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BOTL UPCOMING MAINTENANCE
Hi Everyone, as mentioned in my introduction post, BOTL needs quite a bit of updating, patching and whatever else I might come across. Over the next few weekends BOTL may be unreachable on occasion as I do migrations or updates, etc. Just be patient - we'll be back! I'll generally try to keep these maintenances until later in the evenings.
Cigar Lifestyle
- Thread starter Jay_Habanos
- Start date
Alec Bradley American Sungrown. Just blew my mind. Then @BrewinHooligan told me to check out BOTL... What a mistakeeeeee! 
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- Mar 29, 2017
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- 7,398
For me- my friend gave me a cigar that was very pleasant, was light headed but thirsty. Not a high quality cigar, but probably one of the first hand rolled cigars I had. This is what turned me on to the taste but the harshness was rough. I continued to casually smoke but it was probably Ashton that took me from weekend smoker to lifestyle. It was the first true premium cigar I had and it had flavor without the cigar "hangover" I used to get with bad cigars. From there it was smoking 4-5 cigars per day.
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- Joined
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I don't consider my cigar smoking a lifestyle. To me it is more like a hobby.
ChuckMejia
The General
mjones9630
Who?
It's just a thing I enjoy. Not really a lifestyle for me, more akin to enjoying craft beer or fine spirits.. No briefcase and golfing, no bike chain bracelets and gaudy rings.. Just a cabinet full of smokes, to go with my cabinet full of booze!
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I didn't know that "lifestyle" had such negative perception. Seems that the debate turned into semantics. Is there a cigar that got BOTL into the "hobby" the lifestyle, the thing we do?
Was there a turning point when you started buying full boxes?
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ChuckMejia
The General
Who said anything about a negative perception?
I just agreed with Smokey, it's more of a hobby of sorts. It's not really a lifestyle imo.
And for me... smoking Cuban cigars in Afghanistan was my turning point.
I was wondering about the question, to me it was the first Tatuaje Noella I had, before that I would smoke infrequently bit that one turned me into a more serious hobby.
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bwhite220
Brandon | BotM Jan 2038
I look at it more as a hobby that turned into a passion.
It became a hobby for me when I joined my first forum back in 2007 and really started to grasp the nuances of individual cigars, got into trading/bombing and purchased my first winedor.
It became a passion for me when I started planing vacations around cigar shops/factories that I wanted to visit. When I go on trips (for work or personal) and make sure to hit up a few cigar shops to get to know the owners and their clients. When I started writing out business plans for a cigar shop that I will open when I retire. When I started hosting noob herfs at my house specifically to show guys who want to get into cigars how to do the basics so they are more comfortable going into B&Ms. I genuinely love the history behind factories/brands/icons and what their future roadmap(s) look like - I'm very passionate about the industry as a whole.
It became a hobby for me when I joined my first forum back in 2007 and really started to grasp the nuances of individual cigars, got into trading/bombing and purchased my first winedor.
It became a passion for me when I started planing vacations around cigar shops/factories that I wanted to visit. When I go on trips (for work or personal) and make sure to hit up a few cigar shops to get to know the owners and their clients. When I started writing out business plans for a cigar shop that I will open when I retire. When I started hosting noob herfs at my house specifically to show guys who want to get into cigars how to do the basics so they are more comfortable going into B&Ms. I genuinely love the history behind factories/brands/icons and what their future roadmap(s) look like - I'm very passionate about the industry as a whole.
I would say that is turned into a hobby when I smoked my first Padron's, then a trip down to Austin with a good friend (BIL) to see Dweezil Zappa at ACL included a stop at Bobalu's cemented it. It turned into a lifestyle when I bought my Newaire CC-300 and started amassing a stock of smokes for the future and exploring brands and began buying boxes.
BigSkySmoke
Lanceros, Cowgirls and Burritos
I have always become obbsesive when it comes to jumping into a new hobbies. Fly fishing, wrenching on a old truck and woodworking are the only ones that have stuck over the years. With cigars it's easy feel like you have to read and stare at a screen to absorb all the info out there...But the hobby truly became enjoyable for me when I quit looking at a screen and combined it to be enjoyable with the other hobbies I love.
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OleVaSmoker
Leafman
After my first padron maduro many years ago.... I was still in my early 20s but it made me take cigars seriously. Happened to be in rh cigar boom of the 1890s as well and wasn’t frowned upon as much socially as it is now. Nonetheless I still favor Nicaraguan tobaccos but enjoy Dominican cigars as well.
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+1 on the being obsessive bit.
Smoking and curing meats, astronomy, camping, boats, fishing, motorcycle riding........ I get into things full bore and try to learn as much as possible then eventually back up a bit and let them take their proper place with all the other things I enjoy doing. I'm still in the obsession phase of my cigar journey so it's a time consuming passion. I imagine it won't be long before I pretty much know the cigars I want to smoke, have a supply resting in storage and start looking for something else to get passionate about.
Is it a lifestyle? Not sure, but it is part of a what I do now.
BTW the first cigars that got me into the hobby where some fake Cubans my sister brought back from a cruise. I visited a B&M to ask about them, found out they where a weak example of what cigars really are and the journey began.
MyFathersKeeper
nicK
For me it clicked when I smoked a My Father #1
Agree with the others that it's more of a strong hobby.
Agree with the others that it's more of a strong hobby.
irratebass
www.blindmanspuff.com
I guess it went from hobby to lifestyle when wife cut me off from spending our $ on boxes and was OK with me getting a part time job......which was at a cigar shop......neither one of us knew what I was getting into.
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memphsdad
But I don't live in Memphis
I don't see the difference in hobby vs. lifestyle that everyone keeps trying to emphasize.
If I were never able to smoke another cigar again, would I be disappointed? Sure.
Would my world come to an end? Definitely not.
I started smoking cigars with a co-worker and really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the relaxation aspect and the idea of having a vice (that did not include alcohol/drugs/gambling) to take my mind off of the stress of everyday life.
Once I found online cigar communities, though, my cigar hobby/passion/lifestyle spiraled out of control lol.
As a few others have mentioned with their own stories, I tend to have an all or nothing type of dedication to hobbies. I'm glad that with cigars it has not been fleeting.
If I were never able to smoke another cigar again, would I be disappointed? Sure.
Would my world come to an end? Definitely not.
I started smoking cigars with a co-worker and really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the relaxation aspect and the idea of having a vice (that did not include alcohol/drugs/gambling) to take my mind off of the stress of everyday life.
Once I found online cigar communities, though, my cigar hobby/passion/lifestyle spiraled out of control lol.
As a few others have mentioned with their own stories, I tend to have an all or nothing type of dedication to hobbies. I'm glad that with cigars it has not been fleeting.