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so many types of cigars, where do i start!?

gkargolgkargol Posts: 9
im new to cigars so i need some help

Comments

  • fla-gypsyfla-gypsy Posts: 3,023 ✭✭
    Try as many different kinds you can and figure out what you like. The Daily Deal is a great starting point.
  • GadwinDuilGadwinDuil Posts: 474
    I haven't been smoking cigars too long (Maybe 5 months?) But my best advice is to watch the daily deals on cigar.com. Try to start with some mild bodied cigars and after a little while your palate will start to change and you'll be able to start smoking the medium-full bodies without feeling like the smoke is too harsh or powerful. Also a great place to start with cigars (In my opinion and I'm sure I'm going to flamed for it) is the Drew Estates line. They are sickeningly sweet cigars that can help you really enjoy smoking cigars and after you're used to smoking those you can really start appreciating the traditional unflavored/uninfused cigars. I personally started smoking off of DE's Acid and Ambrosia lines, and have since lost any need for the infused cigars and love traditional cigars far more than I could an infused. Good luck, And welcome to cigars and the forums!
  • firetruckguyfiretruckguy Posts: 2,522 ✭✭✭
    Yeah...... I remember very well being in your shoes a year'ish ago. My advice, start mild. Nub conni, 5 Vegas gold, CAO gold, CCOM purple label, Gurkha turk. Alao, grab as many sampler packs you can get you hands on. Thats a good way to try other gars cheap! Welcome to the forum my friend.......
  • gkargolgkargol Posts: 9
    funny you say that because i got 2 of the daily deals yesterday and those are mild. i dont know if its because im a new smoker or not experienced but i have trouble telling a difference from cigar to cigar
  • gdsim1gdsim1 Posts: 213
    gkargol:
    im new to cigars so i need some help
    The best advice I can give you is to sign up for the Cigar of the Month club here on CCom. You get to try all kinds of great cigars at a solid price. Ive been getting the CotM sampler for comnig up on a year, and have NEVER had a garbage stick. Quite the opposite in fact - I have discovered a LOT of sticks that are now staples in my humidor. Cant recommend it enough!

  • GadwinDuilGadwinDuil Posts: 474
    gkargol:
    funny you say that because i got 2 of the daily deals yesterday and those are mild. i dont know if its because im a new smoker or not experienced but i have trouble telling a difference from cigar to cigar
    You're already on your way to learning it. Just watch the daily deals and google them when you're curious about them. You'll learn so much just by reading random reviews people post.
  • GadwinDuilGadwinDuil Posts: 474
    gdsim1:
    The best advice I can give you is to sign up for the Cigar of the Month club here on CCom.

    Beautiful advice. Although I must say - You'll be overwhelmed by the first month if you know nothing about cigars when you get it :-P There's some gnarly 'gars they send you right off the gun.
  • gkargolgkargol Posts: 9
    thats good to hear. unfortuantly theres no cigar stores near me, so this is my place to pick what i want. Ive also heard about a "bomb" what a great online community to send people free cigars. Hopefully i get to experience this first hand. I do need info about humidors and what i need
  • xmacroxmacro Posts: 3,402
    Whatever size humidor you decide on - double it. That's standard advice, and I've yet to see or hear of anyone who ignores this advice and later doesn't regret it.

    Other than that, just browse the forums, look through old threads, and use the search - chances are, whatever you're thinking of asking has already been asked 100 times before, and has 1,000 responses already on these boards
  • Duder2Duder2 Posts: 926
    My advice is don't be afraid to try new stuff. Some of the first cigars I tried weren't mild at all and I loved them. I'm just now (7-8 months and at least a few hundred cigars later) getting into milder sticks in general. In the early months for me I didn't really like milder stuff much at all. The dailly deals have been instrumental, and today's is a good one for a beginner, 12 pack sampler and nice variety. Welcome and have fun ;^)
  • turn_keyturn_key Posts: 90
    gkargol:
    funny you say that because i got 2 of the daily deals yesterday and those are mild. i dont know if its because im a new smoker or not experienced but i have trouble telling a difference from cigar to cigar


    Your taste will develop and mature so don't worry about the rating. You'll find your taste doesn't always match the description or body.

    For example, I've found maduros to be some of the mildest tasting smokes despite the claims that the wrapper adds a certain percentage of taste. And some of the mild rated cigars I've found to be the most harsh. Now I look for a review from a cigar forum or blog that describes the taste instead of just depending the description of the body.

