Sunday Morning Ramblings.

[madurotrout]

Ten random thoughts this morning.  Go...
 
Where have you gone Lew Rothman?  You are missed.  His sales catalogs were an anxiously awaited and a must read.  The JR catalog was a better read than any magazine on the market then, or currently.  I remember reading on their forum years ago where FOGS used to keep them as collector’s items.
 
Liga Privada is way overpriced.  Read what I am saying.  I am not saying that it is not a good smoke, but take a second to compare what you could buy with the same dollar to dollar ratio elsewhere.
 
I find myself drinking water more and more while smoking cigars.  That is not to say that I do not enjoy a cigar with a beer, coffee, bourbon, etc…  I just find that it allows me to taste the tobacco better and I do not have to be concerned with pairing or complimenting beverages with sticks.
 
Gurkha.  WTF?  I have never tried or care to try one.  Someone is buying their cigars.  Who is buying their cigars?
 
I cannot allow myself to set up a cooler-dor or fridge-dor.  I am tempted again after seeing many of your fridge set ups.  I had a cooler set up years ago, and I wound up buying every sale or closeout special that came along.  I had a stash of good smokes, but not sticks that I really enjoyed.  Quality over quantity I try to tell myself.  I am not very good at this.  LOL!
 
This is the year I cancel my CA subscription.  I think I may have said this before…
 
I like Nicaraguan smokes.
 
I like my sticks between 70-72%.  Many of you state you like your sticks in the mid 60’s.  I have tried 66-68% and I just prefer a little more moisture.
 
The $5 cigar is a thing of the past.  You have to get this out of your head.  You are very challenged to find a stick for $5 or a box for $100-$125.  I am not saying that they do not exist, but I am just saying that you need to reset your wallet and realize that it is no longer 1998.  If you look at most of the passes and events, the minimum is stated at $8.  I think this is accurate.  The old $5 is the new $8.  Have I mentioned that Padron is the best value on the market?  Shhh, it is a secret.
 
I miss my favorite smoking spot.  It is cold here in Maryland.  My favorite place to smoke is sitting on the front porch.  How many days until spring?  L
 

 

[Light this!]

Well, I agree with some:
 
 
I stop collecting magazines and catalogs a while back. Never read them and they just piled up.
 
 
Liga Privada is way overpriced!
 
 
I find myself drinking more Bourbon with my cigars lately. It makes my brain appreciate the subtle taste of the tobacco.
 
 
Never smoked a Gurkha and never will!
 
 
I have a bad habit of buying too many cigars and might set up a coolerdor for overflow. I never buy dog rockets no matter how cheap they are.
 
 
I don't have a CA subscription. Refer to line 1.
 
 
I love CC's.
 
 
I like my sticks between 63-65%.
 
 
There still are great sticks under $5. Partagas Shorts for about $4.64 and PLPC's for about $4.74 to name a few.
 
 
My favorite smoking spot is anywhere I can enjoy a cigar these days without freezing my cojones! It's usually my screened porch when the weather cooperates. Ooh and BTW, it's colder here in NH!

 

[cabaiguan juan]

1) huh?
2) true
3) I sho drink more water than bourbon. I keep telling myself that. I keep telling myself that. I need to freshen up my bourbon glass.
4) I've smoked a few Gurkhas and your not missing anything.
5) Same Thing happened to me. I try focus on quality over quantity- that said, its not always that easy.
6) I said that as I re-upped for two more years.
7) Nicaraguan cigars are great!
8) I pref low 60's.
9) you're right.
10) it is cold in VA too. This time of year really benefits from shops with lounges
Nice musings!

 

[madurotrout]

Rothman used to own JR Cigars and put out his own bimonthly catalog that would inform, educate, and amuse you with his cigar knowledge and decades of wisdom. Good stuff. JR is a shadow of what it used to be.

