My first cuban/south american cigars

[newtocigars]

Hi all,

Well my first order came through today. I haven't went over board with the more expensive cigars as truely I don't know what to expect from 'proper' cigars.

Previously I have only had spanish cigars, Agio Meharis, Hamlet, classics, Hofnar, henri wintermans and other similarly non cuban cigars.

So anyway, have a look at what I have started with. Any suggestions on where to go from here would be appreciated. I'm only ordering once a month (basically after I get paid) and will build on my collection over time. Thanks for looking

[Tom Major]

If I may give you some advice.... Try one Guantanamera and save up the rest for guests you don't like too much

[Simon Bolivar]

You're catching on fast Tom; the force is strong in this one...

[Tom Major]

Thank you Simon, sad fact is that I actually had two myself... My psychotherapy isn't the cheapest but seems to work, I nearly forgot that experience ...

Edit:

To the OP - If you want to try some cheaper cuban sticks, just browse the forum and you'll find many suggestions along with links to good shops. JLP Petit Cazadores, any petit corona (can have them for around a tenner or less if you look for them), EdM Demi Tasse, Monte no 5 - they won't break the bank, but will taste a lot better than Guantanamera.

[the pondering moose]

I too for my sins have had two maybe even three Guantanemera. I think they are a right of passage. Perhaps even an unspoken hazing (excepting us lot, who will speak up, as we're nice that way). One of them wasn't terrible, looking back, but we aren't here for "not terrible", we're here for friggin' awesome.

As Tom says, there are plenty of really nice smokes under ten pounds, especially if you are careful not to equate size with quality/value. JLP petit cazadores are pretty decent, as are many many petit and tres petit coronas. If you're not set on Cubans: try Luis Martinez silver selection; I like Independencia 1898 from the Philippines (but other good brands from there exist); Don Ramos (Honduran) make a few nice sticks, their No.3 tubed is mild but very pleasant; Quorum shade grown seem to be better than their regular line up both for flavour and construction; and finally, IMHO Regius are quite capable of a decent quite wide gauge stick for not much.

And all this doesn't even presume to price up a bit, but my own limited experience has been to try out flavour and strength on the small scale before cranking it up a notch (or not). My only true case of cigar sickness was from a Rocky Patel 1990 sun grown. It was small, fairly inexpensive, and had a nicotine hit like a sledge hammer. The moral being, I was unprepared (and small doesn't mean weak)!

[Tom Major]

That's nice to know about RPs. I have 1990 and Sun Grown in my humi, will have to finally try them .

[newtocigars]

We my cousin came back from holiday and brought me back a few cigars.
Cigar 2.jpg

I've tried all 3 cigars. Alvaros where pleasant, not very strong tasting but a good morning cigar. The montecristos where a lot stronger tasting, lasts about 10 minutes or so, nice enough wee smoke and the other El Guajiro was okay, not the best I've ever smoked, but far from the worst. Until she brought them home, i never heard of them before.

I'll smoke through these as my regular smoke so I can build up a collection of 'nice' smokes.

[newtocigars]

Well I tried one of the H uppman cigars with my uncle. Mine was nice enough, my uncles just couldn't get a draw out of it. I'm not sure if i'll ever order them again though, my uncles was very very poor.

Is their a reason why a cigar would react like that? we tried softening it up etc and the leaf then started to give away. It was in a humidor for a number of weeks at 68% humidity.

[newtocigars]

Haven't updated this in in a while, so here's what I have received recently.1475583630583.jpg

I don't know the general consensus is on villagers but I personally am a fan. I find they are an easy smoke and give a pleasant taste. I will always have a few villagers in my humidor.

The wee Churchills where nice and would certainly buy again.

[newtocigars]

20161013_132128.jpg

This was my next order - The vikings where nice but definitely benefited with being in the humidor a couple of weeks. I did have a few problems with the leaf peeling away and/or cracking although I am hoping I was just unlucky with the batch I got. I don't know whether it's worthwhile saying to the vendor who sold them to me?

The Acid cigars - I didn't actually realise it was a flavoured cigar until I put it in my mouth and got a huge shock. It was kind of sweet and spicy. Not really my cup of tea, but it was okay if your into that type of thing....

The Chinchalero cigars where nice and again would order these again.

[newtocigars]

1477220621943.jpg

My Uncle ordered these, he got them from America, not realising the customs and excise would cost a small fortune. However that being said, the smokes are a nice flavour. We wont be ordering from the USA again, it's really not worthwhile but these are now in the humidor. Well 4 of the churchills are left anyway

[Horsebox]

Yes, customs charges can make ordering from overseas very expensive!

Not familiar with any of your smokes, but I've heard of Acid from Drew Estate br and curious to give them a go at some point. Have a friend who is quite keen on his flavoured cigars and who keeps threatening to get me in to them!


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[PeeJay]

Brings back memories of when I first started to smoke cigars

[newtocigars]

Brings back memories of when I first started to smoke cigars

At the moment, myself and my uncle (we're best of friends and to be honest, I wouldn't think of smoking on my own, I like the social aspect of it as much as anything else) and because we are together quite often doing jobs etc here and their we get through our cigars nearly as quickly as they come in. So at the moment we are enjoying trying out a lot of different cigars, its quite costly because of the amount we smoke, but hopefully as the novelty wears off, we'll smoke a lot less, spend as much money but on fewer higher quality cigars.

[the pondering moose]

Haven't updated this in in a while, so here's what I have received recently.[ATTACH=CONFIG]29486[/ATTACH]

I don't know the general consensus is on villagers but I personally am a fan. I find they are an easy smoke and give a pleasant taste. I will always have a few villagers in my humidor.

The wee Churchills where nice and would certainly buy again.

I'm partial to a villiger, their pressed exports are handy little short smokes. I've never tried their "premium" versions, but I'm tempted to try their other square section (box pressed I suppose) Rio 6s for a quick smoke. Admittedly I'm totally buying into the take the boxes are designed for Swiss Army webbing pouches.