    Good luck!
  • lilwing88lilwing88 Posts: 2,812 ✭✭✭
    9 words:

    Try everything you can get your newb hands on.
    Guns don't kill people, Daddies with pretty daughters do…..
  • leonardleonard Posts: 359
    gkargol:
    im new to cigars so i need some help
    Look at todays DD!
  • TatuajeVITatuajeVI Posts: 2,378
    1. If you think you're going to enjoy this hobby, get yourself a much larger humidor than you think you need. Start with at least a 100 count.
    2. Get some humidity beads and a digital hygrometer.
    3. Call in your orders and ask for advice from Jeff Jackson at cigar.com. He (or any of the other staff) are fantastic and love to help. And they can get you fantastic prices sometimes that will surprise you!
    4. ???
    5. Profit!
  • gdsim1gdsim1 Posts: 213
    TatuajeVI:
    1. If you think you're going to enjoy this hobby, get yourself a much larger humidor than you think you need. Start with at least a 100 count.
    2. Get some humidity beads and a digital hygrometer.
    3. Call in your orders and ask for advice from Jeff Jackson at cigar.com. He (or any of the other staff) are fantastic and love to help. And they can get you fantastic prices sometimes that will surprise you!
    4. ???
    5. Profit!
    Insert "Get a Boveda Hygrometer Calibration Pack" for # 4 on this list. May even consider using their humidor seasoning kits also - have never gone wrong with either!

    Also, change the "much" on # 1 to "much Much MUCH" - if you dont believe me, take the word of the 150 count I used to augment my 30 count. Or the 250 count I used to augment the 150 count. Or the 500 count Im about to purchase to augment them all.

    Honestly thought each would last me a lifetime when I purchased them... :-)

  • xmacroxmacro Posts: 3,402
    Also make sure you get an adjustable hygrometer
  • phobicsquirrelphobicsquirrel Posts: 7,347 ✭✭✭
    gkargol:
    thats good to hear. unfortuantly theres no cigar stores near me, so this is my place to pick what i want. Ive also heard about a "bomb" what a great online community to send people free cigars. Hopefully i get to experience this first hand. I do need info about humidors and what i need
    It all depends, I would say if you plan on sticking with cigars for a while get a 300 count, but a 150 will work very nicely for a beginner. They don't hold that many but a 150 will hole a fair amount of them. I picked up a sampler from ccom when I started smoking, it has all their blends in there and from there you can see what direction you want to go.
  • GadwinDuilGadwinDuil Posts: 474
    My first and only humidor is a homemade 48 quart igloo coolidor, and I love it. It's not even half full (about 100 'gars) and I'm already working on making my second coolidor for the future.

    Some other advice I can give is if you don't want to spend too much on a humidor, browse around here and google for a little while and you can find some pretty good guide on homemade humidors that cost significantly less than you'd pay for premade. There's always the risk of messing up with them but it's a risk I'm willing to take, you may be different though /shrug.
  • bacon.jaybacon.jay Posts: 720 ✭✭✭
    Since you've ordered from the site, you'll receive the Cigar.com catalog, and there's a great section in each one called "Experts Pick: (cigar style, body, size, flavor here)" Just a month ago they reviewed mild cigars and had a great mild sampler with 3-each of the 5 sticks they reviewed. I'm actually going to recommend the same sampler to a buddy of mine here at home.

    If you call in your order the next time, The Beard, Andy, Jeff, Josh, Kelly, or any one of the other guys there can get you hooked up with this sampler or one that is similar, and for a great price too.

  • sirfoster83sirfoster83 Posts: 783
    gdsim1:
    TatuajeVI:
    1. If you think you're going to enjoy this hobby, get yourself a much larger humidor than you think you need. Start with at least a 100 count.
    2. Get some humidity beads and a digital hygrometer.
    3. Call in your orders and ask for advice from Jeff Jackson at cigar.com. He (or any of the other staff) are fantastic and love to help. And they can get you fantastic prices sometimes that will surprise you!
    4. ???
    5. Profit!
    Insert "Get a Boveda Hygrometer Calibration Pack" for # 4 on this list. May even consider using their humidor seasoning kits also - have never gone wrong with either!

    Also, change the "much" on # 1 to "much Much MUCH" - if you dont believe me, take the word of the 150 count I used to augment my 30 count. Or the 250 count I used to augment the 150 count. Or the 500 count Im about to purchase to augment them all.

    Honestly thought each would last me a lifetime when I purchased them... :-)

    Great advise! I just got a 150 count and it was filled in a week. Now I'm in search of a new humidor, nothing less than table size next. Unless you have friends who are new theres no need for 5 smaller humidors.
  • MrMokeMrMoke Posts: 321 ✭✭
    gdsim1:
    gkargol:
    im new to cigars so i need some help
    The best advice I can give you is to sign up for the Cigar of the Month club here on CCom. You get to try all kinds of great cigars at a solid price. Ive been getting the CotM sampler for comnig up on a year, and have NEVER had a garbage stick. Quite the opposite in fact - I have discovered a LOT of sticks that are now staples in my humidor. Cant recommend it enough!

