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6000 post Sha-bang!
phobicsquirrel
Posts: 7,347 ✭✭✭
Okay so with my 6000 post coming up soon... well that depends, I don't post as much anymore but still it's right around the corner. I'm going to do something a little bit different. I have a good selection of smokes that I"m going to be giving out over this so just so everyone knows, you may want to participate. Now this is the deal....
You must write down your most memorable cigar experience including where you were, what you were doing and what cigar you were smoking. I also want to know what you were drinking with it and this is the catch, I don't want to know your best overall experience, I'm looking for the best CIGAR experience. Meaning what was the best cigar you have had. I know that being with friends and family sometimes will make a dog rocket be great but that's not what I'm going for.
Now if I get enough people to do this I will consider a 2nd place spot. Now let it begin. BTW I will pick a few that I like then have the forum vote for the finale.
You must write down your most memorable cigar experience including where you were, what you were doing and what cigar you were smoking. I also want to know what you were drinking with it and this is the catch, I don't want to know your best overall experience, I'm looking for the best CIGAR experience. Meaning what was the best cigar you have had. I know that being with friends and family sometimes will make a dog rocket be great but that's not what I'm going for.
Now if I get enough people to do this I will consider a 2nd place spot. Now let it begin. BTW I will pick a few that I like then have the forum vote for the finale.
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Congrats on the 6K!
The cigar had a band that said , of course Nat Sherman around Canary Islands . I tried to find something out about it again on the net and could find no reference to it anywhere . During the week , I actually called Nat Shermans offices and the guy there told me he didn't know for sure what it was but if I would e-mail him a picture of the band he would try to research it . I never did get ariund to sending him the picture of the band although I may try to do so now that I have thought about this cigar again ( This was about 2-3 years ago ) I still have the bands from both .
I went immediatly back to the B&M and the same guy was there and asked what kind of deal he would make me on the rest of them and the old jar and he said your too late , I actually sold them to a lady who wanted something different or unusual for her husbands birthday just a few days ago . DAAAMMMNNNN !!!!!! I would love to know what this thing was , besides the best cigar I ever had !!!
Thanks for making me relive that and Congrats on making that 6000 mark....
This ones easy for me too since it just happened a few days ago. I actually made a thread about it in the GD section, I don't want to make my post super long so I'd like to know would you rather me post a link to the thread or copy and paste it into here?
This was last May, it was at a buddy Kenzie's Bachelor party (yeah, not supposed to tell stories about what happens at those parties but this was too good.) On a lake near Knoxville TN
It was about ten o'clock at night and we were going to camp down by the lake (yeah, half the wedding party camping the night before the wedding is a genius move) There were about ten of us but i only knew myself, Kenzie (dude getting married) Sam (fellow Groomsman) Dustin (Another Groomsman) and Thomas (Best Man) Kenzie, Sam, Thomas and i all had a history of working together at this camp where the wedding was being held But it had been a Year since any of us had been able to get together as we had been scattered across the country. One of the other men had brought a large box of unbanded cigars (were precut but they were very good and they guy wouldnt tell us what they were EDIT: just got a reply to my asking what they were, turns out that they were 5 Vegas AAA's but i have no idea why they were un-banded and pre-cut) and another had brought some spirits (makers mark, moonshine, and a variety of beers); The only ones who hadnt drank anything were Sam and Kenzie's half brother who was 16-17. We were all sitting around the campfire telling stories about life, love, and stupid crap we had done, and we were plowing through the drinks and 'gars.
The rest is the story of that night and unrelated to the contest but i figured i would share it anyway since it is probably part of the reason i enjoyed it so much.
After a while Kenzie wanted to go scare the girls who were in a home at the top of the ridge beside us and since we all had been drinking other than Dustin (who was very weak willed) it was a GREAT idea. Kenzie, Dustin, and two others hopped onto the Kawasaki Mule that we had with us with Dustin driving and headed up the hill. We could hear them heading up the gravel drive to the house and then we heard what sounded like slamming breaks followed by the engine being gunned. About 5 minutes, and lots of yelling, gunning of the engine, and random noises later they made it back to us. For reasons then unknown one of the guys was holding Kenzie in the bed of the mule. About this time i grab a second cigar because i just KNEW something horrible had happened and Thomas was going on about how Abby (Bride) was going to kill him.
After we got Thomas calmed down we began our questioning of Dustin and Kenzie (who was relatively unhurt) and in this questioning we found out-
1. Dustin has no License and had NEVER driven in anything other than a video game.
2. the slamming breaks was him running off of the main road and almost hitting one of the gigantic boulders that lined the drive.
