]

I remember that it was R&J (can`t remember the exact size) and I smoked it at my graduation night. This is when all started for me.
BTW not only the size of my cigar I can't recall on my graduation night

Thanks for this cool thread.

Frenchie

[mcmoyer]

Smoked a Padilla 1932 Robusto that I'd been holding on to for almost a year. Finished that puppy & thought, "man, I'd like to do that again!"



That really started the ball a-rollin downhill fast. That's when I started searching out forums, online dealers, etc. Went from a little baggie in the fridge to a couple of 48 quart & one 25 quart coolers, six humis of varying sizes, snaplock boxes out the wazoo & a little baggie in the fridge...all FULL.



And all in a years time...

[Poronico]

These are by far my favorite day to day smokes 2000 Maddy FTW!

Originally Posted by cricky101

Not my first cigar, but the first one I smoked that made me think "oooh, I could get used to this," was a Padron 2000 maduro.

[sikk50]

Kahlua, then a Perdomo Lot 23

[M1903A1]

A Fidalo (?) Nero that somebody had been pushing on me for months. I decided to just smoke it and "get it over with"...then I decided maybe this cigar thing wasn't so bad after all.