Within the last 6 months, at the ripe age of 40, I have finally come to appreciate a good cigar.
What took so long?
A Filthy Habit
As a life-long non-smoker, cigar appreciation didn’t come easy. I had always been repulsed by the smell or taste of smoke. The smell of someone smoking a cigarette on a restaurant patio close to my table would ruin my meal (and truth be told, it still does). The strong, herbal smell of marijuana was (and still is) an olfactory annoyance.
Making out with a random girl in a bar and then tasting that Belmont cigarette on her breath from 20 mins ago was a colossal turn off and a sure-as-heck dealbreaker for advancing things any further into the night/morning.
As a non-smoker these things have always perturbed me.
Non-smokers are at times very hyper sensitive to smokers.
Despite all of this, one day I found myself willing to give a cigar an honest try. I’ve always quite enjoyed the smell of cigar tobacco (when unlit), and from what I knew, the health issues didn’t appear as bad as cigarettes or marijuana, as I knew that you weren’t supposed to inhale its smoke.
Also, admittedly, I fell in love with the ‘idea’ of enjoying a cigar when the time and setting were ideal.
A First Attempt
As numerous close friends of mine frequently enjoyed cigars, I’ve generally held my hand out and said, “not for me” each time someone had graciously offered me a cigar. Now however, I finally felt emotionally ready to go forth and take the plunge with a cigar.
This time I was ready to say, “sure why not?” when offered a stick. To be perfectly honest though, my first few attempts to join in were not good at all. In fact I would go as far as to say that they were almost painstaking. I tried to act like ‘one of the guys’ and pretend to enjoy it but was struggling inside.
I hated it.
But why?
I felt as though I was trying to run a race with experienced marathon runners who were in the home stretch of the race, but I was still frozen in the starting blocks.
I was out of my league, and the conditions were just not right.
My first cigar attempt was at an indoor cigar lounge in Buffalo NY. It was like a hot box situation; a smoke filled room full of guys smoking a lot of strong cigars, with little to moderate air circulation. I couldn’t breathe! And the smell was killing me. Couple that with my attempt to smoke a bold, dark wrappered Churchill-sized cigar (a longer length cigar made famous by Sir Winston himself) that I had picked out based solely on the bad-assed name it had (which can’t remember now).
I remember wanting to burn my clothing after that experience and telling myself that this was just not for me.
I later discovered that:
#1 The conditions and setting were potentially wrong for somebody new, and that
#2 I was smoking the wrong cigar.
Another attempt at a cigar occurred when I was visiting a cabin for a weekend off of a lake. We were outdoors with nature, it was a calm and relaxing day. A friend gave me a ‘throw away’ cigar – something he had probably been given for free. Smoking outside was a more tolerable experience, but I didn’t love it. That same weekend while outdoors, I tried a Java Espresso cigar by Drew Estate, which had a very light colored wrapper, was flavor infused, and had a creamy taste that had some familiarity.
I didn’t mind it at all. I could handle it.
But still, as the band 10cc would croon, I’m not in love.
I stomached a couple of those Javas over the next few months, just to be polite and participate.
I felt as though I was trying to run a race with experienced marathon runners who were in the home stretch of the race, but I was still frozen in the starting blocks.”
A Big Turning Point
Finally, I had my break through moment.
On a long summer weekend, while sitting outdoors amongst friends, I was handed an EP Carillo Encore cigar. It was robusto in size (a cigar on the short-to-medium size in length), and it was fantastic. This had won the Cigar of the Year in 2019 and it was NOT cheap. I could taste and feel the quality difference in my hands, especially when I had compared it to all of the previous cigars I had forced my way through.
It was an ‘ah ha moment’ for me and I felt so relaxed with it this time as I savoured that baby right down to the nub.
So, here is what I gleaned as a non-smoker who had finally, whole-heartedly embraced a cigar for the first time:
5 Tips To Warm Up To A Cigar
1. The conditions need to be right – make sure you are preferably outdoors and comfortable.
2. Don’t start off with a cheap, low-quality cigar. You may turn to those once you’re comfortable with cigar smoking in general, but they won’t get you excited out of the gate, even if you are unfamiliar with cigars. Doesn’t have to be a super-expensive one either.
3. Don’t start off with a Churchill or a long cigar. Start off with something smaller and manageable. Try a petit corona or robusto.
4. If you don’t enjoy your first cigar, then don’t give up. Maybe you just haven’t found the right one yet. Try something mild-to-medium bodied that has a light brown or medium brown-colored wrapper.
5. A well kept cigar that’s been stored in a humidor is noticeably better than one that hasn’t. It’s like eating cheese at room temperature; it has way more flavour than when you first pulled it out of the fridge.
Fast forward to present day – I’ve since invested in my own humidors, lighter, my trusty V-cutter, and of course – ample cigars.
Though I once though that never in my wildest dreams I would be enthusiastically saying “yes” to a cigar, from now on, you can count me in.
