I just read every one of your posts in this thread and it's become my favorite thread on BOTL. So I will try to add something to your very thoughtful and reflective words here.
Over the past year I've learned to appreciate smaller gauge cigars.
Hear hear! The recent Lancero thread was great!
I've learned that I have too many special occasion smokes and not nearly enough special occasions!!!! Lol
I love this. To paraphrase the movie Sideways, the day you clip & toast a cigar you've been saving: THAT'S the special occasion.
I learned I'm not the only one who like to sniff his humidor...
Um. Yeah. I totally don't do this either... Not ever...
Big difference between the past years and 2013 is I am all about the wait now. I used to be all about the chase on new releases and smoking all of them. I now take more pleasure in buying and burying for the long haul. I stopped keeping a google doc of inventory and deleted the one I had. It's nice to find stuff you forgot you had and will be even better finding boxes that have been buried for years.
Wow, I love this sentiment. Though I'm also scared of having so many cigars I could forget about a box!
I learned that even though I want to be a liga whore. I'm a Tatwhore.
That. Is funny.
I found that I get too busy with work/home and haven't been taking enough time for myself. I've resolved to carve out an hour or two most evenings & have a nice cigar and a beverage.
You've really hit on something that nearly everyone in America could stand to "get." And I like to think we Brothers understand more than many. Take that time for yourself, no matter how much you love your job, family, etc. You will live both longer, and fuller.
For me, 2013 became the year I really started smoking cigars. I smoked a lot of CCs in the 90s, and then took a "break" where I smoked maybe 2 sticks a year. Last year I discovered a great group of guys at my local B&M and now I have a new friend group there. This is important for men, because it's easy for us to become too single-minded and even antisocial on occasion.
I'm so glad that BOTL has become a social part of life for so many guys (and girls?). There is nothing quite like community to make you feel human.
As to the cigars, a couple of weeks ago I split a box of UF-13s with a Brother, and stashed them in my little humidor. On Superbowl Sunday, I smoked my first Unico, from that batch. I found it to be among the most demanding cigars, of my palette and my knowledge, that I have ever smoked. It won't be the last. I look forward to the broadening horizons that this place has opened up. Thanks guys!