PamunkeyHub
Jayson
I don't consider myself a collector, but I have accumulated a 'collection' of cigars and plan to smoke or gift each one of them at some point in the future.
Smoking Vs Collecting
- Thread starter Ibowtobacon
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StogieNinja
Derek | BoM June 2014
Good point. I realize the forum doesn't even come close to representing the "average" cigar smoker, but the point remains that LEs seem to be increasing in popularity overall. It may have gone from a very small percentage to a small percentage, but they are increasing.
Before finding this site, I have not collected. As of this post, I've been on here for less than a month. Bought a little 40-50 count humidor a couple weeks ago. Got a delivery yesterday. Smoked one and the remaining 24 went into the humi. The unexpected number of sticks that arrived in today's mail has now put my storage at capacity. ( @Daven looking your direction, brother. 
) I'll now be looking for another humi in the next week or so.
All of my current and future acquisitions are intended to be smoked but there is a certain allure of a collection, even if only temporarily collected before seeing fire. I am really looking forward to setting aside portions of box purchases for aging and experiencing the changes over years. Don't buy or collect with investment in mind. Value is only what someone is willing to pay. Buy to enjoy and if something does provide a good return later, consider it a bonus.
) I'll now be looking for another humi in the next week or so.All of my current and future acquisitions are intended to be smoked but there is a certain allure of a collection, even if only temporarily collected before seeing fire. I am really looking forward to setting aside portions of box purchases for aging and experiencing the changes over years. Don't buy or collect with investment in mind. Value is only what someone is willing to pay. Buy to enjoy and if something does provide a good return later, consider it a bonus.
Very valid point.. but one that lends a question..
Most of the people I know outside of the members of this forum that are heavy into the hobby rarely smoke much outside of the "big" brands.. and almost never smoke an LE at all..
The guy that pushed me over the edge and got me to the point where I was smoking cigars on an almost daily basis rather than one or two a month like I had been doing for the 10+ years previous.. pretty much smokes RP and Gurkha exclusively.. he'll smoke other stuff if you share it with him.. but if he walks into a B&M to buy sticks, you can almost guarantee he is going to walk out with a couple of boxes of RP 1992's or something from Hanositas arsenal...
The guy that I used to smoke with at my old lounge with most frequently is very well off.. he can pretty much smoke whatever he likes, whenever he likes.. and doesn't shy away from spending a lot of money on cigars.. most of his cabinet is filled with higher cost offerings from Altadis and General, with a few boxes of bigger label regular production stuff from Fuente, MF, and padron thrown in the mix..
So.. if the majority of the high rollers and daily smokers are grabbing a RP or a Fuente or a NC RyJ the vast majority of the time... I wonder just how much of the market is actually boutique brands and LE's (to include those from the big brands, etc..)..
I wouldn't imagine that it is much.. but..
at the same time.. when I walk into most B&Ms.. at least a third (sometimes more depending on the shop) of the shelf space is taken up with cigars from smaller companies like Illusione, CH, Tat, Viaje, etc...
If we're not buying all of that stuff up... who is? and how much of the market does it represent?
A lot of what sells at a particular store is dependent on who owns it and the types of customers they have. There is a store near me that almost sells zero Altadis, General, or Camacho. He focuses solely on boutique cigars, and he has trained his customers on those products. However, I have been to other stores where the boutique barely sells at all. My friend has a store, and you'll see some boutique stuff that will sit on the shelf for years. Usually the stuff that sells best is the stuff that the owner or manager pushes his clients towards.
icehog3
Outlaw Hockey Biker
That says it pretty well for my thoughts.
Option 3: I enjoy the camaraderie most!So do yall enjoy the collecting or smoking more?
I am in the start of trying to collect to fill up my (small) humidor but I love trying and smoking just as much.
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2015
- Messages
- 58
For me I enjoy the smoking more than the aspect of collecting. But it goes hand in hand I feel. It is fun collecting new cigars and finding new brands to try, but the end goal for me is to find new cigars that I will enjoy smoking! Cheers!So do yall enjoy the collecting or smoking more?
I am in the start of trying to collect to fill up my (small) humidor but I love trying and smoking just as much.
Rupe
Suburban robot that monitors reality -BOM Feb.'13
I fall more into the category of "hoarder" than I do "collector".
