I too quit smoking cigarettes and went to cigars for a few years. Then I gave them up too. I get enough allergies without compounding them with smoking, but I sure did give it a try. I sure am not an expert, though.
I live in Mexico, so Cuban cigars were fairly easy to get. I still have a few boxes in the veggy bin of the fridge that friends who haven't figured it out "that since they haven't seen me smoking in about 5 years might mean that I don't smoke anymore" give me from time to time.
However, I used to like the Dominican Republic cigars, and the Mexican "Te Amo" brand -- which was alway real easy and cheap to get around here.
Back when I used to go to bullfights a lot -- another thing I've given up -- I'd always smoke a cigar, usually one of the Te-Amo Torpedos. Ah, those were the days.
The last time I smoked a cigar was at my wedding, about a year and a half ago. It was a VERY old Cuban I had laying around that the former U.S. Consul here in San Miguel had given me from his collection. Maybe it was pre-Castro. He told me once that "cigars can go bad. You can get a Pre-Fidel cigar that tastes like crap or has gone dry. But they are all the rage." I remember reading something along that line once in Cigar Afficianado as well, so I imagine the Colonel had his facts straight. Anyway, I smoked the cigar at my wedding SLOWLY, but it still gave me a headache. Still....I sometimes miss sitting back and having a nice smoke.
I still have, as I mentioned, quite a few probably pretty good cigars sitting in the veggy box in a zip-lock bag with a small slice of apple in it to keep them moist. Some purists will scream in agony at that, put others will say they've heard of doing that too.
When the comet comes, I imagine I'll stand up on the roof and light up and watch the show before extinction. And I want my stogies to be in smokable shape!
Sorry I can't be of more help.
Photo; Got my wedding photo took, then I went and smoked a good cigar. It was a Cuban Cohiba -- quite old and in a tin outter wrapper.
Photo; Should my yokel writing style give you the impression I really don't know nuthin' about cigars, I have this photo from the bachelor days of me and a Canadian friend up on the balconey BBQing hotdogs (that we would immediately slobber ketchup onto) and drinking beer and smoking stogies. I really gotta get a decent camera, all I have for photos around here are old scanned crap. So anyway, so there. I have smoked a few, I'm just no real expert on them. I suggest "Cigar Afficianado" if it's still in print. I mean, down here, we can't even get gun magazines, so I just don't know. However, many moons ago when I had some copies brought down by visiting friends, it was an informative read. Can't speak too much for these days, though.
