| I have always been of the opinion that you shouldn't | | | | a mentor to provide the proper tutelage. The |
| trust anyone who doesn't have at least one known | | | | worst thing you can do is try to smoke a type of |
| vice, be it swearing, drinking, smoking, or whatever. | | | | cigar to impress someone else, not yourself. |
| If they appear to be overly virtuous, then they are | | | | Further, a cigar should not be forced on you as it is a |
| probably hiding something much more malicious. I | | | | conscious decision you must personally make. |
| remember one fellow from Toledo who went to | | | | I cannot possibly teach you everything you need to |
| great lengths to project a Lilly-white image. He | | | | know about selecting a cigar herein, there are simply |
| regularly attended church, could quote chapter and | | | | too many variables involved, everything from its |
| verse from the Bible, and condemned anyone for | | | | origin and manufacturer, to the wrapper, the filler, or |
| any form of indiscretion. You would have believed | | | | even how it should be cut and lit. Outsiders may be |
| such a person would be trustworthy, honest and | | | | surprised to learn the best cigar wrappers do not |
| forthright. Frankly, I found him to be one of the | | | | come from the Caribbean, but rather Connecticut, |
| most ruthless and unscrupulous businessmen I ever | | | | right here in the good old U.S.A. There is evidently |
| had the displeasure to meet, not to mention an | | | | something in the Connecticut soil conducive for |
| extreme bore. I have challenged this rule about vice | | | | growing the right leaves for wrapping a cigar. As |
| over the years and found it to hold true time and | | | | Stengel would have said, "Who da thunk it." |
| again. | | | | I was always envious of Winston Churchill, the |
| As for me, my passion has always been cigars, | | | | famous Prime Minister of England, who was an iconic |
| something I learned to smoke when I was thirteen | | | | figure for the cigar. I have read books on Churchill |
| years old behind my friend's house in Chicago (a | | | | and had the pleasure of visiting his Chartwell home in |
| White Owl Classic if memory serves me correctly). | | | | England. Interestingly, when Churchill was alive there |
| I am not advocating smoking or trying to encourage | | | | was always at least 10,000 cigars in his home. It |
| others to imbibe, just to describe someone's choice in | | | | seems he received truckloads of them from various |
| life. I do not promote or advocate smoking cigars, | | | | heads of state, grateful constituents, and various |
| but I have found it to be a small personal pleasure. | | | | manufacturers who hoped he would endorse their |
| I guess I am at the stage where I am no longer | | | | product. Imagine what a learning experience it |
| impressed by mansions, fast sports cars, boats, or | | | | would have been to sample the various cigars under |
| any other "boys toys" to find happiness. To me it's | | | | his roof. |
| the little things that makes life pleasurable, such as a | | | | Yes, I have had my fair share of detractors over the |
| fine woman, good company and conversation, | | | | years condemn me for my passion, and I make an |
| perhaps a drink, and a really good cigar. | | | | effort not to let it interfere with others, but the |
| I never acquired a taste for cigarettes or chewing | | | | taunting by the anti-smoking establishment gets |
| tobacco and found them to be simply a waste of | | | | rather tiresome. They just do not understand the |
| time (and money), but that's me. Occasionally I'll | | | | pleasure of a good cigar. A few years ago when I |
| pick up a pipe, but frankly, I get more enjoyment | | | | was still coaching and umpiring in Little League, I went |
| out of a cigar. In addition to recreation, I enjoy | | | | down to the local ball fields one night to see a |
| smoking a cigar while I'm writing as it allows me to | | | | friend's son play. I was comfortably sitting away |
| pause and concentrate on the subject at hand. It | | | | from others in the outfield and had just lit a cigar |
| also helps me pass the time when performing the | | | | when another coach spotted me and, lacking an |
| tedium of mowing my lawn. | | | | umpire for his game, begged me to call the game for |
| Cigars come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors | | | | him. I reluctantly accepted and entered the field |
| and tastes and one of the biggest misconceptions I | | | | with my cigar in tow. Some of the parents jeered |
| would like to clear up is there is no such thing as a | | | | me for the cigar but I assured them not to worry |
| bad one, unless of course it has dried out, been | | | | and I put it out and stuck it in the backstop fence so |
| soiled, or somehow been damaged. Actually, it's a | | | | I could smoke it later. The game went on for |
| matter of matching the right person to the right | | | | several innings. When it was over, I returned to |
| cigar. There are some cigars I simply wouldn't touch | | | | retrieve the cigar and found it had fallen out of the |
| with a ten foot pole, such as a green-leafed natural, | | | | fence and on to the red clay of the field, much to |
| something soaked in liquor, or twisted to look like a | | | | the amusement of the parents who chided me |
| rope. I have enjoyed tobacco from Cuba, the | | | | earlier. Unfazed, I simply rubbed the red clay off |
| Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, the | | | | and re-lit it, much to the amazement of the |
| Philippines, and many other locations. My tastes | | | | parents. "Sorry," I said, "but there is nothing like a |
| have evolved over the years whereby I prefer a | | | | good cigar." |
| large cigar with a generous ring size and wrapped in a | | | | It's personal. |
| dark Maduro leaf. But again, that's me. Cigars are a | | | | P.S. - The term "Stogie" comes from Conestoga, a |
| personal thing. What one smoker may enjoy, | | | | village of southeast Pennsylvania which, in its heyday, |
| another may despise. That's why it is a matter of | | | | manufactured cigars. |
| trying different cigars until you find what you like. | | | | Keep the Faith! |
| Novice cigar aficionados should seek the expertise of | | | | |