3. Drunk Kenzie decided to "help" dustin drive and when they were almost there he freaked out because he wasn't supposed to see Abby again until the wedding and made an emergency u-turn.
4. Drunk Kenzie then decided as they were going down the gravel drive that he wanted to sit on the roll bar so he dove out the front end, left the Mule completely, and very narrowly missed getting run over. 5. Drunk Kenzie should not be allowed to get on anything motorized until he was sober, so i took the key and locked it in my Suburban that i was camping out of.
Now, this whole experience didnt center around the cigars, but they sure were great and we were constantly smoking them that night. That night is one that i will NEVER forget (like when we thought that Kenzie and Sam fell in the lake but found them half an hour later raiding the fridge, and the next morning when we went Mudding in the Mule but then realized the wedding started in an hour, we had ruined our clothes, and were covered in mud [all of us still had mus on our nails during the wedding] so we had to race to get somewhat cleaned and dressed)
That will probably be the last time that all of us will ever be able to get together, and after years of growing up together and learning from each other it was great to have that night of bonding, to talk like we did while smoking those mystery cigars, and have all of that fun that we have had. WE are Scattered across the country, from Florida to Vegas, Maryland, to Texas, and TN to Colorado but we will always have that weekend and I for one will never forget the friendships we had, that comradeship we built, all of those good times, and even the bad that we can now look back on and laugh at (i.e. Horrid Relationship advice from Thomas!). It brings a tear to my eye thinking back on all of this, a happy tear on what we had, what we still have.
Edited: to add cigar info and separate the nonsense from what was asked.
So here is my best cigar experience, thanks for reading!
Had a really special night with Pops on the back porch a week ago tomorrow. Pulled out the really special stuff on both fronts; he provided the Hennessey Single Distillery Le Peu Cognac and I provided the smokes... Both are Bolivars, one gifted to me by Joz3r and one by Shaun Harrison. Mine was the 2007 Bolivar Belicoso Fino courtesy of Shaun and the other was the Cabinet 2007 Corona from Joe. I had the Belicoso Fino and Pops had the Cabinet... sublime doesn't quite put it correct and it will be a night to remember for the rest of my life! The cigar that I have measured all others by up to now was the Montecristo No. 2.... the 2007 Belicoso Fino was on par if not slightly better.. really. The sheer depth of layers that the Beli had within was truly stagering, but what made the difference and put this above all others up to now, was how perfectly it transitioned from one note to the next. It was pure fluidity with an elegance that I had never had up to the Beli Fino... the notes rolled in and out of each other so well that it was impossible to tell where one ended and the next began and finished with a cream that was the epitome of luxurious. By far the best cigar I have ever had and one helluva memory too.
Secondly - you guys got some great stories here, I've enjoyed reading each and every one of them. Thanks to all for sharing.
And lastly, I'll share my story.....and I really had to sit and think about this for a while because it was quite a few years ago.
But now that my brain's spinning, I remember it like it was yesterday......
It was back in high school and my mom's long-time boyfriend (Karl - who was like a dad to me when I was growing up) was a big-time cigar smoker. I have many memories of him smoking cigars and he almost exclusively smoked outdoors - it seemed that anytime we were outside -whether we were grillin', at a holiday get-together, at the park, or at a baseball game, or on vacation- he always had a stogie, regardless of what we were doing, where we were, or what the weather was like. Therefore, most of my cigar related memories are outdoors.
But the only time I ever saw him smoke indoors was when we were at his fly fishing club. This was the single place that I ever saw him smoke indoors (I'm sure he did at the B&M but I never went with him to a B&M) so that's why this is my best cigar memory...
Now about the fishing club - it had two separate lodges - one was the "day/guy's" lodge with lockers/fishing gear, a small kitchen, living room and a few small rooms with bunkbeds - but the other lodge was more like a cottage/house.
So the cottage had an outdoorsy/rustic feel to it with fishing memorabilia decorating the walls and mounted "trophy" fish in just about every room - a big wood burning fireplace, a big ol' kitchen and living room, 6 bedrooms, etc....so you get the idea.
But the absolute best part of the cottage was the "screened-in" porch with a log burning fire place. There were several wicker chairs with overstuffed pillows and a big picnic table on the porch as well. And in the winter, the windows would be "covered" with plexi-glass so you could sit there and be pretty comfortable if the wood stove was going.
Well like I said earlier, this was back in high school - and since we always had a few weeks off school around Christmas/New Year's, my mom and Karl would always take me and a few of my friends up to the "cottage" for a few days. We'd fish, shoot pellet guns, set off fireworks, and go skiing/snowboarding at a ski "resort" that was about 5 minutes up the road.
This was a tradition that we did every year for probably 7-8 years. But this particular time (our junior year of HS??) was the first time that the majority of us were legally old enough to smoke cigars.
