All About Cigars

[Derek Sutton]

I'm very Novice and have only recently started buying them myself. What are some of your favorites? I've been buying various samplers (Rocky Pattel and some Carlos Torano) at various prices and can't wait to pick them up when I go on holidays next week. I'm also looking forward to suprising my co workers when I show up at my spring meetings with 50 or so to share.

[Alberta_Beef]

I haven't tried many but the best I tried was a gift, it was a Romeo y Julieta Cuban cigar.

[guzzy]

Cubans are definitely a step above everything. Cohibas are always great. Partagas Series D Number 4 is fantastic. For a great cheap Cuban try a H.Upmann Coronos Major. In Cuba they are about $4 a smoke. Amazing little cigar for $4. Cubans in Canada are ridiculously expensive.

For me I like the Nicaraguan. Padron makes some great high end smokes for decent price. I like Dona Elba. I met the owner five years ago at his shop in Granada. He remembered me every year when i went back. I bring home 200 cigars a year everytime i go to Costa Rica. He has sent passed away but we still have friends gather us Dona Elba cigars everytime they pass through. I know people who run tour companies in Costa Rica so it is very easy to get nicaraguan cigars for very cheap ($2/smoke).

Another great smoke is Alec Bradley Black Market Maduro. These are about $20 at Zigarrens in Calgary. If you ever get down to Kalispell you can pick these up for $7.50. It is an expensive hobby in Canada. If you can pick up from duty free, US or abroad it is much less expensive.

Don Tomas make a great cigar you can pick up at duty frees fro $3/smoke. Try the International Reserve (i think). Black label, comes only in box of 10 for $50 or so. They don't make the best but you won't find a better smoke locally for the price.

[DuffMan]

Do you cigar smokers inhale?

[manwiches]

If you bring some back, make sure you invest in a humidor, or make home crafted one. If you do not, they will dry up and crack and become nothing more than expensive garbage.

There are 3 ways (i know of) that you can keep cigars long. I do one of these.

1. Buy a humidor
2. Create a humidor. I did this by using oversize tupperwear containers (big enough to hold 2 boxes of 25 each). Buy a humidity/temperature detector (cheap from walmart). Use a couple cotton pads, make sure they're damp, and place them in an open ziplock bag. Put the cigars, humidity detector, and ziplock with damp pads in the tupperwear and close. Make sure you monitor the the detector and that it's at 70% and 70 F. If it gets over 70%, just pop the lid for a few hours and close it back up. Works like a charm. I've done this for a year, and my cigars are all in great condition.
3. Vacuum seal your cigars in bunches (I've been recommended in groups of 3-5). Place them in the fridge for a day, and then transfer to your freezer. When you're ready to smoke, take them out of the freezer, put them in the fridge for a day, and then transfer to a humidor (or homemade one) for a day. I've been told by a friend who is really into his cigars (more so than me) that this works wonders and they come out like new.

If you do use a humidor or homemade one, make sure you store somewhere out of sunlight. I store mine in my laundry room.

Good luck.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

Do you cigar smokers inhale?

Only if you want to puke.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Only if you want to puke.

I don't understand the point of it then, I smoked lots of Colts and cigarillos and always inhaled. I don't get why you would smoke anything and not.

[Slava]

I got a Montecristo from someone who brought it back from the Bahamas a couple weeks ago, and was planning on bringing it along on a guys trip to the US in a couple weeks. Any problem with this or will they even care?

[guzzy]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

I don't understand the point of it then, I smoked lots of Colts and cigarillos and always inhaled. I don't get why you would smoke anything and not.

CIgarette and cigarillo tobacco are the armpit of tobacco.

Once you smoke a cigar, and learn to appreciate the experience, you understand the quality difference. I smoked cigarettes for ten years and quit. I still had a smoke every couple months when drunk. Since i started smoking cigars and i cannot put a cigarette in my mouth. The taste is awful because of the chemicals and poor quality. Cigarillos aren't as bad. They do in a pinch.

[guzzy]

Originally Posted by Slava

I got a Montecristo from someone who brought it back from the Bahamas a couple weeks ago, and was planning on bringing it along on a guys trip to the US in a couple weeks. Any problem with this or will they even care?

If you declare the cigar(s), the border guard will ask if they are Cuban. Just come back quickly and say Dominican. Most Cuban brands are also available in Dominican brands that aren't branded as "Habanos". They usually wont say anything.

If you say you have Cubans they will confiscate

[Puppet Guy]

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by guzzy

CIgarette and cigarillo tobacco are the armpit of tobacco.

Once you smoke a cigar, and learn to appreciate the experience, you understand the quality difference. I smoked cigarettes for ten years and quit. I still had a smoke every couple months when drunk. Since i started smoking cigars and i cannot put a cigarette in my mouth. The taste is awful because of the chemicals and poor quality. Cigarillos aren't as bad. They do in a pinch.

I hear you, the last 6 or 7 years or so I smoked it was small cigarillos. Cigarettes just tasted like chemicals to me.

[Northendzone]

came in looking for a clinton/lewinsky reference, leaving satisfied......

Originally Posted by Puppet Guy

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by Slava

I got a Montecristo from someone who brought it back from the Bahamas a couple weeks ago, and was planning on bringing it along on a guys trip to the US in a couple weeks. Any problem with this or will they even care?

The safest way to take them into the US is to remove the band so that there's no way they can tell it's a Cuban.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

I don't understand the point of it then, I smoked lots of Colts and cigarillos and always inhaled. I don't get why you would smoke anything and not.

Whenever I smoke cigars, I would only draw the smoke in and hold it in my mouth. It's more the flavour I am going for, rather then the actual consumption of smoke.

Lots of my friends are the same way. I've never known anyone to inhale cigar smoke, and when they do it's pretty obvious since they start hacking. I literally have puked from inhaling cigar smoke.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Whenever I smoke cigars, I would only draw the smoke in and hold it in my mouth. It's more the flavour I am going for, rather then the actual consumption of smoke.

Lots of my friends are the same way. I've never known anyone to inhale cigar smoke, and when they do it's pretty obvious since they start hacking. I literally have puked from inhaling cigar smoke.

Does nicotine still get absorbed in somehow (through mucous membranes or tissue)?

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Does nicotine still get absorbed in somehow (through mucous membranes or tissue)?

I read up on it, apparently you are consuming the nicotine through your tongue. Guess its like chewing.

[bc-chris]

about 3 weeks ago i went into a local smoke shop to pick up cigars for my men's hockey team to celebrate the birth of my daughter. i was looking at this box that had probably 12 cigars in it and the price said $49.95. in my mind i thought, "ok, if i get a box and a half that's lots for the team and it will run me $75... ok sure."

that's when i discovered they are almost $50 EACH!!! holy crap! (pretty obvious i've never smoked eh!)

so i went a different route and ended up spending around $50 for the entire team. i also picked up a bunch purdy's chocolate 'cigars' for wimps like me and they ended up going faster than the real cigars!

[Russic]

I love smoking a cigar as a way to relax at the end of a day, but the aftertaste is enough to keep me from doing it more than once every few months. The whole next day is pretty much unpleasant.

Many would be disgusted, but my favourites are probably the Backwoods. Smaller and loosely rolled, they don't take a half hour to burn through. A proper cigar makes me feel ill before I ever get to the half way point.

[Flamenspiel]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

I read up on it, apparently you are consuming the nicotine through your tongue. Guess its like chewing.

Exactly, you feel it about a quarter of the way down, its very mild. The thing is you have to be very careful when you buy them and make sure they are fresh, they should be aromatic and soft to the touch. Also check for spots on them, they may have been too humid and that would be mold.