Cigars with the girls

chief38 said:
My MO is to purchase in bulk. When they were only reasonably reduculous, I struck. I have some left but nurse them only on special occasions. You are correct, they are about $1K/box now. While they are my all time fav's, they are simply not 5 times better than the Dominican's I smoke.

BTW, if you see them for half price online, DON'T buy them - they are FAKE!

I also like Padron Anniversarios Imperial but those are also mega expensive now so I only buy them on the RARE occasion they are on sale - very rare! My everyday smokers are A. Fuente Double Chateau. Churchills, and on occasion, Royal Salute, Oliva Series V, Punch Gran Cru, Romeo Y Julietta Reserva Real, CAO Gold, and a few others.
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Absolutely, the only online sources I trust were Puro Express and iHavanas, both reputable sites. I bring back my "allowable" amount through customs when I travel abroad, like you say, that $1000 dollars is about one box now and they ain't that many times better. It used to be I could get 4-5 boxws plus a few stix for $1000 abroad from either the UK's Churchills stores or the La Casa Del Habano stores. We've been able to find several that are just as complex over the last few years searching.
 
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I was never much of a cigar smoker, haven't had one in many years. The only Cubans I ever smoked were during the period over 30 years ago when I lived in Laredo. At least then, you could buy Cubans in tobacco shops in Nuevo Laredo, don't think it was legal to bring them back to the US by walking over the bridge, but I did it anyway, never was asked about them. I have no idea what the brands were, not that it made much difference to me.
 
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Nice stories. Quit smoking cigars many years ago after many good years of fine smokes. Had a friend that knew a guy that went to Canada, bought Cubans, removed the bands and brought them in the US. They were good, very good. When working in many large engine plants would fire up a good cigar and enjoy it while telling the millwrights and machine repairmen what to do. Those were the days. Would try one except afraid of upper respiratory issues afterwards.
 
I stayed at Lake Louise during my honeymoon in Canada 37 yrs. ago, they had boxes of Cuban cigars at the front desk. I enjoyed one every night of my stay, sitting down by the lake taking in the wonderful scenery.
 
Canadian cubans have always been stupidly priced because of the queens tax, can only imagine how absurdly priced they are now?
As US citizens, you're allowed up to $1k dollars worth per person to bring in from anywhere, fwiw. (thank you Obama)
That's about one box now, that used to be around 3-4 boxes plus a few stix!
 
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Holy Crapo(name of a town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland)...A 1000 bucks a box?? Can't be more'n 50 of 'em in a box. If I had to pay that much for any smoke I'd quit...course I can't believe 7 dollars for a pack of cigarettes either. I quit cigarettes about when they got to a buck a pack...Course I ain't paying all them high prices for hooch either...Father in law taught me well. BTW if you want to go to Crapo...ya can't get there on a real high tide_
 
Until I saw that 2nd picture by 03hemi, I never knew they made roach clips for cigars. I quit smoking tobacco (cigarettes) 25 years ago, and I never got into cigars nor any tobacco, chew or snuff. There was a man, "Freddie," who rented half of my grandfather's garage for his T-Birds. He used to chew cigars. Getting back on subject, what is that thing called? It's about time I get a little cigar culture. Or ANY culture! That mini Guillotine thing for trimming the ends(?) is a cool device, too, but I've seen them before. That smoking den peaked my interest, being EX HVAC Tech. I'll have to look that one up "online." I knew cigars are big busine$$, so I suppose it's no surprise that one would have a special room, with a speakeasy door no less, to entertain friends. Classy.
 
jeffrefrig said:
Until I saw that 2nd picture by 03hemi, I never knew they made roach clips for cigars. I quit smoking tobacco (cigarettes) 25 years ago, and I never got into cigars nor any tobacco, chew or snuff. There was a man, "Freddie," who rented half of my grandfather's garage for his T-Birds. He used to chew cigars. Getting back on subject, what is that thing called? It's about time I get a little cigar culture. Or ANY culture! That mini Guillotine thing for trimming the ends(?) is a cool device, too, but I've seen them before. That smoking den peaked my interest, being EX HVAC Tech. I'll have to look that one up "online." I knew cigars are big busine$$, so I suppose it's no surprise that one would have a special room, with a speakeasy door no less, to entertain friends. Classy.
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A cigar cutter. All sorts out there from guillotine (that's actually what they're called) style to scissors. I use a round punch but do a three cloverleaf pattern. Churchill used a wooden match stem to punch a small hole. Clip only the capped end.

That roach clip kind of surprised me too - a worthwhile repurposing for sure.

