Can someone explain the appeal of cigars

[WAB]

I hung kill in burly and black production as a teenager. That's a dirty, dangerous job. Being covered in tobacco tar from head to toe every day cures you of any desire for tobacco products. Just to seal the deal, my last season I was hospitalized with tobacco poisoning.

 

[mdwest]

I know a lot of guys in East TN and in Western VA that worked tobacco farms when they were young...

Its not a coincidence that NONE of them smoke, chew, or dip any tobacco product of any kind lol..

What is a funny twist though is.. I've also visited several cigar factories and tobacco farms in Nicaragua over the years.. and without exception there EVERYONE smokes A LOT..

Many/most of the cigar companies give cigars to their employees daily... and they will smoke while rolling cigars, while moving giant palates of leaf around the warehouse.. while out in the fields picking tobacco.. while hanging bundles in the drying barn, etc..etc.. and then go home and smoke a pack of cigarettes between dinner and bed time each night lol..

 

[baxterb]

I know a lot of guys in East TN and in Western VA that worked tobacco farms when they were young...

Its not a coincidence that NONE of them smoke, chew, or dip any tobacco product of any kind lol..

What is a funny twist though is.. I've also visited several cigar factories and tobacco farms in Nicaragua over the years.. and without exception there EVERYONE smokes A LOT..

Many/most of the cigar companies give cigars to their employees daily... and they will smoke while rolling cigars, while moving giant palates of leaf around the warehouse.. while out in the fields picking tobacco.. while hanging bundles in the drying barn, etc..etc.. and then go home and smoke a pack of cigarettes between dinner and bed time each night lol..

Funny, when my dad was a kid he worked his uncles tobacco farm in North Carolina (I have a pen he made from one of the tobacco sticks he used). But he also never smoked because, as he told me, “there are no bathrooms in a tobacco field.” ;-)

 

[curtism1234]

I used to be the same way - I couldn't taste anything for 2 days. As I smoked more, it is now only a problem the next morning when I wake up. Brushing your tongue and drinking an acitic drink or 7up will help

It will also depend on the quality of cigar you smoke. The premiums leave a better mouthfeel

 

[Goose Cracker]

If it was about favors, then pipe smoking would be the holy grail.

I enjoy cigars and pipes. But they are quite different experiences and very different taste profiles. They share a common thread in that they require me to slow down and enjoy life a little more.

For me, there are places for cigars (around the pool on a summer day/evening, or when I'm working on something, or when I don't want the fuss of a pipe) and places for pipes (like around the campfire after dinner in Africa or a cool fall evening).

I will say that most folks don't understand pipes and pipe tobacco very well since there are very few pipe smokers around. IMHO, the flavored stuff that smells great tastes awful. And the stuff my wife says smells like "burning used athletic socks" tastes great. The blends she thinks smell terrible are referred to as "English" blends, not because they all come from England but due to the component tobaccos. There all have some amount of small leaf, fire-cured condimental tobaccos called "latakia," named after the port city in Syria. It's not made there any longer, or at least the stuff I smoke isn't.

I was born in north central Florida on a burley tobacco farm there. My grandfather swapped growing tobacco for watermelons when I was a kid (and the govt paid him to do so). But I remember the tobacco, tobacco barns, etc. very well. And all of my relatives either smoked cigars or chewed tobacco. Some of the old tobacco barns are still there, under the kudzu and other overgrown weeds.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

I am probably in the extreme minority on here. I've never in my life tried a tobacco product. I have never in my life tried an alcoholic beverage.

Specific to this thread, I do not care for the smell a cigar puts off, at all. I respect your right to smoke one. Just don't expect me to hang around and chat while you do. We can talk after.

 

[TOBY458]

I've always enjoyed a fine cigar (Black and Mild) with a bottle of fine wine (MD 2020).

 

[Waterbuck2008]

Only the finest for you, @TOBY458

 

[BourbonTrail]

…For me, there are places for cigars (around the pool on a summer day/evening, or when I'm working on something, or when I don't want the fuss of a pipe) and places for pipes (like around the campfire after dinner in Africa or a cool fall evening).

I will say that most folks don't understand pipes and pipe tobacco very well since there are very few pipe smokers around. IMHO, the flavored stuff that smells great tastes awful. And the stuff my wife says smells like "burning used athletic socks" tastes great. The blends she thinks smell terrible are referred to as "English" blends, not because they all come from England but due to the component tobaccos. There all have some amount of small leaf, fire-cured condimental tobaccos called "latakia," named after the port city in Syria. It's not made there any longer, or at least the stuff I smoke isn't….

+1

 

[PARA45]

@mdwest, very nice that you have visited Nicaragua beautiful tobacco country. I hope you enjoyed your stay there. I was born on the north western side of the country. I've been back three time since I left. It was tough to go while I was in the military and their communist/socialist regime. LOL!!!

I never smoked any tobacco product until 1999, when a friend offered me a Macanudo Prince Fillip cigar. He told me not to inhale and to enjoy the flavor of the cigar. After that experience I was hooked, and haven't look back since. My taste for full body cigar has evolved throughout the years, and I now enjoy those dark oily maduro wrapper cigars.

