What’s the Best Cigar I’ve EVER Smoked? Well… by Tommy Zman
“The greatest cigar to smoke is the one you are currently smoking” - Zino Davidoff
Over the years, I’ve been asked many times, “Zman, what is the best cigar that you’ve ever smoked?” While some people can answer that question, I find it almost impossible because I don’t think you can judge a good or great cigar on its own merit. Sure I have my personal favorites and even some all-time faves, but I can’t find myself naming one single cigar the “best ever” because there are just SO MANY great sticks I’ve had in my life. But I think most importantly, the enjoyment we usually get from a cigar has to do with the experience surrounding it.
Where you are and what you are doing at that particular time is what really makes a cigar most memorable. Weddings, babies being born, vacations and trips, these are all places and times we enjoy the hell out of the experience that goes along with smoking a fine stogie. I remember my first cigar ever at a wedding I was in and it is up there with one of the finest smokes I can ever remember. It was a Partagas #10 - and old-school stick that isn’t known for being high end or expensive, but it’s always had a place in my heart because of that memorable family wedding – and the fact that it popped my tobacco cherry.
I’m fortunate enough to have visited the tobacco fields, barns, and factories in Honduras and the Dominican Republic. I remember in both General Cigar’s facility in Santigo and the old Villazon factory in Cofradia, there were cigars of absolutely every type laying around for me to smoke. “Take whatever you want, when you want,” is all I heard for days and trust me when I say that I fully complied with their demands. In the morning, their conference room table would have fresh Dominican coffee and a choice 
of inexpensive Connecticut wrapped smokes for the taking. Of course these were cigars I didn’t normally enjoy, but when you factor in the “experience” these were some of the best “smokes” I ever had in all of my life! I mean I’m sitting with then General Cigar CEO, Daniel Nunez and then JR bossman Lew Rothman, having breakfast and drinking wickedly strong java that grew extra hair on my chest. When you light up a cigar – almost ANY cigar – under those circumstances, you can pretty much assume its going to be simply amazing.
There was another time when a close friend whom I truly love was moving 6 hours away (by plane) and it would be sometime before I would see him again. My wife and I took him and his wife out for an sumptuous dinner feast at a steakhouse that had an awesome little cigar bar tucked away on their top floor. After dinner, we headed up for cigars and several belts of our favorite libations as we told stories and wiped away a few tears. I remember my buddy and I firing up Punch Grand Cru #2‘s and smoking them ”til our thumbs and forefingers were burning. While I have had many delicious cigars in my lifetime, you have to know that square-pressed Honduran pyramid was right up there with the finest smokes I can ever remember. The emotions of that night, the food, the friends – wow, I can still smell those sticks when I close my eyes.
So, now I have to ask, what’s YOUR favorite cigar ever? Think about where you were and what you were doing and you’ll know why it was your favorite.
PLEASE SUPPORT Cigar Rights of America as they continue to deal with congress, the senate, and all US legislators who need to be made aware that our cigars are the best friends we know of and we will fight like hell to keep them in our lives! >>http://cigarrrights.org
Smoke ‘em cuz ya gottem my friends,
JR Cigars Blog with the Zman
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