Not surprising that gun guys are also into cigars. All sorts of minutiae and accessories.

I sent this to one of our company's higher ups and got a response of "three friends you should never be without" -

IMG_0621.jpg
 
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Skeet 028 said:
Holy Crapo(name of a town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland)...A 1000 bucks a box?? Can't be more'n 50 of 'em in a box. If I had to pay that much for any smoke I'd quit...course I can't believe 7 dollars for a pack of cigarettes either. I quit cigarettes about when they got to a buck a pack...Course I ain't paying all them high prices for hooch either...Father in law taught me well. BTW if you want to go to Crapo...ya can't get there on a real high tide_
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It's worse than you think, try 24 to a box typically.
 
jeffrefrig said:
Until I saw that 2nd picture by 03hemi, I never knew they made roach clips for cigars. I quit smoking tobacco (cigarettes) 25 years ago, and I never got into cigars nor any tobacco, chew or snuff. There was a man, "Freddie," who rented half of my grandfather's garage for his T-Birds. He used to chew cigars. Getting back on subject, what is that thing called? It's about time I get a little cigar culture. Or ANY culture! That mini Guillotine thing for trimming the ends(?) is a cool device, too, but I've seen them before. That smoking den peaked my interest, being EX HVAC Tech. I'll have to look that one up "online." I knew cigars are big busine$$, so I suppose it's no surprise that one would have a special room, with a speakeasy door no less, to entertain friends. Classy.
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His is a commercial sized fan ducted to the outside and it'll turn the room volume over something like 30-50 times per hour, also has a fresh air vent feeding the room totally separate from the home hvac to keep odors out of his main system; the room also has an ozonizer and a Rabbit carbon air filter too (black square box on table on the left).
Most people just put a smoke eater in the ceiling exhausting smoke into their attic which still stinks up the house, useless for lingering odors. New a guy that did that and it cleared the room, but his whole house stank like an ashtray all the time. When you hold your stogie in up this room you can see the smoke get sucked up and out. Ozonizer and carbon filter eliminate the lingering odors.
It's a science.
 
Until I saw that 2nd picture by 03hemi, I never knew they made roach clips for cigars. I quit smoking tobacco (cigarettes) 25 years ago, and I never got into cigars nor any tobacco, chew or snuff. There was a man, "Freddie," who rented half of my grandfather's garage for his T-Birds. He used to chew cigars. Getting back on subject, what is that thing called? It's about time I get a little cigar culture. Or ANY culture! That mini Guillotine thing for trimming the ends(?) is a cool device, too, but I've seen them before. That smoking den peaked my interest, being EX HVAC Tech. I'll have to look that one up "online." I knew cigars are big busine$$, so I suppose it's no surprise that one would have a special room, with a speakeasy door no less, to entertain friends. Classy.

"What's the password?" lol
IMG-2263.jpg
 
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I love a good cigar but have no appreciation for a cheap stinker. I gave up all tobacco products years ago and miss the cigar the most and I did love to chew and dip. I always heard about how great Cuban cigars were and years ago took a trip to Kelowna to pick up a large router for a project, stopped by a cigar store and bought a couple Cubans...Romeo and Julietta and Partagas, both 50ringers and around $10cdn a piece. I liked anything by Fuentes and grabbed a couple Maduro Hemingways which was my favorite non Cuban smoke. I got to my car and performed my ritual on the R&J and was amazed at the total experience, it was a 100 mile trip back to the cabin, I smoked that cigar down to the point I could not hold it any longer, stuck a toothpick in it and smoked it down to the absolute nub, never a bite, never a sour note...perfection all the way. The Partagas was just as good. They can take the seed and grow them elsewhere but there is something about the soil and climate of Cuba that does it right. I've smoked top of the line cigars from elsewhere, Opus X comes to mind....a great cigar but no match for those $10 Cubans.
 
Unfortunately, $10 dollar Cubans are a thing of the past.
Your experience with the Cuban was mainly in part due to your appreciation for cigars, you can give a Cuban to a new or beginner smoker and it'll taste dirt to them. The Cuban "nirvana" only comes through when you're already an experienced cigar lover.
Talk about nubbing it with a toothpick (Lord you are a cigar lover), that's where this little tool comes in handy? The other end of the tool is a long, barbed thin needle to unplug a plugged cigar.
Can't tell you how many Cubans I threw away due to being plugged before I discovered this little cigar rescuing tool.
IMG-2659.jpg
 
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This is going to be difficult. I had triple bypass surgery Nov 6. I really should give up cigars. I guess one every once in a while won't kill me. I'll be retiring so I'll have plenty of time to smoke....but shouldn't
 
Honestly....

