More Jawbreakers from My Father

[bfeeder]

I prefer smaller ring gauge cigars for several reasons, flavors, time and last but not least, the extremely big ones just look goofy, exaggerating the cigar stereotype even more.

 

[Smokin'Sims]

I like robustos and coronas. I'm not a fan of the extremely large ring gauges or lanceros. Mostly it is time and "feel" issues. They can make the sizes they need to sell, but hopefully it is not at the expense of the sizes I like.

 

[Asel.mike]

I'll pass on those monsters.
Instead of smoking one 60 rg beast in an evening, I'd rather enjoy two smaller cigars.
Just my opinion of course.

 

[MX]

There is both an art and a science to forcing something with that much girth into your mouth smoking a large ring gauge cigar. It takes time, practice, and patience.
I cant tell you how many times I have had to tell Backslide that he is using to much teeth....

Tim

 

[kann]

I prefer >5.5", sub-50 RG cigars, and I am still not a fan of box pressed sticks. So, two things going against them, here. Not saying I wouldn't pick one up here or there to have on hand for if the mood strikes, but I'm definitely not a subscriber to the "big cigar" trend.

 

[4cbln3]

I don't mind if the cigar can still hold the flavor profile of their smaller ring gauge brethren, but if it sucks I won't be even considering it in the future. I have a handful of the newer EP Carillo Inch cigars because I like how his regular releases are smoking. These new, fatter cigars are bringing in new smokers or at least keeping their interest piqued to stay with the hobby. I'm all for keeping cigar smoking in the forefront of adult relaxation and hobbies.

Once I become an old man I may not be buying those "plus sizes" because it'll be too heavy to hold in one hand to smoke. "Can somebody spot my cigar for me?" :laugh:

 

[looking for knowledge]

I sure like the My Father Lanceros. Haven't tried a cigar in the 60 family yet, but picked up a box of three My Father Robusto "specials" last night that I am looking forward to smoking.

A guy I smoke with on occasion really likes the larger ring gauges. He doesn't get my liking the smaller ones. To each his own.

 

[Bayamos]

50 and over is my prefrence. Camacho Triple Maduro 60 is one of those that after holding it, you got to fire it up.......

 

[Not A Nice Person]

I tried a few of the larger ring gauge cigars when they first started becoming popular ten years or so ago . . . Dave and Vi at Tobacco World were always pushing them on me because "a big guy like you needs a BIG cigar!"

54 ring is about the girthiest vitola I'll smoke anymore. Anything more'n that makes me feel like I'm smoking a toilet paper roll. What I actually like the best, though, is corona gorda and torpedo shapes.

~Boar

 

[Backslide]

There is both an art and a science to forcing something with that much girth into your mouth smoking a large ring gauge cigar. It takes time, practice, and patience.
I cant tell you how many times I have had to tell Backslide that he is using to much teeth....

Tim

There's no such thing as too much teeth.

 

[CRQuarto]

54 gauge is max for me, and that's only on a robusto length. I'll take a corona or lancero over a baseball bat.

 

[Not A Nice Person]

I have issues with lanceros . . . Illusione's Holy Lance and the old Don Lino Africa Punda Milia work for me, but most of them I just don't feel like I'm getting enough smoke volume, and I have to really moderate my draw to keep them from overheating. They can be wonderfully flavorful, but they're just not very relaxing for me.

~Boar

 

[Rconectn]

Here is my hypothesis for the larger ring gauges:

The average person who occasionally smokes a cigar and who doesn't own a humidor tends to gravitate to the bigger ring gauge. Why? Two reasons:

1. If you only smoke 1 or two cigars/month like the average Joe, unlike us here at CP we can smoke 4+ cigars in a week, you want something that is going to last at least two hours. More bang for your buck so to speak.

2. Since your average Joe doesn't smoke that often, the bigger ring gauges tend to smoke cooler and not as strong as the smaller ring gauges.

The bigger ring gauges don't bother me because of the way I smoke, I just apply my lips to the tip and draw. I also do this when smoking coronas size cigars and robusto. Maybe some cigar smokers like putting their mouth around the entire head of the cigar and so the 60 RG doesn't fit in their smoking habbit.

 

[Devil Doc]

Average Joe is an asshat and ought to be banned.

Doc

 

[Acclaym]

As for myself, I prefer 48-58rg... Anything too small or 60+ is awkward.

