I’ll be honest: I’ve smoked cigars for years without knowing the first thing about them.
I smoke one or two a month, either with a glass of bourbon or just sitting outside enjoying the night air. A while ago, I received a couple of boxes of Cubans in aluminum cylinders (Romeo Y Julieta, Romeo No.2), and I nursed those boxes quite slowly.
I smoked the last of those the other day and need to get some more. There’s a cigar shop around the corner from me, but I have no idea what to get. I can’t get more of the same because I’m in the US. And anyway, I’d like to try something new.
Any brand recommendations for essentially a novice cigar smoker? Don’t ask me what I like: I have no idea. I enjoyed the R&Js, but I’m open to new ideas, and there could be something out there I’d like more. I don’t want to spend too much, but since I save these for an infrequent treat, I don’t want garbage either.
Also, I can’t imagine this hasn’t come up before, but I couldn’t find any threads on it. Links?
Why not visit a local tobacconist, explain what you liked about the RyJs, and see what he or she recommends?
Note that by “tobacconist,” I mean a real tobacconist, who specializes in cigars and pipes and tobaccos–not a drugstore or newsstand. A real tobacconist can listen to your preferences, explain how they might translate to what’s in stock, and recommend something that you’d like.
I’ll admit that I haven’t had a non-Cuban for some time, but I’ll have a look through my humidors and whatnot, and see what I recalled enjoying. I don’t recall very many threads on cigar recommendations before, though I know we’ve had questions about storage, humidification, and suchlike.
I just had a CAO MX2 (two maduro wrappers) that was quite good.
Punch Rare Corojo is an excellent and affordable machine made stick.
I started with cigars, but I’m a pipe smoker for about 99% of my smoking. After the initial purchase of some nice briar pipes, a smoke seems to cost me maybe 50 cents a go vs five to ten bucks – and this is premium tinned tobacco, not drug store stuff. Plus there’s so many more flavors to be had with a pipe tobacco blends, and I’m not talking about cherry and vanilla (blegh).
My favorite cigars are Hoyo de Monterry, Punch, A. Fuente, and Montessino. I smoke them all in maduro. Try one of those if you like a rich, but mellow, smoke.
Longer, fatter cigars burn cooler; shorter, narrower cigars burn hotter. Experiment and decide which you prefer.
Other than that, it’s all up to individual taste. Enjoy!..TRM
I have maybe one or two a year, but when I do I usually go with an Arturo Fuente/Hemingway Short Story (like my cigars on the shorter side, 15-20 minutes is just fine for me) and always enjoy it.
I’ve preferred Monte Cristos in the past but like drastic_quench I’m more prone to go with a pipe these days. Hmmm… can a pipe tobcco preference thread be far behind?
I’d be there. I like my pipes and tobaccos–probably smoke them more than my cigars nowadays. But I still remember a few things about the cigars I still have in my humidor, mostly from when I feel like a smoke but not a pipe. I still do dip into my humidor for a cigar though, so let’s see what’s in there that the OP might like to know about. Note that I’m unsure if some of these are still available; it’s been some time since I was last in a US tobacconist.
Henry Clay: Try the H2000 series–a nice mix of coffee and cocoa flavors that goes well with a dark beer.
La Aurora: Approaches the spice level you had in your RyJs, but doesn’t quite get there. Still, a decent, flavorful smoke. Of all their vitolas, I’d recommend the tubed Perfecto–it looks like a cartoon cigar (fat in the middle and tapered towards each end), but is no joke; it is a serious, tasty, smoke.
Avo XO: Smooth, rich, and flavorful. I don’t recall any spiciness, though it might have a hint.
Padron: Another rich and flavorful one that I recall. Similar in flavor profile to the Henry Clay H2000. The Padron Londres would approximate the size of your RyJs.
Don Diego: Mild and slightly sweet. Can be a nice change from the heavier and stronger smokes. Nice afternoon smoke, especially with a cold lager beer.
Mindful of the board ToS and with appropriate respect to U.S. trade policy, I will also merely make the factual observation that I have known Americans who have found rather well-established online avenues to expand their available geographic selection of cigar choices. Though caveat emptor (on several levels).
One might further observe, when due diligence is observed, and if (for instance) one’s son were to present one with a cigar not necessarily outside the parameters as discussed above, it might turn out to be the best cigar one has ever encountered.
