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Author Topic: Cigars  (Read 5653 times)

A Wet Helmet

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Cigars
« on: 31 May 2011, 20:30 »

I have a new obsession. Good lord, I enjoy cigars the way some people enjoy wine. Is anyone else here a fan?  I'm just finishing an Olivia siere O torpedo and it was fantastic. The wife and I are seriously discussing starting our own brand and possibly a cigar bar. Hell, I'm planning a vacation to Nicaragua just for the smokes!    Barring that, I might drive up to Canada to pick up a couple of recently liberated from communism cigars.

Anyway, a thread to talk about cigars, if you're so inclined. Likewise, if any forumites are interested in a cigar oriented get together in the DC area (or anywhere else) I'd be down to host or attend, as applicable.
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Noctem

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #1 on: 31 May 2011, 20:49 »

I share a certain enthusiasm. The DC area indeed has quite a few great tobacconists, and should this cigar get together happen when I return to college there come September I'd be down to hang out and smoke.

In terms of good smokes, the best I have had recently was the Romeo and Juliet Cedro Deluxe. In terms of good shops, I enjoy Georgetown Tobacco, though JR Cigar is generally cheaper. W. Curtis Daper is where I get my pipe tobacco, and you can pick up some neat empty cigar boxes for really cheap at Presidential Cigars.

...cue all the DC 'hide the cigar' jokes now (I really hope I'm not the only person to think of that)
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sean

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #2 on: 31 May 2011, 21:44 »

whoa dc thread wutup.

i myself don't like cigars that much right now. i dunno what it is about them, i just don't enjoy them that much. i'm a little into pipe smoking tho, i have a decent pipe that i sometimes buy pipe tobacco for. i've never gotten anything too fancy, but i've found i like pip tobacco more than cigars. i'll need to check out this place, w. curtis daper, where is it?
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Elysiana

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #3 on: 01 Jun 2011, 07:00 »

Oh heyyy, maybe you guys can help out me and Ryan. He's wanted to get into cigars but has no idea how to choose a cigar he'll like, and it's awfully expensive to just get a bunch of them and decide individually (we tried that and it was a bust, he liked fewer of them than he disliked). Is there an easy way to tell what brands are good and what types he'll like just based on his tastes? He's picked up a few that he thought smelled really good, but then he didn't like the taste of them.

He says, "So far I'm partial to Oliva, and I like milder bodied torpedoes." That's pretty much all I've got to go on right now since he's at work, but I can ask him questions to help narrow this down.
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A Wet Helmet

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #4 on: 01 Jun 2011, 18:39 »

I would assume he liked an Olivia "O" or a "G" which are both medium bodied cigars. Though I have a G in my humidor, I've only tried the O's, which is not only an excellent cigar, it was what I was smoking last night which inspired my original post. Well, that and a bottle of wine. :)

If that's the case, I'm smoking a 5 Vegas classic right now which is also a medium bodied torpedo and is quite good.  The trick, I think, is when you find a cigar that you either like or don't like look to see what it's made out of. Pretty much every decent cigar you'll be able to find out what kind of tobacco is in the filler, binder, and wrapper. Cigar websites will also often try to describe the flavor; earthy, leather, toast, pepper, etc.   Then either seek out (or avoid) similar in the future. Of course, there's nothing wrong with finding one thing you like and sticking to it either.

As for trying new things while trying to avoid an expensive disappointment:  I don't want to advertise for a particular website but there is an eBay style site out there where you can bid on cigars and try new things out on the cheap.  I get quite a bit of my stuff from there.
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Buttfranklin

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #5 on: 01 Jun 2011, 22:30 »

I've had two kinds of cigars: Honduran and Cuban.  Really preferred the Honduran because it has a really nice, sweet and mellow flavor.  The Cuban just tasted stale and nasty like a cigarette.  Honduran one was like mild smokey candy.

That's the extent of my knowledge and doesn't contribute to the thread at all!
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Elysiana

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #6 on: 02 Jun 2011, 05:28 »

AWH - He says he had the Oliva "O" and enjoyed it the most out of what he's tried so far, and also that he is finding he likes Honduran tobacco, if that helps any.

I think the most confusing thing for me (as a person who doesn't smoke them but would love to get him a nice gift once in a while) is that it doesn't seem that cigars work like wine or beer. With beer, for example, I can say, "I like wheat beers and I know that I really hate IPAs" and try a new hefeweizen and generally like it, or try an IPA and think it's too hoppy as usual. I don't really get how cigars are broken down, though. I don't know the terminology or how it affects each one.
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Dollface

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #7 on: 03 Jun 2011, 08:17 »

I do enjoy good cigar and im specially fond of backwood sweet aromatic, even they arent much to look at but the taste is so good.
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A Wet Helmet

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #8 on: 03 Jun 2011, 18:07 »

Actually E-- figuring out what kind of cigar you might like is a lot like wine.  The analogy is really a pretty strong one.  I tend to like Merlots and Cabs.  If I'm trying something new out, I'll try one of those.  Unfortunately, there examples of both that I don't particulary care for.  So beyond the first discriminator (is it a merlot or a cab?) I look for ones that are described as having flavors of wood, oak, or spice.  It tends to get me a little closer to the target. You can do the same with cigars, to an extent.  The biggest difference is that all cigars are a blend.   Those Oliva O's are made with a dark habano seed wrapper and has Nicaraguan fillers.   Cigar Afficinado describes the whole smoke thusly: 

Quote
”This cigar has a gorgeous color and a lush wrapper. It draws well, showing cedar, toast, leather and coffee notes. A complex and balanced full-bodied cigar.”