Average Joe is an asshat and ought to be banned.

Doc

I second this motion.

 

[Rconectn]

Average Joe is an asshat and ought to be banned.

Doc

I couldn't agree more, but at the same time it's great that cigar companies are tailoring to the masses. I enjoy a ring gauge >50 sometimes. Three of my favorites: Cohiba Sig VI, Arturo Fuente Rosarios are great, also La Gloria Cubana Serie R. These are all greater than 50 RG and I think they add a great flavor profile just b/c they are >50

 

[ironpeddler]

This seems to have been a trend for a number of years now. Cuba is heading this way as well. I guess manufacturers think this is what the consumer wants? If so, is there a group study suggesting this? Have they been flooded with requests from people saying "I would smoke cigars regularly if only they were 60rg"? I simply don't get it. To each his own I suppose, but this seems to be happening at the expense of my lancero, lonsdale and corona sizes.

It seems like I see a majority of those huge rg cigars being smoked the last several times I've been in the Outlaw, so I think it is a market trend. Unfortunately we make up the the minority among cigar smokers anymore it seems. The "aficionados" (for lack of a better term) that prefer the smaller rg coronas, lanceros, etc are a niche market, and since a larger rg doesn't require as much expertise to roll, and can probably get away with slightly lower quality tobacco, they are probably cheap/easier to make and have a higher profit margin. As much as I would like to think that people like Pepin, Padron, etc would stick to traditions, and would only make cigars they would want to smoke themselves, they are in this business to make money too and have to try to meet what the majority demands.

That's what I'm thinking as well Sneeds, cheaper 'somehow'.

If we took and weighed a typical box of torpedoes packed 24/25 to a box and then weighed this new size stick in the 18 count box, I'm wondering what the difference would be when factoring in the cost per pound calculations based on box pricing. One thing we have all learned about the tobacco industry over the last 5 or 6 years, they don't change anything unless they make more profit. How many times have we seen a second or 3rd run of a popular cigar's blend slightly changed?...to make it better?...hardly, it sometimes sucks because they cheapened it up tobacco wise. I personally think Pepin does this more than we think. You get a box of his cigars that you normally like and when they taste a little 'off', we chalk it up to "let me let them rest for a while and they will come around'. I also think you can hide more inferior tobacco in a larger ring size that will smoke cooler anyway due to its big size. Much more blending skill goes into creating a great cigar in that 38 to 46 ring gauge.

I also agree with the lack of skill needed to roll a larger ring size. It's always been harder to roll smaller ring sizes. longer cigars, and figurados as we see those sizes being cut back or discontinued....and when we talk CC, they have been discontinuing some decently popular smaller cigars over the last 3 years. Has to be a reason...less tobacco in general?...less aged tobacco?...less quality tobacco?

Doc is right when saying mostly the newbs are spearheading this movement as the 'in thing' as apposed to the experienced smokers just liking them as something different and appealing. Every industry needs a new 'something' to inject a little life into the product lines to keep things fesh and relevant...let's just hope it's for the right reasons

There is both an art and a science to forcing something with that much girth into your mouth smoking a large ring gauge cigar. It takes time, practice, and patience.
I cant tell you how many times I have had to tell Backslide that he is using to much teeth....

Tim

There's no such thing as too much teeth.

You've obviously never had your 'helmet' chipped

 

[MadMonk]

It seems that the manufacturers have gone to extremes on both sides of the spectrum. I've seen scads of Lanceros, and Gordos. Most of the Lanceros have not been done with a special wrapper that was worthy of showcasing. Most of the Gordos are big, cumbersome, and really not very complex, which is what I would expect from a larger diameter cigar. You could get several different types of leaf in one, and really make a nice smoke. I would prefer a tapered head though. Carillo was rolling the monsters with his annual humidors, and those were good, but not great, imo. Every once in awhile I'll try one, and it really is very good. Most have been meh.

 

[Bxcigrfan]

there was a blogger or a show cant remember that was talking about these big ring gauges and how one manufacturer when he designed his 60 ring gauge designed it to be a 60+ ring gauge because most just add more filler tobacco not really blending tobaccos for flavor and profile. i wonder how much of this is really true.
i prefer the toro 6x50 size for "big" cigars but the lanceros and 5 1/2 x 46 usually always taste better.