Advice for Novice

[chadwilsonx]

Hi, I am an 18 year old who has smoked a few cigars and I have some questions that I was hoping some of you older cigar aficionados could answer.

1) This is a probably a stupid one but, how do I know if I'm inhaling or not. I am not a cigarette smoker so I am not really sure if I am inhaling. I put my lips on the cigar and sort of "suck in" for a few seconds then either pause or blow it out. Is that inhaling or not? If it is not inhaling, how would I inhale? (just out of curiousity..i would not want to with cigars)

2) What are some good beginner cigars to start out with. I have heard that one of the good ones is a Montecristo no. 4.

3) Is it possible to order cuban cigars even with the embargo? I have seen websites (that look legitimate) where you can order cuban cigars through a Swiss hub. Like www.cigarone.com

Thanks,

Chad

[Bkcloud114]

#1- If you ever inhaled the smoke from a cigar into your lungs, you would definitely know it. You would gag and cough. Especially since you never smoked cigarettes. I smoked cigarettes for a long time and I would never inhale a cigar (intentionally).

A FOG once told me that smoking cigars is like drinking a fine wine. You want to tast all of the different flavors in the smoke, the same as in a fine wine. You'll notice that true wine tasters never swallow the wine but savor it in their mouths and then spit it out. There are no taste buds in your lungs, so there is no reason to inhale a cigar.

#2 - Being a new guy myself, the best thing I could tell ya is to try alot of different cigars, try to stay away from any typ of flavored cigars (unless that's what you like). No need to spend alot of money ($20) on a cigar that you then realize you don't like. One place that I buy new cigar i want to try is www.cigarbid.com . Just be careful, it could be addictive LOL.


#3 - As for Cubans, they are illegal in the USA. If you order Cuban cigars from outside of the USA, there is a possibility they can be confiscated by Customs and then you are out the 100's of dollars you spent.

[BigMacFU]

As a beginning smoker, do not even waste your money on cubans, they will probably make you throw up.

Similarly, don't go spending a ton of money on all the big name and expensive brands like Montecristo's, Ashton's, etc... I would suggest you start with mild to medium body cigars that are either corona or robusto sized. That way your smoke is only 45 minutes to an 1 hour. As for mild to medium body cigars, H. Upmann are a great place to start. I would also suggest the Punch Champion. Punch's are typically stronger, but the wrap/shape of the champion really keeps the flavor in balance. Your best bet is to go to a local cigar shop and talk to the people behind the desk, you shouldn't need to spend anymore than 3-5 dollars for a good cigar to start out the hobby on. Just tell the cigar shop folk you're looking for a mild to medium body cigar that will last about 45 minutes to an Hour to smoke. If they're good people they won't try to scam you and get you buying 8-12 dollar cigars.

Once you've smoked enough and have decided whether you want to continue pursuing the hobby, that's when you can start buying boxes of cigars and pick up a humidor and move on to some of the more complex and stronger cigars.

Also, don't forget, light your cigars with either wood matches or torch lighters (that is NOT Bic lighters). Check out this site for a good intro faq to smoking: http://www.jrcigars.com/index.cfm?page=jrcu_10tips and also http://www.jrcigars.com/index.cfm?page=cigar_university

[CoventryCat86]

Excellent advice BigMac

[Bkcloud114]

I would suggest if you're gonna pick up a few cigar and want some type of humidor, pick out a small cooler, a hygrometer and some type of humidification device. That way in case the cigar thing don't work out you can always use the cooler and you haven't spent alot of money on a humidor.

[CoventryCat86]

I would suggest if you're gonna pick up a few cigar and want some type of humidor, pick out a small cooler, a hygrometer and some type of humidification device. That way in case the cigar thing don't work out you can always use the cooler and you haven't spent alot of money on a humidor.

Once again, GREAT advice!!

I've had a couple of instances in the summer where I need my large coolers for a party so I just unload the cigars, keep them out on the bar in the finished basement (where the RH is 65 to 70% in the summer in that room anyway) and I use the coolers for their intended purpose

Since I store all of my cigars in wooden boxes in the coolers, it takes only a minute or two to convert from coolerdor to cooler