Thursday, April 8, 2010

Cigars, really good cigars, great cigars

Cigar smoking can be an obsession. Those of us who are always searching for that perfect cigar know this. Cigars are a subjective hobby. The cigar that you consider too mild to be worthwhile might be the perfect cigar for one of your friends. I have found this to be true in my cigar smoking history. I started out with mild bodied cigars. Romeo y Julieta's were that starting point. After a few months of smoking them and the occasional Macanudo a friend handed me a CAO Brasilia. After smoking a full bodied cigar I was sold.

I still smoke mild cigars in the morning if I have the opportunity, and I smoke the fuller bodied cigars in the afternoon and the evening. Seems like a good balance to me. The best cigars, though, are the ones that you have smoked, liked, bought more of and stored in your humidor. Like how I snuck that back in there? A good humidor is an absolute if you smoke cigars. Unless you just buy them and smoke them immediately. But a good humidor can help you enjoy your cigars that much more. Buying your cigars and storing them in a humidor for a period of time before you smoke them can help enhance your cigar smoking pleasure. I have a friend who is bringing cigars he has had in his humidor for over a year tomorrow. I can't wait to try one of them.

That all being said, as I stated earlier cigar smoking is a subjective science. You have to try different cigars to find out what particular cigar works for you. Believe me, it can be a pleasurable hunt.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Cigars and Humidors - How to Ruin a Cigar in One Easy Step

Every cigar smoker knows you have to treat your cigars well. And I have talked before about cigar accessories that you must have. That being said, I want to tell you a story about a cigar that was abused and had to be destroyed. This is a sad story of a good cigar treated badly.

I have a neighbor who is much younger than I am. We have talked every now and then about cigars, and beer. I ran into him the other night and he was all proud when he got out of his truck, wanting to show me the cigar that a friend of his had brought him back from Jamaica. My friend kept telling me that it had to be good because it was from the Dominican Republic.

Now the Dominican Republic produces many, many fine cigars. But any cigar is going to be nasty if it has been stored in the cab of a pickup truck. Because that is where my neighbor had been storing his. In his truck. Consequently the cigar was dried out and looking bad. The wrapper had started to separate from the binder, and it was just looking sad. I asked how long he had had the cigar in his truck, to which he replied a couple of weeks. I cringed. I wouldn't treat a dog rocket as badly as he had treated that cigar. But I was gentle with my friend as he needed instruction, not abuse.

Cigars need to be kept at 70% humidity. The most efficient way to do this is to store you cigars in a good humidor. To not do this to your cigars is a sure path to having to throw them away. Because a dry cigar is just going to smoke like a pile of leaves, and break up in the process.

Let this be a lesson to everyone.