The cigar thread

[Danny Bateman]

Thanks NU and Sgt! Can be a bit intimidating jumping in head first on this, but that's the only way to do it.

It is done! Hoyo Excalibur Epicure wound up being my first smoke tonight. One of the lesser knowns from that combo I got above.

It was a bit touch and go, because I was a still in the process of doing the initial humidor maintenance to get it up and going. Nothing had been humidified properly... hell, it spent a bunch of time on a dusty, dry, hot UPS truck before it got here and then sat around in my apartment while I got all the necessary stuff for my humidor. Got it up and going tonight though! Will get some pics when I get it checked out tomorrow.

Pretty decent smoke, IMO. Quite peppery at first but became a lot smoother later. Thoroughly enjoyable. Smoked it all the way to the nub. Thought it was interesting how the stick warmed up near the end and the draws became warm...

 

[NUance]

Just at the end of an Oliva Serie G right now. 6" x 50 ring. Most Olivas that I've had are pretty decent for the price.

I went back through this thread this morning. It was fun to see the various cigars I've had over the past couple of years. At one time I had around 300 cigars. In a coolerdor (150 cigars), a large humidor (150 capacity with ~120 in it.) and a small humidor (30 cigars). I'm down to around 150 cigars now. Might have to buy a few.

 

[Danny Bateman]

Alright, took a bit longer than I thought, but finally got everything prepped and ready!

Lastly, here are one each of the different types of cigars I got with that first order. Have only tried the Excalibur so far. Really excited to try each of these. Bought those 5 Vegas's on a bit of an impulse after reading your post approving of them NU.

One question for you: What type of hygrometer/humidifier setup do you use for your different boxes? Right now I've got just the analog hygrometer and humidifier included with my humidor. Are you using an analog hygrometer or did you go digital? I know mine had issues getting to 75% doing the salt test to calibrate it. Had to bump it up like 15%, which seems like a lot. Even after calibrating, charging and installing my humidifier, and letting a soaked sponge to get it up to ~75% humidity, it always seems to slowly reset back down to 60% after awhile.

Any advice? Thinking of trying those humidor beads that are supposed to help humidify or vice-versa depending on conditions. Also, what do you personally prefer to keep yours at?

 

[NUance]

I have three boxes: A Napoleon II 150 stick humidor. A coolerdor. And a humidor similar to the one you have. I have another humidor with a beautiful burled wood finish. But it's not airtight, so I just use it to keep supplies in.

Napoleon: For humidification I use three things: a bag of beads about 3" in dia, a rectangular magnetic humidifier that sticks to a side wall, and a flat sponge in a container that I put a glycol solution in. The Napoleon is large enough that the rectangular humidifier that came with it doesn't come close to keeping it stable in the dry winter months.

I use both a bag of beads and a sponge with glycol solution in the other two.

I use digital hygrometers. I used to do the salt thing to calibrate them. But now I've gotten lazy. I just set them outside for a short time and compare their reading to the weatherchannel's humidity reading for my town. lt's probly not absolutely accurate, but I'd guess it's within a percent or so of correct. // I never have used the fancy analog hygrometer on the Napoleon or the box I have like yours. They just don't seem that accurate.

The only bit of advice I can offer that you probably haven't already read on the internet is to keep notes on the cigars you've smoked. After a while I forget which ones I really liked, and which ones were just okay.

=======================================

OTOH, maybe I shouldn't be giving out any advice on humidifying cigars. I noticed the other day that several of my Oliva Serie G cigars in the coolerdor have white mold inside their wrappers. In all I have five or six cigars that are affected. They are all in a Spanish cedar cigar box in the coolordor, so it's fairly well isolated. (Some afficinados will tell you that their white mold is plume--which is good. But about 99% of the time it's white mold--which is bad. LINK) Anyway, the white mold doesn't seems to be on the cigars themselves, but rather on the wrapper. It stays on the wrapper when I slide the cigars out. So I've taken it up on myself to destroy them in the best way I know how: I'm burning them. lol

 

[Danny Bateman]

I've got a sponge in there now, and that's maintaining my humidity right about where I want it, but it's stuffed in awkwardly and I don't want to soak my wooden insert separating the humidifier and my cigars long-term... it would probably get warped. I think I'll try some beads, and I'll probably pick up a digital hygrometer.

That was Sunday's offering. Pretty excited to try them. Cohiba Red Dot Robusto. Apparently they're one of Schwarzeneggar's favorites.

It was pretty good. I preferred it to the Excalibur from the other night. Really smooth almost all the way through. Unfortunately, smoked it a bit too long, and it had been a bit too long since I ate. Got majorly sick. Had to go hang out by the toilet for a while, and then lay down for a while before everything stopped spinning.

Guess that's what I get for not easing in.

Was probably one of the top 5 worst experiences of my life. Still, 10/10 cigar, would smoke again.

 

[NUance]

Well it took me about ten days but I finally burned all those Serie G cigars with a bit of white mold inside the wrapper. They were inside a Spanish cedar cigar box which was inside my coolerdor. I wonder if something about that caused the mold? I'm thinking no. Because I have a couple other Spanish cedar cigar boxes in the coolerdor with other kinds of cigars in them. (It's how I organize the coolerdor). None of them developed the white mold. Guess I'll never know.

