Cigar Asylum Cigar Forum - View Single Post - Who's been your biggest cigar influence on & offline?

BigDawg · 07-22-2025, 02:52 PM

In person, it would have to be a guy named Jerry Millick. He was an older guy who owned the Tinder Box franchises in Charlotte. He hired me, shortly out of high school, back in the mid/late 70s.

Not only did he give me basic beginners education into the world of hand made cigars, he told me that customer would not have faith in my advice if they didn't see me smoking. So, he told he wanted to see me smoking cigars during my workday and to encourage that told me that anything I smoked during my work hours was free.

Online would be a little tougher. My best idea would be that, in the late 90's, there was a small cigar shop that opened up along the route I took going back and forth to work. One of the guys was named Kevin. He introduced to a site (don't if I'm allowed to mention it). A lot of the guys on that site frequently completed box passes and I jumped in on them as much as possible. So while I can't say that Kevin gave me any specific knowledge, he pointed me in a direction where I was able to experience a lot of cigars, many of them with a lot of age on them, that I likely would never have had the opportunity to try.

Hope this wasn't too longwinded . . .

07-22-2025, 02:52 PM	#15
BigDawg Just in from the Storm Join Date: Mar 2025 First Name: Bill Location: Oldest City in the US Posts: 29 Trading: (0)	Re: Who's been your biggest cigar influence on & offline? In person, it would have to be a guy named Jerry Millick. He was an older guy who owned the Tinder Box franchises in Charlotte. He hired me, shortly out of high school, back in the mid/late 70s. Not only did he give me basic beginners education into the world of hand made cigars, he told me that customer would not have faith in my advice if they didn't see me smoking. So, he told he wanted to see me smoking cigars during my workday and to encourage that told me that anything I smoked during my work hours was free. Online would be a little tougher. My best idea would be that, in the late 90's, there was a small cigar shop that opened up along the route I took going back and forth to work. One of the guys was named Kevin. He introduced to a site (don't if I'm allowed to mention it). A lot of the guys on that site frequently completed box passes and I jumped in on them as much as possible. So while I can't say that Kevin gave me any specific knowledge, he pointed me in a direction where I was able to experience a lot of cigars, many of them with a lot of age on them, that I likely would never have had the opportunity to try. Hope this wasn't too longwinded . . .