New Cigar Guy!

[Mako72]

Well I did it!

I have been looking at this small Thompson Cigar humidor in one of my local antique stores for about 3 monthes. I stopped in to day and it was 25% off so I got it for $15.00, and its brand new!

So I went to my local tobacconist and picked up some sticks, a drimistat, and am currently sitting here doing the seasoning and hygrometer salt test.

I used to smoke cigars occasionally but gave them up appx 16 monthes ago when I quit cigarettes. I followed Cigar Daves(excellent radio program http://www.cigardave.com/) advise and didn't smoke any cigars for a year so as not to find a crutch in cigars. Now in the last 2 monthes I have had 3 asst cigars.

I had read where it is good to have a humidor at least half full so here is what I picked up, at my tobacconists suggestion and my limited experience...

(20) Flor de Oliva 5.75x43
(2)Romeo Y Julieta 1875 Habana Reserve Coronas
(1)Macanudo Maduro Hampton Court
(1)Cain Daytona 5x50 Robusto
(1)Gurkha Archive Single

I figure over the next couple monthes this should give me some things to try out. The tobacconist mentioned the Olivas were a nice inexpensive anytime kinda smoke so I bought a bundle for humidor filler and because my son will help me smoke them when he visits every other week!

I think I ended up ok but will probably add a couple cigars every few weeks so please let me know what you think and what you would add if you were going to spend say no more than $20 every two weeks.

Thanks in advance!!

Jay

[Argonaut]

I would shop online and find some deals at JR Cigars, or Cigars International. The "Conseguera" line at JR is a great value for premium sticks if you don't care about having a band on the cigar. It is my understanding that they are seconds, or over runs of Punch, Hoyo, and other Villazone produced cigars.

[Not A Nice Person]

The Cain is going to be noticeably stronger than your other selections. If you find you like that in a cigar, I've got a heckuva list for you.

NANP™

[Mako72]

Wow those Consegueras ar a pretty good deal!

I got all the cigars and the drimistat for $60. But my bundle of Olivas was $32 for 20 so a couple less sticks. Still I think I did ok price wise as it was really impulse and not researched, and I'm luck to live in a smaller community were cash gets you no tax and a little discount( Up yours Gubrment). Plus I still have a penchant for B&M stores as he will be there when I have a stupid question. But I will see if he gets something similar to those. Keep the suggestions rollin'!

Jay

Edit-@NANP-That one actually was his suggestion for something heavier so good to know hes honest. He said they had a tasting of them and that one was one of the Favs in that range. The next tasting will be in a couple more weeks and you will bet I will be there! Plus we have Biker Week coming to Laughlin and last year there were several Cuban fellows from FL rolling and selling sticks so I will probably set aside a couple extra dollars for those!

[Mako72]

All right I hadn't planned it but...

Since the wife is out of town and I had a couple JB Blacks & a couple Newcastles, I tried one of the Olivas. They are very light and smooth, at times they got a tad hot but I chalk that up to me drawing to often. On the plus side they stayed very consistent from start until about 2" from the head, at that point I found the wrapper started to flake in a couple places. I kinda chalk this up to (A)My drawing to fast (B)Having not had a stay in a humidor. Over all I found them every slightly so sweet with a smooth even body. As I get some more experience I might revise this but so far there it stands!

Jay

[Commander Quan]

The Flor de Oliva really are a good bundle cigar at a really good price.

I got married last year, and wanted to have a cigar bar at the wedding, but wasn't going to pay $80+ for a box of cigars for people to have 4 puffs off of and throw them away, especially when I needed 100 cigars. I bought FdO's put a custom band on them and put them out for the guests and they enjoyed the hell out of them.

[jwhite]

The Flor de Oliva really are a good bundle cigar at a really good price.

I got married last year, and wanted to have a cigar bar at the wedding, but wasn't going to pay $80+ for a box of cigars for people to have 4 puffs off of and throw them away, especially when I needed 100 cigars. I bought FdO's put a custom band on them and put them out for the guests and they enjoyed the hell out of them.

That's a great idea. My brother got married this past summer. I was the best man and in charge of the cigars, and custom bands never occurred to me. I went with the Gurkha Vintage Shaggy Toro BTW,

[snufflesdarkness]

I would save the 20 dollars a week and get cigar sampler from online cigar sites. I went through Thompsoncigars.com, which had great 90+ rated cigars which was good start for me. Otherwise I checked with cigaraficionado.com
for their top 25 the last 5 years and been trying them out. The only thing about thompsoncigars.com is that will call you and bug you about joining a club, just say no. Otherwise their are great sites for samplers or specific cigars,

famoussmoke.com
cigar.com
cigarinternational.com
seriouscigar.com

the only problem with most cigar sites is that rarely sell single cigars, its packs of 5 or a box of them. Thats why local cigar shops are great places to buy singles and hang out in their lounge area.

Recently some of best cigars I had were some ghurkas: black dragon, triple ligero, G5 avenger, assassin,

[Fletch]

Check out Cigarbid.com but beware it can become SUPER addictive.

[Mako72]

The Cain is going to be noticeably stronger than your other selections. If you find you like that in a cigar, I've got a heckuva list for you.

NANP™

Well had this bad boy last night. You were right it was a much fuller smoke than I am used to. It was an excellent smoke but definitely rich and full bodied. Not something I could do often but all in all a good smoke. I probably wouldn't do it with whiskey and beer next time, probably something light to contrast the richness of the smoke. Send me your list tho and I will pick them up here and there as this is definitely something I could enjoy occasionally, just not as a weekly/biweekly smoke. For now I would say I prefer the RyJ Habano Reserve corona much more.

Jay

[the mood]

The Cain is going to be noticeably stronger than your other selections. If you find you like that in a cigar, I've got a heckuva list for you.

NANP™

Cain also has the new Daytona blend that's a bit more mild but still very flavorful

[Bowhnter]

Check out Cigarbid.com but beware it can become SUPER addictive.

Your a bad man! AKA the devil site, buit you can get good deals if you have self control.

[bew47]

+1 on Cigarinternational and Cigarbid. I have also gotten quite a few deals from JR's