A cigar is a cigar.....but a Cuban is a smoke....

When I was a kid, my Dad would smoke cigars.....all the time. When I would ride up to San Francisco with him to pick up shipments for the store, I would take a nap on the way home with my head in his lap and he would be puffing on a stogie. That smell would comfort me. He would keep one in his shirt pocket and smoke at night on the backyard porch. I would sit out there with him on those summer nights and play around while he sat and smoked. My Dad gave up smoking because of his asthma but whenever I would smell a cigar, it would take me back to those summer nights on the porch with my old man.

I bring this all up because about a year ago, some buddies of mine were sitting around smoking cigars and asked if I wanted one. I said, sure! The rest is history. I now have a small collection of them in my humidor and I've started a cigar club with my friends. It's just another reason to get together and hang out. I don't smoke a lot by any means....a few a month but I really like to collect them. I like the way they smell and feel. I've collected a pretty nice assortment that I think any cigar smoker would appreciate. I just got a new one, it's a Camacho Pre-Embargo cigar. This particular cigar company had a few bales of Cuban leaf tobacco when the Cuban embargo went down. They release a certain number of cigars that are made from this tobacco, they are pretty rare and very expensive. Sure, you can mail order Cuban cigars from Canada but the thought of having a cigar made from tobacco that old is pretty cool. I won't smoke them....I'll wait for a very special occasion. But I do wish I could share one with my Dad on the back porch and talk about things. I would bust them out for him. Now that my Dad is old, his mind is not very sharp so our conversations are short now. Now that I'm older, I wish I could sit with my Dad, smoke a great cigar and have long discussions as adults. But for some reason, whenever I smell a cigar, I'm suddenly 10 years old, with my head on my Dad's lap taking a nap......