Unco B's Stogie Diary

I’ve brought cigars to weddings and social events for years, enough so that people who know me will ask if I have stogies they can smoke and, of course, I do and provide them with a selection to choose from. I usually bring good cigars because I wouldn’t want to give anyone a cigar I wouldn’t smoke or know nothing about.

As far as “good” is concerned, that has nothing to do with how they’re commonly rated or by their cost. They’re cigars I enjoy from inexpensive bundle cigars like Rolys or Cusano M1 and to midrange Gran Habano and higher-end Oliva (of which I have an abundance right now) and Montecristo.

But in giving out cigars, I’ve learned a few things over the years:

1. 99.9% of the people I give them to are not aficionados and will not have the appreciation I have for cigars, or oftentimes they’ll be too drunk to care whether it’s a premium cigar. So, I just make sure they’re tasty and let it go at that.
2. The cigars are gifts, so once they’re out of my possession, I don’t worry if they smoke maybe an inch or so because that’s usually what happens.
3. I’ve also learned to bring sticks that do not have a huge nicotine hit. I don’t prefer to smoke sticks like that anyway. But before I got into the hobby in earnest, though I brought sticks I enjoyed, I didn’t gauge their nicotine strength and some folks got sick.
4. This one’s kind of tongue-in-cheek. But I make sure to tell my wife not to raid my humidor or tupperdores. She did this this past weekend for a wedding we attended. Luckily she raided my tupperdore for daily smokes. She thought I wouldn’t notice and I probably wouldn’t have. But I told her it’s a good thing she didn’t raid the other tubs because those were stronger, more sophisticated cigars (read: expensive) that I only bring a couple of to any event to either trade or give to those whom I know would appreciate them.
5. Speaking of which, while I do bring a variety of cigars, if I know there will be another aficionado there like myself, I will bring a few premiums that I will only give to or trade with them. This past summer, I traded a Plascencia Reserva Original for a Tatuaje Havana VI Verocu with a fellow aficionado. It’s funny because he normally prefers bold smokes and the Reserva Original is medium and stays medium. But he actually liked it enough that he was going to buy a box. As for that Tatuaje, that got me into smoking smaller gauge cigars.

All that said, when I bring cigars to an event, I take my aficionado hat off and give out what I enjoy. I never, ever, ever, ever bring shit cigars just because people won’t appreciate good ones. For those that would do that, don’t bring cigars to share and get over yourself. Besides, you never know if what you bring will turn someone on to the hobby.

For instance, when my wife raided my tupperdore this past weekend, she took several Rolys to give to the groomsmen, as she was charged with transporting the groom and groomsmen to the church and the reception. Our son was in the wedding and I had already given him a few Montecristo White Labels to share – which he never did – because my wife gave out the Rolys.

At the reception, I asked one of the groomsmen how he enjoyed the cigar and he raved about it and wanted to get more. His exact words were, “That Puros… can’t remember the full name…” I replied, “You mean Puros Indios Roly?” He then exclaimed, “Yeah! That’s the one! I loved it! It was smooth and I love that bit of sweetness. I want to get more!”

“Waitaminute!” I said, “I thought I gave you some really good Montecristos!” At that point, my wife fessed up and said she raided my stash. We had a laugh, but I just told her to ask me next time. I have plenty to share but am selective. But the cool thing was that we were also able to smoke the Montecristos together, so that was a win in the end.

The point to all this is that that groomsman asked where he could get them, and I directed him to Cigars International where I got them. He ordered a 20-pack of the Habano Robustos and said he has been wanting get more into the hobby. After he ordered, I warned him and said, “Look, those are less than 2-bucks a stick. But if you get into the hobby, just know that it can easily get expensive very quickly. You’ll eventually want to try even more sophisticated cigars. But start out buying singles or get a variety pack from Cigars International or Cigar Page. Stay within your means.”