[Curt2000]

I've been slowly accumulating more and more cigar paraphernalia over the past few years and finally broke down and got my dream set-up!

I use www.cigarsinternational.com for all my cigar purchases. Everything you see in the picture, Humidor, humidity tubes, and 55 name brand cigars was just under $250. After the cost of the humidor and humidity tubes the cigars came out to just under $2.75 a piece which is about 1/4 of what they cost from a typical cigar store. If any of you are interested, I'd say any of the sample packs or 'Gentlemens Dueces' deals on the website are where the real value is.

Please post if you have a cigar that you would recommend! I like the Arturo Fuente Hemmingway, Anything Cohiba, Acid Cuba Cuba, and Romeo y Julieta 1875.

P.S. I'll be getting a nice antique end table to sit the Humidor on incase you were wondering if I was going to keep it on a TV dinner stand

[Joekerr]

Skeptical forum member is skeptical about genuinity of said cigars....

[dreamingat30fps]

Nice to see someone else who's into cigars. I've been into them for a few years now. Make sure you get a digital hygrometer as those decorative ones that usually come with the humidors are almost useless. I myself have a medium size desktop humidor and a wineador for boxes and such.

I use to do the bundles a lot when I was starting out to try different brands, but I quickly started figuring out what I liked and what I didnt so now I pretty much just buy the stuff I like instead of the bundles because they usually come with a lot of mediocre stuff imo.

Of course taste is very subjective so a good cigar to me may not be a good cigar to you, but here are some widely respected cigars you may want to look into:

- Tatuaje (One of my fav is the Cojonu series the 2003 in particular is outstanding but the 2012 is great also)

- Liga Privada (The T52 and the No. 9 are widely considered some of their best cigars. Personally I love their new Undercrown)

- Padron (Many people swear it's the greatest brand every, not my personal favorite though. Try their 1964 or 1926 but be prepared to fork over some $$$)

- La Aroma de Cuba (One of my current favorites is their Mi Amor Belicoso)

- Don Pepin (Anything by Don Pepin is a good bet, I like his Blue Label)

Theres a lot more, but I think thats a good solid bunch to start with. As for the none cuban, cuban brands (which I'm assuming that's what you're talking about when you say cohiba and ryj) they are usually considered sub par. They get by using a famous cuban brand but their cigars are usually nothing to write home about. Now the real cuban cohibas and ryj are a different story. Some people swear by the cuban cigars, I find them quite enjoyable but they have a very different profile than the nicaraguan or dominican cigars you usually get here in the US.

[Curt2000]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

Nice to see someone else who's into cigars. I've been into them for a few years now. Make sure you get a digital hygrometer as those decorative ones that usually come with the humidors are almost useless. I myself have a medium size desktop humidor and a wineador for boxes and such.

I use to do the bundles a lot when I was starting out to try different brands, but I quickly started figuring out what I liked and what I didnt so now I pretty much just buy the stuff I like instead of the bundles because they usually come with a lot of mediocre stuff imo.

Of course taste is very subjective so a good cigar to me may not be a good cigar to you, but here are some widely respected cigars you may want to look into:

- Tatuaje (One of my fav is the Cojonu series the 2003 in particular is outstanding but the 2012 is great also)

- Liga Privada (The T52 and the No. 9 are widely considered some of their best cigars. Personally I love their new Undercrown)

- Padron (Many people swear it's the greatest brand every, not my personal favorite though. Try their 1964 or 1926 but be prepared to fork over some $$$)

- La Aroma de Cuba (One of my current favorites is their Mi Amor Belicoso)

- Don Pepin (Anything by Don Pepin is a good bet, I like his Blue Label)

Theres a lot more, but I think thats a good solid bunch to start with. As for the none cuban, cuban brands (which I'm assuming that's what you're talking about when you say cohiba and ryj) they are usually considered sub par. They get by using a famous cuban brand but their cigars are usually nothing to write home about. Now the real cuban cohibas and ryj are a different story. Some people swear by the cuban cigars, I find them quite enjoyable but they have a very different profile than the nicaraguan or dominican cigars you usually get here in the US.

Thanks for the reply/recommendations. I'll look for those next time I order. I'm still very much a novice, I used to only pick cigars based upon the wrapper color and typically would go for lighter colors since I associated them with being smoother and lighter. Then I started getting into darker more flavorful cigars, primarily the sweeter ones like the Acid Cuba Cubas but still kind of just randomly choose them, I listed the ones earlier just because those are the ones that I have liked in the past and typically return to when I'm not feeling very adventurous.

