While some stories are more exciting than others, it’s always interesting to learn how and when people became cigar smokers. We all share a common bond—a love of the leaf, if you will—and discovering the various paths we’ve taken to arrive at the same conclusion can help put our own experiences in perspective.
Well, maybe that’s a reach. But, at the very least, we’re bound to come across a few worthy tales from occasional smokers and full-blown cigar enthusiasts alike. In that spirit, and even though the tot in this dated photo surely has a more interesting story than any of ours, here’s how (and approximately when) each StogieGuys.com team member got their start.
Co-Founder & Editor in Chief Patrick A
I can’t remember my first cigar, but I’m fairly certain I smoked it during my high school days. Probably on the golf course or the back deck of my parent’s home in Chicago. I’m pretty positive, however, that I smoked it with my dad. He has casually enjoyed cigars for as long as I can recall and—way before I ever got to smoke one myself—wasn’t averse to taking me into tobacco shops or letting me hang around and enjoy the aroma of whatever he was smoking (back then, usually anything from Punch). Save for the summers back home, I mostly took a cigar hiatus as an undergrad, spending whatever disposable income I had at bars. It wasn’t until I moved to the nation’s capital to pursue a career and a master’s degree that I really increased my intake and, ultimately, started reading and writing about cigars whenever I could.
Co-Founder & Publisher Patrick S
I too don’t exactly remember my first cigar, but I’m reasonably certain I had it on a golf course when I was 16 or 17. I would go with a friend to a local magazine/card shop/smoke shop to peruse the cabinet humidor. Thankfully, we went for some decent handmade brands—Romeo y Julieta and Punch, at first—and they accepted my shoddy fake ID. Before I knew it, I purchased a Cigar Aficionado and was buying cigars from a local shop based on their CA ratings, always to be smoked while golfing, sailing, or at the beach. CAO Cameroon and Maria Mancini were two of my favorites back then. A few years later, during college, I was smoking a cigar every month or two, and even smuggled my first box of Cuban cigars into the country. Once I graduated, entered the “real world,” and had a back deck, I caught the cigar bug full blast.
Tampa Bureau Chief George E
I wish I had a better story—or at least a clearer memory—of how I got interested in cigars. I suppose it goes back to cigarettes, which I smoked for 25 years or so. I quit sometime in the 1980s when it began to get more and more difficult to light up. I had my last Marlboros when it was still possible to smoke at your desk and just about everywhere else. I used to joke that I was going to start smoking again when I retired. Before that, though, we bought a small condo in Florida and on vacations there I was exposed to cigars. Like Miami, the cigar culture is pretty strong around the Tampa area. Somehow, I just fell into it. And fell for it.
So, now that we’ve shared our tales, how and when did you start smoking cigars?
–The Stogie Guys
photo credit: Flickr