 

[Juanote]

1) Cigars lend themselves to contemplation. Sounds like excellent reading material for the porcelain throne.
2) Tend to agree
3) Various forms of scotch mostly but I've done the water thing more lately especially aboard ship (versus coffee -- no alcohol allowed here!)
4) A buddy of mine is buddies with the Gurkha dude. Since he does not like strong cigars he throws a lot of them my way (I need to start carrying a shield). Most of them are a waste of time (much less money) but the cognac infused tubos and the Beauty aren't bad, you might even call them nice. They Gurkha self created pseudo hype remains pure shit of course, though a surprising number of novices seem to be vulnerable.
5) My two main acquisitional impediments are budget and significant other. That said I've been planning a Craig's list or garage sale wineador project for a while now.
6) I used to buy it off the self on occassion about 10-15 years ago. I do read some of their reviews, though I take them with a grain of salt.
7) Dominicans or whatever Fuentes are (who knows?) mostly. Padron is a good smoke but none have really grabbed me by the vest yet. I keep thinking it's me.
8) I've had bad luck with anything near (much less over) 70%. But then again I live on the gulf coast and work in the tropics. 65% or maybe a little higher seems to be perfect for my purposes.
9) Subjective about Padron, is certainly true in the eyes of many (and I can get behind the idea somewhat), but I still come back to Fuente. Yes they have some overpriced lines but the value you can get out of CF and even Hemingway lines considering the experience is hard to surpass at the price. Including some smokes under $5. In my opinion.
10) Now is actually my favorite time of the year for smoking, as we transition from subtropical high humidity to a wetter version of California weather. Summertime here can get downright sticky even at night.

 

[CMontoya79]

1) I dont like Chinese takeout anymore.
2)I also like CC's very much.
3)I like brunettes.
4) I don't like death metal, but do like most rock music including Latin Rock.
5)where the heck has Rock (Lauren) been hiding?
6)I like playing hide the salami, with the wife of course.
7) I like the great flavor profile that EPC new wave Stella's, Herrera esteli short coronas and Arturo Fuente Rosado Magnum Sungrown R44 possess.
8)bottles of liquor last me a very long time.
9)I'm a Mexican American (Chicano)
10) I fuggin love me some italian food!

 

[BlindedByScience]

1 - Catalogues?  Like, printed on paper?  Those are 'throne room' commodities only.  When I want sticks I get on the phone.  Worth building a relationship with solid B&M's locally whenever possible.
2 - LP's are nice smokes, and I bought several boxes when they initially came out.  But, the prices have changed quite a bit and I refuse to fight the 'cultists' for availability.  I can buy boxes of Padron's and CC's all day, no hassle required.  Guess where my money goes??
3 - Water has always been my fave drink with any cigar I wanted to taste.  Love a good bourbon or scotch, but I find the cigar and liquor fight for my taste buds attention.  One or the other, but 99 times out of a hundred not at the same time.
4 - I really try not to bad mouth ANY brand of cigars.  They're successful, so someone must like them.  I don't burn a brother for his tastes, but I will likely offer him something else to try as a comparison stick.
5 - Size of storage capacity is non sequitur to the quality of smokes inside.  I have a 'large' Staebell humidor and there are no dog rockets inside.  It's not the cooler's fault you bought "...every sale or closeout special that came along....".  Think how cool it would be to have a ton of great cigars, ageing nicely.  If you rotate your stock properly, you never have to smoke anything with less than a couple years on it.  That's pretty cool.
6 - I've been the gracious recipient of a CA subscription for quite some time.  I send most of them to my son in the Marines when I've looked through them.  I'm just not into 'lifestyle' mags.
7 - I was a huge Nicaraguan smoker, but recently CC's have taken my attention.  Honestly, I enjoy the different tastes and different palates that different smokes offer.  Just no Gurkhas....
8 - Round up a hundred seasoned cigar smokers and ask them what their preferred RH is.  You'll get numbers from 58% to 75%.  It's personal preference, nothing more.
9 - There are most certainly fantastic $5 cigars, but you do have to look more carefully.  Look no farther than the Illusione R Rothchildes as one example; and, there are others.  As far as Padron being the 'best value' on the market, I'd politely disagree.  And, I like Padron and have several boxes in the cabinet.  Best value?  Don't think so, at today's prices.  One man's opinion.
10 - If the weather is crap, you should take the time to find a loungs or store where you can smoke and enjoy the company of like minded folks.  They are still out there, but you do have to look.  Support local business all you can, whenever you can....or someday there won't be local businesses to support. 
 
