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Becoming a daily smoker
wtm114
Posts: 2
Currently in Afghan on deployment. Pretty new to the everyday cigar smoking type of life, so I am not sure where to start. I ordered the 90- Rated Sampler Pack. Came with Cusano Corojo, Rocky Patel Vintage 1992, CAO Gold, 5 Vegas, Gurkha Regent. Just got them in today! I am getting ready to smoke the CAO Gold. Just trying to find out what I like and dont like.....any suggestions? I have a small humidor on the way out here as well.
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"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
+1... Welcome to the forums, be aware. If your hanging around here, a small humidor is only going to upset you in the long run. Agree, the house blends are the way to go. Don't spend all your money like I did,I mean still do, lol...
Other than that, it sounds like you are already on the right track, just grab whichever samplers catch your eye until you have a good grasp on what you like and dislike. The Ccom custom sampler is an awesome tool for this once you have at least some idea of what you are looking for in a cigar.
You're right, the budget which defines what a daily cigar is varies from brother to brother. Some would consider a daily smoke to be $2 or less (gran habano 2002, house blends, etc.) while some have much larger budgets. Most of us don't get to smoke every day so we spend a little more on the smokes we enjoy.
If you're new to the hobby and ordering online let me give you some money saving advice: don't just flip through the pages and fill a cart to buy. This is the most expensive way to shop, even though it's still considerably cheaper than buying them from a B&M (brick and mortar). It's cheaper to exercise patience and wait for deals to come up on sale (daily deals and weekend blitzs). The discounts offered on these sales are so discounted I'd say, on average, they're as cheap as you'll ever find them.
With this in mind you can really increase your quality of cigars to smoke daily as you will be able to get many, many premium cigars for $2.50 to $4 that normally sell for much more even on-line. Samplers are a great way to start exploring because there are no rights or wrongs because every palate is different; what one considers junk another considers gold and vice versa.
Exercise patience, explore daily deals and get the highest quality cigars your budget can afford as there's nothing more disappointing than a disappointing cigar.
"Long ashes my friends."
CutleryBarn
I will piggyback on what the others have been saying - the CCom House Blends sampler is a great way to find out what agrees with your particular palette and what doesnt. Also something to keep in mind, your palette WILL change over time... what you arent wild about today might taste a whole lot better to you in 6 months or a year.
Another thing when you're firt starting out - TAKE NOTES! Even if its just one of those little green pocket sized notepads that all GI's seem to carry, and even if the note you make on a cigar is just the date you smoked it, what it was, and either "liked" or "didnt like" or a number score. The cigar scene CAN be a little overwhelming when you first get into it - the amount of different cigars out there is massive. Keeping notes will 1) help you start noticing patterns in what you like & dont like when you read up on the sticks ("Hmmmm... a lot of the sticks I like have connecticut wrappers") and 2) if you have a memory like me, will help you avoid the good ol "I cant remember what the name of that cigar I tried last week was... I think it was dark, and I think it MIGHT have had a blue band... or was it green?" sort of thing.
Welcome to the forums & the cigra hobby man. Make sure you stick around these forums, great bunch of guys & a WEALTH of no-BS, unbiased information. As long as you stay away from that ENFIDEL guy - HIM you gotta watch close! :-) LOL
I too think the house blends are great. Try the sampler to see which one you like. Keep your head down and stay well.