Greetings

[Drewster]

Welcome to the forum

[Dorsetman]

Welcome Uncle, thank you for the interesting intro.

[Uncle Dave]

I've been smoking cigars, on and off, for fifty plus years now. Initially, it was just the occasional pack of Hamlet, Manikin, or other "cheap" UK small cigars. Whilst in the Army serving in Germany, I started smoking (and inhaling) those cheap Brazilian coffin nails and I still enjoy good Brazilian cigars, e.g. CAO's Brasilia, though I've since discovered that it's worth paying more. I gave up for a few years and started again when living and working in Germany a few years after I left the Forces, trying various cigars just for the sake of it and that's continued.

At times in my life, I've been able to afford Cubans and still keep one or two for special occasions, but my favourite smokes have mostly been Nicaraguan for about twenty years now. My favourite ever was a box-pressed Nicaraguan called Dos Rios which came in a couple of sizes as I recall and I mostly smoked the Churchill - well, it was similar to a Churchill, not sure what they called it. That was discontinued sometime in the late 90s.

Open to debate maybe, but I don't find Cohiba are worth the premium and would always opt for a Montecristo No.2 as my goto Cuban. As an impecunious pensioner living back in the UK, I got my cigars when visiting Germany, latterly by post from Hacico in Hamburg but Brexit has made me think seriously about giving up, which, being 70, I was going to do anyway some time. My day-to-day (I usually smoke four or five days a week) smoke is Toscano Antico. Real character, bit aggressive, but if it was good enough for Clint Eastwood and Alberto Alessi then it's good enough for me.

I was given my "Uncle Dave" handle on a cycling email list in 1992 which is when I first discovered the internet.

UD