StayingWarm
Young Ape
I spent the weekend with some friends at the Kentucky Derby. One had never smoked a real cigar before while the other is a "wedding smoker." On Friday (Oaks Day), we came back from a betting run to find some unexpected guests in our seats (it was pouring so many people from the first level retreated to the covered second level). They were apologetic and went to leave, but we had more than enough room so we tried to make them feel welcome. A while later one of the guests pulled out a bag of smokes and offered them around. My eyes lit up at the generosity and I selected a CAO Brazilia (unsure of size; there were some Visions and other nice CAOs but I didn't want to appear greedy and like the Brazilia anyway). My buddies passed, but shortly after I lit up they both commented on the pleasant smell. I could tell the door was open. On the next round of betting I swung by one of the makeshift cigar shops in the paddock area and picked up 3 Ashton Heritage (again, no clue on size, I stink at that), as I thought it would be a nice, mild "starter smoke" for them. We ended the day after a nice dinner on my friend's porch shooting the bull for an hour or so with glasses of bourbon and our Ashtons. What a great evening!
Both my friends seemed jazzed about the smokes and one even mentioned trying another the next day, so we again stopped by the smoke shop and selected a trio of Macanudo Hyde Parks (again, I was looking for some nice sized, mild smokes). We spent the time b/t the 5th and 7th races enjoying some more great chatter with some bourbon & Cokes, kicking back in our suits and smokes. What a great day! To top it off, my longshot special hit in the 8th race (Intangaroo at 15:1), turning a big losing day into a small losing one, and invoking the "Julips rule" (any time someone hits a tickets of a certain $ amount, he has to buy a round of Julips for everyone in the group; this way, whenever one wins, we all win).
I suggested CS to my one friend as a place to learn more about cigars (as I'm hardly an expert being a relatively newbie myself), who seemed excited about picking up a stick or two for the next weekend. What a fun time I had sharing our great hobby with my friends.
Thanks for listening to my long, boring story. The lesson - as always - is how much fun it is to help some new gorillas down the slippery slope!
Cheers
StayingWarm
Both my friends seemed jazzed about the smokes and one even mentioned trying another the next day, so we again stopped by the smoke shop and selected a trio of Macanudo Hyde Parks (again, I was looking for some nice sized, mild smokes). We spent the time b/t the 5th and 7th races enjoying some more great chatter with some bourbon & Cokes, kicking back in our suits and smokes. What a great day! To top it off, my longshot special hit in the 8th race (Intangaroo at 15:1), turning a big losing day into a small losing one, and invoking the "Julips rule" (any time someone hits a tickets of a certain $ amount, he has to buy a round of Julips for everyone in the group; this way, whenever one wins, we all win).
I suggested CS to my one friend as a place to learn more about cigars (as I'm hardly an expert being a relatively newbie myself), who seemed excited about picking up a stick or two for the next weekend. What a fun time I had sharing our great hobby with my friends.
Thanks for listening to my long, boring story. The lesson - as always - is how much fun it is to help some new gorillas down the slippery slope!
Cheers
StayingWarm
