Hello, my name is Andy. I was interested in cigars as a boy. I don’t know where it came from. I’m guessing I saw it in a movie. The day I turned 18 I stopped at a gas station and picked up some cheap cigars. I quickly moved up to premium cigars and haven’t looked back. For many years I read some but mostly enjoyed them. The last few years I started getting deep into the lifestyle. Learning more and enjoying the experience the more I learned. A friend saw my passion and love of the leaf and started encouraged me to start my own thing.
I went deep after November 2018 after attending Cigar Aficionado’s Big Smoke in Las Vegas. Michael Giannini and Indiana Ortiz were hosting a rolling event. They had bunched cigars and showed people how to put the wrapper on then had people do it. I was hooked the second I sat down. That year I won 1st place and I was hooked. I found www.leafonly.com which sells tobacco and ordered some samples. That was the beginning of my journey into bunching and rolling my own. I took a class on bunching and rolling in 2022 in Tampa at La Faraona.
When Covid hit and I wasn’t sure if we could get fresh vegetables and cigars. So I started growing a few vegies and tobacco. I have a lot to learn about gardening… I ended up with 4 tobacco plants that survived! I plan to start growing in 2023 again.