Cigar Lovers!-

In My Humble Opinion
1

i have been an endulger of swisher sweet cigars for quite awhile now, but i have never tried any cigars other than one that could be bought at a local convience store. this past weekend i bought a couple of ashton virgin sun grown cigars because i had heard that they were a good brand of cigars. i purchased a Corona Gorda and it was great the taste was mild and smooth. i couldn’t have asked for anything better from a first time smoker of ashton cigars.

my question to you is are there any cigar lovers out there and do you have any recomendations?

thanks

2

You liked the Ashton. That means you’d go for the same stuff my wife likes. Lessee, girlie cigars…

Anything from the following lines would suit you:

Romeo Y Julieta
Cohiba (with the red dot–but they’re horribly overpriced)
La Flor de Cubana
Macanudo (probably the mildest of the mild).
If you want to taste some more potent cigars, you might want to try the following:

Partagas
Partagas Black (very strong)
Punch Rare Corojo

3

General Questions is for questions that have factual answers. IMHO is for polls. I’ll move this to IMHO for you.

Off to IMHO.

DrMatrix - GQ Moderator

4

Acid Blondies.

Ivylad adores them.

I believe you can do a search under Acid Cigars. You need to get to a real cigar store, not a convenience store. They got all kinds there, not just the Blackstone Cherries.

5

Indian Tabac Co Cameroon Legends. I prefer the gorilla size.

CAO Gold. I prefer the Double Corona’s.

Can you tell I like a big cigar?

6

Cohibas are great, and I also like Monte Cristo #3 :slight_smile:

Mmm

7

I agree with the “get thee to a proper tobacconist” advice. He or she will be able to help you better than we can. A little discussion about your likes and dislikes, and I’m sure you’ll end up with some fine selections.

But if you want to go with some of the advice here, I’ll try to make a few recommendations. I’m going to assume that you’re in the USA for now (if I wrong, correct me), so Cubans are unavailable to you. Still, there are some good smokes out there that you might like.

Henry Clay H2000 series: A very nice, flavourful smoke that isn’t overpowering–you’ll get hints of chocolate, caramel, and coffee, but only hints. Not mild, but not overly strong either.

Avo XO series: Hard to pin down, but a nice strong flavour. A little expensive, but if you have the extra bucks, try one.

Indian Tabac series: Tasty, not overly strong (my wife enjoys a Boxer or a Super Fuerte robusto from time to time), and always well-made. Maduros seem to have a little more flavour than the Naturals, but really, that’s a matter of personal taste.

Don Diego series: A mild smoke. Still, nice tobacco flavour, and a Robusto can go well with a cold lager beer.

Macanudos: The mildest of the mild, yet well-made and with flavour, according to their fans. A friend swears by the Hampton Courts, which may be a good starting point for you.

A couple of local tobacconists ask me to prepare copy for their newsletters, so I’m usually up on what’s happening in the cigar world. And if you are outside the USA, post again and I’ll be happy to recommend a few Cubans that you might like also.

8

Ewwwww.

Generally, one can get the same effect of smoking an Acid by sucking very hard on a car air freshener. There might be tobacco in them, but it’s covered up with all manner of flavorings and perfumes.

9

Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur I or IV in the lighter-colored wrapper. Hard to beat 'em.

How does one step directly from Swisher Sweets to Ashton VSG? Rather like going from riding a moped to driving a Ferrari.

10

My personal favourites are Don Ramos, in either a corona or robusto size. Absolutely gorgeous. Santa Damiana follow behind as a close second.

My local tobacconist always raves about Romeo y Julieta, and has persuaded me to give them a try on several occasions. I’ve always been rather underwhelmed by them, particularly since a disproportionately large number have been completely plugged (rolled too tightly, making them impossible to draw).

11

My daily cheap cigars are Black and Milds

I like to have a good cigar a couple of times per week,too. Then I’ll have either a Baccarat or an H. Upmann.

12

where i live there are no real cigar stores but i visited myrtle beach this weekend and went to Nick’s cigar world www.nickscigarworld.com. they have a very nice selection of fine cigars there as well. the ashton’s are the brand of cigars that they suggested. other types that i picked up besides the corona were a church hill, mudura, and a monarch.

thanks for the advice spoons.

