Thoughts from noobie corner.
I'm 42. This summer will mark my second year smoking cigars. Prior to a friend offering me a Kuba Kuba, I don't think I had smoked a cigar in my adult life. I could maybe name two or three brands that I remembered from some pop culture reference or another. Don't know anything about pre-boom or boom culture.
I began researching cigars online because there was so much I didn't know. What things were called, what sizes were available, how to cut, light, etc. and my local buddy was the only other person I knew who smoked and he didnt know much (again Kuba Kuba). So we started searching on line for information and then sharing it together over a smoke.
I landed at another board, participated in a noobie sampler trade which basically resulted in me buying a $75.00 dollar bag of somebody's humi detritus. Irritated and dejected, I happened to run into Jonathan Drew at an event here in Charlotte and he mentioned Cigar Asylum as a place I should check out because the admins were stand up and it was a "smoke what you like" kind of place as opposed to "if it aint Padron or Fuente it sucks" kind of place.
So I landed here and started lurking. Just about everything I have tried has been because I saw a picture or a review or a in search of post here. A lot of the information here is people remarking in one way or another about what's new.
I've learned two things. One is that there is so much new stuff coming out that I have not had time, or money to dig to deep with any one manufacturer.
The second is that since I can't afford to buy boxes at a time, I buy a lot of singles and fivers. When I find something I like, I make a note to buy more, but it seems by the time I save up enough money to buy a box there are many more new things to try and I end up taking a swing at them instead.
I think maybe because of personal economics it is just more fun, for me, to keep searching for the holy grail instead of saving my pennies for a box of something I know I love, like T-52's.
The older my dad gets, the more time he spends hunting for a lost copy of the Declaration of Independence at garage sales. So maybe I can say that whatever I have, at least I got it honest.
