Gartards

I used to be a regular cigar smoker, averaging about one a day. I had a locker at the local cigar bar back then and presently have between 200 and 300 sticks at home. Some have over ten years of age on them. Therefore, in the past, I considered myself a regular (but not habitual) cigar smoker.

Prior to the boom, I think cigar smokers and pipe smokers were of the same breed. They were just two groups of people that enjoyed good tobacco, albeit in different forms. Then, WHAM! The early 90s hit and cigars became fashionable. They became hugely popular, rags such as Cigar Aficionado came out, and the old world of cigars was effectively destroyed. People who would never have considered smoking a cigar five years earlier were puffing away and for all the wrong reasons. Not only did peoples attitudes change about cigar smoking, but the demand was so high that tobacco was not being aged properly before being sent to market and the quality dropped. It just sucked all around.

To each their own. Some prefer cigars . . . some prefer pipes. It is a matter of taste. But I do believe that prior to the early 90s heyday, cigar smokers and pipe smokers were very, very similar.

EDIT: Anyone that smokes $30 cigars is either trying to impress or does not know much about cigars . . . or both. I can get a box of 24 El Rey del Mundo Cafe Noir for $27.50. And these are a very tasty little smokes.

on my tobacco ranking list, pipe and snus (dip) are fighting for the top, both are so enjoyable.

recond place I would put chewing tobacco, even though I have not had that many different sorts. One that the fellows from over there might know is "Red man". perhaps Nasal snuff would go here as well.

at the third place are cigars, if nothing else is around, I would smoke a cigar, I would probably regret it later, due to sinus inflammation, but what the hell. Some of them are actually smokable, I tend to like the mild ones.

last down is ciggarettes, if I, of some reason, have ciggarettes at hand, but no pipe tobacco, I smoke the cig tobacco in a pipe. Not that it is so very good, but it is a nicotine fix. the tobacco seems to last a bit longer in a pipe as well.

smoking cigs would be ok if waking up at some halfy unknown lady and finding yourself all out of tobacco, at those times I even smoke menthol cigs, UGH. Lady Nicotine can be such a cruel mistress at times.

btw, there are cigars that are made for putting in a pipe and be smoked. but end into the bowl.

i also smoke cigars and was smoking them long before the "boom" in the 90's.

i prefer the pipe, but also enjoy a cigar a few times a week.

i used to smoke more cigars, but since the "boom" the
overall quality of cigars has really suffered and prices
have gone through the roof. there are still too many brands out there competing for a limited supply of quality leaf.
that bubble will burst too, and the boutique brands will
suffer, no cigar is worth $30.

I have horrible tastes in cigars, so take this post with a grain of salt.

I enjoy a cigar every now and then. Especially on fishing trips to keep the black flies and other nasties away. Macanudo is probably as high end as I get. I will admit to liking Swisher Sweets, not the fruity flavored ones though. I enjoyed a lot of what some may label as 'codger stogiers'-Gacia Y Vega, El Producto, Al Capones. I also do enjoy a Phillies Blunt BEFORE they're hollowed out and stuff with marijuana. In the super market, they sell bags of like 30 cigars for like 10 bucks, fine tobacco imported all the way from the exotic Connecticut Valley.

I just started smoking tobacco as the cigar boom of the 90's hit. Everyone was always like "You have to smoke this brand", which usually was 20 or 30 dollars a stick(alot of money for an eighteen year old high school kid). One day however, I read "Concerning Tobacco" by Mark Twain, and it changed my outlook about higher-end tobaccos, not just cigars, but pipe tobacco I deemed too common at the time(like PA or Carter.)

but, like most things with me, I go through phases. Last week I smoked two. The previous one was at least a month before. I prefer to smoke them socially. And I don't find them especially satisfying. Shortly after I put the thing out, I'm rattling around, looking for a good pipe. Yet I do appreciate good cigars - Cohibas, Romeo y Julietas, whatever - but I don't normally buy them. My current intake is all gifted - Dutch cigars from my mother-in-law's visit there, good ones though. I've smoked about half a dozen out of the box I received a year & half ago. I too started before the Afficianado boom - & before the local revenue people tripled the price. We had a journalist on TV here some time back, extolling the virtues of cigar smoking & fine malt whisky. He called pipe smoking passe. That's unforgivable. When the bugger was fired for writing a "rascist" column a little while later, I rejoiced in how the great wheel of Karma rolls on. Ill informed bastard. But then, hey - pipe smoking has its snobby little runts as well.

but the range of flavor is rather limited, humidors are a total pain in the ass and a great waste of time. I much prefer the simplicity of storing pipe tobacco and have never understood why these these two tobacco products have such opposite storage requirements.

