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I never got along with smoking as I was growing up especially if you consider my first experience with them. I was 10 years old and I took one of my mother's Salem cigarettes in to the bathroom.

Sitting on the seat with my pants still on, I lit up. I took one or two drags and proceeded to start coughing. My Mother came up the stairs and hearing me she knocked on the door to see what was wrong. I yelled I was all right and started pulling off long strands of toilet paper noisily and throwing it in the toilet while I was still sitting on it. Mom tried the door and with that I flipped the cigarette under me into the toilet. The paper burst into flames and as Mom pushed open the door the fire was starting to singe my pants and come up between my legs. "Get up you damn fool," my mother yelled. I stood up, my pants were smoking and Mom walked over and flushed the toilet putting out the fire. Looking at me with disbelief she asked "What the hell is wrong with you" and shaking her head walked out the door. I would have been red in the face if I wasn't turning green from the cigarette.

I smoked Kent and Marlboro in between sports in High School but always felt a little sick from it. I could never finish a whole cigarette. Some time in 1970 I smoked two cigarettes back to back, turned green and never touched them again. I remember taking apart a White Owl Cigar once, it was tobacco rolled inside a cardboard like paper. Cigars were usually not welcomed in any restaurant because of the smell. Most people regarded them as just "Stinky." In the mid 90's cigars started to become popular but not the old domestic ones, these were from Cuba, Santa Domingo, Puerto Rice, Costa Rica and other exotic islands. They were hand rolled and made from the finest tobacco leaves. Big deal, so what - to most of us they were just a little better then the Stogies Uncle Joe use to smoke laced with anisette. They became status symbols for the guys making big money. Men would come into Danny's with a plastic bag carrying 4 or 5 cigars each worth $20 or more. They wanted to smoke them at the bar but with people having dinner there we had to say no. The funny thing was that most these men owned million dollar homes but their wives would not let them smoke cigars in the house and many of them were restricted to outside their homes or in their garages. When it came to cigars in the homes, Wives rule.

Cigars stores started to open. In Red Bank the Red Door had been there for years, Ashes opened up as a Restaurant and cigar store. The tinder box opened on White Street and all seemed to hold their own in business. This was all in the mid 90's and one store that opened in Ocean Township was Cigar City owned by Frank Natale. The Natale family was a Red Bank Family for years and I knew Frank growing up. A close friend of mine traveling abroad and was bringing me back world class cigars. I kept giving them away and then one day I realize that these cigars were worth $25 dollars or more each. I needed to know more about the mystique and so running into Frank Natale I asked him to educate me about them. In my next story I will tell you what I learned.

Over the years many friends and customers have handed me cigars or asked me if I smoke them. I always said no. At times I would accept them and give them to people I knew were fund of good cigars A very close friend of mine who travels a great deal brought me back a collection of cigars from all over the world. When I realized some of these cigars cost $15 to $40 I decided not to give them away and maybe fine out what the mystique about them was. Within days I found myself at the Cigar Shop in Ocean Township owned by an old friend and customer Frank Natale. I spent and hour talking to him as he educated me about the cigars I had and by the time I left the shop I owned a humidor, five more cigars, a magazine called Cigar Aficionado. After dinner that night with friends I took out what I was told was an excellent cigar. I lit it and to my surprise it tasted great while sipping a great glass of wine. It smelled surprisingly good. A women sitting next to me commented on it and upon trying it herself was amazed at the taste. Folks, I got to tell you, it felt pretty good. It topped off the meal and as long as I did not inhale I felt great. I received a great education from four cigar stores that I visited. Here is what I learned.