There are a handful of cigars in my stash that I may have a hard time putting a flame to however at the end of the day every single cigar in my hoard will either get smoked or bombed out at some point.
There are a handful of cigars in my stash that I may have a hard time putting a flame to however at the end of the day every single cigar in my hoard will either get smoked or bombed out at some point.
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I'm a collector-type person, and have been tempted many a time to buy LE/HTF stuff to say I had it, but in the end, it really does nothing for me but leave me with cigars I sit on for years waiting for the "right time" to smoke em.
I think my love of beers helped me to keep myself from going overboard with cigars. For a few months I chased HTF/High demand beers only to end up with a wine rack full of beer I wanted to drink, but wanted to wait for the "right time". Eventually I realized that the only thing I was collecting was bragging rights, and in the end, that's worth nothing. They're a consumable product, and the enjoyment doesn't come from the simple fact of owning it - and letting others know I own it - it comes from consuming the product. I started popping caps off my beers anytime we had company, went on vacation, watched a movie, or ate pizza... It was around the same time I heavily invested in homebrewing and learned how to turn out fantastic beers that rivaled some of these, but could be had "on tap" in the basement. That really changed my view on collecting/saving HTF/LE consumables. They're good stuff, but they do nothing for me sitting on a shelf, the enjoyment comes from consumption.
I have a nice handmade custom desktop humidor where I store all my "special" cigars. Every trackday weekend I fill a travel humidor with cigars from there and I'll smoke Opus/Liga/Tat LE/CC Exclusivos all weekend, even while cruising the pits on my bike, or driving the tow/support truck on the track after an off. The enjoyment of a bundle smoke, or a high end, is really tied in with the overall experience. I don't smoke every day. I don't even smoke every week. But I enjoy cigars, and having them sit in a humidor is not enjoying what the maker set out to create. Sure, I reserve them for the right occasion, but sometimes the right occasion is simply after dinner.
I can appreciate LE stuff. But in the end, the enjoyment and intended purpose of the product is to be consumed, not shelved.
I think my love of beers helped me to keep myself from going overboard with cigars. For a few months I chased HTF/High demand beers only to end up with a wine rack full of beer I wanted to drink, but wanted to wait for the "right time". Eventually I realized that the only thing I was collecting was bragging rights, and in the end, that's worth nothing. They're a consumable product, and the enjoyment doesn't come from the simple fact of owning it - and letting others know I own it - it comes from consuming the product. I started popping caps off my beers anytime we had company, went on vacation, watched a movie, or ate pizza... It was around the same time I heavily invested in homebrewing and learned how to turn out fantastic beers that rivaled some of these, but could be had "on tap" in the basement. That really changed my view on collecting/saving HTF/LE consumables. They're good stuff, but they do nothing for me sitting on a shelf, the enjoyment comes from consumption.
I have a nice handmade custom desktop humidor where I store all my "special" cigars. Every trackday weekend I fill a travel humidor with cigars from there and I'll smoke Opus/Liga/Tat LE/CC Exclusivos all weekend, even while cruising the pits on my bike, or driving the tow/support truck on the track after an off. The enjoyment of a bundle smoke, or a high end, is really tied in with the overall experience. I don't smoke every day. I don't even smoke every week. But I enjoy cigars, and having them sit in a humidor is not enjoying what the maker set out to create. Sure, I reserve them for the right occasion, but sometimes the right occasion is simply after dinner.
I can appreciate LE stuff. But in the end, the enjoyment and intended purpose of the product is to be consumed, not shelved.
Like it seems most others, my "collection" is for my consumption. I personally refer to it as my inventory as opposed to collection for that reason. At some point I'll either consume them or someone with me will.
I've got a couple friends who do the Collection side. They chase rare Liga and Tats. Personally not something I can understand (collecting a consumable product without the intent of consuming), but then again, I'm sure I do lots of things with my money that others don't understand! So to each their own, as long as they're being responsible with their finances.
I've got a couple friends who do the Collection side. They chase rare Liga and Tats. Personally not something I can understand (collecting a consumable product without the intent of consuming), but then again, I'm sure I do lots of things with my money that others don't understand! So to each their own, as long as they're being responsible with their finances.
I used to buy certain cigars and hunt down HTF or LE cigars and save them for a "special" occasion but I got over that pretty fast. Everything I buy I plan on smoking, now I have a pretty big humidor so I may not smoke them right away but I don't really save anything. I'm also over the HTF or LE stuff, not that I won't buy them if I walk in a shop and it is there, but I am not hunting them down and will never pay over MSRP for a cigar!
