Cigars - Page 7

BTW, if you ever go clubbing, i suggest bring a not-so-good cigar with you...not saying you have to bring Black & Milds, but I wouldn't take something like a Monte A or Cohiba Siglo VI to the club. With other people smoking in such a tight area (usually i think they smoke ciggies), it will affect your enjoyment of that cigar as all the smoke tends to blend into each other. When I did go clubbing I would usually pack about 3 petit coronas of various brands with me...they're quick and won't get in your way since they're so small. yeah i don't inhale cigars either...although I did once meet a roller from Cuba who told me he smoked shorter cigars because *he proceeds to take his robusto, take a draw, open his mouth and SWALLOW the smoke*. Props to anyone whose throat can take that kind of smoking, but that's gotta be one of the quickest routes to an early grave. ha ha!

Montecristo Joyitas, 900 yen a stick. Petit Punch, 1000 yen a stick. Bolivar Petit Coronas, 1200 yen a stick. Lots of cheap options.

joyitas no good. the other two are fine.

Somehow, I had a hunch about the Joyitas.

Many bars have a humidor and a stock of Montecristo and RyJ, but now that I've started smoking cigars in a deliberate way, I realize how many stale sticks I've smoked on the fly from these places.

a lot of the time when I'm out, I often end up at a table or in a semi-private room where I'd be able to have a nice leisurely smoke, so it would make sense to carry a variety of vitolas.

I've learned to never trust cigars that are sold at a bar or club, especially the latter (unless it's a cigar bar). One time I was in Fevar (an HK club) and was disgusted to learn that a PSD4 was $350 HKD, and some Dominican Davidoff was $400!!!! I saw some wannabe posers walkin around the club chewing on these with a smug, self satisfied swagger and that disgusted me to no end. I've always thought people who smoke cigars like this are totally missing the point and disrespecting the art of smoking, and what a coincidence it tends to be young people most of the time who do this.

I haven't witnessed too much cigar posing, but occasionally . . .

I was fortunate to get a proper introduction to the art of cigar smoking during college from my lapsed aristo roommate on a visit to the Oak Room at the Plaza in NYC. It's a very deliberate ritual that builds your anticipation of the smoke. (And I must say that it's much easier to achieve an even burn with a cedar splint than with my jet lighter. The lighter gets the job done, but it's far from elegant.)

If people want to walk around a club gnawing on a stogie, it doesn't reflect badly on me, but it does make me cringe.

Today is an odd midweek holiday, so I experinemted with a couple of shorter smokes over espresso spiked with Camus VSOP. The Partagas Short is take-it-or-leave-it for me, while the Petit Punch I found perfect for a short smoke.

I paid a visit to the humidor at the Davidoff store, where I noticed that a few of the sticks had a light coating of mold. I'm assuming this is not a good sign.

Partagas Shorts can be a good smoke if you come across a good one, but i find they're kinda hit and miss. BTW, the box of Coronas Seniors from Partagas i bought turns out to be smoking lovely a few sticks in. It's slightly cheaper than the Shorts, but a bit longer and thicker as well and comes tubed so it's great for travel. I'd recommend this cigar to you if you're lookin for some quick smokes.

If Davidoff Japan is run by the same company as the ones in HK (blue bell group), they don't keep their cigars well at all i've found. Stay away from the store if that's the case. I only go there when i'm in need of a single stick since they gave me a 20% discount due to knowing someone who worked there a few years ago (i hardly reach the spending limit to maintain this discount but they all seem to have forgotten lol)

I got the Petit Punch there along with a couple of Montecristo #4s for friends. They have a good selection, but with all the better walk-in humidors in this town, I've got no reason to return.

i really enjoy the cohiba mini's. probably have a 100 of them in my humidor. don't really enjoy bigger cigars because i can taste the smoke for days after. the little ones are perfect.

plume can develop on a cigar that has been sitting a while. Some think it a positive, i'm indifferent. When it is a light white color it is fine, anything green is a no go.

dl

It was a very light dusting of white. So, that's called plume? I seem to recall a faint tinge of green on some of them, but I'd have to go back and look more closely.

if it really is a light dusting of white, it is plume. this is just a sign of proper humidification and temperature storage.

if there is any color, typically blueish or greenish, or any discoloration i would run away as fast as possible and not look back.

if these are stored in a humidor, try and see if they are using a hygrometer and check the humidity and temp inside.. typically you want to be in 65% humidity and 65 degrees F range. this is not absolute as peoples tastes are different, but if you see temp or humidity way out of whack, it could mean that this is mold and not plume.

one other thing.

it does get tricky to determine white mold versus plume. if the white stuff looks like polka dots over the wrapper, it is probably mold. plume should appear as if you lightly sprinkled white crap over the cigar.

i have seen where local stores have no care in the world about proper storage of cigars and half their sticks are moldy. 9 times out of 10, people are using too high of a humidity.

i will try to find some sticks in my humidor for plume and post pictures if i find some.

yeah, but I'm not a cigarette smoker, I find that if I smoke 6-8 cigars in a weekend, I feel like crap on monday. I usually don't smoke more than 4 a week, and its much closer to one a week.

This week I had 5 or 6 water pipes over a two day period, and I really felt like crap for a day or two after. but I find the smoke goes in a lot deeper with water pipes.


by the way, the duty free in Amman and Dubai have some very good prices - large guage cubans for about $10-11 a stick. MC 2's, Edmundo's, Cohiba Robustos, and a variety of churchhills.