My First Posting

[BigMacFU]

Welcome to the forum. Lot of great guys here with a lot of great info. If you want to get a fairly quick education, hit up the newbie sampler trade thread. It's a great way to get a bunch of different cigars to try directly from fellow forum members who've smoked them, enjoyed them and are ready to share them.

You'll definitely get better value in general by buying boxes online. But, your local cigar shop, if it has a good proprietor can really be helpful in educating your palette. You'll be able to go in, tell them you want to try some new stuff, that these ___________ are the cigars you've tried, these ___________ are the ones you like, and then (s)he'll make some recommendations. You'll be able to tell if you've got a good local shop when you do this and because you're fairly new to the hobby/soon to be addiction, they'll suggest cigars in the 4-7 dollar range in general (3-7 if you're in a lower cost of living area of the country) and not try to sell you the really expensive, sometimes overrated, 8-20 dollar cigars. If they've ever chewed and they know the chew you preferred, they may even be able to suggest something based off that. If they recommend any flavored cigars, walk out. If they recommend Macanudos, walk out.

Now, for some of my own recommendations for starting the love of the leaf (heck some are still among my favorites):
Punch Champions
Gran Habanos
Montecristo platinums
Joya De Nicaragua for a strong smoke
Carlos Torano Exodus (Gold) 1956
Rocky Patel Vintage 90 or 92
Partagas Black


If you want to grab a whole box right off the bat, I'd go with the champions, gran habanos or Toranos. If you ever want anything Torano, get them from this forum's owner and just plain kick-ass guy Hex, his store is the ad at the top for camino viejo.