Do you really consider him a "very heavy smoker" at 5 bowls a week? Or were you being sarcastic? Because I've known pipe smokers who would do 5 bowls a DAY and I considered them very heavy smokers.

I usually do around 10 bowls per week.

I myself smoke 5 bowls before noon on most days.

I have a cigar lover at work so I thought I'd try a few cigars so we'd have some common ground to talk over. I'd say this year I've tried 6-10 cigars of varying brands and to be quite honest I think they all are pretty horrid tasting to one degree or another. I think the thing that most surprised me is that cigars actually taste like they smell where pipe tobacco doesn't. I wish pipe tobacco tasted like it smelled because I'd be an aromatic guru overnight. Anyway, I've sampled Ashton, Cohiba, Davidoff, Fuente, Fonseca, Cuesta Rey, and others I just can't remember. Only one is mildly smokeable: the Cuesta Rey Pyramid #9. Oh it still had that yakky cigar flavor but it was smooth and left the least objectionable aftertaste when the cigar was gone.

Regarding smoking these beasts, I can't imagine sitting at home reading a good book with one of these hanging out of my kisser. Furthermore I REALLY think they stink soooooo bad that I'd never allow that smell in my house. So the only way I can smoke them is at the B&M. Everyone at the B&M knows I'm a pipe smoker so when I do sample a cigar I'm seen as more of an oddity than someone enjoying a cigar.

My plans for cigars - I'll sample a few more but I'm about at the end of my rope with these things. They all taste basically the same and that common taste is one I simply think is nasty.

I don't smoke more than 2 a decade and then only if offered one by a friend and if I'm in the mood for it. I can't see myself buying a single cigar for the same price as a pound of pipe tobacco. I normally enjoy only the first 10 or so puffs and then it tends to overwhelm me. If I smoke one it will be one of the smaller types and not the 10 inch long 1 inch thick smokebombs.

smoke a cigar. The pipe just never tastes right after smoking a cigar, to me. I smoke at least 7 to 12 pipes a day.

I think there is a broad range of flavors to be found throughout different cigars. For me, though, it is harder to pick out the subtle nuances due to the intensity of the smoke. When I started to get into pipes seriously, my problem was that the flavor was so diluted compared to cigars. I was used to the punch in the face that the cigars that I smoked provided. Now, I have adjusted to pipes and find that all the flavors are much easier to appreciate than they were in cigars.

If your humidor is a pain in the ass, then you have the wrong humidor and/or humidification device. It took me a number of years before I found a setup that works for me, but it is extremely low maintenance and worry free.

Rick, you just do not like cigars. I do not think that more sampling will turn up a brand that you like. Everyone has different tastes and I think yours do not lean towards cigars.

I love to sit down with a book and cigar, even more than I like to read with a pipe. Go figure. Like you, though, this only happens outside. I can smoke a pipe all day in the house without stinking up the place. One cigar, though, and the house smells for a day or two. I am sure that daily cigar smoking would contaminate a house and its contents beyond repair.

I don't mind a cigar on occasion, but they are a no no in the house for sure. I have found my favorite cigar to be a very inexpensive one. Arturo Fuente Curly Head Deluxe Maduro. They are about $3.25 apiece, they smoke great and have a nice mild flavor.

The Curly Head Deluxe is a great short-filler (chopped up scraps) cigar that falls below $2 a stick by the box. The standard curly heads drop to almost $1.50 per cigar when purchased by the box.

Not the best cigar by any means, but mild enough for me to enjoy when I cant have a pipe. Like you said... how can you beat the price too. LOL

. . . but it is a great little cigar. I would never turn one down. Good Fuente flavor for great a price.

I dig tasty, cheap cigars and there a lot of them out there if you search and experiment.

Cigars can be a lot like wine... sometimes the inexpensive ones can be just as good as some of the wild priced ones, and much easier on the pocket.

