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Cigar Aficionados - Help!

O

Oxblood

Inactive
Apr 17, 2005
1,734
1
Baltimore, MD
www.needled.net
#1
I just purchased my first humidor!!! :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: And I was hoping all you cigar smokers on TB could answer a few questions for me. I've been smoking cigars for about a year now and I really wanna start getting into them since I enjoy them a lot. Anyways, on to my questions...

1. How exactly do I set up my humidor? It didn't come with any directions but im pretty sure I did it right. I wetted the sponge inside the metal thing, and stuck it to top alongside the Hygrometer. Is that all I really have to do?

2. Recommend me some good brands of cigars. I currently have 3 Acid Cigars in my humidor (those are currently my favorite) and of course I want to add many more but don't exactly know which kind to get. I've had Montecristo, Romeo y Juliet, Punch, Macanudo, and some not-too-known brands here and there.

3. How are you suppose to smoke a cigar? I've been told a few different things so I have no idea what to do. I've heard while you are smoking it, you rotate the cigar in your mouth so it burns evenly, and you inhale a little bit of smoke and blow it out your nose. Then while you are holding it you point the lit end down so the smoke travels up and drys out the tobacco a little bit.

4. I went into the Tobacco store today to buy my new humidor and a few cigars and I noticed they have boxes of rejected cigars. What in the world are these?! They were extremely cheap and they were the top brands of Cigars such as Montecristo, Romeo y Juliet, etc. They were in a box all there own and it said Rejects on it.

5. What are some good websites to buy cigars from and also what is a good forum for cigar smokers?

Thanks in advance!
 
#2
my favs are"
FUENTE SHORT STORIES
LAUNICA #400 [BOTH WRAPPERS ARE GOOD]

i will direct bassic83 to this thread as he is the man when it comes to cigars. he has turned me on to some fine fine sticks.

i generally, when smoking take a drag about every 30secs. this will prevent the oils in the tobacco and wrappers from getting too hot. also, i only use a butane lighter. no zippos and no matches. i've been told that they add sulfur taste to the cigar. my palet is not that advanced but some others on this board will probably agree. i own the "complete idiots guide to cigars" book which is very informative. also, get a really good tobaconnist theta you trust. my good friend mike wilsonowns "new manchester cigars" here in georgia so........
 
#3
Let's address each question...

1) You pretty much got it. If you live in an extremely dry climate, or if you run your A/C all the time like we have to do in Texas, this is how I prepped mine. It only needs to be done once: I got a clean towel, soaked it with distilled water, and wiped the interior of the humidor down. If you do this, please use ONLY distilled water! Tap water has chemicals and organisms that can adversely affect your cigars, and can actually harbor mold. Once wiped down and barely damp, I closed my humidor, and put it in a cool place for a couple days. I checked with a digital hygrometer, and it was in the normal range (perfect is thought of as 72%, I personally prefer a slightly damper environment for mine, usually around 75-78%, but you have to carefully monitor them for mold, so be careful!). I inspect each and every stick that goes in for mold and cigar beetle larvae (small pinholes on the wrapper, either round or oval). If either are seen, they don't go in.

2) I prefer Cuban Montecristo #2's, myself, but usually have to wait to get those for when I go on cruises. As far as really good, everyday smokes- the La Unicas are good, I also like JR Alternatives Prensado Maduro, which is a box-pressed 6" Toro in a deep, almost black, maduro wrapper. I think the maduro is a sweeter wrapper than the ordinary "European Market Selection", which is a fancy name for "normal, light-colored leaf". I have found that the Cuban cigars have an underlying sweetness to them, great nutty flavor, with coffee and chocolate notes. The JRs I mentioned have these qualities. Avo are good, Baccarat are good as well. There's too many other ones that are good as well to list here. If you're interested, I do have a Cuban roller make some of mine fresh, PM me or Dave for details.