The problem with new smokers is that unless someone tells you what to do, you will be clueless and probably do everything wrong. From cutting the cigar, to lighting the cigar with the wrong type of lighter. I could spend the next three pages on how to light up a cigar the right way. LOL!!!!

A cheap cigar is going to smell like sh*t, while a premium cigar will definitely have a wonderful aroma and taste.

Now, why I like to smoke cigars. Well, it relaxes me, and when I smoke a cigar, it's quality time with friends, my wife or just sitting outside with my dog. The world stops and everything takes a different color. The camaraderie of cigar smokers is a unique one. You do not smoke cigars like smoking cigarettes, plus you would need anywhere between 1/2 hour to 2 hours to smoke one. So, to smoke a cigar, everything stops. I hope this helps.

 

[PARA45]

@BourbonTrail, so you don't love my post any more????

 

[Brent in Az]

Well..... what's the appeal in eating animal testicles? Some folks like em', I find them disgusting. Same thing with Cigars. I happen to like fine Tobacco, many folks don't. To each his own.

 

[lwaters]

Turkey nuts are pretty good

 

[TOBY458]

Only the finest for you, @TOBY458

Yes usually. Except one time I was smoking a pipe and the tobacco smelled kind of like a skunk, and I got this really funny feeling afterwards.
I thought to myself....I'll never buy anymore pipe tobacco from that street vendor again.

 

[Bonk]

Expensive cigars and expensive bourbon are not much more than status symbols IMO. We're taught to believe things are good because they cost a lot of money or because our elders do it. Cigars definitely fall into that category. In my experience a cheap cigar and a quality cigar are essentially the same. That Padron Anniversary 64 you're smoking that set you back about $15 is still just smoldering dried leaves.

Most of the time the more expensive item or consumable does have some added intrinsic value but the quality/cost ratio is usually way out of whack. Is a bottle of Pappy's 10 year old really worth 40-50 times as much as a bottle of Jim Beam Black? No, it isn't but the status of having that bottle of Pappy's sitting on their bar is why people buy it. Expensive bourbon buyers are almost never expensive bourbon drinkers. They collect Pappy's but they drink Jim Beam.

OTOH, expensive cigar smokers usually tend to smoke expensive cigars. They don't buy 'fine' cigars and then smoke convenience store stogies.

Nobody ever smoked their first cigar or drank they're first whiskey and proclaimed "Damn! That was good! Let me have another!". You had to want to be a cigar smoker and a whiskey drinker to do it again because if we all tell the truth cigars and whiskey both taste like shit. We're taught and conditioned to like them by societal influence.

 

[Brent in Az]

Comparing a cheap cigar to a premium cigar, is like comparing a Lamborghini, to a Chevy Vega. Not even close to the same comparison.

 

[curtism1234]

There are certainly points of diminishing returns and there are sleeper bargains out there. $8-15 dollar cigars from Padron, My Father, Montecristo, etc are always going to be a better product than Dutch Master and White Owl. Likewise a good craft beer lager is going to be better than a Budweiser which is brewed with corn and rice.

The sweet spot in bourbon is in the $50-80 range. Wild Turkey 101 sets you back close to $30 but it is still not a bourbon to drink neat. At $50, Wild Turkey Rare Breed gets you there.

 

[PARA45]

@Bonk, I'll respectfully disagree with you completely on the comparison of a cheap cigar with a quality cigar, specially one like the Padron 1964 Anniversario. There is no comparison whatsoever. The flavor, aroma, the quality of the cigar leaf, the curing time, the type of tobacco, and the farming of such leaf, everything is 1000% better than any machine rolled or cheap cigar. Cigar smoking is not a about "status symbol" at all, it's about the quality and taste of the cigar, and the camaraderie of other cigar smoker. I've smoked a $3.00 cigars and enjoy them, but when I smoke a Padron 1964 Anniversario, or an 80 year anniversario, or any of the Padron's top line it's a different experience. Your comparison is like comparing having sex with a 300 lbs woman, vs. Megan Fox. There is no comparison.

 

[Brent in Az]

@Bonk, I'll respectfully disagree with you completely on the comparison of a cheap cigar with a quality cigar, specially one like the Padron 1964 Anniversario. There is no comparison whatsoever. The flavor, aroma, the quality of the cigar leaf, the curing time, the type of tobacco, and the farming of such leaf, everything is 1000% better than any machine rolled or cheap cigar. Cigar smoking is not a about "status symbol" at all, it's about the quality and taste of the cigar, and the camaraderie of other cigar smoker. I've smoked a $3.00 cigars and enjoy them, but when I smoke a Padron 1964 Anniversario, or an 80 year anniversario, or any of the Padron's top line it's a different experience. Your comparison is like comparing having sex with a 300 lbs woman, vs. Megan Fox. There is no comparison.

Gorda vs. Lonsdale? Lol.....

 

[Mort Hill]

Trying to convince an anti-smoker about the merits of cigar smoking, is like trying to convince the anti-hunter of the value of hunting. Ain’t gonna happen. So I happily spend my time enlightening those who’s minds are not made up, or sharing fellowship with those who do enjoy cigars. No offense meant, and none taken.