[M1903A1]

My father had been a cigar smoker, back in the good ol' days before 2/7/1962, and he kept a stash of RyJ Churchill Tubos going for almost eleven years after that. After a couple of Cubans joined his Masonic lodge (and periodically gave him a CC), he started smoking them out on the front porch in the summer. More than once he offered to let me try his cigar, but I always said no. My bedroom window was over the porch, though, and while I would never admit it, I loved the smell of his cigar smoke.

Fast forward to 2005. One guy at the museum I volunteer at was a cigar smoker, and was always bugging me to try a cigar and "fit in". After a long period of resisting, I finally gave in on the grounds of "at least now I can say I tried it and didn't like it". Only...I did like it. It was (of all things) a Fidalo Nero from Thompson Cigar.