3) Don't inhale a cigar unless you wanna horc up a lung :eek:... I light mine, then turn, then puff and turn until it has a decent ash. Don't tip your ash until you get it over 3/4-inch long. The ash actually cools the cigar down, and allows the flavor to develop. If you get a runner, or the cigar burns unevenly, wet your fingertip and draw a line right up to where it's burning back the furthest. This will usually let the rest of the cigar to "catch up". If not, do it again. In rare cases, if it "tunnels" (i.e.- burns down one side inside the cigar, then breaks through the wrapper) I wil cut the burning portion and relight immediately. If you smoke it fast, you'll get the cigar hot, and it will reward your efforts at time-saving by tasting like burning rope, with a bitter, acrid taste.

4) Rejects are either blemished wrappers, or wrapped wrong, or the wrong blend of tobacco was used, cut shorter than the style calls for, or other manufacturing defect. So, they can be fine, just look to see that they are reasonably intact. If they are seconds, they get sold to dealers in big lots for cheap, this can be a good way to try a cigar that you might otherwise balk at paying $20 a stick for.

5) JR Cigars website is very good, and there is a huge savings to be had from getting some of their "Alternatives"- custom rolled alternatives to some of the big-name sticks. Their product ships fast, and I have always gotten their sticks in great shape.

http://www.jrcigars.com

Thompson's is OK, but I have had several shipments get to me very dried-out and I don't like to use them as much any more. They also were backordered on some stick that I wanted, and help my entire order up for almost two weeks before they shipped. Other times they were fine, and shipped fast. Kind of hit and miss for me.

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A good site with accurate info and good reviews that Dave turned me onto is:

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Hope that helps, and happy puffing! :)
 
#5
Thank you both for the excellent advice, I hope you don't mind but I do have a few more questions.

1. I'm actually smoking one of my Acid cigars (Earthiness to be exact) and I noticed where I poked the hole that their is this sticky brown stuff coming from it. I'm assuming this is tar? I've also noticed this cigar is very sweet, and I love it!

2. Should I poke or cut my cigars? I do have a cigar cutter but im never sure which method is better.

3. Should I put my cigar out before it reaches the wrapper or take off the wrapper and continue to smoke? I've always been told to put it out before but there is always so much cigar left and I always feel like im wasting it when I do that.
 
#6
i prefer cutting, just the tip only. not sure about the tar thing though. sometimes cigar companies will "flavor" their tobacco if it is inferior quality. "cigars" that you buy in grocery stores like swisher sweets and those types are actually the floor sweepings that they try to pass of as cigars. pure garbage. only buy from a real tobacconist.
 
#7
iwith the launica 400 that i like, i smoke them until there is just a nub. the reason being, they are made out of 3 different types of leaf. every 1/3rd of the cigar tastes a little different. eric nailed it when he said it has a white pepper taste at 1st.

hey eric, do you know any cigars that have that taste all the way through?
 
#8
oops sorry just 1 more thing. this is just for laughs really. if you are smoking a cigar around other people, do what winston churchill did. take a paperclip and unroll it. stick it in the end of the cigar and pust it in until you cant see it. cut any protruding ends off. as you smoke the cigar, the ash will just keep getting really long and people will be amazed. dont flick the ash. thiis is one of the ways he used to intimidate people. i've done this before and gotten some pretty amazed responses.
 
#9
Most of the Drew Estate Acid line, the tobacco is cured with aromatic oils. That may be what you're seeing. The oils that flavor it may also increase the tar.

How you cut or punch your cigars is a matter of personal taste. For me, I cut torpedos-which you actually HAVE to do in order to smoke them- about 1/4" back from the tip, maybe 1/2", wherever the cut is, I try to make it about half the body diameter. For Toros, Robustos, and the like (with rounded or square ends), I'll punch them every time I can. I've cut them before, but it makes the draw almost too easy, therefore the cigar gets hot and acrid.

Smoke them down to the point where they don't taste good. For most people, the band is a pretty good delineation. For others, they burn their fingertips off. The only times I tried to burn myself was when I was smoking Havanos...those are just too good.

