taking the plunge

[somedumbjerk]

New to cigars, and as per normal with me, I went both feet forward from the get. I’ve been smoking pipes pretty regularly for a few years.  In fact, I got into pipes because initially I thought cigars had too much nicotine for me to enjoy. Not sure if my tolerance went up, or if I’m just better at dealing with it, but I’m thoroughly enjoying fine cigars now. Over the past year I discovered that rocky patel decades are amazing. So every once in a long while I would buy one for a smoke at the local B&M in Morgan Hill CA while we played cards and had a beer. Then recently we went to a Cuban restaurant in Palo Alto called La Bodeguita Del Medio for a cocktail and cigar as a going away party for a friend. I had a pardon anniversary 1964 and just fell in love. I don’t remember the size, but it was pretty small. The gauge had to be in the 40s. it was everything I always wanted out of a cigar. If it wasn’t for the price tag, I would have bought as many boxes as they had. My mouth is still watering thinking about it. fast forward a few months and I’m in costa rica on my honeymoon. I realize when I get there that you can buy Cuban cigars. I get a few fake ones, and they were meh. Not bad, just not great. The last day we are there I look up the habanos dealers in the area and find one a few blocks away. We walk in and I end up with a box of cohiba robustos. Smoked one that night and got excited. Great smooth burn, developing flavor, creamy clean tasting smoke. Also the box said nov 2011 or something on it so I think they might have had a few years on them but you can never tell. I end up getting them back to the usa and having to buy a humidor. This leads to online research and now I have quite the collection. I (over) filled up the humidor within a week and bought some heartfelt beads to make a coolidor with. Here is my collection so far, with hopes to expand for aging. With my pipe smoking, I mostly smoke well aged VA and VaPer blends, so I have no qualms about sitting on things for the flavor to get to that nirvana point.

Anyway, onto my current smokes:
CC Cohiba Robusto 20 (about 20 left after gifts and some for me)
Counterfiet Cohiba Esplendido 20 (I think these are costa rican cigars with cohiba rings on them. solid construction and they don’t taste like dirt.)
Nica Libre Contras x 18 (smoked 2, these are good but need some rest time I think)
Nica Libre torpedo 1990 full box of 20
Rocky patel vintage 1990 x 1 torpedo (going to smoke it this weekend so probably shouldn’t have put it on here)
5 vegas Series A Alpha x 5 (on the way)
5 Vegas Series A Apostle x 10 (on the way)



looking forward to trying these, and any suggestions you guys may have!

 

[BigCasino]

Have had the Rocky patels and the two 5vegas you mentioned all three good smokes, the 5 vegas will have a bit more oomph then the patels

 

[mejoshee]

I'm following you around dude. You should just ask me

I like more of the Habano styles. Try:

• EP Carillo, especially the torpedo.
• Liga Privada
• I only had an Oliva once, but that was also tasty. I believe it was the "S" Serie?
• I also like the NUB--fat ring gauge, very short formats--Habano (orange/brown band) series, or for a lighter smoke, the Connecticut (white band). Nice thing about those is you can put 2x in a row, but can't guarantee you won't be mocked.

Then there's the big name guys like  

• Torano Silver or
• Padron's cheaper series (don't recall the numbers right now, but you've acquainted yourself with the vintage series, very $$$).
• Arturo Fuente Hemingway Series, especially the Signature, the Classic, and the Short Story.
• I think IIRC, the Bodeguita humidor also had some Graycliff. Not easy to find around here.

These are all my personal preferences of course. Have you stopped by Mission Pipe near downtown SJ? Funny thing, I think, is that they're a cigar shop really. they're not much of a pipe shop! Nor are they quite as friendly, well sometimes. (Not like Edward's )

Check out cigar.com too for the most broad selection of brands. You can make your decisions based on descriptions, but you just gotta try them out. :drunken:

 

[Bluefisher]

welcome to the wonderful world of cigars, where a single smoke often costs as much as a full tin of pipe tobacco!  