:

 

[Danny Bateman]

Ok, got to back up what NU had said about the 5 Vegas earlier. Mine was an A Series Apotheosis Gordo:

Very smooth offering. Went in with rather muted expectations because 5 Vegas is somewhat of a bargain brand it seems. Got these on an impulse as they were a special the day I was purchasing my initial set up.

They were very good. Burned quick. Took me no longer than an hour to get all the way through. But it was pleasant to sit and puff on. A rather smoky cigar as it burned. But despite how dark it was, it was not overpowering or too oily for my tastes. In fact, I'm sitting on my deck actually enjoying the aftertaste it left on my palate. Would recommend without a doubt.

Stinks about that white mold, man. Glad you got through those without issue. I found it interesting when I learned newbies sometimes mistake plume for white mold. But I'm sure you're well past that phase.

 

[Danny Bateman]

Hey NU... Any experience with 5 Vegas being particularly smoky sticks?

I'm sitting here polishing off an Apotheosis, which is quite good, but it's also let off a TON of smoke in the process. I'm talking billows and billows of the stuff out of my mouth on a puff. Wondered if they tended that way of if mine is just burning dirty tonight.

 

[NUance]

Having an Arturo Fuente Gran Reserva right now: 46 ring x 5.625". I was doing a little humidor maintenance and thought, "what the heck, I haven't had a cigar in a while." So I lit one up. :lol:

I had one of these left, and a hankering for a morning cigar.  I'm about halfway through it now.  It's been seasoning in my humidor for around four years now.  It's pretty good!  

 

[NUance]

About halfway through a Romeo Y Julieta Viego.  6.1" x 52 ring, square profile:  Real good!   I bought a five pack three years ago.  This is my last one.   Might have to buy some more.  But I'm afraid to visit the Devil.  Last time I bought cigars there I got carried away.  The wife wasn't too happy about the rather large credit card charges that month.     

 

[Calvin]

I've gotten into cigars over the past few months or so.  Still don't know very much, so I'm going to start getting samplers from Holts off and on.  Smoke maybe two a month.  I got a humidor and a few E.P. Carrillo cigars as a gift.  I liked these a lot, so I'll order those some time, but want to try a few others first.  I bought a small pack of Montecristo Robustos.  They're ok, but I struggled to smoke them entirely.  Because of this I bought a Nub sampler.  I still have some of these left.  They were just ok as well, but because they're shorter, they seemed to heat up much faster than longer cigars.  I just bought a pack of Alec Bradley American Classic Robustos and they look really good, plus read good things about their brand.  It was educational reading through the posts in this thread.  Thanks NUance.

 

[NUance]

but want to try a few others first.  

Sounds like you have a good start.  Those Alec Bradley's are among the best.  I've not tried E.P. Carrillos yet.  But I will.  

Brick-and-mortar cigar stores are great!  I love the atmosphere, the smell, talking to the guy behind the counter, the whole experience.  I buy some at a couple of brick-and-mortar stores mostly to help support them.  But I get more cigars on-line.  You can get a lot better deals on-line.  The best deals to be had are at www.cigarbid.com, fondly known as "The Devil" to those who ended up spending way more than they planned on.  (Like me!  lol)  I've also bought stuff from www.jrcigars.com and www.cigarsinternational.com.  I think cigarsinternational.com is the parent company of cigarbid.com.  There are probably a half dozen others just as good as these sites.  

If you go to a good brick-and-mortar cigar store--especially if it's been around for a long while--ask them if they have any house-brand cigars that they recommend.  Their house brand is usually a high quality cigar bought directly from a manufacturer with the store's own label put on it.  

 

[Calvin]

I went to school with a guy who works at the Omaha Cigar Co., so I'll swing by there sometime.  Seems to take his cigars pretty seriously.  

 

[Danny Bateman]

Holy crap this thread hasn't been used since 2018?

Recently restocked online with a collection of Punch, Macanudo and Man O' War offerings. Reseasoned the humidors and set up a Humi-Care "power stick" that I got as a freebie in the order.

Feels good to have the humidor stocked up after a while being empty. I've also got some bargain sticks and a CAO sampler from the same order that haven't arrived yet.

So... anybody else enjoy the occasional stogie? I don't think @NUance or @Calvin are around much anymore...

 

[Calvin]

Still around!  

I've picked up cigars again as well.  Favorites include Davidoff, Macanudo, Padron, Arturo Fuente, Romeo y Julieta and Ashton.  Draw is such a big thing for me, so if a stick doesn't have an effortless draw, it's no bueno for me.  Because of this, I've tried some other well received brands and haven't been impressed.  These were Oliva, H. Upmann and Montecristo, though recent Montecristos I've had have been good.  Might've just had a bad batch with the first few.  

I have four smallish (10-50) humidors and am finally upgrading to an electric 250 cigar cooler.  Should arrive today actually, so pretty excited to get that seasoned and ready.