Asking the cigar smoking community on hexbear, what are your favourites? How you usually enjoy them and perhaps with what?
I personally don’t smoke that much, like to get a good one(be that Romeo and Juliet or other brand, don’t really have big preferences, much just the quality of it and Cuban origin) and then smoke it trough a hike. Goes nice together while sightseeing.
I have questions! I’m a pretty big fan of the punchy and sweet flavors of the cheapo Backwoods and similar cigarillos. If I wanted to make the jump into something that’s actually decent/respectable quality, where would I start? As a side reference, I consider black cavendish pipe tobacco to be my ultimate personal blend. Other than that, the only thing I don’t enjoy is the harsher bitter/coffee flavors. So any recommendations would be awesome!
Cool! That’s a good question.
I’ll preface this by saying it’s a little difficult for me because I don’t have experience with Backwoods nor any pipe tobacco (smells delicious though) so I am just approximating here but I think I understand what you mean.
I think your best bet if you want something sweet and maybe “punchy” would be maduros generally. There are many different types of cigars based on the fermentation of the wrapper (outermost part of the cigar, basically what is seen) but the common two are: Natural and Maduro. Naturals are what you probably mostly think of when you think cigar: light brown, almost khaki beige color. Maduros can vary in intensity of color but are usually dark brown to black.
You should take Cigar Aficionado with a grain of salt, all the reviews are purchased, but they are right here:
https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/that-old-black-magic-8470
After that, I would say stay away from Nicaraguans for a while. Some may disagree but I find them strong and peppery, sometimes with a strong black coffee taste. I’d recommend gravitating to Dominicans to start.
A very, very decent and good starter Dominican Maduro that hopefully won’t set you back too much should be Arturo Fuente 858 Maduro.
Coincidentally also one of the first cigars that convinced me to keep with it and were my “daily” cigar for a long time. They’re not too strong and can have that nice, sweet taste to it at times. Every individual cigar taste depends on many things from how they’re kept to how well they are lit, though, so your experience may differ. But I think that is a good place for you to start! Enjoy!
Awesome! I’ll try and hit up my local spot this weekend and see if they’ve got something in stock!
Cool! Let me know how it goes!
Meant to reply earlier, but it was a hell of a week. I did manage to pick up the cigar you mentioned (on mobile, not gonna try and spell it and totally butcher the spelling), as well as another similar cigar recommended by the clerk in charge of the humidor.
Was definitely enjoyable! Didn’t go so great with bourbon, but I liked them both! Oddly enough, the second one went with some pink lemonade, and the sour contrast kinda added to the whole experience.
Anyways, that’s my layman’s casual take on dipping my feet into real cigars. Thank you for the recommendation!
No worries at all! The last couple of weeks were a tough time for me too, honestly.
But I’m glad you tried it and enjoyed it! I hope it helped you relax. I’ve coincidentally been smoking at least one 858 a day lately. Beautiful cigars.
That is actually a good observation on your part though. I don’t know if I mentioned it above, I don’t want to reread my ramblings, but I usually always drink water with a new cigar or rare cigar. Mostly because a whisky (as much as I love them) will drown out the taste of cigars for me and doing that with a rare or expensive cigar is a waste, but also because sometimes a cigar and whisky will hit harshly and you never know until you smoke the cigar first. Also, the second observation you made is a really popular one. You probably know from smoking before, but many, many people smoke cigars with something sweet. Soda, lemonade, and so on. The sugar in the drink counteracts the strength of the nicotine in the cigar so it’s a common tactic to soften a cigar and avoid nicotine sickness. I don’t do that as much because I’m ironically very sensitive to sugar and I don’t drink many sugary drinks but it’s very popular to do so and scientifically supported. Some prefer it. Maybe pair whichever cigar you try next with a sugary drink again and you’ll enjoy it more.
I’m really glad you liked both though! Out of curiosity, what was the second cigar? Maybe I can make another recommendation based off it.
Always feel free to message me or whatever if you want to chat about it.