# Cigars



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I'm new to the world of Cigars. Anyone have any advice, experiences, or good information to share on how to best experience them?

Right now I've tried a Nicaraguan and Dominican Republic Cigar, and they both had a similar flavor to them.

Are they supposed to have a bit of a burn on the back of the throat to them? 

Is there a trick to continue to get full pulls each time?


Thanks,
:tiphat:


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

What ever you do dont breath it in just taste it, Cuba, Dom Rep or even the Philippines they are all good

My fav tok thou at the moment is Erinmore Flake pipe tabac


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> What ever you do dont breath it in just taste it, Cuba, Dom Rep or even the Philippines they are all good
> 
> My fav tok thou at the moment is Erinmore Flake pipe tabac


Ya, I know I'm not supposed to inhale it, and just taste it and exhale. My issue is, I feel I'm not lighting it or cutting it properly for the taste seems to be standard between all brands and I know that can't be.

I know there is probably a period of time where I have to develop my palate, but is there supposed to be a bit of burn on the back of my throat, or am I torching it too much?

I'm enjoying it, I'm just trying to get different suggestions.

Thanks,
Captain.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

You should taste a difference, are the cigars dry? they need to be kept moist - humidified......

Unless your smokin just the good stuff


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

They were kept humidified.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

The Nicaragua one seems to be more harsh than the dominican Republic which was much smoother.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Ah, now your talkin


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Are Nicaragua ones cheaper?


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## dillonp2020 (May 6, 2017)

Of the cigars I've had, Cubans can't be topped. My uncle in Poland goes to Cuba or Dominican Republic, one week a year in December and picks up a couple of boxes of cigars for himself, and gets 2-3 boxes for my father. I've been able to steal some from my dad, of the ones I've tried, my favorites are Cohiba, particularly Behike 54 and Siglo VI. The price is pretty steep (like $50 a stick), but IMO the experience makes it worth the price.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I much preferred the Dominican Republic to the Nicaragua ones. I'll have to find a Cuban someplace and try it to see if it really makes a difference.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Of the non Cuban cigars I have tried, I have many favorites from Honduras.

I never get a burn anywhere. And I don't get anything in the back of my throat.

The first cigars I liked were Puros Indios. I now find them a bit too simple, one note. IMO my experience.

I really love Padrones. Complicated many layers of flavor.

Lots of great cigars out there, and a lot of the great ones are Cuban, and a lot of the great ones are not Cuban.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

My best experience with cigars is when I do not have to hurry. Where I have solid un-scheduled un-structured time to really indulge. Friday after work is perfect for me. There is very little that happens on Friday afternoon that can't be moved to the weekend.

Certain cigars and certain bourbons go together well, and some folks love certain cigars with certain port wines. A world of pairing to explore.

Here is a tip. If you are going to smoke more than one cigar in an evening, don't smoke the stronger one first. You won't catch the subtlety of the second one.

Cigars are a great bonding sharing conversation experience. But I find that sometimes its better to smoke a cigar alone, so there is no self consciousness and no obligation to be witty. Just a smoke.

Relevant to this website, I find cigar time an excellent time to listen to great music. Something wonderful, but not necessarily super familiar. I find lesser known piano sonatas and string quartets and things like that to be perfect. 

If the cigar doesn't keep people away, the music will, and that, often enough, is a blessing.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

I second the vote for Erinmore Flake. My favorite pipe weed. At the moment that is.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I much preferred the Dominican Republic to the Nicaragua ones. I'll have to find a Cuban someplace and try it to see if it really makes a difference.


Smoking gives you a bit of smelling breath, woman won't like that.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Pugg said:


> Smoking gives you a bit of smelling breath, woman won't like that.


Just blow some cigar smoke in her face that will fix it


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> Just blow some cigar smoke in her face that will fix it


The guy isn't married yet......first impression and that.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Pugg said:


> The guy isn't married yet......first impression and that.


Oh, I thought you were talking about Bill Clinton..........


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> Oh, I thought you were talking about Bill Clinton..........


This isn't "that other " thread


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Pugg said:


> This isn't "that other " thread


lol, I'm so happy I have made a thread that has a unique identification!

We had lot's of fun in that thread!