For more common usage, however, Thompson Cigars makes what they refer to as “Cuban Mistakes”. For a cheapo cigar, it is quite good. I usually smoke a maduro, but these are quite acceptable.
Assuming one doesn’t have the heart for all that intrigue, how are the various legal cigars that try to emulate the quality of Cubans? I’ve heard rumors of decent things from Honduras?
Also, confirm this rumor for me: Cubans are allowed if they are “rolled” on premise at a cigar bar or party?
It’s not all that intrigue (I’m not sure I know what you are talking about). But (I’m not sure I know what you are talking about), yes, even emigres from an island in the Caribbean will sometimes tell you that the best Honduran and Dominican products are good and gasp better than some of what comes out of that island now. I know I have been . . . disappointed with one famous brand (okay, Montecristo) in terms of freshness, quality control, consistency, when I have sampled within recent years (I must have been in . . . Paris, yeah, that’s the ticket). The emigres blame post-Soviet agricultural shortages (I guess Fidel used to get some fuel/fertilizer help from the commies) for the inconsistency. Having said that and echoing Shodan, my first Cohiba, smoked with a very ordinary red wine, was a very, very memorable experience.
As for your final question: not sure I am following. A Cuban cigar is a cigar made in Cuba. Are you positing that Cuban tobacco could be imported and then rolled into a cigar in the U.S.? I’ve heard nothing of that and can’t imagine why raw tobacco would be any more permissible than other Cuban goods under the trade sanctions.
ETA: Many, probably all, non-Cuban cigar vendors will tout that they use “Cuban seed” tobacco – probably true, but the connoisseiurs, rightly or wrongly, will say that it is the Cuban soil/climate/cultivation that make the difference.
The task of comparing (it’s as easy as a weekend trip to London or Montreal, neither of which is disagreeable in its own right) is hardly arduous . . . .
This is where I had trouble too. My understanding of the rumour as stated by jackdavinci is that somehow, a Cuban cigar is legal in the US if its tobacco is imported, then rolled into a cigar in the US.
If that’s the case, I cannot imagine how it could possibly be legal. AFAIK, the embargo applies to “goods of Cuban origin,” which presumably extends to both raw and finished materials: sugar, rum, coffee, tobacco, cigars. Thus a cigar rolled in the US from Cuban tobacco is just as illegal as a cigar rolled in Cuba from Cuban tobacco.
There is one exception I’m aware of: Cuban goods imported into the US prior to the embargo being in place are perfectly legal. Thus, if somebody has a stash of pre-embargo Cuban cigars or tobacco, they’re fine. It is not out of the question for such things to exist in small quantities–heck, I have a couple of cigars in my humidors that have been aging for double-digit years. And as I recall things, every now and then, Cigar Aficionado magazine would review a pre-embargo Cuban donated by a collector. But to have a large enough quantity of pre-embargo Cuban tobacco, properly stored and humidified for nearly fifty years, to be able to offer custom-rolled cigars at a reasonable price at a party or cigar bar stretches the possibility, IMHO.
You’re quite right about the exemption for pre-embargo materials. You might be overestimating the scarcity/cost though a bit – if what I’m seeing here is real, it’s not terribly daunting.
However, you are quite right that it is not the leaf/cigar distinction that is important, but the pre/post embargo date of origin distinction.
True or not, I think it misses part of the point. Part of the nice thing about the cigar I mentioned was how perfectly it was rolled.
The outer leaf in particular was perfect. And the thing was so strong it was almost hallucinogenic. But smooth as cream. Took me almost two hours to finish it, and it never went out once.
As with a thread entitled ‘recommend a wine’ the answer is complex.
=)
Your flavor and strength interests would help with recommendations, but you can’t really go too wrong with the big players in the US - Fuente, Diamond Crown, Padron, La Flor Dominicana, La Gloria Cubana, Davidoff, etc. You will be bound to get a well made and ‘good’ cigar.
If you’re interested in trying some low cost smokes, check JR Cigars and Thompsons online.
If you’re asking for personal recommendations, I’d say try a Tatuaje Cabaiguan or a Tatuaje La Riqueza. Both wonderful cigars that won’t knock a novice over with their strength profile.