13

I like a good cigar, but I know nothing about them.
Perhaps someone here can identify a cigar I had once?
It was the best cigar I have ever had :slight_smile:

It was green, and slightly rectangular :boggle:, a very light shade of green, like pistachio colour. Probably about a centimeter wide and half a centimeter high. Smooth as a babys bum.

What was it? I can only imagine it was an “immature” cigar or something in that it was green? I would love to get my hands on something similar, but I don’t know what to ask for.

14

Hi! I’m Bill Clinton and I’d like to share with you about cigars …
EEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!
Okay … I’ll start again …

Hi, I’m Zenster and I’d like to mention the +10,000 cigar boxes in my collection. Why? Because, to get the finest examples, I’ve had to buy the last stogie in quite a few of those wooden contraptions. I’ve smoked a number of them and will happily tell you about one of the only Lincoln logs that ever lit my fuse.

Havanas!

After that, please try Ramon y Allones Trumps. These suckers have no bitter end. Period.

The Uranus panatella from the Pleiades series was palatable.

THAT IS ALL

15

Iteki, it wasn’t immature. The green wrapper leaf would probably be intentional. The curing of these leaves is stopped before they turn brown, so they do indeed have a light green colour.

Such a colour is known as double claro or candela. Typically, the darker a wrapper leaf is, the more flavour it contains, and thus, the more flavour it imparts to the cigar. A cigar maker who wants to show off his or her filler blend might opt for a candela or claro (very light brown colour) wrapper.

At one time, candelas were quite popular in the United States, while Europe preferred darker cigars. Now, candelas are rarer than they used to be, but still available.

I can’t identify your cigar further, I’m afraid. But if you were to visit a tobacconist who sells premium cigars and ask for a cigar with a candela wrapper, he or she could probably help you.

16

I would like to say that your post was very cool, Spoons.

17

Thank you, Zenster. Maybe I should start an “Ask the Cigar Guy” thread. :slight_smile:

Actually, I have a question for you about your collection of cigar boxes. Are they in any way “special”? That is, do you collect only antique boxes, or Cuban boxes, or ones of brands that are named after people or otherwise follow some kind of theme?

I’ve got a number of boxes myself (nowhere near 10,000 of them though), mostly from just buying the cigars they contained. But I do have a few nice antique boxes as well, found at flea markets and such.

18

Spoons, great info, thanks a million! Is it possible it was green all the way through? I don’t remember a two-tone effect.
Does its “rectangularity” have any significance? It was a killer smoke, I would love to track something similar down, I will be definatly asking around about double claro and candela. :slight_smile:

19

Iteki, there is really no significance to the rectangular shape. It means that the cigar was box pressed, which is what happens when the round cigars (all cigars are round when rolled) are packed in a box that is just slightly smaller than it should be to contain them comfortably. When the box is closed and sealed, all the cigars will be squeezed into their rectangular shape.

Again, though, this is intentional, and some manufacturers play up the box pressing–there is actually a non-Cuban El Rey del Mundo cigar called the “Rectangulare.” Other notable box pressed cigars include the Padron Anniversario series, and certain Don Tomas cigars. Box pressing is an interesting effect, but it really doesn’t do anything for the flavour, and it shouldn’t affect the smoking characteristics, such as the draw. It’s interesting though, and kind of fun to smoke one.

And your cigar wouldn’t have been green all the way through. Filler and binder tobaccos are generally cured for longer periods of time, so they will have the brown color you expect to see, and the flavour you expect to taste. If you had taken the cigar apart, you would have found brown filler and binder leaves under the candela wrapper leaf.

20

There’s also a brand out that presses the cigars into a triangular shape. Pretty good cigars, but the ones I’ve tried burn unevenly.

Likewise, the correlation between wrapper and strength can sometimes be a fooler. There is a very nice mild-to-medium line with a dark maduro wrapper, but I can’t remember the name.

Also, almost all Cubans have a medium-brown wrapper (“English Market Selection” or "EMS), even the strongest of them. Maduros are unusual, even among the strongest Cuban cigars.