Quote Originally Posted by CoventryCat86 View Post
Yeah, I was down your way last November, 95 to 40 to Wilmington and I saw at least ten or 20 JR billboards on those roads so I was going to say "WTF is the matter with you, how can you miss the billboards on 95?" but since you don't know me I wasn't sure how well you'd take to me busting your stones then I'd catch $hit for being mean to the new guys so I decided to be nice which is out of character for me, LMAO! I did have to laugh though because JRCigars is probably one of the largest mail order cigar places in the country/world and you have one of their retail outlets almost in your back yard so you're luckier than most.

On our way back, I wanted to stop in but the wife said "NO" I've heard the retail outlets are huge and I'm sure they're loaded up with sales associated who you can spend all day talking to about cigars. I also wouldn't buy whole boxes yet if I were you, try lots of different cigars. Personally, I'd avoid the real cheap crap. As they say "Life is too short to smoke cheap cigars." Now I'm not saying you've got to smoke only $20.00 cigars but concentrate on the mid-priced stuff, $4.00 - $15.00 per cigar. Oh, and don't be afraid of maduros, they may look strong and powerful to a new cigar smoker but the taste of the wrapper is generally sweeter than natural leaf so I think they taste better.
awesome, thanks!

Right now, I think I'm looking at getting something like this to start off with, and just saving the rest of the cash for when I start to get a feel for what I like. I'm hoping this will give me a good taste of most different blends/styles of smokes, any other suggestions I should try and add on for areas I may be missing?

Nub Top Ten Sampler
Best of AJ Fernandez Sampler
5 Vegas Historical Collection
Motherlode No. 11 Sampler
...all from CI.com

and the Best of Arturo Fuente Sampler from famous-smoke.

And I'll probably take a trip to JR later this week and spend some time there.