I smoked my first ISOM awhile back. A coworker of my wife's went to Germany, and brought back a box of tiny Cuban perfectos: Partagas Petit Bouquets. Never heard of them before; they're natural, maybe 3.5x38 or 40 (no size marked), and they smell very, very nice. They're about the same size as a Black Label Pronto, for those who have experience with them. (I asked him to bring back no more than a five-pack, since I don't have much humidor space, but he either couldn't get just five or didn't understand.)
My favorite place to smoke cigars is on the front porch; I generally herf my way through a Partagas Black Label Clasico (5.5x54) in about an hour and a half, so I figured one of these little babies would last me ten minutes or so.
But it was so strong! It definitely tasted different from any non-Cuban I've smoked. I can't say distinctively better or worse, but different. However, it began kicking my butt up one side and down the other after less than half an inch. In order to keep my head securely on my shoulders, I had to smoke it so slowly that it was constantly on the knife-edge of going out; two hours later I had to stop because of all the nicotine, but the cigar had a good quarter-inch to go before my fingers were in any danger of being burned.
I haven't worked up the balls to smoke another one yet, so I have the other 24 either in various nooks and crannies of my humidor or in a La Gloria Cubana box with a puck. I have no idea what I'll finally do with them; maybe I'll join one of y'all's cigar passes.
Is this a fairly standard experience for one's first ISOM? Are Partagas cigars widely known to be at one end or the other of some spectrum of Cubans? Are they unusually strong simply because they're small? (I prefer larger Robusto-to-Toro sizes, but one does not look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak--so I don't have a lot of experience with small cigars, other than the aforementioned PBL Prontos.)
Thanks...
My favorite place to smoke cigars is on the front porch; I generally herf my way through a Partagas Black Label Clasico (5.5x54) in about an hour and a half, so I figured one of these little babies would last me ten minutes or so.
But it was so strong! It definitely tasted different from any non-Cuban I've smoked. I can't say distinctively better or worse, but different. However, it began kicking my butt up one side and down the other after less than half an inch. In order to keep my head securely on my shoulders, I had to smoke it so slowly that it was constantly on the knife-edge of going out; two hours later I had to stop because of all the nicotine, but the cigar had a good quarter-inch to go before my fingers were in any danger of being burned.
I haven't worked up the balls to smoke another one yet, so I have the other 24 either in various nooks and crannies of my humidor or in a La Gloria Cubana box with a puck. I have no idea what I'll finally do with them; maybe I'll join one of y'all's cigar passes.
Is this a fairly standard experience for one's first ISOM? Are Partagas cigars widely known to be at one end or the other of some spectrum of Cubans? Are they unusually strong simply because they're small? (I prefer larger Robusto-to-Toro sizes, but one does not look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak--so I don't have a lot of experience with small cigars, other than the aforementioned PBL Prontos.)
Thanks...