AKtinman said:
Most of my exposure to cigars was my granddad's Prince Edwards and Roi Tan cigars. I must say I enjoyed the aroma and smoke from his cigars.
Perhaps I have led a sheltered existence...
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I could enjoy a Dutch Masters or a King Edward. I was into hand rolled cigars at a lousy time. The 'boom' seemed to cause a lot of cigars that should have been richer, toastier, leatheryer, woodier all to taste more 'grassy'. I've had some really rich cigars that about knocked my socks off. A friend passed one to me that was supposed to be somewhat mild, but I think it was a Cohiba.:confused::confused:
 
rwsmith said:
I could enjoy a Dutch Masters or a King Edward. I was into hand rolled cigars at a lousy time. The 'boom' seemed to cause a lot of cigars that should have been richer, toastier, leatheryer, woodier all to taste more 'grassy'. I've had some really rich cigars that about knocked my socks off. A friend passed one to me that was supposed to be somewhat mild, but I think it was a Cohiba.:confused::confused:
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I agree, 26~ years ago the non cubans just weren't there in terms of complexity and flavor, but fast forward to today and they've come full circle I believe. Now they're eaxactly what you yearned for plus much, much more in terms of flavor and complexity imo.
 
While the Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran Cigar prices have jumped quite a bit over the last few years, Cubans (genuine ones - not the knock offs mostly sold) have almost quadrupled! IMHO. Partagas Lusitania is at least twice as good as just about any, but just not worth 4 times the price.

I am astounded that most of what is actually being sold as Cubans are indeed fakes. I'd venture to say at least 85-90% are not real. I can't tell you how many times I have been handed a "Cuban" and in 10 seconds I can tell it's a fake. Sometimes I simply don't have the heart to tell the person who gave it to me and spent his hard earned money. People who have never had the real deal do not even realize it! It is a HUGE HUGE scam business and they are winning! Because of this, many have never actually smoked a genuine Cuban, although they think they have and therefore don't really know how terrific they are. IMHO Partagas Cubans are way above all the rest. Monty's have fallen from Grace, IMHO. Cohiba's, ehh, R&J still great if you get the right size and shape.
 
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chief38 said:
While the Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran Cigar prices have jumped quite a bit over the last few years, Cubans (genuine ones - not the knock offs mostly sold) have almost quadrupled! IMHO. Partagas Lusitania is at least twice as good as just about any, but just not worth 4 times the price.

I am astounded that most of what is actually being sold as Cubans are indeed fakes. I'd venture to say at least 85-90% are not real. I can't tell you how many times I have been handed a "Cuban" and in 10 seconds I can tell it's a fake. Sometimes I simply don't have the heart to tell the person who gave it to me and spent his hard earned money. People who have never had the real deal do not even realize it! It is a HUGE HUGE scam business and they are winning! Because of this, many have never actually smoked a genuine Cuban, although they think they have and therefore don't really know how terrific they are. IMHO Partagas Cubans are way above all the rest. Monty's have fallen from Grace, IMHO. Cohiba's, ehh, R&J still great if you get the right size and shape.
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You have to be deligently careful where you're obtaining your "Cubans." The easiest place to get a fake, believe it or not is Cuba! If it's not sold in a La Casa Del Habano, government sanctioned store with their State Seal or the cigars factory in Cuba, it's probably fake.
When I travel abroad I look for a La Casa, Churchills or a store with the official Cuban State Seal store (which all these have) to buy mine. NEVER buy the one's on the street.
Last box of Lusi' I checked was $2k for 10, no eff'n way! Cohiba' Siglo VI were $250 a stick and some of their other lines were as much as $500 per stick! Absurd. Partagas was always my favorite too.
iHavanas and Puro Express are well known and proven legitimate sites in Switzerland, but there's no savings there anymore.
I've read until Cuba modernizes their equipment we'll never see a dip in the prices, plus they know now the "uber wealthy" will pay the stupid prices to be exclusive, impress your other uber wealthy friends buy offering them a $500 dollar cigar?
Thank God the non-Cubans have finally come into their own, they're harder to find, but many rival the Cubans. OpusX and Davidoff for example.
I can live with that.
p.s. Yup, first draw will tell if it's real or not.
I'd tell them it's fake, true friends are honest with each other without getting their panties in a wad and if it's just an acquaintance, tell them you don't want them getting snookered again and then educate them on how to tell.
 
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