....as they say, 'One man's opinion'....B.B.S.

 

[Not A Nice Person]

1. I shop online, not from catalogs, although most weeks I swing by my local B&M's lounge to burn one with the guys and always leave with a fistful of sticks.
 
2. Liga sort of went the overgauge route.  I don't like donkey dick cigars, especially when I can get a couple other nice cigars for the same dosh.  But I do have to say they're awfully nice with a year+ on them.
 
3. Bourbon or Scotch, never water. I'm not after the "pure" taste of the cigar---I like the combination of flavors.  And drinking.  :laugh:
 
4. I've had one Gurkha I really enjoyed, that a BOTL bombed me with.  Never could find it again, but the band was HUGE. The cognac tubo, one of which was also gifted me ages ago, is hands down the nastiest, most putrid cigar I have ever smoked.  Just horrid.
 
5. I used to have an overflow coolerdor.  Now I have a car payment.  :blush:
 
6. Cubans aren't really strong enough for my tastes.  I do love a nice Epi #2 or RyJ Short Churchill with morning coffee, though. Nicaraguan, Dominican . . . just hand me the asskickers and no one gets hurt.
 
7. 68%.  At least that's what the beads are supposed to be.  I don't even HAVE a hygrometer in there, and I never worry about it.  They seem to smoke just fine.
 
8. Only time I read cigar mags is down at the lounge.  Well, I say read. I mean look at the pictures of girls.
 
9. It's getting harder and harder to find a good $5 cigar, I'll agree.  Some excellent smaller cigars, like the Tatuaje Verocu, are in that range.  The Alec Bradley American torp is $5 and some change, and it's surprisingly good.  Surprisingly because it's an Alec Bradley product, lol.  The CAO America 'busto is about the same price and very nice.  But mostly I smoke a $9 stick, the San Cristobal Fabuloso, as my go to daily smoke.  That's kind of spendy for a daily cigar for a schoolteacher, but I decided a long time ago to just not give a fuck.  I'm going to smoke what I really want.

 
10. I smoke indoors, with a window exhaust fan, watching TV shows online.  But this is my favorite time of year for it, because the office stays nice and cool.  During the summer I'm blowing A/C out at the neighborhood, and it gets warmish in here.
 
~Boar

 

[jsm11]

1)Ten random thoughts this morning.  Go...  I really, really need a vacation, so glad the office shuts down for X-Mas...
 
2) What's a magazine!? I used to spend probably a hundo a month on magazines, IPad cured thst one for me about three years ago...haven't looked back since.
 
3) Liga Privada is ridiculously overpriced, to the point that they should be embarassed...
 
4) Agreed, water keeps the palate clean and let's me better taste the cigars.  Second favorite is a high hops IPA - something just feels right with it...
 
5) Gurkha, never had one... Bill Clinton likes them though...
 
6) I've given in and have a smaller 60qt coolidor, it's already stuffed ot the brim.  I'm longing for an upright cabinet.
(I think I'll save that for when I go full retard and quit moving around the country so much)
 
7) I received a free on in the mail the other day, meh…
 
8) I like Nicaraguan smokes x 11 billion and I like CCs x 12 billion
 
9) I like my sticks between 68-70%. 
 
10) Yard Gars no longer cut it, quality over quantity... Porblem is I'm smoked a hell of a lot of them this year... :laugh:
 
11) I miss my favorite smoking spot.  It is cold here in Maryland.  My favorite place to smoke is sitting on the front porch.  How many days until spring?  L
      x2 - I miss my back porch :sign: