Cigar 101

Soft cigars

jsnake — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:46:53 GMT

Today I decided to smoke a mild cigar and picked out one I received from a BOTL a week or 2 ago. First thing I noticed was the stick was soft. I mean really really soft. I like my sticks to have some give and not be as hard as month old dog rockets. This stick was straight squishy and I gave it a full inspection and did not see or smell anything wrong.

So, I light this puppy up and it burns perfectly with a perfect white ash and perfect white smoke. No harsh burn at the nub. No relighting or uneven burn. So I am thinking is this the way my cigars should be? Should they be squishy? This doesn't seem right to me.

Are Xikar cutters worth the expense?

brc81 — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:26:24 GMT

I've been using a cheap stainless steel double guillotine cutter since I picked up the hobby (about 3 yrs ago), but it is starting to get dull. I found a heck of a deal on a Xikar xi2 and pulled the trigger on it. I could have gotten a cutter like i had for around $6. Was the extra expense wasted or a wise investment?

How do you know?

smbrink — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:44:01 GMT

How do you know if you're a cigar aficionado? Is it self proclaimed? Is there a test? If I rated myself right now solely on knowledge I'd say that I am more of an avid enthusiast, but who knows I may be underestimating myself.

Am I a smoker?

havefun79 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:31:53 GMT

Just curious what you guys think. I had to fill out some medical forms and one of the questions was are you a smoker? I have never had a cigerette in my life and don't intend too, But i have a couple of cigars a month. What would you have said? Does occasional cigar smoking constitute being a smoker?

Turning Green

ironhorse — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:01:59 GMT

I am somewhat new to cigars and have 3 a week or so, but it seems like 1 out of every 5 makes me almost throw up. I'll smoke after dinner almost every time and I try not to smoke too fast and sip water. 2 hours for most cigars. Now the fuller cigars are usually the culprits....DPG Cuban Classic, Ashton VSG, etc but not always... I thought I would be used to it by now given that I am going on close to 6 months. Anyone have any random tips to help?

ccom humidor deal - iQ humidifier... mold/what to upgrade to?

boostdemon — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:46:56 GMT

So i picked up the cigar.com humidor which was a killer deal, came with the small 'puck' humidifier. I filled it with distilled water and a month or so later i've got 2-3 small clusters of mold on the screen. Probably my fault for not using store-bought distilled water and i havent found any mold on the rest of the contents. So its out of the box for now. Is there a way to fix it? or should i look to upgrade to a better one and get a hydrometer too? I've read back through all the older posts and see that the gel beads are quite popular.. but this box is tiny and stuffing a jar in there might not work. any suggestions for a meter too? Thanks, -D

Oliva web page

laker1963 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:45:20 GMT

I was looking at the oliva web page and found some interesting information regarding aging and storing of their different wrappers.

It would seem, according to them that maybe we have not been giving out such good advice in these matters. this is an excerpt from the page the link to the web page is at the bottom, makes for some good reading.

Aging ................................................................................................................ Aging is a complex process which requires special attention. While all cigars show some degree of maturity from additional aging, not all cigars age well. A common misconception is that a cigar which was rolled with “new” tobacco will lose its bite and harshness through humidor aging. No amount of humidor aging will mellow “new” or un-cured tobacco. “The best cigars for aging are those which were well balanced and enjoyable to being with.” Proper aging requires a designated humidor which will not be used for daily use. It should have a capacity that exceeds the amount of cigars to be aged by at least 20%. Cigars should be placed in the humidor without cellophane. Allow for space for the head and foot of the cigars evenly. The humidity source should be one that can exceed 70% humidity. Aging cigars should be kept at 70%-79% humidity depending on the thickness of the wrapper. Thicker wrappers require higher levels of humidity. Once desired age is achieved a cigar should be brought to 70% before smoking. Recommended Aging
High Primes (Thicker Wrappers) Maduro/Habano/Corojo/Habano 2000/Criollo/Sumatra/3-7 years
2-3 Primes (Medium Wrappers) Low Primes/Ecuador Connecticut/2-5 years
1st Cut (Thinner Wrappers) USA Connecticut/Cameroon/1-4 years

http://www.olivacigars.com/default.aspx

A new vice....scotch talk

jeff_connors — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:26:41 GMT

Well i discovered the single malt.....
I have been enjoying the hell out of this...Bowmore.."A big classic Islay style with a pungent nose full of smoke and seaweed. The palate is similarly flavourful with peat character and a great balance of sweet oak notes and salt flavours."
Two part question
Any scotch recommendation?
What cigar's, or cigar types pair well with scotch

Receiving cigars as gifts

havanaal — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:26:33 GMT

I manage a medium sized office (20-22 staff, mostly female) Every birthday or Christmas time, they are thoughtful enough to take up a collection and buy me what they know I’ll like--cigars. But they never seem to get it right. For example, this year the designated buyer was a secretary who claimed to know cigars, because she buys them for her boyfriend, who’s a real cigar connisseur. (His favorite? Garcia y Vega!). So I ended up with a box of low end cigars that I mostly smoked on the golf course. How does one handle this situation? or should I just shut up and be grateful for whatever I can get? After all, beggars can’t be choosers.

Cigar Color

stephen_hannibal — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:26:23 GMT

OK so this is showing my inexperience, but do cigars change color while aging? I'm not talking drastically mind you but I've noticed some of my sticks are slightly darker than when I first got them.
Is this an issues or am I just paranoid?

Help!

Diamondog — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:18:00 GMT

I knew this was going to happen....I cannot find the key to my humidor YIKES!!!!!!!!!!! It seems like a pretty basic skeleton type key. I am just wondering if anyone else has had this happen and how you dealt with it??

Burned, melted rubber deliciousness?

Blackguard — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:33:21 GMT

So I caved in and bought one of those trust-us-we-won’t-tell-you-what-you’re-gonna-get-but-you’ll-love-it grab bags from another catalogue. $12 for 13 cigars. Immediate regret, yes yes – two good cigars and a bunch of lousy ones (including a nude house brand – I have no idea what I’m smoking!). I grabbed one I’d never had and went for my nightly walk. The first third wasn’t bad, and was what I like in a Dominican cigar – toasty, buttery, creamy, nutty, but a little too mild, even for a Dominican. But very suddenly, about 15 minutes into it, it started tasting like a tire fire. You know that jackass neighbor who peels out at 5:30 in the morning, or that skinny guy who does doughnuts in the Jack in the Box parking lot*? That thick, grey smoke that lingers and gets up your nose? It was like that. It didn’t get any better in the second half. It was the first cigar I couldn’t finish. I stammered home and looked up what I just smoked, expecting the typical defensive posturing cigar catalogues take when selling cheap cigars (“why pay for fancy packaging? This stuff is as good as the expensive stuff, trust us!” etc.) – but it wasn’t! It actually got a 92 in CA and isn’t exactly cheap. My question to you guys – is this a common ailment indicative of a particular flaw in a cigar? Or are my rookie cigar tastes just not refined enough to appreciate “gusto del caucho?” I did a search for “rubber” on these boards and found one entry that sounded like my problem, and a lot of entertaining conversations about something completely different. *If you are that guy, I’m sorry about your penis.

Cigar size

jrsygrl70560 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:30:52 GMT

My apologies if this has been answered on here before, but I am shopping for my husband and I don't know the name of the size he likes. I know he wants the House brand Cuban and he likes the longest one, but is it Churchill, Corona, Robusto, and Torpedo? I'm guessing it's Churchill, but I don't want to take a chance and get the wrong thing. Thanks in advance to any of the experts who can help :)

2 small white dots??

Diamondog — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:34:26 GMT

Can anyone tell me what these small white dots are? They are 2 small white dots on the wrapper, I tried to rub them to see if maybe it was plume but does not wipe away seems like they are actually in the wrapper itself. Hoping its not beetle activity??????????? Humidity is good at 70% temp is usually 70/71 degrees

5 Vegas Cask Strength II is like..

jeff_connors — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:23:26 GMT

5 Vegas Cask Strength II is like...... If you had to compare to something else

tunneling

jeff_connors — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:41:34 GMT

I know its been posted before, but iv had some tunneling problems on my last two smokes what can the smoker do to cause tunneling>?

