What's your perfect cigar experience?

[msm1771]

Imo, what makes a cigar smoking experience is not just the flavor, it's what occurs during, or before you smoke. There are so many factors that take place into making a cigar smoking experience just perfect. The flavors, are merely an important, but only a single aspect of this. I want DETAILS. This is NOT just a thread about the perfect tasting cigar , but why was that experience so good?

Where were you?

What happened that day?

Who were you with?

What were you listening to?

And of course how did it taste?

For me,

It was the "end of the world" 12/21/12. Remember that bullshit? Anyways, I flew into New York for the holidays from Miami where I live. I brought with me some non cuban cigars since that was before I found this wonderful place. Don Carlos edicion de anniversario 2007. I got in say around 4:00 pm and had nothing to do. There isn't much to do in my home town.

I grew up here in New York and there was this girl I went to high school with I was always crazy about and we have been talking for months prior. She's 100% Colombian and I have an acute weakness towards Colombian women. Now all of my friends were not going to get in until later that night like around 10pm. So, I meet up with this girl we are hanging out and having a great time. After living in Miami for a couple years alone, I guess I picked up a little more game than I had when I was in high school.

Now, I am 19 at the time so I don't exactly have my own place in NY to stay and my parents are home and it's freezing outside. So I used my fake id for the first time since I don't drink. I used it to get a hotel room for the night to spend with this girl. That night was the perfect way to spend the "end of the world" for me. I seriously dreamed about that girl for years and couldn't believe she would actually date me. Neither of us spent the whole night in the hotel. We would've gotten in so much trouble for doing that if our parents found out. Good thing I paid cash for the room.

At around 12am , my friends said they were at my house with beer and wanted to go in my hot tub. I brought my new gf by my house and met up with some of my best friends at the time. We were all chilling in my hotub while it is lightly snowing out with beer, champagne etc. laughing and having a great time. Then, I lit up my cigar. It was delicious and even my gf thought it tasted great as well. The burn and draw were flawless and the prominent notes were coffee, cream cinnamon. Every third the flavors would transform and the body would ramp up.

I smoked it all the way down and chucked the nub over the fence where my 500000 other nubbed cigars lay from over the years. I got out of the tub after 2 hours, said bye to my friends, dropped my gf at her house down the street, put on my pj's like a 12 year old and passed out. That was the best cigar smoking experience I ever had.

Sent from my 86" White Testarossa

[LordAnubis]

Brilliant post I can't think of the best cigar experience i've ever had, but one that would certainly be among the top is a home herf.

I flew back home one time, and the FoH boys organised a "welcome back Mus" herf. This herf, absolutely EVERYONE turned up. About 15 of us, all there in one place, covering one full side of our regular smoking hang out. I pulled out a Bushido that i wanted to smoke that day. This wasn't a regular Bushido though. This was a FREE bushido... they taste waaay better when you don't pay for it . Anyway, light it up, first puff, amazing!. Second puff, even more amazing!. This cigar got passed around the entire table and every person had a puff of it. Gotta be one of the best smoking experiences. Great cigar surrounded by a lot of mates, can't ask for much more than that.

[westg]

Brilliant post I can't think of the best cigar experience i've ever had, but one that would certainly be among the top is a home herf.

I flew back home one time, and the FoH boys organised a "welcome back Mus" herf. This herf, absolutely EVERYONE turned up. About 15 of us, all there in one place, covering one full side of our regular smoking hang out. I pulled out a Bushido that i wanted to smoke that day. This wasn't a regular Bushido though. This was a FREE bushido... they taste waaay better when you don't pay for it . Anyway, light it up, first puff, amazing!. Second puff, even more amazing!. This cigar got passed around the entire table and every person had a puff of it. Gotta be one of the best smoking experiences. Great cigar surrounded by a lot of mates, can't ask for much more than that.

Great flavours ....toothpaste with a splash of gin and tonic and a slight after taste of goat beer ...to name a few was a good day though..always good to see you.

[smokeyjoe01]

There's been a few. Most recently the cigar I smoked to celebrate the birth of my son. I was at home alone whilst the lady & the baby were in hospital. I had a bottle of wine and enjoyed the occasion.

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[NSXCIGAR]

My first CC was a 1994 Punch Churchill bought at LCDH Tijuana in 1995. I walked down to the now-defunct Jai Alai palace a few blocks down and went inside. The players were holding a full practice session and nobody else was in the entire place. Took a seat and smoked my cigar watching the players practice with nobody else around. Will always be one of my favorite memories and the cigar was great, too.

[msm1771]

My first CC was a 1994 Punch Churchill bought at LCDH Tijuana in 1995. I walked down to the now-defunct Jai Alai palace a few blocks down and went inside. The players were holding a full practice session and nobody else was in the entire place. Took a seat and smoked my cigar watching the players practice with nobody else around. Will always be one of my favorite memories and the cigar was great, too.

Awesome man thanks for sharing!

Sent from my 86" White Testarossa

[msm1771]

There's been a few. Most recently the cigar I smoked to celebrate the birth of my son. I was at home alone whilst the lady & the baby were in hospital. I had a bottle of wine and enjoyed the occasion.

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That's beautiful! Do you remember what cigar it was?

Sent from my 86" White Testarossa

[LGC]

Smoked a Habanos 1994 the morning of my wedding, gifted by a great friend... surrounded by a small group of cigar friends...drinking a bunch of decades old ports before noon. This was the last time we met for our yearly herf.

