Would you like a Cigar?

[mdwest]

I’m currently in Saudi.

Where in KSA?

I’m sitting out on my apartment balcony in Dharhan smoking a Fuente 8-5-8 as I type this..

Friggin miserable 109 degrees today... supposed to be getting hotter as the week goes on.. I think the high tomorrow is going to be 113

 

[Brent in Az]

Where in KSA?

I’m sitting out on my apartment balcony in Dharhan smoking a Fuente 8-5-8 as I type this..

Friggin miserable 109 degrees today... supposed to be getting hotter as the week goes on.. I think the high tomorrow is going to be 113

I can relate. We had a really nice month of may and early June in Tucson. Never reached 100, which is rare. Supposed to be 107 by the middle of next week. We hit 115 last June, and that was freekin miserable as heck.

Stay cool!

 

[hgr2]

I'm in Dammam, been getting lots of stuff done while the rest of the country is on the Eid holiday. If Dharhan is anywhere close by I have an Ashton VSG with your name on it!

 

[mdwest]

Its very close. The two cities share a border. Ill actually be at the airport in Dammam tonight (picking up another guy I work with). The airport is less than a 30 minute drive from the villa complex where we maintain our company apartments.

I'll shoot you a PM with whatsapp/cell info..

 

[Brent in Az]

First smoke of the afternoon, was the La Palina Black label. Brazilian wrapper, similar to the CAO Brazilia.

The bonus on this particular Cigar. Is that it was aging in the humidor at the cigar shop for possibly a couple years, or more. It was in a box of misc smokes hidden away. The price sticker was yellowed and fading. It was very smooth, and had complex flavor notes. Good smoke.

 

[mdwest]

Glad you enjoyed it!

I brought some La Palina reds with me on this trip. I’m thinking I’ll probably spark one of those tonight

 

[Brent in Az]

Another Gem, that I tried for the first time, is the San Cristobal Qiuntessence. It is marketed by Ashton, and made by Garcia & Garcia, at the My Father factory. I can definitely taste the flavor notes of the G & G tobacco. Similar price point as some of the My Father line. I paid $9.65 for that stick, not including the 5% dicount I get from my local shop. Will definitely buy more of those.

 

[Brent in Az]

Glad you enjoyed it!

I brought some La Palina reds with me on this trip. I’m thinking I’ll probably spark one of those tonight

The guy at the cigar shop told me that when La Palina came out with the Black Label in 2015, they brought some in, but they didn't sell very well. The last few that they had were the remnants of that. Those few have been aging for quite awhile. I'm going to buy the last one when I go back.
I want to try the red label as well, but I will have to order those.

 

[Mort Hill]

My rule of thumb is to not smoke a cigar until I've had it at least a month, and six months is even better. It's amazing how different the same cigar can be.

Yea. And my rule of thumb is to not buy a gun I don’t need, but two gun safes later I can’t say I really adhere to that rule. And forget selling a gun because that would go against my religious convictions.

So unfortunately goes my rule with cigars. I wish I would keep in the humidors(yes, plural) longer, but by gum, they just keep throwing themselves in front of my lighter and billowing smoke one after another as they die as a slow death.

In closing, a quote, “it’s a guideline more than a rule I guess.”

 

[Mort Hill]

I was curious about the customer service, and quality of the shipped cigars. JR cigars, always seems to be out of stock on the various samplers that I am interested in. Cigars International has good samplers in stock, at very good prices.

Truth be told I had not used CI in several years. Then a bundle of 50 showed up at my office. I thought old age was catching up with me because I swear I did not remember ordering. However, would not be the first time since I will often order based on a suggestion or a whim spur of the moment. Then a couple of days later one of my customers asked me if I got the cigars. I had helped him out and now it all made sense. Not senile. Whew. Anyway, that was when I started getting their catalogs again and have since order a couple of boxes. Good service. But I still order from JR a couple times a month and have been doing so since they first went public back in the 90’s. But I am ordering boxes, not the samplers, so don’t know about their inventory issues on that.