Cigars still crack and unravel

bwcarter54 — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:12:50 GMT

I'm fairly new to cigars but have enjoyed them for several years. I bought myself a 100 count humi for Christmas [seasoned it according to instructions] and filled it with Rocky Patel ITC 10th aniversary specials and fusions and Perdomos and Bahia Blus and a sample box of Nubs [can't wait for them to set a couple of weeks]. I've put a jar of beads and a humidifier that I add some distilled water to and 2 analog hygrometers that I calibrated to keep the humidity at about 70%. My problem is that about 1 in 5 cigars will crack or come unraveled when I smoke them. What can I do to prevent this or is this normal? This my 1st post and I enjoy reading the other posts while in the MAN HOLE [as my wife calls it] smoking a good cigar.

Runaway humidifier

thekenny17 — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:26:31 GMT

Hi all, I was hoping someone could help me with a runaway humidifier...

I have the humi-care blue rectangular humidifier that had been keeping my cigars at between 70-74% RH in a 70 degree F setting. However, after calibrating my hygrometer through a salt test, I find now that it's holding at 78-80% RH! What can I do to bring this back down to proper levels?

Now, I'm game to try anything as I have my humidor on my desk at work, so I'm with it all day. I've tried pulling the humidifier out for a day to try to let it dry out a little then return it overnight, but so far I see no change.

Complicating matters is the fact that I'm in Afghanistan, so any "common household" solutions may not work; I'll have to MacGyver something together if necessary. About all I do have is a CCom ziploc bag, my smoking "tools" and plenty of office supplies. I hesitate to expose the cigars themselves to the dry (32% RH) air, not to mention the omnipresent dust by leaving the humidor open. Thankfully this humidor is indoors in an air conditioned office, so at least that's a positive.

Any help I can get would be greatly appreciated. I have an ISOM Cohiba Siglo VI in there that a British soldier gave me that I've been eyeing every day- I would hate for that to go to waste as a soggy smoke!

Joya de Nicaragua Antano

jeff_connors — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:27:24 GMT

are they really that strong? Anything that is as strong?

Alec Bradley MAXX

smbrink — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:46:10 GMT

So I was at my B&M today and a friend gifted me with an Alec Bradley MAXX. Can anyone tell me what I can expect from this cigar??

Good Gurkha's

jeff_connors — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:28:17 GMT

Well ccom has a deal that too goo to pass up on the gurkha's...Iv never had a gurkha..what gurkha is a good gurkha?

dont have distilled water

wheeler78 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:45:54 GMT

Hey first time post here...
I'm deployed in Afghanistan and we got our first humidor coming in the mail to us. however we don't have any distilled water to season it with. we do however have both saline soluition (IV bags) and bottled water. which would be better to use, i know both are far from ideal but due to our situation what would you consider using?

Cracked Foot

One2gofst — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:27:17 GMT

First let me state that I am a really lucky guy. My birthday is this coming thurs. and my lovely girlfriend bought me the Gurkha x10 deal and a few singles for my birthday.

I love what she picked out.

However, there is a slight problem. She got me one Gurkha Turk, which I haven't tried but am looking forward to, as when I smoke a cigar earlier in the day sometimes I like a conecticut wrapper. The problem is the wrapper is cracked starting at the foot and going up maybe 3/4" or so. Should I not worry about it and smoke it? Will it cause problems? Should I exchange it? I've never had this problem before and looking for input on what to do.

Thanks

what cigars to purchase?

shamrocked — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:01:18 GMT

so i received a mail in rebate for $150 and i am looking to purchase some cigars - i have been into the hobby for about 4 months and this will be my largest purchase to date. so far my fav cigars that i have tried are rp vintage 1990, nica libre, cao brazilia, and the a fernandez sig line. i tend to like a medium-full bodied cigar. what would be some recommendations? i am thinking about buying a couple dotd packs with the order and maybe some of the house brazilian labels. i am interested in trying something in the 5 vegas and perdomo lines - also, any recommendations for moderately priced boxed purchases? thanks for the info.

HELP!!!!!!!

tyronect — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:10:41 GMT

I hope it isn't what I think. If it is this my first time. I found a cigar in one of my humis with a near perfectly round hole in the wrapper. Please tell me it's not tobacco beetles. If so, should I freeze all cigars in that humidor or what. A few pointers from ccom would help too. I got a pic but not sure how to post it. Thanks