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Do you smoke cigars to smoke cigars or for a good exprerience?
Lee.mcglynn
Posts: 5,960 ✭✭✭✭
I see a ton of people buy bundled cigars and very cheap cigars...not that there's anything wrong with that. But in my experience you mostly get what you pay for. If I walked into a shop I'd go for at least a padron or fuente but I see many buying stuff that well has nothing besides nicotine. So my question is why buy sub par cigars vs a cigar you will get much more enjoyment out of?!
Money can't buy taste
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Smoking everyday makes it hard to spend $7 on a cigar, but couple times a week, sure! School and working has kept me busy, so when I smoke now, I want a really good experience and don't want to fool with a crappy construction or off taste. I think I'm also becoming pickier in what I like too... If it tastes mediocre to me, I would rather not deal with it at all. I don't want an "ok" smoke anymore, but something I know I will enjoy a lot.
A Padron is one of my favorites but not always in the budget. I'll save the Padron for special occasions.
I was buying the cheap bundles before I knew any better, but have gotten a little wiser with my shopping and can almost get a decent box cigars for what I was paying for a bundle of Tampa Trolleys. Now, When I go to my local cigar shop I hardly bat an eye when I pay $10 to $15 for a single stick to smoke while I am there, but unfortunately sometimes those $15 sticks are not any better then the $1 Tampa Trolley's.
I always buy, weather its a cheapo or premo, and hope for a good experience. Sometimes the money in the wallet dictates which way I go.
How do you condemn a cheap cigar if you've never tried it and only buy "top shelf" cigars?
If I were to condemn every cigar that was a bundle or budget cigar, I would have never found cigars like the Torano Hogshead, which is a bundle cigar and I've purchased several bundles for $30/bundle (or mazo).
If a cigar catches my eye, I don't care if it's a $3 cigar or $20 cigar. I don't base my decision on price or whether it's a bundle cigar. I base it on a lot of things. Smell, look and feel mostly.
And yes, I've ended up with some horrid cigars in the process, but I've found quite a few gems.
To me anyways.
As for whether I smoke to smoke or to have a good experience, I would have to say that I smoke to have any experience. Even smoking a cigar that may not be totally what I like is an experience that provokes the thought process.
Do I like it? What don't I like about it? Maybe they could have done something differently? What does or doesn't it have, that another cigar has that tastes much better? Even the physics behind why this cigar smokes so differently than another almost identical cigar. All these things create an experience.
The one thing that I have found in cigars is that saying that you get what you pay for is subjective.
I have had some horrid expensive cigars and some excellent bundle cigars.
Even a top sirloin done wrong is still a crappy steak.
But then again, there is no accounting for my taste, because I like Cameroons.
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.
MOW badge received.
I've gotten some really expensive cigars as gifts (too cheap to buy my own) and they were great, but I've also enjoyed the $2 smokes.
I smoke for the relaxation and the experience of the cigar and the lighting ritual. It forces me to sit for an hour and a half or so and just chill, talk to the wife and spend some quality time with my sons.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Way too often, a nine buck cigar, especially the boutiques, the blender is rolling the dice, trying too hard to be different. I hit more darn sour flops over six bucks than anywhere else. Conversely, way more often than some here would think, a 35 buck bundle of Fonseca Aranas you look forward to every next one. Just Monday, for instance, someone had sent me a ten buck gem, wonderful band, wonderful construction, but gack. Chucked it after half an inch and reached for a home rolled to wash the taste away. My present faves run from Don Benigno at 250 for a box of 25 to FX Smith Smithdale at 60 for a box of fifty. When judging enjoyment, I try not to consider price at all.
You just can't judge a cigar by the price tag.
Agree to disagree.
"Long ashes my friends."
I might forget about it, smash it, chew it apart or just pitch it because of whatever situation comes about. Id cry if i was treating premi prem prems like this. But I still enjoy smoking a cigar, every smoke is a personal "moment" for me, even if it is a 2 dollar stick - its better then a cigarette to just feed the fix.
Aj