The Importance of Having Cigars You Don't Like

[Shelby07]

A while back I decided I was going to stick with cigars I knew and liked and quit chasing every new cigar that came out. I just discovered that there is a real reason not to do that.

The other day a bunch of friends came over for my birthday. As always happens, a few of them who were non smokers wanted to smoke a cigar.

Now, I'm not saying I dislike my friends or want to give them crappy sticks. I always try to give things to fellow BOTL's that I feel they will enjoy, and to be quite honest, I derive a lot of personal pleasure from maybe introducing them to something new or getting them something that might be hard to get. The expense is never an issue. But a non cigar smoker is quite another thing. They neither know, nor would they recognize a good cigar. The scenario is always the same. They take the cigar and ask me to cut it for them. Then they light it with all the care and delicacy usually reserved for arsonists. They stick the foot directly into the flame and suck hard enough to pull a golf ball through a straw. Once "lit" they take it out of their mouth and admire this once beautiful thing that now looks like something that just went through a blast furnace, and lovingly and wistfully proclaim what a great smoke it is. "Mmm.. That's a good cigar... Lots of chocolate!". (Sometimes I think I could shit in a maple leaf and someone would light it and tell me it tastes like chocolate.) Soon after, the thing that brought them so much blissful pleasure is standing straight up in an ashtray, crushed like a smart car that just tangled head on with a freight train.

So, I've been giving them the crap and stuff I don't like (mostly acquired a while back from folks who received points for their "generosity.") My friends must really like them because they continue to ask for more whenever they come over.

Well, this time when I looked in my humidor, I found that I had nothing I disliked. It pained me to see some good cigars be sacrificed for the sake of politeness.

So, I'm going to start chasing a few more cheap sticks that might actually hold some promise of being decent. I figure if I have to sacrifice them to the God of friendship I might as well keep the price down.