Have you tried the Juicy Lucy by Drew Estate? It's about 3"x 30 ring. Really small, but HUGE flavor. Doesn't take forever to smoke, either. That and the Cold Infusion Tea, those are my favorites. The Wafe is good too, it's basically a Blondie that is smooshed flat. Feels really different, as it's flat like a wafer, hence the name Wafe. Those are the extent of my Drew Estates adventures. Anything by Fuente is usually good, I'm not real fond of Macanudo; Montesino is OK, Motecristo is good as well. Try some maduros, too- many people incorrectly believe them to be "spicier" or more "full flavor" or harsh, but they aren't. Also, if you're relatively new to smoking cigars, the Cameroon wrapper is a lot more complex in its flavor than maduro or EMS. Candela (green) wrappers were supposedly Pres. Kennedy's favorite, he had stocked up on them before the Cuban Embargo. Don't buy any of the "pre-embargo Cuban" cigars, they are a waste. Try an Onyx- those are consistent, and taste a lot like Cuban Montecristos. That underlying sweetness, and the earthy, leather taste with coffee and chocolate, it's most of what a good Cuban cigar tastes like, but legal.
 
#14
Don't put the aromatics with puros, due to flavor transfer. I don't keep any aromatics on hand, but every once in a while, I'll grab one from the cigar shop. Mostly I like a maduro, mild to medium body, with the requisite sweet character. Cigars go great with a Cuban coffee as well- the flavors really marry up well. Cuban coffee is an espresso with lots of sugar (or Splenda).
 
#15
Once you've smoked a bunch of stogies, you start to get a vocabulary of taste sensations you might experience. The white pepper Dave mentioned back a couple posts is largely a function of ligero (li-HAIR-oh) in the filler. Cigars have three basic components- filler, which is responsible for about 3/4 of the taste; binder, largely tasteless, holds the filler together in a particular shape, and wrapper, which is about 1/4 of the taste. You might have been told that the wrapper is almost all the taste, but that's not true. The filler is where the spiciness, or white pepper taste, comes from. There are several varieties of filler, Olor, ligero, etc. Olor tends to have a more earthy, mossy flavor with more sweetness, ligero has more brash or harsh flavor. Frequently you'll see "Extra fuerte" that has a double-ligero blend. They are a loud-flavored stick, very spicy, and sometimes get an ammonia taste going if you get them too hot. The burning rope taste is sometimes there as well. The Olor will have a sweet, grassy flavor and will present with more of a leather or coffee taste. The maduro wrapper will mostly impart a sweet chocolate or nutmeg taste to the smoke. Sometimes it will have a tang to it, but when I think tangy, I think Cameroon or Sumatra wrappers. Those are some of my personal observations.
 
#16
davetakis said:
eric,
is cigar afficinado magazine worth the time and effort?
Click to expand...
Why? Just send me the sticks and I'll smoke them, then let you know. I can write as good a review as any of them, and not every cigar will have a coveted "90 Rating" from me. :D

I can use phrases like "bold, yet understated", "obliquely parallel", "rough, yet refined", and my personal favorite, "cruel, but fair"...
 
#17
Bassic83 said:
Why? Just send me the sticks and I'll smoke them, then let you know. I can write as good a review as any of them, and not every cigar will have a coveted "90 Rating" from me. :D



I can use phrases like "bold, yet understated", "obliquely parallel", "rough, yet refined", and my personal favorite, "cruel, but fair"...
Click to expand...

ok that made me laugh. deal.
we really should start the official tb cigar club like we talked about.
you be president
major metal will be vp
and i will be cigar tech
[sorry, hard to get out of that mind set]
 
#18
Bassic83 said:
Don't put the aromatics with puros, due to flavor transfer. I don't keep any aromatics on hand, but every once in a while, I'll grab one from the cigar shop. Mostly I like a maduro, mild to medium body, with the requisite sweet character. Cigars go great with a Cuban coffee as well- the flavors really marry up well. Cuban coffee is an espresso with lots of sugar (or Splenda).
Click to expand...

Not trying to derail the thread, just thought I'd pass the info along.

A true cubano is not just an espresso with sugar. One must tamp the sugar crystals into the filter with the espresso to blend them. A straight cubano is my favorite espresso drink. Most add a bit of creme, but straight is amazing.

(I used to work for a small coffee shop in town before it closed)
 

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