I really quite enjoy:

My Father Le Bijou Petit Robusto
Tatuaje Black Label and Noellas Reserva
Tatuaje Petit Cazadoes Reserva
God of Fire Serie B
La Duena Petite Bellicoso

 

[Bluefisher]

Oh, and go checkout Halfwheel.com - I was there was an equivalent for the pipe world.

Oh and allow me to share two useful links that go really well together.

http://www.cigarbid.com/

+

http://sloppymcnubble.com/cbid/

 

[ZeroContent]

My favorites are:
Rocky Patel 1990, 1992, 1999, 2003 and Decades are all awesome.
CAO L'annivarsaire Cameroon
Olive Series G
Gurkha Master Select (harsh when new, good at 3 years of age, awesome at 5.)
Cusano 18
Onyx Reserve

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Cuban counterfiets can be very hard to detect. If you search the forum International Cigar Club there are a lot of threads about it.

 

[Northern Neil]

I too am starting my journey with cigars. If you are interested, I have found a website that sell legitimate Cubans, and will ship to the USA at a 20% discount with guaranteed delivery.

PM me if interested.

 

[mejoshee]

I too am starting my journey with cigars. If you are interested, I have found a website that sell legitimate Cubans, and will ship to the USA at a 20% discount with guaranteed delivery.

PM me if interested.

I'm really surprised they haven't shut that pipeline down yet... (See what I did there?) It is actually still illegal, but nobody (except maybe TSA/border crossing) seems to care as much as they used to, but what do I know?

Really, I think I'd honestly not worry too much about Cuban cigars these days. I am strongly expecting and hoping that within our lifetimes the embargo will end and things will go back to pre-'62 conditions. Then pretty quickly a huge influx of American tourism will pour in and ruin the quality of the Cuban cigar via high demand. Not to mention the state will change to a westernized capitalist society faster than they'll be able to adjust for, which could lead to more problems. Man, this is a bleak outlook... :roll: 

In the meantime, Dominicans, Hondurans, and Nicaraguans are going to do you just fine.

 

[Northern Neil]

I too am starting my journey with cigars. If you are interested, I have found a website that sell legitimate Cubans, and will ship to the USA at a 20% discount with guaranteed delivery.

PM me if interested.

I'm really surprised they haven't shut that pipeline down yet... (See what I did there?) It is actually still illegal

I hear ya, but the 1st nations people don't give a crap about what laws the "white man" has in place haha. The cigars are shipped from a reservation in Southern Ontario, and they guarantee delivery! So, the pipeline is shut down, but fortunately some people out there don't care

 

[somedumbjerk]

thanks for all the replies guys! i'm going to compile a list of must tries and work my way through them. probably post newbie reviews as i go through. the one Nica Libre 1990 torpedo i had last night was absolutely splendid. it's reminiscent of padron, but not the same. pretty much to be expected. one that pops up frequently is "my uzi weighs a ton" and that interests me because of the baitfish size. sometimes you just want a smaller cigar.

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Don Pepin Blue and Black
Jaime Garcia Reserva
Padron 1926 Anniversary
La Aroma de Cuba
San Cristobal
Tatuaje Havana VI
Arturo Fuente Don Carlos
Ashton VSG
Cuba Libre One
EP Carillo Edicion Limitada 2012 Maduro
Liga Privada T52
Liga Privada No 9
La Sirena
Oliva Serie O Maduro
Oliva Serie V Maduro
Romeo & Julieta Romeo

 

[tslots]

Funny stuff. Starting off your cigar journey with Padron 1964 Anniv and Cohiba Robustos is definitely going right to the top and working your way down. Still it's a fun ride and there are thousands of choices.

Cuban cigars have that added "mystique" due to being illegal to purchase for 4.45% of the world's population. Some won't smoke anything but cubans. I find they are just another choice - some I enjoy and some I don't. And a simple Google search will show many websites that sell and ship genuine habanos with guaranteed delivery to the states. Tread cautiously down that road though.