Those are good jumping off points when looking for another cigar.  Though I've had a couple of "lighter" cigars this week (The Olivia and the previously mentioned 5 Vegas) I tend to lean more towards really dark and heavy smokes.  So I went and asked a friend/co-worker who told me about the Olivias what else he liked.  First and foremost, he said that those were his favorite. After that he said he really liked a Partagas Black Label (I had to google that one-- but it looks like it might be more my taste).   He also likes cigars from CAO and Padron.  Mind you, those are both brands that have a lot of different types of cigars in them, so look for those leaf or flavor queues when buying them.   I also had a ghurka warrior awhile back that might be to his taste.  It was excellent.   The bottom line is, unfortunately, that you just have to try them out.  Some will be great, and some will be "meh".  If you can buy singles, go for it.  If you're stuck getting them in a pack or a box, there are lots of active cigar trader forums out there.   Because really, we all sometimes buy cigars we don't like.

One more thought, some cigar forums like to "bomb" newbies with a variety of cigars to try out.  If it's really something he's interested in, I suggest he find a forum and introduce himself.  He's likely to make a few new friends and get some new cigars.
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KharBevNor

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #9 on: 03 Jun 2011, 18:40 »

I smoke Henri Winterman's Half Corona's sometimes, and for a phase back when I didn't smoke very much I smoked Hamlet cigarillos instead of cigarettes, but I guess we ain't talking about cigars you can get from Morrison's tobacco counter.
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Re: Cigars
« Reply #10 on: 04 Jun 2011, 12:46 »

The only cigar that I've ever really enjoyed are these little dollar cigars that they keep in a big jar at the front of Westminster Cigar Co. in Reisterstown, MD. I forget what they are called, but they look nasty as hell and you can get like 12 for 10 bucks. Some local dude makes em.

I don't really have anything else helpful to contribute to this conversation.
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Dollface

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #11 on: 04 Jun 2011, 23:54 »

Now you are just confusing dope dealer to cigar maker.
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Patrick

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #12 on: 05 Jun 2011, 03:03 »

Jussi, am I to gather that Swishers are used for blunts even in Finland? We're not all as different as we like to think.

My favorite cigar to date was a Cohiba Siglo VI. Big ol' fat motherfucker, lush and chocolatey with a few notes of spruce and oak. I don't know how consistently they make their cigars, but that was one satisfying cigar.

As a generalization, I haven't met a Dominican that I didn't like. Honduran... I haven't had enough experience with them to generalize. Brand-wise, I am a proponent of Romeo y Julieta (I'd say Cohiba but let's be real, nobody talks about the consistently high quality of Cuban cigars anymore, and I'm pretty sure I just got real lucky with my Siglo). They're pretty consistent, and to my taste they're of reasonable quality in spite of the fact that they pretty much come from an assembly line.

I just hope I'm not the only one in this thread who was lucky enough to know the glory of Peterson cigars before the company died and they went out of production.
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Elysiana

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #13 on: 05 Jun 2011, 07:19 »

AWH - I guess what I meant with my wine analogy is that I couldn't walk into a cigar store and say, "I'd like a nice selection of X's, please," and have them hand me 10 cigars that are all similar enough that he'd probably at least not hate them. There doesn't seem to be any naming procedure with cigars and they don't keep similar types together, they usually group them by brand from what I've seen.

I think the most difficult thing at this point is that he hasn't really gotten to branch out and try a bunch of different ones because honestly that's a rather expensive undertaking, so all he has to go off of is, "Well, I liked these two..." He's pretty good at picking flavors out of things like beer/coffee/mead though so that will help.

Do you have any cigar forums you recommend?

Also thanks for all your help so far, this is definitely getting us somewhere!
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Noctem

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #14 on: 06 Jun 2011, 11:46 »

W Curtis Daper is a block away from the Metro Center metro stop in DC. They have a massive selection of their own blends. Georgetown tobacco on M street also has some great blends they make.

As for trying out Cigars, in DC anyway I know JR Cigar has their own brand where they make cigars 'equivalent' to many brand names. They do samplers of multiple cigars so you can get a sense of taste, strength, etc without having to buy the full priced brand name cigar. This is an excellent starting point in terms of branching out, and on my college budget it is really a lifesaver.
Hope that helps!
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A Wet Helmet

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #15 on: 07 Jun 2011, 14:31 »

Ack!  I just saw the part asking about forums.   I guess I should have read the whole thing the first time.

Moderators, if it's not cool to advertise for a website, let me know and I'll gladly kill this post.   I like the guys over at cigarbid.com .  They're a really friendly crowd.  I mentioned I'm going to be traveling this month and not only did I get an invite to a get together, but I've been outright invited to come over and hang out at a guys house.  You can't beat that.  I've also managed to get myself invited to a massive (350+ people) private barbecue next month out on a farm that has a special cigar get together for some of the folks there.   There's a lot of acronyms and jargon to learn, but seriously, super friendly folks.  Same over at botl.org.  Just a really fun-loving and great community. 

Really, I'd recommend going to cigarbid, saying "I'm a noobie, I liked this and this, what do you recommend?" and see what happens.
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Patrick

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Re: Cigars
« Reply #16 on: 07 Jun 2011, 21:26 »

dude don't worry about it, it's not like you just signed up today and started posting blatantly ad-whoring posts without bothering to become part of the community.
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