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Five things to know when buying cigars
By Jesse | May 8, 2007
I’ve made a few of these mistakes along the way or watched someone else make them. This is geared more towards the United States where some of the cigar manufacturers are better marketers than cigar makers.
Buy for the Occasion.
Don’t by $20 cigars to smoke at your poker night. Likewise you’ll look a bit foolish handing out short filler factory rejects to your groomsmen on your wedding day. If you are looking for that really special occasion cigar ask for some advice at the shop. Padron, Ashton, Arturo Fuente, and others all make some great high end cigars that are perfect for those once in a lifetime events. Although if you are just buying for the guys night out stick with cigars in the $3 to $8 range.
Ooooo Pretty Colors!
I’ve fallen for it, the box shaped like the USS Missouri, the flashing lights in the lid or the life size cut out Hottie McBabe smoking a cigar. They’ve all made me want the cigar! The problem is, that the $10 cigar might be the same quality as the $4 cigar sitting next to it. Some of the best cigars you’ll find on the shelf have the simplest box and the simplest band. Padron and Tatuaje have basic brown and white bands and the quality is hard to match. This doesn’t mean some of the bright and colorful cigars don’t taste great, but at least do some research before buying. If your tobacconist is worth his salt he can steer you to best cigars in your price range.
What about the wrapper?
No, maduro isn’t the new Eminem or 50 cent. When I first started smoking cigars, I thought it was a general rule that the darker the cigar the stronger or spicier it would be. WRONG!! There are several classifications for the color of the leaf but most cigar smokers I know describe a cigar as having a natural or maduro wrapper. Where, and how the tobacco is grown makes the biggest difference in how the cigar tastes and how much nicotine it contains. Maduro wrappers, as a rule of thumb, tend to be a bit sweeter tasting than wrappers that haven’t aged as long.
Buy five before the box.
Don’t just blindly buy a box of cigars on a whim, know what you are getting. Buy five of the cigar line in varying sizes to smoke. The balance of wrapper, binder and filler varies by size of the cigar and alters the taste. The Corona which is typically 5 1/2 inches by 42 ring gauge, is a good choice to sample as it typically has equal parts binder, filler and wrapper.
How do I store these?
If you keep them in a sealed plastic bag at room temperature you should buy no more than two days in advance. Most tobacconists now sell humipouches that will buy you a few weeks of safe storage time. However I find them to keep cigars too moist and you suggest moving them out of the pouch and into a resealable bag a day before smoking. In a pinch, putting the cigars in an airtight container with a slightly damp paper towel will work, but I would not use this as a long term solution.
These are the top five questions I hear asked by new cigar smokers on several of the cigar forums I haunt. I’d love to answer any other questions you have so please leave a comment if you would like to ask something.
This was written as part of the Top 5 Group Writing Project at Problogger.net.
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Topics: Cigar Talk |
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May 9th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
#2 and #4 sound a lot like me. LOL Did I help inspire these with my embarrassing little tale about the CAO Sopranos Associate?
Good list regardless. I think you had the only cigar-related top 5 in the list!
May 9th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
I’ve fallen in the same trap Brian. I do enjoy the CAO Soprano, even if it is over priced. Mostly though if I smoke CAO’s I tend to stick with the Italia or the Brazilia line. Both of those are great cigars.
May 10th, 2007 at 9:59 am
And probably the two CAO’s I haven’t tried! I’ve had mixed results with the Gold. I really enjoyed the robusto size, but as really unimpressed with the torpedo. I’m going to try one more robusto before I blog my review on it… What do you think of the CAO Gold?
May 10th, 2007 at 10:27 am
I haven’t smoked too many. I think it is a bit mild for my taste.
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