Thor with his dad Dave at Davidoff London, 1997

Back in the 1990s when I was just getting into this hobby, the closest I had gotten to a Cuban cigar was in one of my cigar books or Cigar Aficionado Magazine, at least until a family trip to London.  When we went on vacation my mom always asked us what we would like to see. I only had two requests: I wanted to go to Davidoff’s London shop and check out the humidor in Harrod’s department store.

“The Best”

Pretty much any literature about cigars at that time painted the same picture and that was a Cuban cigar was the best the world had to offer.  That sort of hype can bring an elevated level of excitement and expectation.  One of the first stops on our trip was the Harrods Department Store that also had a cigar shop.  European shops weren’t interested in the “domestic cigars” back then (especially with most of the cigars being made in the 90s), so we were guaranteed to get our hands on some Cuban cigars.  We were finally able to see them first hand and inside a reputable humidor filled floor to ceiling.  I was young enough where the clerk could easily assume I didn’t know anything about cigars and he could have stopped us before we had a chance to come close to the humidor, but my dad and I quickly walked in.

The smell inside the humidor was captivating, different form what I had experienced here in the US, Cuban tobaccos were all I could smell.  I fought every urge to pick up each cigar.  I looked over my shoulder and saw my dad with a cigar sandwiched between his mustache and nose with at least three more cigars rolling between his fingers. Those cigars and my dad were quickly committed to each other whether he knew it or not.  The shop clerk was swift to act, however, and placed all his cigars in a tray and offered his assistance.

What stuck out the most about that is that the clerk could see our enthusiasm and aided in heightening the experience.  Not only was he extremely patient with us, he was nice about it and answered as many questions as we had time for.  My mother, who had shopped on every floor of the store by this time, had come back surprised that we were still in the humidor. She was also amazed that a conversation could be held for so long about cigars.  It was a new world opening up to all of us.  Until that exact moment I was only able to read about the cigars that were in front of me.  We never felt rushed and took our time examining all of the traditional shapes, sizes and Cuban cigar brands.

The First Cuban

The cigars we bought at Harrod’s though, weren’t the first ones we tried.  When we finally made it to the London Davidoff shop we picked up a couple Cuaba cigars.  Probably not the best choice for a couple of newbies but later that night in the hotel bar, for some reason, those were the ones that we chose to light up.  We both remember those cigars being way too “strong” for us, making us both a little sick by the time we were done.  We were in that bar for far too long.  Eventually, my mom came down looking for us since it was getting so late and we had a full day planned starting very early in the morning.  My dad and I remember her coming down in her bath robe (she remembers it differently), clearly pissed that we were still down there. A guy next to us said “You’re in trouble now mate.” And turned his back to us.  My dad and I could both hear the theme music for the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz, thinking that we were in for it.  By that time, though, we were both ready to lay down.  That first experience wasn’t exactly a good one, but the memory of it is one of the best.

The difference today from when I was just getting into cigars in the 1990s is the quality that line the shelves here at home.  A lot of my memories from those early days involved Cuban cigars because that is what you always heard were “the best” and they were something you always wanted to try and get.  Today I rarely smoke them. There really is nothing like Cuban tobacco, but the same can be said for Nicaraguan, Dominican and other tobaccos from different countries.  There are so many outstanding cigars around today I don’t think twice about it.  To this day being able to spend time browsing around a walk-in humidor has the same effect as it always has.  It’s the first moment you connect with a cigar.  The smell of tobacco and cedar in warm humid air immediately transports you into a different world.

My first Cuban cigar experience sticks out in my mind so clearly, not because of the cigar itself but because of the memory.  It was the first cigar I smoked with my dad.  Smoking a Cuban cigar is like checking it off a list, something you can say you’ve done to widen your knowledge and experience.  People just getting into the hobby today are lucky since there are so many great cigars available in your local shop.  The idea that Cuban cigars are the “the best” doesn’t really seem to have a hold as it once did. People have a lot of resources at their fingertips. Still, getting to try a Cuban cigar is something that everyone in this hobby probably still strives to do, if nothing more to be able to say that you’ve done it.  It may not even be the cigar that stands out the most, but the memory of it.