    I'll 2nd that!
  • gkargolgkargol Posts: 9
    Got my dominicano toranos today. Took em to my local smoke shop, traded 2 for a 5 vegas gold and miami. Guy only charged me 4 bucks. Good start to my collection
  • Amos_UmwhatAmos_Umwhat Posts: 8,840 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Lot's of good advice above, I'm thinking "Samplers". the Baker's Dozen sampler has a wide range of cigars regarding strength, body, price, flavor, CCom always has a lot of multi-choice things. Something I've been doing is getting samplers with say 4 kinds of cigars, 4 or 5 of each. I've designated my first small humidor to placing one of each in, not to be smoked for several months, the rest I will start smoking after they've had a few weeks in the humidor. Later, if one comes up on the DD, I can check one out and decide whether or not to spring for it. Something else to consider is that it can be deceiving to make a judgement of a cigar after only smoking one or two of a certain kind. Some need longer to sit, and there's always the chance of just getting a bum cigar. It happens, even with some of the ones you'll end up liking the best! Like yourself, I'm nowhere near anyplace with much selection for cigars, and, if you love cigars like I do, you'll find this is the place to get them. I see a lot of grousing on the DD, folks claiming to be able to get something slightly cheaper somewhere else, and maybe they do, but these folks are top-notch to deal with. Great choice, price, and service. Just my opinion. Oh yeah, do the COTM, well worth the money, you'll get stuff you never would have bought, but turn out to love!
    WARNING:  The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme.  Proceed at your own risk.  

    "If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed.  If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." --  Mark Twain
  • aron325aron325 Posts: 158
    when i got my 100-ct, i thought there was no way i would fill it quickly. its been only about a month and i have it almost 3/4 full. all i can say is samplers will kill you lol. they are great don't get me wrong but trust me when you start ordering you will find that you have 50 sticks coming with only a little bit of space in you humi to store them lol. its a great hobby and i am glad i got into it. i love the relaxation you get and the enjoyment of ending the cigar with the best possible flavor it can have. that is true bliss. nothing else better than having a buddy over playing cards outside and smoking some stogies. great fun. anyways ill quit digressing lol. have fun and the most important thing, ENJOY IT. its not often we get to relax unless you are retired and even then some people cant. just enjoy it. good luck
  • The_KidThe_Kid Posts: 7,869 ✭✭✭
    GadwinDuil:
    I haven't been smoking cigars too long (Maybe 5 months?) But my best advice is to watch the daily deals on cigar.com. Try to start with some mild bodied cigars and after a little while your palate will start to change and you'll be able to start smoking the medium-full bodies without feeling like the smoke is too harsh or powerful. Also a great place to start with cigars (In my opinion and I'm sure I'm going to flamed for it) is the Drew Estates line. They are sickeningly sweet cigars that can help you really enjoy smoking cigars and after you're used to smoking those you can really start appreciating the traditional unflavored/uninfused cigars. I personally started smoking off of DE's Acid and Ambrosia lines, and have since lost any need for the infused cigars and love traditional cigars far more than I could an infused. Good luck, And welcome to cigars and the forums!
    Speaking of good cigars to start out with, Those of you who may be on the greener side of smoking cigars. The 5 vegas sampler being sold on the daily deal is an awesome buy, I would buy it myself except Im stocked on the 5 vegas right now, Actually I have a humidor with nothin else in it but 5 vegas..A good variety there and bang for the buck as well.
  • The_KidThe_Kid Posts: 7,869 ✭✭✭
    GadwinDuil:
    I haven't been smoking cigars too long (Maybe 5 months?) But my best advice is to watch the daily deals on cigar.com. Try to start with some mild bodied cigars and after a little while your palate will start to change and you'll be able to start smoking the medium-full bodies without feeling like the smoke is too harsh or powerful. Also a great place to start with cigars (In my opinion and I'm sure I'm going to flamed for it) is the Drew Estates line. They are sickeningly sweet cigars that can help you really enjoy smoking cigars and after you're used to smoking those you can really start appreciating the traditional unflavored/uninfused cigars. I personally started smoking off of DE's Acid and Ambrosia lines, and have since lost any need for the infused cigars and love traditional cigars far more than I could an infused. Good luck, And welcome to cigars and the forums!
    Speaking of good cigars to start out with, Those of you who may be on the greener side of smoking cigars. The 5 vegas sampler being sold on the daily deal is an awesome buy, I would buy it myself except Im stocked on the 5 vegas right now, Actually I have a humidor with nothin else in it but 5 vegas..A good variety there and bang for the buck as well.
  • The3StogiesThe3Stogies Posts: 2,652 ✭✭✭✭
    +1 to everything they said.

    I started with the best of 2010 samplers, they have mild, med and full. Have fun and smoke slowly.
  • grannejagranneja Posts: 382
    Samplers are the way to go if you don't have a B&M close. Ccom has such a great variety and it really helped me find what I like. You will start learning what brands and types of cigars you like, which ones you dont. It will amaze you later on how different the same brand of cigar with different ring gauges change the flavors. The samplers help you get there and often there are two or more of each cigar in it. Have fun!!!
  • Poker_SlobPoker_Slob Posts: 1,269 ✭✭✭✭✭
    PM me your addy and I will send you a mixed box of sticks to try out. Welcome to the club!
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