After the cigar arrived in my office, I spent weeks re-humidifying it to the perfect humidity. As one might guess, it had dried out significantly over the past 60+ years! In fact I had a special system built into my display case that automatically humidified the cigar, and would notify me on my cell phone when the cigar was to the correct humidity, as well as when to refill the humidifier with distilled water when it was about to run out! I know, I know, a little over the top…but it worked.
The interesting thing is that every single time I mentioned my new amusing treasure to a friend or colleague, the same exact comment would come up. They would laughingly, but sort-of-seriously say, “You should smoke it.” And don’t think the thought hadn’t passed my mind, but I quickly dismissed it. However, hearing this same thought over and over again made me think…
What if there was a way I could share a cigar with Sir Winston Churchill.
I would definitely do it. But, more importantly, what if I could give a small group of people, the last chance on earth to share a cigar with Sir Winston Churchill….
In a fit of intrigue, I called my good friend Bob Payne of Payne Mason cigars. He thought the idea amusing, but was somewhat equally appalled at the thought of smoking a 60 year old cigar and ruining a piece of history all at the same time. Nonetheless, we decided it could be done forensically and carefully to analyze the historic make up of the cigar, and we could give some cigar collectors the opportunity of a lifetime. After all, who wouldn’t want to inhale some wisdom from one of the most unique characters in all of history? (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
There’s just a little more to the story, as well as the lessons you can garner from how we prepared and packaged it.
You can see all of that HERE, and who knows, you may just want one yourself or for a gift for that person you know who literally has everything!
But, the lesson here is that you are surrounded by opportunity all the time, even when you least expect it. Just look around and ask yourself the question: what is possible, then go for it! You will often even surprise yourself with what you hadn’t previously thought possible. You are surrounded by opportunity, you simply have to recognize it and act. I’d love to hear any stories you have of acting on an opportunity that many others would have missed. Feel free to share them in the comments!