Cigars are really nice with classical music, I must say!


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

In Fact I'm gunna go smoke some Erinmore now


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> In Fact I'm gunna go smoke some Erinmore now


cough, cough, cough .


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Pugg said:


> cough, cough, cough .


did I blow it in your face?


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

I thought this was a 'family friendly' forum! Don't smoke cigars kids!


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)




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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Pugg said:


> Smoking gives you a bit of smelling breath, woman won't like that.


The way to combat that, and to refresh your mouth, I found, is to eat a couple of wedges of an orange.

Its kind of a ritual. After I am done smoking, and reluctantly ready to join the civilized world of dates and times, I put the cigar lighter in its special drawer, I clean out the ash tray, I field strip what is left of the cigar, and then I get an orange.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Pugg said:


> Smoking gives you a bit of smelling breath, woman won't like that.


The best solution, seriously for a moment, is to find a girl that smokes cigars.

If she likes cigars and classical music, she's a keeper. You can negotiate all the rest.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

JeffD said:


> The best solution, seriously for a moment, is to find a girl that smokes cigars.
> 
> If she likes cigars and classical music, she's a keeper. You can negotiate all the rest.


You'd have it made man - only other requirement I'd have is she must like Frank Zappa and hate Opera and Celine Dion


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I like to smoke a cigar a day, if possible, so that limits me to cigars which cost about $2 each. I order by mail (Famous Smoke Shop).

I keep them very moist in a small humidor, using distilled water, not ethylene glycol (anti-freeze). Can you believe that it is sold as a humidifier? It takes two days to properly humidify most dry, store-bought cigars.

Clip the ends with scissor-cutters, or poke a small hole using a center punch-cutter.

Do not inhale, and do not hurry; give the cigar time to "rest" between puffs. In fact, put it down between puffs.

A large Churchill size might take 45 minutes to an hour to smoke. Use cigarillos or smaller sizes if less time is available.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Cigars are one of the last bastions of "male" identity; and of course this is being assaulted (see covers of Cigar Aficionado featuring various women).

If the smell of cigars repels women, or people in general, then so be it; this is our right, our privilege, our pleasure, and a potent symbol of "real maleness," whatever that turns out to be.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

millionrainbows said:


> Cigars are one of the last bastions of "male" identity; and of course this is being assaulted .


I have a wonderful cigar friend, female, and she also has been known to smoke a pipe from time to time. She has posed for advertising pictures locally for cigar clubs and cigar parties. (And BTW she is not in the least lacking in femininity.)

It is her opinion that the disdain with which a cigar is met is primarily due to people being jealous of the fun we are having. Makes as much sense as anything.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> You'd have it made man - only other requirement I'd have is she must like Frank Zappa and hate Opera and Celine Dion


If she likes Frank Zappa I don't care what she hates.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

So I tried a COA Nicaraguan Cigar and that had a lot of flavor and beat out the JM Dominican I was praising earlier in this thread. It turns out leaf color is more important in determining flavor rather than country.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Now I'm coming to the conclusion that the darker the leaf, the bolder the flavor, the lighter the leaf, the smoother/perhaps "sweeter" the flavor.

How accurate is that?


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Now I'm coming to the conclusion that the darker the leaf, the bolder the flavor, the lighter the leaf, the smoother/perhaps "sweeter" the flavor.
> 
> How accurate is that?


It is, but you have to take into account that the outer leaf is usually of different type of tobacco than the stuff inside.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

I'm not an aficionado, but I've smoked a bit, and nothing very expensive. I like Trinidad Reyes, Montecristo 4 and 5, Partagas Coronas Junior and Serie D. If there's something existential in cigarettes, and something hedonistic in smoking pipe, a cigar has them both - a sense of life emptying to nothing as you watch, but it's a _glorious_ life, almost a _heroic_ one.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

When do you guys usually put your Cigar out and stop smoking it?

I usually get to about an inch from the sticker wrap around the Cigar located near the cap and then put it out. That's when the Cigar tends to get too hot and unpleasant to continue smoking for me.

Your thoughts?


