Cigar Primer for New Smokers

[Stinky Andy]

Excellent advise, and also good as a refresher for all of us who have developed different habits over the years.

Sent from my PC with a keyboard.

 

[H3rrington]

Thank you for this. Though I've been smokin for a year I seem to have some habits I need to fix. And several things I read I had to learn the hard way.

 

[Ethan]

Thanks for this long detailed post Mitch. Learned some good stuff to try and work on

 

[jrhertel]

Thank you Mitch. Just properly lit a cigar and can definitely notice a difference

 

[solo.ace13]

Thank you for the insight Mitch!

 

[SFerrojr]

Great tips. Thanks!

 

[Greeneraz]

great info, thank you Mitch.

 

[AmazingChicken]

This is a great thread for somebody like me, who's been smoking cigars for a little while and has learned the hard way some of these points. Thank you!

I do have a question that's a step past this one, though there's some mention related to it which is:

Don’t buy bargains, most of the cigars out there like Gurkha with high MSRP’s can be had cheap on deal all the time, High/Low marketing is a gimmick with several brands.

But the question is, how does age affect these 'bargain' cigars, when purchasing them?

During a cigar tasting last year (or two years) Jose Blanco told me that like wines, cigars can age well, or not. Gurkha for example can be had for a hundred bucks a box, for smokes that were introduced a year or two back. Quesada's 'Tributo' is still around, and some have mentioned they didn't like them so much on release as they do after a couple of years.

So, there's certain to be some that folks here recognize that you would want to grab up, and others that just aren't worth the trouble after a few years in the box. Is there a thread about different brands that do/don't improve with time?

About my tastes.... I tend to stay to the narrower gauges, leaving the Inches and Colossos to some of my buddies. My favorites run from Quesada Espana to the Antanos to My Father to AF to L'Atelier to EPC to... well, I'm gonna try any smoke my buddy Rick recommends in his shop, which is Federal Cigars in NH.

So if anyone can offer some info on this, I would GREATLY appreciate it! Thanks. //jmb

 

[Adam3]

Thanks Mitch this tremendous advice for this newb..

 

[Cigary43]

Great post...this should be a sticky for those who start this hobby as it would help relieve all the anxiety that newbs have. Couple that with Cigar Storage and you have a complete guide for Newbs.

 

[Cigary43]

This is a great thread for somebody like me, who's been smoking cigars for a little while and has learned the hard way some of these points. Thank you!

I do have a question that's a step past this one, though there's some mention related to it which is:

Don’t buy bargains, most of the cigars out there like Gurkha with high MSRP’s can be had cheap on deal all the time, High/Low marketing is a gimmick with several brands.

But the question is, how does age affect these 'bargain' cigars, when purchasing them?

During a cigar tasting last year (or two years) Jose Blanco told me that like wines, cigars can age well, or not. Gurkha for example can be had for a hundred bucks a box, for smokes that were introduced a year or two back. Quesada's 'Tributo' is still around, and some have mentioned they didn't like them so much on release as they do after a couple of years.

So, there's certain to be some that folks here recognize that you would want to grab up, and others that just aren't worth the trouble after a few years in the box. Is there a thread about different brands that do/don't improve with time?

About my tastes.... I tend to stay to the narrower gauges, leaving the Inches and Colossos to some of my buddies. My favorites run from Quesada Espana to the Antanos to My Father to AF to L'Atelier to EPC to... well, I'm gonna try any smoke my buddy Rick recommends in his shop, which is Federal Cigars in NH.

So if anyone can offer some info on this, I would GREATLY appreciate it! Thanks. //jmb

Bargain cigars don't add much of anything when they are rested...resting is anything from when you buy them to 5 years. Aging is anything over 5 years. I do know that premium cigars will benefit greatly with rest...probably at least 60% and there are cigars that don't benefit at all. Complex cigars are the candidate for resting as the flavors will mature and balance while non complex cigars won't have much of a change. When we get into that arena of rest/aging prepare to spend a lot of time waiting and that usually comes with the idea of having enough cigars to smoke while you rest/age others.

 

[DocDrake]

Great post...this should be a sticky for those who start this hobby as it would help relieve all the anxiety that newbs have. Couple that with Cigar Storage and you have a complete guide for Newbs.

I may be over stepping my bounds here and please tell me if I am but as a newbie that's only been smoking cigars for a couple months I have a request for the experienced guys of this site. Threads like this are so informative and helpful that a sticky thread of something like 'Newbie Cigar Orientation' with information found on this thread, the basic's in storage previously mentioned by you and things like the thread Cigar Acronyms posted by Cigar Cowboy rolled into one power packed basics guide would help alot of people myself included out as a sort of mandatory new guy read. So please do go through with ya'lls previous idea I would greatly appreciate it as I'm sure alot of others would as well.

 

[stx.dead.I]

I've tried the one puff per minute rule and it always ends up going out within the first couple minutes. Any tips to solve that problem?

 

[rdomfoto]

I've tried the one puff per minute rule and it always ends up going out within the first couple minutes. Any tips to solve that problem?

Could be several things but if it's going out with that frequency, it sounds like your cigars may be over-humidified. How are you storing them and at what Rh?

Most cigars can be drawn every couple of minutes without going out. I fact, one draw per minute may be too often and cause a bitter/sour taste in the stick

 

[ChefBoyRG54]

Could be several things but if it's going out with that frequency, it sounds like your cigars may be over-humidified. How are you storing them and at what Rh?

Most cigars can be drawn every couple of minutes without going out. I fact, one draw per minute may be too often and cause a bitter/sour taste in the stick

But what if it's too good to go slow(insert sex joke here)

 

[rdomfoto]

But what if it's too good to go slow(insert sex joke here)

But then I finish in less than two minutes.

 

[ChefBoyRG54]

But then I finish in less than two minutes.

That's generous

 

[stx.dead.I]

Could be several things but if it's going out with that frequency, it sounds like your cigars may be over-humidified. How are you storing them and at what Rh?

Most cigars can be drawn every couple of minutes without going out. I fact, one draw per minute may be too often and cause a bitter/sour taste in the stick

 

[rdomfoto]

That's generous

Well, when you have to stop a couple of times to catch your breath...

 

[rdomfoto]

Thanks for the pic!
What's the Rh value on that Boveda pack?