Cigars: The gifts that keep on giving

I recently made a new friend online who has been sharing his cigar smoking experiences with me. He's been writing to me, asking if I smoked this cigar or that cigar, and in some cases I've answered "no." So, in his enthusiasm for me to share his experience with these cigars he offered to send me some. This is not the first time this has happened, but it's happened often enough that I felt it was finally time to touch upon this subject. Certainly, many of you reading this can relate.

About two weeks ago his package arrived and the cigars were very enjoyable. In return, I will be sending him a little care package from my stash.

What I'm driving at is, part of the overall experience of enjoying premium cigars is the willingness to share, so I came up with a new rule:

When a cigar smoker is offered good cigars from a fellow cigar smoker, he should gladly accept, and is ethically obligated to reciprocate.

Not only have I seen examples of this practice on the cigar community websites, but here in the office, when someone buys a box of cigars or a box of samples comes in, we usually share the wealth or make a trade, especially if someone hasn't had that particular cigar. Even in the cigar store, when someone wins a box of cigars during an event, the winner will often share his good fortune with the other patrons.

We recently hired a new employee who, before getting the job didn't smoke cigars on a regular basis, and I look forward to seeing the smile on his face when he tells me, "Hey, that cigar was really nice."

There's nothing more satisfying than turning someone on to something you enjoy, and so much the better when your opinions of the cigar are in-sync. But even when the giftee is not as gung-ho over the cigar as you, discussing why also makes for good conversation.

So, let's keep paying it forward, and in that spirit cigars will be always be the gifts that keep on giving.

~ Gary Korb