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Captainnumber36 said:


> When do you guys usually put your Cigar out and stop smoking it?
> 
> I usually get to about an inch from the sticker wrap around the Cigar located near the cap and then put it out. That's when the Cigar tends to get too hot and unpleasant to continue smoking for me.
> 
> Your thoughts?


First of all I remove the wrap (the band) immediately, before I even light up. Some do that some don't. I do. (In part because when smoking with others I prefer to not advertise the greatness of my cigar, just to enjoy it.)

So I smoke the cigar down past the last 1/3. Beyond there most cigars get kind of bighty tasting. Even the good ones. Something to do with what gets drawn through the tobacco as you smoke it down, or something. I dunno. I usually go about half way more, so I smoke about 5/6 of total the way.

When I first started I would smoke them down to the roach, because I was so cheap. But I figured look, if you want to save money, don't smoke cigars. That's all.

I never "put it out". Good cigars will go out on their own if you are not smoking it. Cheapo cigars like El Producto, Dutch Masters etc., stay lit for ever. That's why cigar smoking comedians often use cheap cigars as props, so the darn thing stays lit.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Xaltotun said:


> If there's something existential in cigarettes, and something hedonistic in smoking pipe, a cigar has them both - a sense of life emptying to nothing as you watch, but it's a _glorious_ life, almost a _heroic_ one.


Yes!

Also a sense of human control over fire, bending it towards pleasure.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

JeffD said:


> If she likes Frank Zappa I don't care what she hates.


But what if she hate Frank Zappa and Likes Celine


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> But what if she hate Frank Zappa and Likes Celine


I don't care for either, but my ears, for the most part, prefer Celine, but my mind is more intrigued by Zappa.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I don't care for either, but my ears, for the most part, prefer Celine, but my mind is more intrigued by Zappa.


At least your mind is intrigued, that's all I'll say on the matter............


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

Eh Cigars. I wish I could be Feldman, I really do, he looked like a ****ing badass smoking a ciggy


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

But I don't touch the stuff, not in my interests


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Captainnumber36 said:


> When do you guys usually put your Cigar out and stop smoking it?
> 
> I usually get to about an inch from the sticker wrap around the Cigar located near the cap and then put it out. That's when the Cigar tends to get too hot and unpleasant to continue smoking for me.
> 
> Your thoughts?


Isn't your new house smelling like a cigar house already?


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Pugg said:


> Isn't your new house smelling like a cigar house already?


Just like the Whitehouse Hey!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> Just like the Whitehouse Hey!


They showered that out on Pennsylvania avenue.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

JeffD said:


> Yes!
> 
> Also a sense of human control over fire, bending it towards pleasure.


Totally agree, wonderful! But I have to add: at the same time, as you're getting your kicks from the mastery of the element of fire (Freud also wrote wonderful things about the pleasure of mastering fire, but I'm _not_ typing them here!) and the pleasure of smoke, the fire is burning your pleasure away. There's even a feeling that the fire is burning _you,_ burning your life away. So, while you're the master, you're also the victim! This is what makes cigar smoking feel real, not just escapist fantasy! Epicurean, yes, but not decadent!


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Xaltotun said:


> Totally agree, wonderful! But I have to add: at the same time, as you're getting your kicks from the mastery of the element of fire (Freud also wrote wonderful things about the pleasure of mastering fire, but I'm _not_ typing them here!) and the pleasure of smoke, the fire is burning your pleasure away. There's even a feeling that the fire is burning _you,_ burning your life away. So, while you're the master, you're also the victim! This is what makes cigar smoking feel real, not just escapist fantasy! Epicurean, yes, but not decadent!


Yes!

Its very complicated.

Because I find cigars a kind of sanctuary, there is the feeling of the walls burning while I am hiding in the safe room, the sanctuary being temporary, and the progress of the barbarians assailing the wall is measured by the ever shrinking length of the cigar.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Pugg said:


> Isn't your new house smelling like a cigar house already?


I smoke outside!


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I have fallen in love with an Alec Bradley Cigar called "Presnsado". It's very good, I hope to find others I love as much as this one, but I'll go on a taste testing spree a bit down the road. As for now, I'll endorse and supply myself with this fine Cigar when I'm in the mood for a smoke.

Anyone familiar with it around here, I think it's pretty famous.


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