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2016
- Messages
- 76
I'm an accumulater. I have a couple "special" sticks I save for a special occasion. However, it don't take much to make an occasion special to me. I bought them to try them, not save them. I do have my favorites though. I am fortunate enough to attend a monthly tasting at a nearby cigar bar, so I can try before I buy.
Not sure where I'd fit in bit of both I'd say. early on in my foray into cigars I brought all the DE cigars well most , u know , lp9s ,t52 ,feral pigs, dirty rats , ratzilla , uf13, under crown , papas fritas , l40 u name it I brought it, the addiction had kicked in. I brought in lots of 2/3 or 5ers so a lot of the above I still have a few of each so these I'd say I'm now collecting/aging. Then I expanded my one eyed rookie horizons (best thing I did) to all the other brands viaje, Tatuaje , Arturo Fuentes, Caldwell , leaf by Oscar , avo, davidoff, don peppin , padron, perdomo and so on , staying/ buying in the same format as above brought in 5ers so these are also being collected/aged . Luckily being in Australia we have free reign with CCs so it was only after all the above and nearly a year that I started my CC journey which is continuing under the same above ways but also every 10/15ct box I buy immediately half get separated for smoking and the other for collecting /aging. Beginning to collect a little more now being paranoid that once the cc lift is in full swing quality and even quantity will dive off so may as well stock up !!! That's my theory anyway 
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When I first started smoking cigars I, like so many, bought way too much. Cigarbid was the bane of my existence. I didn't amass near the quantity of many here, but I was looking at 150 cigars and the money I spent on them and decided it was enough. At that point I picked up pipes as well and was experimenting with different tobaccos but it was far far cheaper, The end result is I've bought maybe 3 cigars in the last year and I'm down to about half my stash. I have 6 pipes and enough tobacco to last at least a year. What I have left in cigars are the best of my best as I smoked the cheap stuff first, lol.
I have to say I consider collecting something more a long the lines of businessmen in Hong Kong paying 10,000 for a box of Davidoffs in MO's auctions, then putting them in a display humidor in their office, they aren't buying to ever smoke the cigar, it's a commodity and a collection to show off to friends, it's an investment. I have a fairly large Aristocrat, while the box count isn't what it used to be I don't consider it a collection because I smoke whatever comes to my fancy at the time, that's just buying sticks I am going to smoke, not collecting per se.
King Kill 33
BoM Dec '13
I found that amassing large amounts of NCs that I will have a hard time getting to within a few years, was counter productive because some of them smoke much better fresh. Then I switched to hoarding CCs. Makes much better sense as the chance of 'aging out' is much less.
I was to a point where I had some very nice Tats that were very sought after, that I had to bomb out because I didn't want to even smoke them myself for fear of disappointment. Seems silly, but now I worry less about that.
My stash now consists of the kind that age well and a lot of brown label/Reserva Tatuaje that I think hit their peak in the 2-5 year range.
- KK33
I was to a point where I had some very nice Tats that were very sought after, that I had to bomb out because I didn't want to even smoke them myself for fear of disappointment. Seems silly, but now I worry less about that.
My stash now consists of the kind that age well and a lot of brown label/Reserva Tatuaje that I think hit their peak in the 2-5 year range.
- KK33
I amassed a fair amount of NC too and like you I fell down the CC hole too. I ended up bombing and selling off almost all of my NC stuff.I found that amassing large amounts of NCs that I will have a hard time getting to within a few years, was counter productive because some of them smoke much better fresh. Then I switched to hoarding CCs. Makes much better sense as the chance of 'aging out' is much less.
I was to a point where I had some very nice Tats that were very sought after, that I had to bomb out because I didn't want to even smoke them myself for fear of disappointment. Seems silly, but now I worry less about that.
My stash now consists of the kind that age well and a lot of brown label/Reserva Tatuaje that I think hit their peak in the 2-5 year range.
- KK33
This is a bit off topic but I spent a long time feeling like I had to nub every cigar I smoked or I wasn't getting my money's worth. Not until just recently have I been able to put a cigar down half smoked if I feel like I've had enough. It's been liberating.
Anybody else feel like they have to nub every cigar they smoke?