Very Newbie !!Sorry long, give me some insite.

jewild

To start I joined this forum approx. a year ago thinking I may like to give cigars a try, The local cigar factory F.X. Smith (been in business 150 years) had their tours and I bought a few cigars, but never smoked them. But to be honest, I never ever smoked anything, never. Which is probably very hard to believe, but in the early days my parents were heavy smokers and it killed any desire I had to smoke anything of any type. But I'm 50 now, soon to be 51, and if the next 50 go as fast as the first 50, things will be finished in the blink of an eye! So as friends, relatives and others around you pass at a variety of ages, I find I wanna try as much as I can, get started on the bucket list and YES, smoking cigars are on the list. When I'm golfing with a bunch of guys from work, the cigars come out and I usually pass. So over the past year I decided to educate myself alittle bit and not be an expert but not look like an idiot either. So I read just about everything on this forum and others, collected a variety of online stores to my favorite box, and read reviews of many, many types of cigars, also watched so many utube videos on the subject that I probably helped double the watched count on a few good ones. So I ordered some cigars, I wanted mild ones to start and yesterday after work (yes, I occasionally work Sunday's) I get home do some quick yard work and decide, since my wife is going to be getting her nails done for the next 2 hours I would give my new cigars a try. Also got wife's OK on this stuff,m actually her idea. Now what I ordered were "Petrus Etiquette Rouge", ok they came from another site, but I guess I wanted something "mild" to start and good reviews, not to mention low price, plus I wanted more then one in case I really liked them, I'd have a go to for a couple weeks. Also had wooden matches, bought a new lighter but no fluid yet!! Got my large glass of ice water, struck the match and toasted my first cigar. Turned it around and gently blew on it to make sure it had an even red glow all aroung it. Put it into my mouth and instantly had a sweet taste, as I puffed on it, it filled my mouth with a earthy, oak flavor. Exhaled thinking,"Not bad, I can live with this." The texture of the cigar was solid yet soft, not wrinkly, burned nicely about 3/4 to an 1" ash beore I let it fall off. I didn't notice and change in flavor for the first 2/3's but the last 1/3 I picked up more of a peppery taste. Total time was about 1 hour 20 minutes. Decent experience so I thought. Now not long after maybe 15-20 minutes, I got one of the worse headaches I've gotten in along time, I rarely get headaches. Just a coincidence ?? just not sure, and thoughts would be appreciated. Hope the post wasnt too corny, but I'm learning and open to suggestions. Thanks for reading, any spelling or grammer errors are mine, my fingers dont type what my brain wants at times.

brianetz1

did you have anything to eat before your cigar? Even the mildest of cigars can exhibit a reaction on an empty stomach.

avengethis

Nicotine buzz. Its best to have something in your stomach before you smoke especially when you are just starting out. However if you get bit by this have some skittles or m&m's to pop into your stomach quick. That should help mellow you out.

ExpendableYouth

Sounds like nicotine. Like they said eating first helps, but since you said you've never smoked before you could also try shorter cigars with small ring gauges. This would help you ease into to smoking.

bigharpoon

...and drink water ahead of time, you don't want to go into a cigar as a new smoker dehydrated.

jewild

Thanks everybody for the advice, Probably been 5 hours since I've eaten. So I'll try something sooner and more water.

Eulogy

Too much nicotine gets to me too. I find I have to spit often or I'll get ill.

Rain

Eulogy:

Too much nicotine gets to me too. I find I have to spit often or I'll get ill.

I remember my first cigar.

The3Stogies

Noticed you said "exhaled", you weren't inhaling were you? Where you in a ventilated room or outside? It may have been a carbon monoxide/nicotine reaction. Never got a headache, just a little queasy. I smoked cigarettes most of my life before changing to cigars, my body is used to this crap. Probably would get headaches if I quit now, lol. Hope this doesn't ruin it for you, happens to everyone I think from time to time.