Me & My Cigar
I slipped a leaf from the very dead pepper plant on my porch into my book as a makeshift bookmark. Now, just watching the ribbon of smoke loft from my cigar, I am reminded of what got me into the world of fermented, cured, and rolled tobacco. I've spent some time working in cigar shops, pairing whiskey and rum with cigars. I've been to an IPCPR show, learning more about the business end than I had ever really cared to know. I've written to senators and congressmen about cigar-based legislation, taking what may have been my first real political stand on anything. So as I sit here, I think about that first cigar.
It was a chilly April morning years ago as I sat with my friend behind the coffee shop we used to frequent. He pulled two cigars from his topcoat with this grin that can only really be explained as pure bliss. He handed me this short cigar (Arturo Fuente Short Story, for those wondering) and handed me a punch cutter. I messed that cut up, somehow. Don't ask, I don't even know how to fuck something that easy up so royally. I lit it up with an old BIC lighter I found in my blue NIKE ripstop jacket. I inhaled. I coughed. I felt stupid. But I got the hang of it after a few more puffs. Slowly, I felt this internal happiness. I don't know where it was coming from, just that it existed and had manifested itself in me. Now I must state now, that the Short Story is still one of my most beloved cigars. It's a great pick-me-up when I need it and a great relaxer when I need it. That cigar and I have become friends, if I can be so bold to state it in such a fashion.
Now, I must add at this point, that I am in the culinary field, professionally. Somehow, and I'm unsure as to how, my cigar mentor found that my palette could handle tobacco as well as it could handle food. He taught me how to taste for things and, in turn, learn a great deal about tobacco. I owe mush of my appreciation for this wold to him. Enough so that he is the only person to privately own one of my paintings. He's the one who gave me my first opportunity to glimpse into the cigar industry and community as a part of the family, and not just an observer. It was, and, for that matter, still is, a true blessing.
Over the past seven years, from that first cigar to now, I have earned the friendship of some really great cigar people. Through Twitter, IPCPR shows, and herfs, I have been welcomed into this truly amazing world. This has only made my passion grow deeper. So now, as I sit here, smoking a Perdomo LOT 23 Maduro, sipping on a drab of Willet Family Reserve bourbon, thinking about the ribbon of smoke that lofts from my cigar, I think I can say that this world is now part of me. So there's a little insight into a part of what makes me.
It was a chilly April morning years ago as I sat with my friend behind the coffee shop we used to frequent. He pulled two cigars from his topcoat with this grin that can only really be explained as pure bliss. He handed me this short cigar (Arturo Fuente Short Story, for those wondering) and handed me a punch cutter. I messed that cut up, somehow. Don't ask, I don't even know how to fuck something that easy up so royally. I lit it up with an old BIC lighter I found in my blue NIKE ripstop jacket. I inhaled. I coughed. I felt stupid. But I got the hang of it after a few more puffs. Slowly, I felt this internal happiness. I don't know where it was coming from, just that it existed and had manifested itself in me. Now I must state now, that the Short Story is still one of my most beloved cigars. It's a great pick-me-up when I need it and a great relaxer when I need it. That cigar and I have become friends, if I can be so bold to state it in such a fashion.
Now, I must add at this point, that I am in the culinary field, professionally. Somehow, and I'm unsure as to how, my cigar mentor found that my palette could handle tobacco as well as it could handle food. He taught me how to taste for things and, in turn, learn a great deal about tobacco. I owe mush of my appreciation for this wold to him. Enough so that he is the only person to privately own one of my paintings. He's the one who gave me my first opportunity to glimpse into the cigar industry and community as a part of the family, and not just an observer. It was, and, for that matter, still is, a true blessing.
Over the past seven years, from that first cigar to now, I have earned the friendship of some really great cigar people. Through Twitter, IPCPR shows, and herfs, I have been welcomed into this truly amazing world. This has only made my passion grow deeper. So now, as I sit here, smoking a Perdomo LOT 23 Maduro, sipping on a drab of Willet Family Reserve bourbon, thinking about the ribbon of smoke that lofts from my cigar, I think I can say that this world is now part of me. So there's a little insight into a part of what makes me.
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