New Member, trying to find my brand - I've had a good start
Hello Everyone,
I am from Seattle but I work overseas. I quit smoking cigarettes in September of last year, and decided a few months later that I would like to enjoy cigars. I do olympic weightlifting as a hobby so not inhaling smoke is much better for my training. I spent some time navigating through the forums and figuring out which brands to try. My end goal is to find the one cigar that I love more than all the others. With other things: beer, rum, ice cream, whiskey, steaks - I just get the same thing every time. Hopefully I can find that with Cigars.
I ended up buying my cigars that I have at the Duty Free Shops in the Dubai Airport. The tobacconist there didn't really seem to know his stuff, but the selections was awesome. I went to the duty free website and found a price sheet prior to my arrival. According to the sheet, all the brands they sell are in quantities of 25. With a 50 Cigar limit to get through customs I could only choose 2 different types so I settled on Partigas Serie P No. 2 and H. Uppman 46.
To my surprise when I arrived in Dubai, I found that they had a much larger selection than the website showed; and also I could buy most brands in packs of 5's and 10's. So I ended up getting the 2 mentioned above + Cohiba Siglo II, Montecristo No 2, Trinidad Coloniales, and another Cohiba, smaller ones (special editions) that I can't remember the name of right now.
I somewhat feel like I don't have the understanding to appreciate these cigars as much as some of you would. But they're all I have and I'm going to smoke them haha!
The Trinidad Coloniales I do not like and I have not heard of them before arriving in Dubai. The tobacconist said they are very popular so I bought a few.
Montecristo's - I enjoyed it, but I could not figure out why they are so special. Maybe I got a batch of the not so good ones, or maybe I'm just a dumb noob. Probably a little bit of both.
H. Uppman 46s - My notes indicate that I read on here to let these suckers age. I tried one and liked it a lot. I think I am going to wait for a while to see how much more I can like them.
Smaller Cohibas - They're nice because of their size. I like that I can smoke one when I might not have a lot of time. Especially since it's cold at night where I am.
Partigas Serie P No. 2 - I like this cigar quite a lot. One thing I noticed is how nicely it pulls and the thick milky smoke it creates. I could actually tell I was smoking a good cigar with this one.
And last, my favorite - Cohiba Siglo II. Man this cigar opened my eyes to the how much I am going to grow to love cigars. Tasted great, perfect pull, mmmm. But I am not able to figure out why it tasted so great yet - I just know that next time I have a chance I'm going to buy different Siglos and try them all.
I wonder about Sample Packs too that some of you guys send. Can you ship Cigars to an APO without them drying out? The mail usually takes 2-3 weeks.
Also attached is a picture of the Cigar Room at the last hotel I stayed at.
http://i46.tinypic.com/2ryj3u8.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/288qwz5.jpg
