Any Cigar Afficionados Out There?

[ValleyBoy]

A Fuente Short Story and Romeo and Julieta #7

 

[RedPop4]

Welcome fellow lovers of the leaf.:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[anon`]

I should come down here more often!

For my part, I'm quite partial to the Saint Luis Rey Reserva belicoso. Sadly, they can be difficult to come by, so the SLR Reserva toro often serves as a stand-in.
Beyond that, I'm quite omnivorous. Arturo Fuente is a favourite fallback line (or lines), and I really like their rothschilde for those situations that call for a quick short smoke. Otherwise I tend to bounce around a lot, looking for new smokes. Last night, for example, was a double maduro Saint Luis Rey Serie G, and before that a claro churchill from Gispert.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Welcome fellow lovers of the leaf.:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

But which leaf, mon?

.

 

[RedPop4]

Ah, you'd be knowin' Squire....

 

[Marc Chevalier]

.

 

[SGB]

When we lived in CA I had a walk-in at the ranch, now living in town in AZ I have to get by with a much smaller humidor. I'm currently pretty much full with about 1500 sticks, so box purchases are limited. I used to keep about 4,000 sticks on hand, had to get rid of a lot when we moved.
I like a rich full bodied smoke. Lately I have been smoking:

- Bolivar, Privee A Fuerte Maduro Maduro ( I don't like the new milder Bolivar blend)
- Flor De A Allones, Maximo
- Saint Luis Rey, Reserva Especial Belicoso Maduro (the older all Honduran Saint Luis Rey's were much better, too bad they are gone, lucky I still have 5 boxes stashed)
- Padron, (nice daily smoke) Anniversarios favored but just about all gone, better than the current Anniversarys

I still have a bunch of vintage smokes, some in unopened boxes, that are 15 years old and older.

SGB

 

[Nick D]

I'm a pipe smoker, not a cigar smoker, but I do enjoy a cigar every now and then. I prefer long cigars, like churchills. I'm really not to picky, since I don't smoke them very often.

What I'd really like are all pipe tobacco cigars, like the ones made by Durango Cigars. The Middleton ones have a paper wrapper and plastic mouthpiece which I don't like, plus they're not much of a cigar. There's only one tobacco shop within 100 miles, and they don't carry any quality pipe tobacco cigars.

 

[Rafter]

I have a ritual that I go through before I enjoy the smoke of a good cigar.
My current favorite is a Chateau Fuente Royale Salute.

I unwrap the plastic from the cigar, remove the label unless I wanna be a "wanna be", or if it's too tight to remove.

I feel the cigar. The leaf wrapper should have a certain rubbery quality. I smell it, then put it to my ear and listen, it it's a truly fine cigar, I may hear the violent rantings of a Central American dictator. If I actually hear Fidel Castro, I definitely got a good one!

I then grint my teeth, (like Clint Eastwood, or like a F14 pilot getting shot off a carrier), and while gently pressing the cigar against my teeth, NOT my lips...I firmly bite the least little bit of the tip off, and SPIT IT OUT! Spitting it out is VERY important and should be done with the utmost enthusiam to show respect for the spanish person who hand made-the cigar. Real men spit, aggresively and with dry passion. AND TOWARDS THE GROUND!

I tilt back my head very slightly to keep the smoke out of my eyes and light the end SLOWLY, turning it ever so slightly to ensure EVEN slow start.

I then spit, and SLOWLY puff. I DO NOT INHALE! I don't try to knock the ashes off by tapping it like a cigarette. I slowly roll the end on the edge of an ash tray.

 

[RedPop4]

I had my first Fuente in YEARS last week. My great friend signed a contract to have his new house built....his old one took 8 feet of water after the levees broke on August 29, 2005. The builder gave him a box of Hemminways, so he broke those out. I've been smoking so many other brands that I'd forgotten how good a Hemmingway can be.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Sancho Panza "Sancho". Bought in 1999, and sitting in my humidor in Britain since then along with some Cohiba Esplendidos and a couple of Montecriso #4s . . . Now i can smoke 'em, again. They have aged nicely.

bk

 

[Quigley Brown]

I have a ritual that I go through before I enjoy the smoke of a good cigar.
My current favorite is a Chateau Fuente Royale Salute.

I unwrap the plastic from the cigar, remove the label unless I wanna be a "wanna be", or if it's too tight to remove.

I feel the cigar. The leaf wrapper should have a certain rubbery quality. I smell it, then put it to my ear and listen, it it's a truly fine cigar, I may hear the violent rantings of a Central American dictator. If I actually hear Fidel Castro, I definitely got a good one!

I then grint my teeth, (like Clint Eastwood, or like a F14 pilot getting shot off a carrier), and while gently pressing the cigar against my teeth, NOT my lips...I firmly bite the least little bit of the tip off, and SPIT IT OUT! Spitting it out is VERY important and should be done with the utmost enthusiam to show respect for the spanish person who hand made-the cigar. Real men spit, aggresively and with dry passion. AND TOWARDS THE GROUND!

I tilt back my head very slightly to keep the smoke out of my eyes and light the end SLOWLY, turning it ever so slightly to ensure EVEN slow start.

I then spit, and SLOWLY puff. I DO NOT INHALE! I don't try to knock the ashes off by tapping it like a cigarette. I slowly roll the end on the edge of an ash tray.

Reads like one of those letters-to-the-editor in Cigar Afficiando magazine.

 

[PADDY]

Pete, the picture of a man at ease with himself...

What a great picture Pete, and that ceegar looks amazing. Enjoy!!:eusa_clap

Sancho Panza "Sancho". Bought in 1999, and sitting in my humidor in Britain since then along with some Cohiba Esplendidos and a couple of Montecriso #4s . . . Now i can smoke 'em, again. They have aged nicely.

bk

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Cheers, Paddy. First thing i did was have my pop send my humidor down when i got back. A pity about those white hairs coming through at the front of my head, though . . .

bk

 

[PADDY]

I enjoyed it...

But have no idea what brand/make it was...[huh] But...I hold my hands up and say: "Size does matter here, and THE Baron beats me hands down here, I'd swap my cigar for his any day!!"

 

[TaxMan1]

How'd I miss this thread.......
Been enjoying everything made by Pepin recently.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Cohibas. I pick mine up whenever I'm in London.

Go to the continent and get 'em half price. British tobacco prices are ridiculous.

bk

 

[John in Covina]

I seem to recall that GB gets the first quality for their Cubans and that each European country has different brands or sizes of brands that you are more likely to find. So a brand or size you get in London may not be readily available in the other EU countries. Conversely, the other countries will have brands or sizes you may not find in GB.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

No: that's just a story. They just come with a different sticker on the box. The "English Market Selection" is merely a way for the British powers that be to find out if you've paid your British duty. I've never heard of a brand/size/etc. that is available here but not so readily available elsewhere. Having smoked Cubans sourced in the UK (EMS) and sourced from the continent, there is just no difference.

And it lets the cigar stores put even more mark-up on the product.

It does give people a little bit of confidence that they are not getting fakes. But then, i'm perfectly happy to trust a Swiss cigar shop to not sell me fakes.

bk

 

[ferryengr]

Had an El Ray Del Mundo (Cuba) from Fox in St James while I was in London last week. Wonderful!