I hope no-one will hold it against me if these questions have already been answered further back in the thread, but I'm disinclined to read every single page on the mere chance. If so, I'll gladly edit my post and just go read the answer, if you'll only let me know it's there to be found.
I was just wondering whether any of you could help me with a few questions, as I'm still a relative newcomer to cigars.
So far, but with one exception, I've only smoked the cigars amongst the darkest that I could find, since, as a long-time pipe smoker and fan of English, Balkan and Oriental blends, I know that I prefer heavy flavors, rich complexity, great body and nicotine content in my tobacco. My first cigar ever was an Onyx maduro, which I thought rather good. Recently I had a Patel, though the variety I cannot recall, which I felt outclassed the Onyx I had tried. I also smoked a gigantic cigar from the Ghurka brand, which was my second-favorite to date. Those were the only three brands that I had tried until recently when, on a whim, I bought and smoked an Arturo-Fuente Hemmingway Short Story, solely on the basis of my fondness for the author it is named for -- and loved it, despite its being the lightest colored cigar that I had yet smoked.
Now I wonder whether my preconceptions were completely inaccurate regarding the relation of a cigar's color (both in wrapper and filler) to its flavor, body and complexity. Everything I had read before my purchases informed that it was only the darkest cigars that I would enjoy - but I've found the flavors (of the few that I've tried) tending to be rather single-note in comparison to that AF H:SS. I've not tried any other of the lighter-colored cigars, however, so I suppose that it is possible that the AF H:SS is simply unique amongst its peers in this regard.
My first question is simply just to ask for a more accurate explanation of the relation of the color of a cigar's tobacco to its flavor, body and complexity, assuming that the information I have been relying upon is incorrect?
Secondly, of the four cigars that I have named, what were your opinions of them? How do they compare to the wealth of cigars that you have sampled?
Are the scores in the magazines very useful as guides to purchases? I can't help but notice that almost everything scores at least an 85, making matters difficult.
I still have some difficulty lighting my cigar evenly, despite going around the rim slowly with a long wooden match. Will I find matters any easier if I get hold of some cedar sheet? Is a car's cigarette lighter at all useful, since at least the area of the burner is uniform - or is the flavor unsettled by the extreme heat?
Finally, do you prefer any particular method of cutting your cigar (straight cut, hole punch cut, cat's eye, etc.)? What brands or models of cutter have you found best? At the moment, my cutter is a $1.50 job, and only rarely fails to destroy the cigar's cap end.
Sorry for the deluge of rookie questions, thanks for having read!