I'm starting a journal to keep track of all these randoms that came in the samplers (My brother-in-law bought me a cigar of the month club membership).

I remember smoking some genuine Cohibas in the Caribbean on my honeymoon and really liking them...Haven't had one since but will be looking for them next time I leave the country. I have some of the non-Cuban Cohibas in my little collection...I'm interested to see how they compare.

[Marsden]

Nice humidor for sure. I will add that I've smoked a dozen 'real Cuban' cigars overseas and frankly they're not much better or worse than the better cigars we can buy in the USA. They just cost a lot more, especially Cohibas. I prefer Dominican and Honduran. However admittedly if we didn't have the stupid rule in place I'd smoke my share of Cuban too.

And I buy most of mine from my local smoke shop because they need all the help they can get.
An asset to the community so I don't want them to disappear!

[Curt2000]

Originally Posted by Marsden

Nice humidor for sure. I will add that I've smoked a dozen 'real Cuban' cigars overseas and frankly they're not much better or worse than the better cigars we can buy in the USA. They just cost a lot more, especially Cohibas. I prefer Dominican and Honduran. However admittedly if we didn't have the stupid rule in place I'd smoke my share of Cuban too.

And I buy most of mine from my local smoke shop because they need all the help they can get.
An asset to the community so I don't want them to disappear!

There are a few about 20 min from me closer to down town and they all have a great selection and nice smoking lounge but man their prices are wayyyy expensive compared to what you can get online...Im trying to figure out if its just overhead or if there is some other factor that allows online vendors to be so cheap.

I've heard that the way to go in America is find cuban seed tobacco that was grown/made in the Dominican Republic. I haven't done much research on the topic but sounded legit. Just have to figure out which brands do that.

[Marsden]

It's true, the prices are higher. Frankly I do both (local and mail order) ... a lot from here http://www.jrcigars.com/jr/index.cfm

I thought most makers use 'cuban seed' ... anyway who can check up on that, if it's a good smoke I like it no matter what the lineage.

It's like wine though, there are thousands of choices and hard to stick with just a few.

[e92tt1986]

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...398094&page=12

Nice to have you aboard

Post from now in our cigar thread

And to the guy that said cubans arent as good as domincan's LOL

You can get any cuban dont waste your time with others.
Granted I love a nice padron 1926, but its no where near a behike etc...

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by Curt2000

Thanks for the reply/recommendations. I'll look for those next time I order. I'm still very much a novice, I used to only pick cigars based upon the wrapper color and typically would go for lighter colors since I associated them with being smoother and lighter. Then I started getting into darker more flavorful cigars, primarily the sweeter ones like the Acid Cuba Cubas but still kind of just randomly choose them, I listed the ones earlier just because those are the ones that I have liked in the past and typically return to when I'm not feeling very adventurous.

I'm starting a journal to keep track of all these randoms that came in the samplers (My brother-in-law bought me a cigar of the month club membership).

I remember smoking some genuine Cohibas in the Caribbean on my honeymoon and really liking them...Haven't had one since but will be looking for them next time I leave the country. I have some of the non-Cuban Cohibas in my little collection...I'm interested to see how they compare.

Unfortunately most of the Cuban cigars in the Caribbean are fakes. Hell most of the Cuban cigars in Cuba are fakes.

If you want to get legit Cubans make sure you buy them from a LCDH (Las Casa Del Habano) location (outside the US). Even in Cuba the guys on the street with the glass top Cohibas are selling fakes they roll out of whatever they can find. You can order them online also but you need to make sure it's a legit source. There are good and bad ones. However the easiest way for beginners is to get in some of the cigar forums and trade with others.

Cuban cigars are not really that much more than none Cubans. A box of Ryj Churchill's in Cuba is about $250 which come out to like $10 a stick. About the same as most premium none Cubans. Now if you buy some in say Canada they will cost you $30 a stick easy, but that's because of the crazy taxes they put on tabaco in Canada and many other countries. Anyways there are PLENTY of amazing none Cubans and IMO some are much better. So I wouldn't even worry about that.

It's good you are keeping a journal, over time your palette will develop and you will start to figure out what kind of cigars you like. Remember food and drink will also affect the experience. Personally I enjoy a nice mild Dominican with some coffee in the morning, while at night I would prefer a stronger full body Nicaraguan with some scotch.

[e92tt1986]

^this man knows what he is saying

Most important make sure cubans are from an authorized LCDH

Ill update mine when they come