nic kick question

[nightowl]

I'm fairly new to smoking real cigars, been smoking convience store gars for a few years. So I have been smoking more than I usually would just because I am trying to see what I like and I was on vacation so I had more time.
I posted awhile back that I tried a Partagas Black Label Bravo and it hit the spot. Not harsh, but dark, rich and smooth. The next night I tried a Onyx Reserve and liked it about the same. With both they had a nice draw, not tight, but not loose either. They both gave me a nice taste and tingly sensation in my mouth.
I went back and bought another Partagas Black label Bravo a week later and it was terrible. Very loose draw and harsh.
I have tried a couple 5 Vegas series A's and like them, but not as smooth and sensation. I had read a review that if you liked the Black Labels, to try the Vegas A's.
Would the Partagas and Onyx have more of a nicotine kick that I was feeling and that was part of the pleasure over the Vegas's?
And could the 2nd Partagas just have been a bad cigar. I still have 1 Partagas and 1 Onyx left to compare to the first 2.
I am just wondering if that was a nic kick I was getting?
I was drinking manhattens with the first 2, so i am making sure that is part of it when trying the others.

 

[jmatkins]

I'm fairly new to smoking real cigars, been smoking convience store gars for a few years. So I have been smoking more than I usually would just because I am trying to see what I like and I was on vacation so I had more time.
I posted awhile back that I tried a Partagas Black Label Bravo and it hit the spot. Not harsh, but dark, rich and smooth. The next night I tried a Onyx Reserve and liked it about the same. With both they had a nice draw, not tight, but not loose either. They both gave me a nice taste and tingly sensation in my mouth.
I went back and bought another Partagas Black label Bravo a week later and it was terrible. Very loose draw and harsh.
I have tried a couple 5 Vegas series A's and like them, but not as smooth and sensation. I had read a review that if you liked the Black Labels, to try the Vegas A's.
Would the Partagas and Onyx have more of a nicotine kick that I was feeling and that was part of the pleasure over the Vegas's?
And could the 2nd Partagas just have been a bad cigar. I still have 1 Partagas and 1 Onyx left to compare to the first 2.
I am just wondering if that was a nic kick I was getting?
I was drinking manhattens with the first 2, so i am making sure that is part of it when trying the others.

What you drink with a cigar can have an effect on how it tastes. I like to drink water when I am have a cigar that I have never tried since it should not get in the way of the flavor profile of the cigar. Depending on what kind of a Manhatten it was it could be very over powering for a cigar. Don't get me wrong I drink way more Bourbon with cigars than anything, it will just change the way your taste buds interpet the cigar.

There is a thread somewhere that a lot of guys have shared what they drink when they smoke.

 

[CuritibaRex]

One cannot deny that SOME nicotine enters a cigar smoker's system when one smokes. But, a "kick" from nicotine should never be accepted, lest the cigar become nothing more than a substitute cigarette. My preference to inhaling the aromas along the length of the outside of the stick is much more of a yardstick to its pleasures than making a draw on the tip. For me, a mouthful of smoke is more a means of keeping the cigar lit than a source of its deepest enjoyment. That said, however, I do like to taste the smoke by "lapping" the top of my palate (as if tasting wine) when the final vestiges of about every other puff are exhaled from my mouth. This gives me the opportunity to taste the nutty/fruity/woody characteristics of the smoke itself.

Being in Brazil, I have ready access to about all the Cubans and find many are irregular in terms of draw characteristics and burn satisfaction levels within a brand, or even within a configuration within that brand (corona, pyramide, etc.) Only the most expensive brands seem to remain consistent smoke to smoke. Normally Partagas is in that group of fine and consistent, but even they are subject to the variegates of errors in hand-rolling.