[smokeyjoe01]

Do you remember what cigar it was?

Yeah it isn't a popular one, the Regatta.

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[stogieluver]

Perfection for me is a Cohiba 1966 purchased at the Hotel Melia Habana Libre and smoked on the veranda of the Hotel Nacional.

[msm1771]

Yeah it isn't a popular one, the Regatta.

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It looks delicious

Sent from my 86" White Testarossa

[eswary]

This past 4th of July was probably the most enjoyable experience I've ever had.

My family(wife&son) flew home to enjoy the holiday and some

much needed R&R from the stresses and pressures of our normal reality. I had been going thru a tough time at work after excepting the most prestigious but yet, craziest job of my career. Second guessing all my decisions and going through some growing pains. Stressed to the max and a mess at home.

After flying into Detroit, we were on the boat at the lake within an hour. Smoking cigars, drinking beers, and Lake Life with the family is as good as it gets for me.

It was the perfect distraction from my life back in Miami. During that time I realized what was important in life & this job was just a job. I needed to trust myself and do the best I could, whatever happened after that, was out of my hands.

Think I smoked and shared well over 20 cigars that week. It was perfect and cleared my vision so to speak.

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[eswary]

A few pics from that 4th

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[stogieluver]

This past 4th of July was probably the most enjoyable experience I've ever had.

My family(wife&son) flew home to enjoy the holiday and some

much needed R&R from the stresses and pressures of our normal reality. I had been going thru a tough time at work after excepting the most prestigious but yet, craziest job of my career. Second guessing all my decisions and going through some growing pains. Stressed to the max and a mess at home.

After flying into Detroit, we were on the boat at the lake within an hour. Smoking cigars, drinking beers, and Lake Life with the family is as good as it gets for me.

It was the perfect distraction from my life back in Miami. During that time I realized what was important in life & this job was just a job. I needed to trust myself and do the best I could, whatever happened after that, was out of my hands.

Think I smoked and shared well over 20 cigars that week. It was perfect and cleared my vision so to speak.

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Life is too short to be miserable in your job, prestigious or not. I just resigned a "prestigious" job as bank president, one that I was miserable in, to take another job with a former colleague and boss whom I admire and respect. My stress level has gone to zero, and my paycheck has increased about 30%. Rethink what is important in life.

[eswary]

Agreed. The cigar time during that trip certainly gave me the time to reflect on what's truly important in life. Great experience.

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[Martin3203]

My most recent was the day after I got married. Had a destination wedding in the DR. The next day on a fresh pallet I smoked a Padron 45th Anny Maduro while I sat by the pool drinking a mojito. All my family and friends were there and the cigar was phenomenal.

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[PigFish]

I cannot say that I have any one 'apex' moment with a cigar. I have had a lot of them I guess.

Life is at times really great, and at other times lesser so. I remember being appreciative for the fact that I could come back from the hospital after having a heart attack, open my humidor and simply enjoy the smell of heaven, without having actually gone there! I try to carry that feeling through life everyday. Cigars make that quest a little easier.

Cigars are an important part of my life. They are not important on certain occasions, more or less so. They affect my mood, generally for the better. They make a bad day a little less so. They can bring a fantastic day to the sublime.

Cigars, without smoking one can be enjoyed by simply discussing them on this forum. Or, perhaps I might discuss them, humidors and world events with a friend on the other side of the world. Smoking or not, a cigar is the basis of the conversation.

If there is a "glue" that holds the neutron to the proton, I suppose the cigar is a part "nuclear glue" in my personal life. If I were to meet with other physicists and discuss this bond, I would call it passion. Cigars are passion. This bond they have is nothing short of magic, and when espied through the lens of this "pig's" eyed analogy; this describes my apex view! For me it is about seeing the entire forest and not the oldest and largest tree.

I am however enjoying reading the individual "big tree" stories. There is not one better than another. They are all fantastic, they have to be. They all involve the passion, that life level adhesive to a great experience I call a cigar!

Great thread by the way! -Piggy

[Fugu]

For me it is about seeing the entire forest and not the oldest and largest tree.

Nicely put!

[RDBM]

Took some Siglo vi and Sir Winnies to Maui last year, sitting out back of the beach house we were staying in watching the sunset with a fine rum was just paradise. Can't wait to do it again soon.

[Randolph]

This is certainly a very subjective topic. Naughty as it may sound, I have just opened up a SLB of Cohiba Siglo II that arrived in the mail today and after popping 24 of the little devils into the humidor have headed outside with a cold bottle of pale ale for my evening smoke. I'm not one for smoking a cigar straight after delivery but I couldnt help myself. The very initial burst of flavour very much reminded me of my first Siglo II (I've only smoked a couple of them) when I smoked it during a holiday in Geneva. The very profound Cohiba flavour is all here - grassey, rich, and creamy. Oh how these beauties will smoke once they've had a little rest I am thinking!

To me, on the whole I enjoy most of the cigars I smoke - but its all about choosing the right cigar for the right moment. A cigar thats too small can be a let down on one occassion but a delight on another. The euphora moment for me is at the end of a delicious cigar, in the right environment, with the right drink, after the right meal when at the moment you are about to part company you wish the experience would have continued a little longer. The right cigar, or the perfect experience is very much like the enjoyable company of a good friend.

Back to the Siglo II - the excitement is over. The remaining 24 need to acclimatise - enjoyable but will become much better.

Randy