Well my nickname in High School was "Smokey", although my hobby, if you could call it that, was originally smoking cigarettes (starting in the 4th grade). Nobody in my family smoked so it was tough acquiring them. Luckily I never became addicted, and quit that habit during my Junior year when I was introduced to Cuban Cigars, on a trip to Niagara Falls Canada. I was able to sneak away from my parents hotel room and explore Clifton Hill (basically the family equivalent of the Las Vegas Strip). I saw a Tobacconist Shop on the corner across from a celebrity wax museum and went inside. At the time (2002) in Canada you only needed to be 16 to buy cigars (which definitely changed in these health conscious days). I bought 4 Cubans. They were probably fakes, but I didn't care or have any idea what a Cuban even was, or what it represented at the time. All I knew was damn they smelled good, in fact the whole store smelled good, a new kind of good. They were expensive, nearly cleaned my wallet, but my main concern was that I still had to get them across the border back to NJ. (I made it, hid them in my dirty laundry lol)
That was my introduction to Cigars, although many years later in 2008, the cigar that did it for me, which turned this once in awhile indulgence into a pastime...was A Padron 1926 Serie in Maduro. God it looked so delicious in the humidor; like a block of rich chocolate. That was enough for me to ignite the passion for this great great great hobby. My nickname is still Smokey, even the parents of my friends call me by it LOL