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I do corporate strategy consulting for a living. Pays well, but rubbish hours and too much time away from home. A side effect is a tendency to try find a strategy for everything. So, just over a year ago when I started smoking cigars, it wasn't long before I was trying to come up with a strategy for my new hobby. I knew I wanted to enjoy great cigars ? that was the vision ? but like any novice, I knew very little about getting there.
I read the forum avidly, trying to understand what different people did, got the concept of ageing, built a little spreadsheet, began buying a few boxes and samplers, humidors, scubadors and so on. I didn?t want to discount NCs, so I even smoked my way through the Cigar Aficionado Top 25 for 2013 to try to find some NCs I might like, hoping they might have narrowed the field for me (!). However, it still didn't feel like there was any system to what I was doing. I was accumulating a variety and quantity of cigars, but there was no plan.
Then it hit me ... Well, kind of. I finally found some NCs which I really like a lot. Maybe not everyone else's cup of tea, but then I'm smoking them not everyone else! I knew that having some 'old faithful' NCs meant I could be patient, put away some Cuban cigars and not be tempted to dive in. Aged cigars tend to be a bit dearer or harder to find, more so for a novice or someone without a lot of time to cultivate the relationships or do the hard graft searching for them. I then started to think of it not as a collection, but a selection. I know it?s semantics, but I'm never going to do this as an investment, and I don't have the time to find the historic gems or curiosities which some do, so it's a selection to smoke, not a collection to admire. Finally, I realise I'm not very discerning so there's no point for me chasing that elusive RE or LE because I don't think I would appreciate the benefits, at least not for now. Maybe my tastes will change, so nothing is ruled out.
I'm now finishing off my remaining NC singles in case there's a gem I've missed, but I already know I love selected CAO, Gurkha and MUWAT cigars, plus a few other NC essentials of which I've managed to build and sustain a small stock. I'm not averse to trying some more NCs, but there are so many, I'm entirely happy to call it a day and stick with the ones I like. I'm slowly building up 'fresh' boxes of Cuban cigars which I can smoke a few of, and set aside the rest to age for the future. I have also managed to get a few Cubans with some years on them, because even I can appreciate they really are better and I don't want to wait for ever.
OK, so a strategy isn?t essential and most strategies don?t survive first contact with reality, but ?smoke what you enjoy? felt a bit too vague when our obsession presents you with quite literally thousands of choices. I know I haven?t exactly cut things down when I am still up for pretty much any Cuban cigar, so really I?ve only reached the end of my NC search, while getting into the quiet, patient process of ageing.
Meanwhile, MLW doesn't quite understand why the stock of cigars keeps growing, when there's already enough to keep me going for a couple of years! She certainly doesn't understand that some of those boxes won't see much action for a few years. But I'm lucky - understanding is not a requirement for tolerance!
I read the forum avidly, trying to understand what different people did, got the concept of ageing, built a little spreadsheet, began buying a few boxes and samplers, humidors, scubadors and so on. I didn?t want to discount NCs, so I even smoked my way through the Cigar Aficionado Top 25 for 2013 to try to find some NCs I might like, hoping they might have narrowed the field for me (!). However, it still didn't feel like there was any system to what I was doing. I was accumulating a variety and quantity of cigars, but there was no plan.
Then it hit me ... Well, kind of. I finally found some NCs which I really like a lot. Maybe not everyone else's cup of tea, but then I'm smoking them not everyone else! I knew that having some 'old faithful' NCs meant I could be patient, put away some Cuban cigars and not be tempted to dive in. Aged cigars tend to be a bit dearer or harder to find, more so for a novice or someone without a lot of time to cultivate the relationships or do the hard graft searching for them. I then started to think of it not as a collection, but a selection. I know it?s semantics, but I'm never going to do this as an investment, and I don't have the time to find the historic gems or curiosities which some do, so it's a selection to smoke, not a collection to admire. Finally, I realise I'm not very discerning so there's no point for me chasing that elusive RE or LE because I don't think I would appreciate the benefits, at least not for now. Maybe my tastes will change, so nothing is ruled out.
I'm now finishing off my remaining NC singles in case there's a gem I've missed, but I already know I love selected CAO, Gurkha and MUWAT cigars, plus a few other NC essentials of which I've managed to build and sustain a small stock. I'm not averse to trying some more NCs, but there are so many, I'm entirely happy to call it a day and stick with the ones I like. I'm slowly building up 'fresh' boxes of Cuban cigars which I can smoke a few of, and set aside the rest to age for the future. I have also managed to get a few Cubans with some years on them, because even I can appreciate they really are better and I don't want to wait for ever.
OK, so a strategy isn?t essential and most strategies don?t survive first contact with reality, but ?smoke what you enjoy? felt a bit too vague when our obsession presents you with quite literally thousands of choices. I know I haven?t exactly cut things down when I am still up for pretty much any Cuban cigar, so really I?ve only reached the end of my NC search, while getting into the quiet, patient process of ageing.
Meanwhile, MLW doesn't quite understand why the stock of cigars keeps growing, when there's already enough to keep me going for a couple of years! She certainly doesn't understand that some of those boxes won't see much action for a few years. But I'm lucky - understanding is not a requirement for tolerance!
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