 

[postoak]

Okay, only like this post if you smoke 365 or more cigars a year!

Mort Hill is the cigar king here for sure. He must spend $35,000 a year on cigars at least. I salute you sir!

My daily is the Honduran Punch After Dinner Oscuro. I have never had one of these that didn't draw perfectly and they are inexpensive enough (not cheap) for me to have one every day. But whatever I smoke I try to get the Churchill size.

 

[Brent in Az]

I smoke about 10-12 Cigars per week. Most of the sticks I buy , average $7 - 12 bucks a stick. Based on that, my yearly cigar expenditure s would be $4000 plus.
I am not in the same tax bracket as Mort. LOL.

I like my local shop, but I need to go mail order and get more bang for my buck. I can smoke more, for less.

 

[Mort Hill]

Okay, only like this post if you smoke 365 or more cigars a year!

Mort Hill is the cigar king here for sure. He must spend $35,000 a year on cigars at least. I salute you sir!

My daily is the Honduran Punch After Dinner Oscuro. I have never had one of these that didn't draw perfectly and they are inexpensive enough (not cheap) for me to have one every day. But whatever I smoke I try to get the Churchill size.

And I salute you postoak for your dedication to a real cigar size, the Churchill.

I have just never dedicated enough time(in a single sitting) to fully appreciate the Churchill, except on that rare occasion. Double Corona or Robusto about as big as I go. But that’s just me.

Just looked up your Punch After Dinner Oscuro cigar choice, and like I did with Brent, jumped all in and bought a box. Looking forward to a fine dark wrapper cigar. And no, I will not be waiting 6 months to smoke because I am physically incapable of letting those babies just languish in a humidor. Can’t wait to add another fabulous smoke to my arsenal. Thx.

 

[Mort Hill]

I smoke about 10-12 Cigars per week. Most of the sticks I buy , average $7 - 12 bucks a stick. Based on that, my yearly cigar expenditure s would be $4000 plus.
I am not in the same tax bracket as Mort. LOL.

I like my local shop, but I need to go mail order and get more bang for my buck. I can smoke more, for less.

Cigar fund like hunting fund, gun fund, taxidermy fund. As far as my wife knows, I get free trips to Africa from gun manufacturers who randomly send me guns to try, that I never return, and the average taxidermy head cost about $15.50. And I have no idea who keeps sending me boxes of cigars honey, but they are probably just satisfied customers. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

And as far as tax brackets go, if only cigars were tax deductible. Heck, I might get a refund LOL

 

[postoak]

Robusto is a little stubby cigar, right? I'm not up on all the cigar sizes but Churchills vary somewhat in size. The Punch's are only 7.25 x 45 -- about an hour smoke for me.

 

[Mort Hill]

Yep, Robusto fat and stubby. Bout 5” long and 50 ring. Just me personally, but a good 30-45 min smoke is just right to head inside for a bit, catch up with the wife, then head right back out on the porch for just one more or maybe 2.

 

[Brent in Az]

A few new flavors added to the normal weekend lineup.

Liga Privada No.9

Jaime Garcia

I also picked up a "Tattoo" by Tatuaje. If you want a really good price friendly stick, I highly recommend it. I paid $6.55 for it, and smoked it while I was at the Cigar shop. It was every bit as good as more expensive sticks.

 

[postoak]

And I tried an Oliva and the standard Padron today. I like the fact that both of these are family owned companies in Nicaragua (most cigar brands today are owned by just two companies, General Cigar and Imperial Tobacco), but neither was, to me, as good as the Punches I normally smoke.

 

[JSD]

Brent, my son in law and I order from CI almost every other month or so. All good experience so far. My son in law had one problem with two cigars and they gave him full credit to his next order no questions asked. I have not had quality issues as of yet. I still love our local shop and try to support him also. Cheers!

 

[Brent in Az]

The Oliva V is a good cigar. I smoke one every weekend.