The Mechanics of Cigar Smoking

[Lancealot]

CAO Moontrance: Budget cigar, very far off the high end stuff but I just had one today after a wonderful lunch and it was good. Runs about 7-10 USD and finishes with a light vanilla flavor. It's great for an occasion where you dont want to break your bank but wont resort to the truly cheapies. Comes wrapped in cedar which is always a nice touch and smells delightful. It is on the smallish size in diameter but that makes it easy to hold and smoke. A good all around cigar for you and your company wont mind the smell.

One of my personal favorites.:cheers1:

 

[MasonM]

I love a good cigar. My personal favorites are the Padrons. For a quick smoke I like the Dutch Delites made in Ireland.

 

[captaindex]

Cuban Cohiba - Not to be confused with the Dominican "Red Dot" these Havana made cigars are a must have for anyone from the diehard smoker to the passing flirter.

Viva Cuba!

Oh BOY! Am I happy to live in Europe for ONCE!!

CUBA! my fellow loungers, ...Hecho a mano en Cuba...
Nothing beats the taste.

Cohiba's are very nice but rather pricey for the quality. (IMHO)

My regular fav is the Monte Christo No. 4 and a close second is the Romeo y Julietta No. 2.

BUT....When something special has to be celebrated:
:cool2: Romeo Y Julietta Edicion Limitada - 2003! AWESOME!!!!!
This is a Churchill sized RyJ made of selected leaves where the outer leave has been aged for 2 years between cedar blocks. They are then boxed but have to "ripe" about half a year to a year before they are to be smoked!
Yes! they do get better with age! (in a humidor off course).

I have made some stopovers last year in BIA, Houston, TX and have picked up some nice US approved stogies: Macanudo Crystal Cafe, Dominican made Montechristos and Hoya de Nicaragua.
All very tasty and quality cigars, and I smoke em with pleasure... but... THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.
They lack the typical CUBAN taste...!

Fortunaltely I live in the Netherlands, (the Cigar capital of Europe) and even cuban cigars are quite affordable here: A 25 box of RyJ No.2's is approx 100 Euro. That equals approx. 125,-USD.!

Now for NON CUBAN, my absolute fav is the ZINO (Davidoff) Mouton Cadet No.1.
The mouton cadet is a Honduras made cigar and was developed to combine with Baron Rothschild's Mouton Cadet wine, hence the name.

Off course it combines fantasticly with any drink. Personally (IMHO)...anything less than an 18 year old Single (Scottish) Malt or X.O. Cognac would not do justice to these cigars.....
Then again if ...however you like em ....enjoy em.
And thats all what really counts!

Dex

 

[SGB]

A new shop opened here last month, it's a bar and smokeshop pouring fine wines and Single Malt Scotch with a small selection of cigars. Very trendy high-end place. I stopped in to 'check it out' and knew the cigar guy from another less desirable shop, glad he moved. The neat thing was they had 2 boxes of Partagas 150's, haven't seen any of those in ages. I bought one stick at $35.00, to smoke probably when my backyard smoking lounge is finished. I think I still have a few 150's in my humidor, from when they were first released. Funny story, I traded a box of 150's for the down payment ($800.) on my Ralph Lauren leather furniture, the store owner was a fanatic for 150's.

SGB

 

[scotrace]

Several threads combined into one. We are trying to consolidate information on cigars a bit: pardon our dust.

 

[J.S.Udontknowme]

I've resorted to a sharp pencil when nothing else is around, to punch a single hole as well (and always laugh thinking about that one doomed season of Nowhere Man ). It makes a nice rounded edge to the airhole.

J

I've used a pencil too, but I pulled the eraser out and used the metal end to cut the hole.

 

[RedPop4]

When I first started smoking, one of my friends who got me into it used little chrome/silver/stainless olive picks from Restoration Hardware. It's neat, clean, and looks nice, but it never smoked well for me. So my next move was a round punch, which I still carry with me but never use.

The punch isn't good on very small ring guages--panatelas, or cigarillos, even petit coronas. It's also useless on a belicoso, so I graduated to a double-bladed self-sharpening guillotine. A good, sharp guillotine won't make a mess, either. Besides, the smaller the cut, the more tar builds up around it and the more acrid the flavor. With the guillotine, you have a much larger surface and any tar build -up is at the very edge of the cigar.

At least this is my experience, your mileage may vary, like what you smoke and smoke what you like.

 

[Ecuador Jim]

When I first started smoking, one of my friends who got me into it used little chrome/silver/stainless olive picks from Restoration Hardware. It's neat, clean, and looks nice, but it never smoked well for me. So my next move was a round punch, which I still carry with me but never use.

The punch isn't good on very small ring guages--panatelas, or cigarillos, even petit coronas. It's also useless on a belicoso, so I graduated to a double-bladed self-sharpening guillotine. A good, sharp guillotine won't make a mess, either. Besides, the smaller the cut, the more tar builds up around it and the more acrid the flavor. With the guillotine, you have a much larger surface and any tar build -up is at the very edge of the cigar.

At least this is my experience, your mileage may vary, like what you smoke and smoke what you like.

Interesting comments. I started with a Xicar guillotine, but soon found that my wrapper had a tendency to become loose, making the smoke a bit of a nuisance. I reverted to a V-cutter and plug cutter. I have heard about the greater build-up of tar at a constricted end.

Any advice on the un-rolling of the wrapper?