My Final Third Cigar Story

In 1992 my wife Lisa and I found out we were pregnant with our first child just six months after we tied the knot. Shortly after, my wife bought me a set golf clubs for Fathers Day (before my first daughter was born) that I had my eyes on because golf was a great sport to hang out with buddies, drink some beer, get some exercise and enjoy the outdoors - much like fishing and hunting has been for me over the years. I soon discovered that golf course clubhouses also had something I hadn’t thought of before that time - cigars!

So it became a ritual - show up an hour before tee time, grab a bucket of balls, a couple of beers, and pick out my cigar for the round. At that time you typically were choosing from Cohiba, Macanudo, Romeo y Julieta, Partagas, and the like. My first cigar was a Cohiba on the links of Myrtle Beach, SC. Cigar smoking was tied directly to golfing, and usually while on vacation playing one week out of the summer.

Golf went away for the most part when I chose to be there more for my kids than playing golf several times a week - when I am in on something I am all in whether it was golf or kids. At that time I had a hard time doing both, so the kids won out, and deservedly so!

But as all good things do, cigars made a return in my life! I had picked up a small humidor in the early 90’s and it caught my eye one day so I seasoned it and added a few cigars from my local shop. It took no more than a few weeks before I filled that one up and realized I needed a bigger humidor! So I got a 250 count humidor and the obsession was in full force! My love for the leaf has grown into a desire to create this page and connect with as many in the cigar realm as one can personally do! My passion for cigars has developed into a strong desire to spend the rest of my life sharing my love for the leaf and hopefully connecting and teaching along the way!

The name Final Third Cigar came one night as I was enjoying a great cigar. Flavors were complex and smoke was billowing. I thought to myself, smoking this cigar through the first, second, and final third all the way to the nub is the experience I will always look back to as I compare simply good cigars to the most excellent cigars! And that night I created the IG page and an idea was born in my head for the future.

I retired from my sales job of nearly 30 years and became the General Manager of a cigar lounge for a year before obtaining a building and creating the Final Third Cigar & Whiskey Lounge - a comfortable space where everyone feels valued and welcome, sharing my passion for cigars and bourbon! This is my retirement plan, so I hope to sit down with you over a great cigar and a glass of bourbon and simply share life! Isn’t that what all these trips around the sun are all about anyway?

There is so much more to the story, so one day may we meet over a cigar and a beverage while having a great conversation! Until then…keep smoking!