Do You Collect Cigars or Buy to Smoke?

I’ve got a great cigar collection – it’s actually not a collection, because that would imply I wasn’t going to smoke every last one of ’em.
Ron White

I have to admit, I am a bit of a cigar collector, at least by Ron White’s definition. Over the years I have purchased cigars that were meant for enjoying during a special occasion or a celebration. I find that some cigars resting in my coolidors have seen special occasions come and go, all the while never getting even close to the flame of my lighter.

It seems strange to have some of these cigars and know that I’ll probably never smoke them, especially since they are for smoking. I suppose I worry that after my prized cigar is turned to ash, I will never be able to replace it. In addition, what if it is the best cigar I have ever smoked and I torture myself by enjoying it only to never see one again. On the flip-side, what if the cigar is down right terrible and it spoils the occasion or celebration?

The simple solution would be to simply fire it up when the opportunity presents itself. If the cigar is fantastic, just drink in the moment and appreciate the cigar for what it is. If it is terrible, just pitch it and move on to something I know will turn out better.

Back in my early days of cigar smoking, I coveted anything that I felt was outside of my price range. Over time I realized the cigars were doing me no good resting in the humidor. Since then I have been finding reasons to smoke those coveted cigars, even if I’m celebrating something foolish like mowing my lawn during a heat wave without getting heat stroke.

Even with my efforts to smoke my higher priced cigars, I still find it difficult to touch flame to a select few of them. Those cigars may just wind up sitting in the cooler forever, but they have a special meaning behind them that is worth more than the enjoyment I would get from smoking them.

One of those coveted cigars is a 2005 Fuente Fuente Opus X Forbidden X. It was a gift given to me by Jerry Cruz with the stipulation that we would smoke those cigars together on the day that we each made a cool million bucks from Stogie Review. It was a running joke for a long time and I doubt we will be smoking those cigars in our lifetime. For the meaning behind that particular cigar, I’m willing to hold on to it indefinitely and simply look at it from time to time.