Hello from the Big Smoke 💨💨

[Thebigsmoke]

Hello All & happy new year!

Thought I'd take the opportunity to join the community on this forum as part of my attempts to learn more about the art of cigar smoking and introduce myself, having stumbled upon this forum recently.

I'm a newbie to the world of cigars, having only got into the hobby over the last month or so. Long story short, had an unfortunate accident which has left me with a broken leg and so have had a lot of time spent at home over recent weeks. With the devil finding work for idle hands it seems that this has resulted in me using my time to surf the Web for all things cigar related and, crucially, putting my hand in my wallet and paying for some sticks to try.

So far I've sampled the following cigars:
H. Upmann Half Corona x2
Alec Bradley Black Market Punk
Montecristo no 5 x2
Punch Petit Coronations

I have a R&J Mille Fleur waiting to be enjoyed and for a future purchase I am eyeing up a sampler pack of Robustos which include the HDM Epicure no 2, R&J short Churchill, Partagas Series D 4 & a Cohiba Robusto. I may try out some minis as a quick short smoke during these cold months and perhaps may gain a better appreciation of the taste of the finer (and certainly more costly) cigars in doing so.

I'm trying to keep an open mind when sampling different cigars and would like to try out more NC sticks. I've seen names pop up like the Olivia Series, Joya de Nicaragua, Drew Estates and Davidoff but thus far my focus has been on Cubans. Any recommendations for a beginner would be much appreciated.

I find that at present I'm not able to appreciate the nuanced flavours in the sticks I've tried, save for being able to give a vague, broad brush description but I appreciate that this may change over time and with experience.

My other interests include home brewing specialty coffee and I also enjoy training and competing in strength sports. I tend to pursue these interests obsessively and I fear that this new hobby may turn out to be very costly indeed! I had a skiing trip which was booked for late January in the Alps and was hoping to stop over in Geneva to pick up some sticks at a lower rate there but Omicron (as well as the small matter of a broken leg - was planning to just go along for the ride after the injury) have changed all of that for now!

[ShaazK]

Hello All & happy new year!

Thought I'd take the opportunity to join the community on this forum as part of my attempts to learn more about the art of cigar smoking and introduce myself, having stumbled upon this forum recently.

I'm a newbie to the world of cigars, having only got into the hobby over the last month or so. Long story short, had an unfortunate accident which has left me with a broken leg and so have had a lot of time spent at home over recent weeks. With the devil finding work for idle hands it seems that this has resulted in me using my time to surf the Web for all things cigar related and, crucially, putting my hand in my wallet and paying for some sticks to try.

So far I've sampled the following cigars:
H. Upmann Half Corona x2
Alec Bradley Black Market Punk
Montecristo no 5 x2
Punch Petit Coronations

I have a R&J Mille Fleur waiting to be enjoyed and for a future purchase I am eyeing up a sampler pack of Robustos which include the HDM Epicure no 2, R&J short Churchill, Partagas Series D 4 & a Cohiba Robusto. I may try out some minis as a quick short smoke during these cold months and perhaps may gain a better appreciation of the taste of the finer (and certainly more costly) cigars in doing so.

I'm trying to keep an open mind when sampling different cigars and would like to try out more NC sticks. I've seen names pop up like the Olivia Series, Joya de Nicaragua, Drew Estates and Davidoff but thus far my focus has been on Cubans. Any recommendations for a beginner would be much appreciated.

I find that at present I'm not able to appreciate the nuanced flavours in the sticks I've tried, save for being able to give a vague, broad brush description but I appreciate that this may change over time and with experience.

My other interests include home brewing specialty coffee and I also enjoy training and competing in strength sports. I tend to pursue these interests obsessively and I fear that this new hobby may turn out to be very costly indeed! I had a skiing trip which was booked for late January in the Alps and was hoping to stop over in Geneva to pick up some sticks at a lower rate there but Omicron (as well as the small matter of a broken leg - was planning to just go along for the ride after the injury) have changed all of that for now!

Welcome to the forum!

You’ll soon become the official Barista around here - definitely going to be popular!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Romeo Allones]

Welcome to the forum, you have some nice Cuban Robustos there, I'd also get a Trinidad Vigia and Bolivar Royal Corona, personally I prefer Robusto and bigger sizes over smaller Cubans. For Non Cubans I'd get a Joya Numero Uno, a Drew Est Undercrown Maduro - the new 10 ideally, and both a Davidoff white label like the Aniversario and a black label like the Escurio, all top smokes.

As for getting more flavours, remember to breathe in thru your nose while smoking, and to also retrohale smoke out thru your nose, lots of Youtube vids on this, and also it's best to look at online reviews of the cigars first so you know what main flavours to look out for, really helps a lot at first.

[Thebigsmoke]

Thanks ShaazK! Not the best latte art on that pic, admittedly. I can do better when I can balance on both legs, I promise lol. Coffee without milk is my preference, however.

[Thebigsmoke]

Thanks for the recommendations Romeo Allones - really appreciate it and will look into those.

I've been retrohaling when smoking and quite enjoy the spicy tingle it gives. Hoping my nose quickly learns to differentiate flavours. Told a friend who was smoking an Upmann HC with me to give it a try and felt bad when his eyes watered and turned red 😂. Will try breath through my nose when smoking as well - haven't been doing that.

My YouTube viewing history of full of watching people puff on fine looking cigars and I've been enjoying those vids thoroughly.

[Romeo Allones]

Short Vid on some tips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTIBVOWrmCM&ab_channel=CigarObsession

[ha_banos]

Hello TBS. Nice intro. Welcome aboard.

Think it might be time for a coffee making thread...

Enjoy your intro journey. When you get smooth cigars retrohale is a whole different experience.

[mcdee]

[mcdee]

I'd recommend the San Cristobal El Principe, Partagas Shorts and Ramon Allones Short Club Corona as very good smokes to start off with. The Davidoff Winston Churchill Belicoso is a great NC option.

PS robusto wise, forget the Cohiba unless you're prepared to age it for 5+ years and try a Ramon Allones Specially Selected instead.

[PeeJay]

Welcome to the forum, does your choice of name indicate another Londoner? I could recommend lots of decent NCs to try but availability is a big issue so best to stick to Cubans for your initial forays. When you reach the hallowed status of getting personal messages we can point you towards some decent NCs, even sell you some if you're lucky.

[Thebigsmoke]

ha_banos thanks for the welcome. Re thread on making coffee - could end up hijacking the forum lol. The possibilities are endless when it comes to home brewing. Most crucial part is having a decent grinder for whatever it is you're brewing coffee with.

[Thebigsmoke]

Appreciate the recommendations mcdee . Point taken re the Cohiba. I've read that they do require some aging in order to fully appreciate them. May ask the vendor if they're able to swap them around. If not, another alternative I've been looking at is the 5 stick EMS Marevas sampler boxes, although I think they feature a Cohiba as well.

[Thebigsmoke]

Hi PeeJay it does indeed - another Londoner. South, originally. Currently living in the wilderness that is north east London. I hadn't appreciated that there were issues in getting hold of ncs. I assumed it was the other way around and that it was the cc supply that was one of the factors driving costs up- Can't put it all down to the tax man surely?

[handlebarpipe]

Welcome to this forum and to the wonderful world of cigars.
Marc

[mcdee]

Appreciate the recommendations mcdee . Point taken re the Cohiba. I've read that they do require some aging in order to fully appreciate them.

Certainly nothing wrong with acquiring a few now but I think where people get turned off by the brand is with the expectation is that they should be amazing straight away - which they should be given the premium price, but in my experience they are a bit of a disappointment when young but can be absolutely amazing given time.