So me and 5 of my best friends were sitting out on the screened in porch, playing cards, after skiing one night - and we had the fire roaring because we were trying to get warmed up when Karl comes out to see us. He and my mom had been inside the cottage with some friends but he came out to ask us how skiing was and light up a stogie for himself.
I have no idea what cigar it was, but I know he lit it with a bada$$ blue-flame torch lighter which we all thought was sweet....he asked if the smoke bothered us, it didn't and then asked if anybody wanted to try it. Of course we did (since I think only one of the guys had ever had a real, hand-rolled cigar before) so we all passed it around and took a few puffs before handing it back to him. Then he said "hang on" and went back inside.
A couple minutes later he comes out with a plastic wrapped, mazo (20 churchills/toros?, I have no idea what brand or size they were since I didn't know anything about cigars at the time, but I think they had a red band) so he opens up the plastic and starts pulling out cigars and says "here, why don't you guys all have one."
My friends and I all kind of looked at each other like "really? is he sure?" thinking these were lots of $$ and that he'd want to share them with his friends instead of us. But he was absolutely sure and wanted us to have the cigars.
So right then and there he gave us all a cigar then showed us how to cut and light them - and he gave us "smoking" tips so that no one would inhale and then puke their guts out. He sat out with us for probably an hour or so, just talking, playing cards, and he blew smoke rings which we all thought was the coolest thing and tried the rest of the night to get down. Everything about the moment was awesome - just us guys sitting out by the fire as smoke filled the air and the heat from the fire place warmed our faces - it was bliss.
Well after a while, Karl finished up his cigar and told us he was heading back inside but that we could help ourselves to as many more cigars as we wanted and he left us with a cutter and some matches. So me and my friends stayed up the rest of the night smoking cigars and feeding the wood-burning stove - I remember, as the night went on, we sunk lower and lower in our chairs because we had all the doors and windows shut to keep the heat in and there was literally a "smoke cloud" that was hovering in the air. So as the night progressed we watched the smoke cloud grow and sink lower to the floor as the amount of smoke increased.
Whenever someone would leave the porch to either get a drink inside or get fresh air outside, we would shut the door real fast so that none of the smoke would escape. I couldn't tell you the exact timeline for the rest of the night - but I'm sure it involved pellet guns/fireworks/cards - nor could I tell you how many of the cigars we smoked.....but I do remember watching the sun rise through the trees in the morning as we continued to puff on those stogies.
Needless to say, the adults were surprised to find us out there, still smoking cigars when they woke up that morning. And I think Karl was a little surprised that we went through as many cigars as we did because I don't think there were more than a few left.
This was one of the best times I ever had with that group of friends, one of the best times I ever had with Karl, and the best time I've ever had with cigars. Not to mention that it was also, for most of us, our first time with quality, hand-rolled cigars.
Thank you, Glen, not only for the "contest" but for getting me to jog my memory and allowing me to relive this experience. And thank you for giving me a place to share this as I had nearly forgotten about it.
That was a night I hope to always remember and an experience I will cherish for all of my days.
It makes me wish I was still in contact with Karl and some of those other friends so we could relive that night.
* I have a new address as of 3/24/18 *
Serious....it was awesome and that's my story. And no....RCY did not put me up to this either
I watched him for quite a while that first day and then finally on the second day I went over to talk with him.
Turns out he was the grandson of a Master roller from Cuba. His family left Cuba during the turmoil and settled in Mexico.
Now he makes his living by rolling the cigars at home and then bringing them to the hotel where he applies the wrapper in front of the tourists and sells them from his little station set-up.
I had my first experience with a Cuban cigar that day and several more over the time I stayed there. This was also my first experience with cigar smoking and I have been expanding my horizons in this hobby ever since.
Last year we went to Cuba for the first time. We hope to go to Nicaragua next. This hobby has so much more going for it then just the cigar we end up smoking and enjoying so much.
And a bill for all the money he has cost you ! HAHAHA !
Going to Casa Fuente and having the bellicoso house blend. The most I've ever paid for a cigar and drink but I went in not caring. Everything was perfect and nothing could go wrong from the light to the nub. What really blew me away was the first retrohale. I can't even describe how the feeling was but I finally understood the effects of retrohaling. It really opened my eyes and it was the first time in a long time that I could taste every nuance of the cigar. I felt like a teenager at the high school dance and know I had an ear to ear grin. I could still smell the cigar on my fingers the next day. Fantastic.
Woodford Reserve , reminds me I need to visit the ABC store , fresh out . Dr M , have you tried Buffalo Trace ? I believe you will find it enjoyable if you like Woodford . Cheers brother ! Gene