A good stogie

This thread should be a good one to compliment OPs threat on single malt Scotch. What's your idea of a good stogie to burn when the time is right? Arturo Fuentes, Romeo Y Julietas, Macanudo, Partagas, Motecristo, CAO, Swisher Sweets (tips/no tips), Robustos, Churchills, Lonsdales, Torpedoes, puritos, cigarillos, name you stick and style. Dominican, Cubano, Mexican, wherever it came from makes no matter.

I don't have a favorite stick to stick to, but as of late I have a new go to smoke when nothing fancy or stylish is called for - the Kentucky Cheroot. Smoked by Clint Eastwood himself in such iconic movies as "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, High Plains Drifter, and a Fistful of Dollars" to name a few. They do not require to be kept in a humidor, just keep them dry and their good as when you just opened the box. I smoke these when out riding the lawnmower or burning something on the pit. Sometimes I put the Cigar Factory New Orleans puritos into the rotation as well, but the Cheroots have moved into the #1 spot.

Just yesterday while riding my new 52" Scag ZTR, I celebrated by firing up an Arturo Fuente given to me by a former Marine Corps of the full bird type and current drinking buddy. Man that thing was a firecracker I'm here to tell you. Gave me a buzz like I poured a couple three, four shots of Wild Turkey down the pie hole. Had to go over the yard again in the other direction to straighten out the lines if you know what I mean.

Anyhoo, time for your favs and stories.

 

Yes, Kentucky Cheroots. Ordered them off the Avanti Cigars website. Give them a try. If you don't like them, send the rest to me.

Kentucky Cheroots - Avanti Cigars | 100% Handpicked Tobacco

 

I don’t smoke anymore but when I did I smoked swisher sweets and Garcia-Vega. I smoked from around 1964 till 1991. Cigars, cigarettes and a pipe. In March1990 I was diagnosed with non hodgkins large cell lymphoma, in my throat, thyroid and in stage one in my upper chest. I had 23 radiation treatments and 8 months of chemotherapy. I lost all my hair and felt sick most of the time. I tried to work with the treatments but got run down and got pneumonia. I went in the hospital and they had to stop the treatments temporarily or it would have killed me, so the doctor said. He also said to stop working until the treatments were over. Now, I was a paint line supervisor in an industrial setting and worked around a lot of paint fumes, chemicals and degreasers and this may have well contributed to my cancer and not the smoking. But when I went into remission in January of 1991, I thought that I should stop the smoking. As far as work, it was all I ever knew how to do and I worked at it until I retired from industry. I am good today except for a sinus condition and I still cough a lot at times. A good cigar, however, would taste good at times. I didn’t have to tell you all this to talk about a good stogie, but I thought I would, anyway.

 

A few years ago when I still had my cigar business (I had a route and set up a booth at trade shows), I was set up at one of the local venues in a gun show. It didn't take long to develop a regular clientele there. There were several older gents who came by to shoot the breeze and take in the aroma. I had seven humidors set up on my display, so to the experienced nose it was a wonderful thing. One dude in particular had similar problems as you explained. He never asked to buy anything, and I never tried to sell him anything. One day he walked up, and had that kid in the candy store look on his face. I invited him behind the counter so to speak and to open up any humidor of his choosing and sniff away. He was in hog heaven. Stood there and opened all seven humidors and took in all he could that way. I gave him one cigar with orders to not smoke it, just put it in his mouth. You would think that I gave him a thousand dollars. About an hour later he came back to the booth to show me the gnawed on stogie I gave him, to show that he listened to me about not firing it up. I slipped him another one and re-issued the orders. He smiled and left. The next show he came up to me and had 4 or 5 Swisher Sweets in his shirt pocket and one in his pie hole. He said that he just holds them in his mouth and chews on them, and that he never fires them up. Said it took him a long time to prove to his wife that that's all he did with them. Said that she finally gave in and let him have his stogies, but only to chew on them and not to smoke them. It's the little things in life that makes it bearable I guess.

 

Yes, I suppose with the Swisher Sweets you can still get that “sweet” taste in your mouth. I used to like to sit out on my patio in spring, fall and summer when it was close to sundown, and look down through the fields and into the woods and watch for the deer to come into the field. I could still do that, but the cigar just made it a bit more enjoyable.