I'm getting onto 50 years of smoking cigars (and thinking I just might possibly stick with this hobby) and started on Parodis, graduated to various cheap house brands, then went through all the upper brands and Cuban cigars, and finally discovered A J Fernandez, and now those make up most of my rotation. But there are a few brands you ought to try, even though in my opinion they are not much better (especially in terms of value for your dollar) than anything Fernandez is putting out. So I would recommend trying some Padrons (the 1000 series is an OK value and taste pretty good if you put them down for about a year, but the best IMHO are the 1964 anniversary series), Ashton (the VSG is nice as is the Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Reserva), My Father/Don Pepin (the original My father line and the Le Bijou are two I really like), Tatuaje, Davidoff Nicaraguan (but way overpriced in my opinion), Drew Estate Ligas (9 better than 52 but worth trying both), Fuente (Casa Fuente house brand if you get to their store in Vegas, and Fuente Sharks - which I don't like but it's a cult thing). And Parodis - you have to try them. Back in the day they were $0.25 for a box of five. I still smoke them today even though they are up to $3.00/box. So now that I can afford to smoke anything I want, my normal rotation is Man O War, Man O War Ruination, MOW Armada, 5 Vegas AAA and Cask Strength, Diesel Wicked or Grind, CAO Extreme and Brasilia, Latitude Zero, Fallen angel, Fernandez Relics and Miamis, Aroma de cuba mi amor reserva, Oliva O, and Cain F. And I think the most expensive is about $4 and almost all below $3 a stick.
