Help, I am a Certified Cigar Nut

It’s amazing how you’ve progressed from a cigar newbie, to a budding aficionado, and into a veteran cigar smoker. Now you’ve smoked everything and have even circled back to previous loves you might be asking yourself: “What’s next? Where do I go from here?”

Well, honestly I can’t tell you that because it’s your own journey. You just have to keep searching and keep smoking. I don’t believe there is an end point in the journey for a cigar smoker. There is only the beginning and the journey itself. I know that sounds awfully philosophical, but it’s true. I can’t tell you where to go now, and truthfully you probably wouldn’t listen to me anyway.

All I can tell you is to keep smoking and keep exploring. Every year there will be new releases to try, new blends to smoke and new brands to root for. That’s the great thing about this industry, it will always be there for you ready and waiting with something new.

Become a BOTL / SOTL

I can tell you what I’m doing in my journey as I have officially become a cigar nut. I’m trying to find ways to further this hobby and love of mine. I’m out there constantly talking with other brothers of the leaf (BOTL), I’m always learning more about the tobacco and the process.

I’m finding things that I like, hate, and absolutely love. That’s the favorite part of this journey so far. To me there are very things out there that are as much fun as sitting down and enjoying a cigar with good friends. I’m constantly trying to bring more people into the fold of cigar smoking. I’m trying to show them it’s more than just puffing on some tobacco. It’s about camaraderie  it’s about being social and together with people in a time when that’s increasingly more difficult to do.

As much as I’m online talking to people on a daily basis, I have a huge need / desire to actually sit down and talk with my friends. What better way to do that than with a cigar! That’s 2 hours of uninterrupted personal time with people I care about. It honestly doesn’t get better than that.

Track down some HTF Cigars

Another thing I’ve started getting into is tracking down HTF or Hard to Find cigars. These are the cigars that are limited releases, or vintage sticks that you can only read about it. It’s fun to connect with people in forums and figure out who has what and try to find a way to swap something they have for something you have.

For me it’s not about trying to find a good deal on some vintage sticks. I just want to try and get some of these HTF cigars and smoke them for the experience. Just like I’m sure you don’t go pay for a vacation and not go out and enjoy it. I’m not about paying for vintage cigars and not enjoying them! Right now I’m the research phase of this adventure and I’m always looking for things that are out there and available. I haven’t found anything that has really piqued my interest yet, but it sure is fun to look!

I’ve been spending a lot of time on some of these awesome forums below to track down some HTF cigars:

BOTL Trading Zone

By the way, if you don’t frequent these forums then you definitely should start! There is a wealth of knowledge to be had, and a lot of time to be wasted as well, but hey at least you’re wasting time on something you love right?

Time to Give Back

This is the exact reason that I started this website. I love smoking cigars, drinking spirits, and I love writing. I feel like I’ve gained an immense amount of knowledge in all of these aspects and I try to give that information back to you all as much as I can.

I have a philosophy when it comes to learning. I feel like if I can’t adequately explain something to you, then I obviously don’t completely understand it myself. That’s why I write some of these posts. I feel like in order for me to fully understand the subject I have to be able to explain it to you all. Therefore, I’m giving back to you and hopefully you’re getting something out of it as well.

That’s the purpose to all these reviews, I’m trying to convey what I experienced with the cigar and describe to you. You may or may not agree with it, but hey, we all have different palates and different experiences.

That leaves me to my final request from this series. It’s time for you to give back to this cigar community. Go out and do something that helps promote this industry that we all love. You can do something as simple as joining the CRA , join some cigar forums and welcome newbies, or hell you can even start your own cigar blog! I’ll even help you if you don’t have a clue about how website work.I think we can all give something back to this community that gives so much to us.

Ok, I’m stepping down off my soapbox and I’m ending this series of The Journey from Cigar Newbie to Cigar Nut. I hope you’ve all enjoyed it and hopefully learned something from it.

Now, it’s time to get back to reviewing some cigars and giving back more to you, the cigar smokers!

Thanks,

Eric