The Cigar Store in Ocean Township:

From Frank Natale at the Cigar store I learned that Christopher Columbus had found the local Indians on the many Caribbean Islands he visited smoking rolled up tobacco leaves. He took them back to Spain and England and the tobacco industry was born. Cuba claims to have the finest tobacco in the world due to soil and processing however other countries like Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Costa Rica have been turning out world class cigars for many years and the technology they have developed enabled them to out produce Cuba whose cigar industry labored years behind under Fidel Castro. Also needing money Castro pushes out cigars with less aging the perhaps they should have. Some years ago a company from Spain, Altadis, who controlled distribution for most major brands in the world, paid Castro $500,000,000 for sole distribution rights to Cuba's cigar production. They are gearing up the plants in Cuba now so that when the embargo is lifted Cuba will be able to produce 260 million cigars a year.

Cigars are classified by length and diameter. Ring size is used just like measuring your ring finger. A Romeo & Juliet has a ring size of 52 and is 5 inches long. The C.A.O. Nicaraguan has a ring size of 54 and is 6 inches long. The Cuban Cohiba is a ring gauge of 52 and a length of 6 inches. They also are rated on a 100 point system just like fine wine. They can also be aged for 10 to 20 years just like wine. Frank has a large selection of Padrons including the Anniversary Edition; he rates them as one of the best along with Monte Cristo, La Aurura, Arturo Fuente, Don Lino and Romeo & Juliet. His store has a lounge for his customers to relax in while trying out his cigar and a full line of humidors. Frank and I will be doing a fine wine, cigar and appetizers party around October 16th. You can email me for information.

The Tinder Box in Red Bank:

Tony Kluxen opened his store on White Street in 1997. It sports a cigar lounge, a large assortment of world class cigars and a knowledgeable owner. Tony was kind enough to cut two cigars open to show me the difference between a domestic moderate priced cigar and a premium one. Slicing the low end cigar in half he showed me the inside which was chopped tobacco filler surrounded by a synthetic paper cover and leaves pressed together to become the outside wrapper. My mind flashed to when I was a kid and unrolled a White Owl. The center looked like cigarette tobacco. The holder was cardboard and the cover was brown paper. Upon opening the premium cigar the center was a blend of whole rolled leaves, hand picked. The Cover was one premium leave and the out side wrap was a Cameroon leave from Africa. His favorite cigars are Padron Anniversary, Opus X Fuentes, Diamond Crown Fuentes, Bahia and Paul Garmiriaili. More than a cigar store, the Tinder Box is a great place to browse for a gift for just about anyone.

The Red Door:

One of the oldest tobacco and cigar shops in the area it was opened 12 to 15 years ago by Tom Guilford. He sold out to Lou Lanza and Kevin Williams some three years ago. Today is an eclectic shop repairing golf clubs, selling an assortment of tobacco products and a limited amount of cigars. A number of cigar shops that were open in this area years ago have closed. In 1998 or 1999 New Jersey needed to finance their Emergency Hospital Room bill to provide services to anyone that needed it regardless of ability to pay for it. They raised the liquor tax again but also put a 48% increase on all tobacco products. This increase seemed to knock the bottom out of most cigar stores.

Ashes Restaurant:

Some of the neatest information came from Telly Lekacol owner of Ashes Restaurant. A surgeon at Monmouth Hospital in Long Branch, Telly built Ashes as a restaurant and cigar club with a very well stocked cigar store as part of the facility. From him I learned that Cuban soil contains Lithium and that there is .275 mega grams of it in each cigar, talk about a smoke that make you happy! Walter Fiorelli, manager of the cigar store, felt that the Aurturo Fuentes and the C.A.O. cigars were one of the best in the world. I asked him how much of a $20 to $30 cigar you should smoke and he quoted Mark Twain. "The last third of a $5 cigar taste like a 5 cents cigar." Just throw it away was his answer. And finally John Michail, a very knowledgeable young man in the store told me the following: When you light your cigar warm the tip with a flame first, do not touch the flame to the tip but use the heat from it. Don not use regular matches and never light a cigar more the three times or after it has gone out for over and hour.

I have smoked three cigars in the last two weeks but I swear folks I did not inhale.