What in the world motivated you to start smoking cigars, anyways???

[pbrennan10]

My cohorts at the colloquy were always indulging in Cubans and i'm not one to be outdone by simpleton oil tycoons.

[14holestogie]

I started smoking cigarettes at the tender age of 12. About the same time, my step-father was heavily into the fat Swishers. I imagined they were god-awful by the smell, but when I finally gave up the cigarettes in 1986 and was looking for something to stick in my mouth after the first 3 weeks of cold-turkey, I grabbed a pack of Swisher tips and started sucking on them. After about a week of that, I couldn't resist and finally put the flame to one. I know, not the best cigar on the market, but cheap and servicable for one who tends to chew the hell out of the ends. I continue to this day with them as my daily crutch, but when I have some time to kill (bowling, golfing, etc), the Swishers only last 10 minutes. That's where the big sticks started. Thompson's at first, but since then CI mainly.

RevSmoke, being an upstanding God-fearing pastor, you would think would be one to try to save our poor souls from this nasty habit, but au contraire'. My teaming with him on our couples bowling league (where we kicked butt...nothing short of miraculous) has given him ample opportunity to help me rapell down this slope.

I am about to give up the Swishers (at least buying anymore) and look forward to a downward spiral face first into the abyss.

[sikk50]

A friend bought me a Macanudo at the Chumash Casino about two years ago now, and I recently was looking for a hobby and decided this would be a good one

[Munkey]

I always wanted to be a dragon.

[ssutton219]

I have smoked always smoked something when out with the boys whether it cigarettes or cloves or machine-mades, but when my Father-in-law came into town for Christmas he and my wife would run off to our smoking room (she smoked cigarettes) and be gone for hrs....and I felt left out so I walked in there one afternoon and he said "Smoke or get out" so I reached in to his travel humi and grabbed an un-banded stick and proceeded to make a foll out of my self. From there it was to Cigar-bid, CI and my local B&M and then here. Still have no clue what I choked on for an hr that afternoon he still wont tell me.


Thats my story...



Shawn

[doubled]

I use to run errands with my old boss and we would always stop at the CI downtown store on the way back. Everytime he'd offer to buy me a few sticks which started out with Cuban Honeys, then my old fav which I can NEVER find anymore is the Olivas with the cloth bands. To this day I still have the orange one kicking around somewhere. That was my first memorable real cigar.

[kgoings]

I used to smoke cigarettes and I always loved the aroma of Cigars, and I thought they looked cool so I started smoking them. It wasnt till recently that I found a cigar site and was formally introduced to "Good" cigars.

[groogs]

About 8 years ago I was playing golf with a frined of mine and his Uncle. They both like to smoke cigars on the course, so I figures I would give one a try. I thought it was pretty good, but at that time I had no money to spare on cigars, so I didn't have another cigar for a few years.

A couple years later I decided to go into a local B&M for some reason and picked up three AVO Maduros. I had no humidor and at that point really didn't know about how to care for cigars. The first cigar was pretty good but in the following weeks I smoked the remaining cigars and they were a little harsh.

Fast foward another two years and I was was trying to give up some other bad habbits, and I though cigars would be a good distraction. I did my research and decided to get a Humi and some smokes. I bought a bigger humidor than I thought I needed and began to fill it up. I told my girlfriend that I had to stock up on cigars because taxes were going to be going up and I wanted to have plenty to last me a while. I filled up the humi within a few months and began to think about picking up another one. I bought another humi, (200 count, actually holds about 125) and began to fill it up. By this time I had discovered online retailers and filled it up very quickly.

Shortly after that I discovered Club Stogie and was reading all the threads and gained a lot of knowledge on cigars, and coolers. I then decided to start a cooler for the overflow and I was on my way over the edge. I outgrew the small cooler and decided to get the biggest cooler I could. Now with the new cooler sitting there mostly empty, I discovered the Devil Site. I think the 120Qt cooler filled up faster then the humis did. Now I have a wine fridge as well and it is about a t maximum capicity.

That is where I am now, 2 200 count humis, the biggest cooler available, and a 28 bottle wine fridge all full. Now I have to think of a better excuse to tell the Fiancee, because I can't really make her believe I don't have enough smokes, and I am stocking up.

I am sure this is the same situation a lot of Gorillas are in, but it has been a lot of fun getting here, and I don't plan on stopping now.

[jdreynss]

I had the constant, burning desire to never have any extra money... because i spend it all on cigars. And to send cigars to people that I have never even "met"

[papajohn67]

I started as an 18 year old in Vietnam. They were free, mildly tasty, good to chew on while humping my ruck and helped mask my own stink.

[travclem]

My friend's grandad, who was pretty much my grandad too, always smoked / chewed. Since I looked up to him som much, I gues he probably influened me to start.

[jack7382]

Marines, 1991 Desert in Saudi for my birthday. RyJ Churchill Cuban. I was spoiled. Been heading down that slope at speed of heat ever since

[icehog3]

Besides the occassional gifted cigar at a wedding, I started years ago when working (in a car) on midnights. Smoking a cigar gave me something to keep me awake when driving around on near empty roads on the weeknights. That was all Black and Milds, and ended when they prohibited us from using tobacco in the work vehicles some years later.

The next experience was a Habano on vacation...and it was all downhill from there.

[yellowgoat]

started with cigarettes for 10 years,then i stopped march 7th 2008 because i needed something better in taste and couldn't stand cigarettes anymore. plus,i love the whole hobby part of it.

never looked back.

also, I haven't been wheezing at all since i stoppped smoking cigarettes! haven't been spiting out pieces of my insides in the morning anymore as well.

[gnukfu]

Guy at work bites off pieces of cigar and chews them all day, can't smoke at work. I asked him if he ever smoked em. He told me he did and asked if I wanted to smoke one with him. I said sure but we could never find a mutual time to get together so I went online and bought some from cigar.com. I liked them and got some from CI and then I found CS and I have been hurtling downhill at Warp Factor 10 ever since.