Yup, I think it will be a trueism in my life ... pipes are good, cigars are bad. But that won't stop me from playing once in a while.

and if (when) I get rich again I'll smoke mostly cigars. I've been smoking them on and off for more than 30 years and when they became a boutique item I still smoked 'em but when the prices went up and the bottom fell out I couldn't stand to pay inflated prices for poorly-made rushjobs they started turning out. Eventually my old reliables went down the tubes and I couldn't find anything worth smoking but that was ok because of an "economic downturn" that occurred for me around the same time.

Cigars do give more flavor than a pipe, simply because you have your mouth full of tasty wrapper. Learning to light a cigar, smoke a cigar and get the most out it require a little learning curve just like learning to be a good pipe smoker does. I see guys who don't regularly smoke cigars making all kinds of mistakes and not surprising they don't enjoy it. A good hand-rolled cigar will grow a long, even cylinder of ash. Let it go until it's a good inch and a half long or even more before you tap it off. You're making a protective layer around the firehead just like you do with a pipe. Then when you tap it off, it should chunk off cleanly in one piece. Flaking ash is from poor construction or cheap wrapper and binder. You should be left with a glowing cone. Smoke gently for the next coupla puffs until the ash builds again. You also get to tell what kind of condition it's in by squeezing gently for humidity, freshness, and obstructions. A cigar is handmade and there are no two alike, even in the same box. These are just things you pick up over time. Dry pipe tobacco can be rejuvenated. An improperly stored cigar will never, ever come back. And relights wreak havoc. Try to keep it going gently. If it goes out, blow through it gently before and after relighting (but after the flame goes out or you'll have a blowtorch on your hands). Another thing that comes to mind is knowing how to cut a cigar. Watch the way it's wrapped. The key is to cut the cap without making it unravel. I like a guillotine cutter for big ring gauge cigars but cut shallow and test the draw first. You can also take more later. Look for a more firm draw than you get from your pipe. But you shouldn't turn blue smoking it.

Rick, I don't like any of the cigars you mentioned. Davidoff used to be very well constructed and I did enjoy the bigger Zino, but they're overpriced and I don't like most of the rest of their line. I'm not surprised you didn't find anything you liked on the list you mentioned. Try two more if you want before you give up: Partagas #10 and Hoyo de Monterrey Sultans. I make the same recommendation to OLDGI, knowing he is a fellow burley afficionado and to it I would add Exacalibur #1 for huge flavor and a vitamin N kick in the chops. These first two cigars have the dark taste and deep flavor along with cool burning qualities that will definitely appeal to burley smokers. The last one is like Kendal KY in a cigar. The only thing I can't tell you is how well they are being made lately, or if they're aged properly.

The key is to buy a well-made, big ring gauge cigar. Forgive me, but Macanoodles and anything smaller than a 46 ring gauge are strictly for the poseur. If you want cool smoke and big flavor, big ring gauge cigars are the way to fly. If you can't buy Cubans where you live, then look for real Cameroon wrapper like Partagas uses (?). They used to use it, but who knows now...the Hondurans and Nicaraguans are more the full flavored ones while Dominicans are generally lighter. Connecticut shade wrapper looks pretty but doesn't have the depth of flavor of Cameroon or even a sun grown Brasilian or other wrapper. I personally can't stand to smoke a cigar with a Connecticut wrapper. In the middle of the flavor spectrum are some Jamaicans. For a cheap deal look to Mexico. BTW Maduro wrappers can be quite smooth and mild tasting even though they look dark and scary.

Quaffer said "El Rey del Mundo". The man knows good cigars.

Smoke em when babies are born,and when my sons got married.
Can't say I like them much. I even had a 50.00 one. Keep it. Can buy a nice pipe for 50.00.
Dave

I can't really be trusted when it comes to cigar recommendations. I have tried quite a few ranging from the cheap habanos to the expensive Romeo Y Julieta and just about everything in between. I realize that there are more expensive cigars out there, but I have come to the conclusion that I am by no means enough of a connaisseur to be able to tell the difference in flavor in most of them. Sure there are subtle differences, but not big enough to enable me to tell a bad and a good cigar apart with any real convincing arguments.

I simply settle for cutting them up and blending them in my own custom cigar blend, which happens to be closely related to that of the late Sailorman Jacks cigar leaf blend. I use less latakia than he did, more lemon VA and a smidge more perique.

Thank you Jack.