Hi everyone - I have been a member since October '13 and have been a frequent lurker and sometimes poster. Figured it was time to formally introduce myself.
My name is Jeff and I have become pretty passionate about cigars the past few years. I started smoking cigars as a freshman in college but at that point I'd smoke maybe 3 or 4 a year and they were usually crappy short filler junk. I was the guy who bought blunts and actually smoked the blunt out of the package. Once I hit my mid 20's, I found a great B&M close to my house and finally discovered what real cigars were. They piqued my interest but I still was an extremely casual smoker - maybe up to 6-10 cigars a year.
About six years ago a friend gifted me a Humidor he had received as a gift. I had a few cigars laying around and was happy to have a place to store them but still didn't really know what I was doing. Then I finally hit a major turning point that turned my mild interest in cigars into a full fledged obsession. I was in Vegas and visited Casa Fuente where I had my first Opus X - a power ranger. It was one of those days where I was in a great mood, had a great drink at the bar, and fell head over heels in love with the Opus X. There was no turning back.
What followed next, probably sounds familiar to many of us - that 100 count humidor went from housing 5-10 cigars with no attention to temperature or humidity to slowly building up to capacity and along the way I became a stickler about trying to maintain a perfect 70% RH. I became a subscriber to CA and became fascinated with trying all types of different cigars and honing in on my preferences for flavor profile, brand, and vitola. It also didn't hurt that two of my other favorite past times - golf and scotch/bourbon - complement my cigar habit phenomenally. I recently got permission from the wife to add a second humidor (150 capacity this time) and within 7 days of buying it I had spent roughly $800 on cigars to fill it with.
Its cold here in the winter so I usually only smoke 1 every week or two in Dec-Feb. But in the spring-fall I usually smoke 3-4 a week. My favorite time to smoke is about 10PM on a hot and humid summer night when you see the lightning bugs and hear all of the crickets and wildlife. Its extremely soothing and helps me relax and wind down after a long day working and spending time with my young children. Its the perfect ME time event - or WE time if the wife decides to sit outside with me (she is not a smoker but is ok with my habit).
My tastes tend to be a bit expensive, and the brands I usually smoke tend to be as well but I believe the adage "I'll try anything once" and believe that applies to trying new smokes as well. I have actually tried a few new brands based on some of the posts on BOTL. In general my favorite brands (in no particular order) are:
FFOX
FFOX Lost City
Fuente Don Carlos
Anything from My Father (MF, MFLB, JGR, FDLA, Centurion, etc.)
CC Montecristo
CC Cohiba
Padron
Herrera Esteli
La Palina
Tatuaje
Oliva
Liga
Rocky Patel
And favorite Vitolas:
Toro
Figurado/Torpedo
Churchill
Petite Corona (Winter Time)
Looking forward to posting more in 2014 and getting to know a few of you better. I'm also on @jroag on Twitter if you are interested in following - I'll follow back. Thanks for letting me share!
Jeff
My name is Jeff and I have become pretty passionate about cigars the past few years. I started smoking cigars as a freshman in college but at that point I'd smoke maybe 3 or 4 a year and they were usually crappy short filler junk. I was the guy who bought blunts and actually smoked the blunt out of the package. Once I hit my mid 20's, I found a great B&M close to my house and finally discovered what real cigars were. They piqued my interest but I still was an extremely casual smoker - maybe up to 6-10 cigars a year.
About six years ago a friend gifted me a Humidor he had received as a gift. I had a few cigars laying around and was happy to have a place to store them but still didn't really know what I was doing. Then I finally hit a major turning point that turned my mild interest in cigars into a full fledged obsession. I was in Vegas and visited Casa Fuente where I had my first Opus X - a power ranger. It was one of those days where I was in a great mood, had a great drink at the bar, and fell head over heels in love with the Opus X. There was no turning back.
What followed next, probably sounds familiar to many of us - that 100 count humidor went from housing 5-10 cigars with no attention to temperature or humidity to slowly building up to capacity and along the way I became a stickler about trying to maintain a perfect 70% RH. I became a subscriber to CA and became fascinated with trying all types of different cigars and honing in on my preferences for flavor profile, brand, and vitola. It also didn't hurt that two of my other favorite past times - golf and scotch/bourbon - complement my cigar habit phenomenally. I recently got permission from the wife to add a second humidor (150 capacity this time) and within 7 days of buying it I had spent roughly $800 on cigars to fill it with.
Its cold here in the winter so I usually only smoke 1 every week or two in Dec-Feb. But in the spring-fall I usually smoke 3-4 a week. My favorite time to smoke is about 10PM on a hot and humid summer night when you see the lightning bugs and hear all of the crickets and wildlife. Its extremely soothing and helps me relax and wind down after a long day working and spending time with my young children. Its the perfect ME time event - or WE time if the wife decides to sit outside with me (she is not a smoker but is ok with my habit).
My tastes tend to be a bit expensive, and the brands I usually smoke tend to be as well but I believe the adage "I'll try anything once" and believe that applies to trying new smokes as well. I have actually tried a few new brands based on some of the posts on BOTL. In general my favorite brands (in no particular order) are:
FFOX
FFOX Lost City
Fuente Don Carlos
Anything from My Father (MF, MFLB, JGR, FDLA, Centurion, etc.)
CC Montecristo
CC Cohiba
Padron
Herrera Esteli
La Palina
Tatuaje
Oliva
Liga
Rocky Patel
And favorite Vitolas:
Toro
Figurado/Torpedo
Churchill
Petite Corona (Winter Time)
Looking forward to posting more in 2014 and getting to know a few of you better. I'm also on @jroag on Twitter if you are interested in following - I'll follow back. Thanks for letting me share!
Jeff
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