[MikeFlynn74]

Originally Posted by TheJadedDog
There is truly nothing like a Cuban;

I think thats all in your head- While Cubans are fine cigars and still made in old style traditions, I dont believe they are any better than some of the others. Its just that their "availability" makes them more desired.


Im gonna have to try the DCM, Yuri

[menschmaschine]

Originally Posted by MikeFlynn74

I think thats all in your head- While Cubans are fine cigars and still made in old style traditions, I dont believe they are any better than some of the others. Its just that their "availability" makes them more desired.


Im gonna have to try the DCM, Yuri

+1. This is a huge misconception. There are plenty of non-Cuban cigars that are of excellent flavor, strength and quality (in some cases better), just like there are plenty of non-German beers that are delicious.

[jzal8]

Originally Posted by Yuri_Rage

Best advice I ever got - tell the local cigar shop what you're interested in. Take their recommendations. Ask them for some tasting notes. Take 1-2 oz of STRONG (90 proof), good whiskey, straight, and sip slowly throughout the smoke. The high proof alcohol will bring the flavors off your tongue and into your nose. You should be able to start detecting some of the subtle notes from the cigar as you enjoy it.

I think I will definitely give that a shot. Thanks for the advice.

[menschmaschine]

Originally Posted by jzal8

I think I will definitely give that a shot. Thanks for the advice.

That was good advice. Just to add, if I may... choose your cigar shop wisely. There are a lot of cigar shops where the employees don't know $h!t about cigars, but act it to make sales. One measuring tool I use (I know, I'm a Fuente whore), is if they sell Fuente Opus X by the stick and at the "keystone" price. Opus is a highly sought after cigar line and not easy to get at a good price. Keystone is the MSRP, plus the state tax, which in most states is on the wholesale price of the cigar. For example, if an Opus xXx MSRP is $9.00 (may not be accurate), and the state tax on cigars is 15% of the wholesale price, they would charge about $9.75 per cigar (based on them paying ~$5.00 per cigar).

It isn't easy for a cigar shop to get an Opus account with Fuente. It is separate from a general Fuente account. The Fuente rep comes to inspect the store to see if it is up to their standards. Once they get the account, a certificate is sent (that they usually hang on the wall) along with a letter asking them essentially to conduct good business practices about their sales of Opus in pricing and quantities sold (they usually have a limit of 2 per customer per day to allow for a more even distribution of their product so entire boxes don't get bought by individuals, therefore decreasing supply). I've had emails with the Fuente US Brand manager (Karl Herzog) where he essentially threatened to pull an Opus account from a shop I told him about that was selling by the box and gouging ($840 for a box of cigars!). The reason I say all of this is because every cigar shop that I've encountered with an Opus account and good business practices has employees that know cigars.

[CatchinZs]

Any body going to Cigarfest '08.
Just so you don't go and google the hell out of it...it's already sold out but it's a good time.

http://www.cigarfest.org/

I'm on the '07 pic gallery but they have right click disabled so I can't directly link.

http://www.cigarfest.org/cfest07/cfest07_festers.asp

I'm the guy in the middle (brown shirt) on image 36.

It's mostly middle of the road cigar makers but worth for the fun factor.

[EricK The Red]

I'm lucky to have a great cigar shop in my small town, and the owner really knows his stuff! Right now I've been enjoying a mix of Perdomo, Arturo Fuente, Zino, Drew Estate (Dirt), Ashton & Camacho.

My old standby is the Fuente 858.

[Yuri_Rage]

So, I got bored...and I think some of you already have a pretty good idea of what happens when I get bored. I saw a digital humidity sensor someplace on the internet, and the gears started turning. I want to make an Arduino powered DIY cigar humidifier. I'll cut (and subsequently seal) three holes in my cheap humidor, one for USB, one for DC power, and one to house a 16x2 LCD. The working parts will be a Plexiglass base/reservoir, the Arduino and sensor, a small digital relay, and a 2" muffin fan directed downward toward a wet sponge. Looking at the rendering below, the back portion of the case is the reservoir. The forward portion houses a sponge that will be kept moist via simple gravity feed through a small hole (sort of like an office water cooler). When a low humidity state is detected, the fan blows downward onto the sponge, and humidified air will blow out of the holes in the sides of the housing. I wanted to use battery power, but the Arduino is a bit of a battery hog, especially when coupled with mechanical devices. The project should cost a bit less than the Ultra unit from www.cigaroasis.com, and it will be similar in size.



My modeling skills are still pretty limited, but you get the idea. I wish I could get rid of that starburst effect when modeling holes (I tried eliminating duplicate verts and recalculating the normals - that's all I know to do). I haven't modeled any of the wiring, but the base, sponge, fan, board, and LCD are all to scale.

Of course, this project is merely an idea right now, but I'd love to get started on it. If I can figure out a simple way to make the base with the limited tools I have on hand at the moment, perhaps I'll give it a whirl.

[SwAMi75]

Originally Posted by Yuri_Rage

So, I got bored...and I think some of you already have a pretty good idea of what happens when I get bored. I saw a digital humidity sensor someplace on the internet, and the gears started turning. I want to make an Arduino powered DIY cigar humidifier. I'll cut (and subsequently seal) three holes in my cheap humidor, one for USB, one for DC power, and one to house a 16x2 LCD. The working parts will be a Plexiglass base/reservoir, the Arduino and sensor, a small digital relay, and a 2" muffin fan directed downward toward a wet sponge. Looking at the rendering below, the back portion of the case is the reservoir. The forward portion houses a sponge that will be kept moist via simple gravity feed through a small hole (sort of like an office water cooler). When a low humidity state is detected, the fan blows downward onto the sponge, and humidified air will blow out of the holes in the sides of the housing. I wanted to use battery power, but the Arduino is a bit of a battery hog, especially when coupled with mechanical devices. The project should cost a bit less than the Ultra unit from www.cigaroasis.com, and it will be similar in size.



My modeling skills are still pretty limited, but you get the idea. I wish I could get rid of that starburst effect when modeling holes (I tried eliminating duplicate verts and recalculating the normals - that's all I know to do). I haven't modeled any of the wiring, but the base, sponge, fan, board, and LCD are all to scale.

Of course, this project is merely an idea right now, but I'd love to get started on it. If I can figure out a simple way to make the base with the limited tools I have on hand at the moment, perhaps I'll give it a whirl.

Slick!

I use beads in all my humis, but for some reason they don't seem to do as well in my desktops as they do in my coolers. I've been contemplating an Oasis XL for my 150 ct, but can't bring myself to shell out the $$. I need battery power, though.

[wild]

I picked up one of those Oust type plugin fans, disconnected the heating element, and connected a plug to an outlet. The fan comes on for 10 minutes every couple of hours and keeps the RH pretty even in my coolidor. I'm currently using the 70% RH beads.

[jzal8]

So I had my first real cigar experience last night. I went over my friends' house with 3 x 5 Vegas Classic cigars. Three of us sat out on the patio on a hazy but very comfortable night. We poured ourselves a few Dewars on the rocks, and just relaxed for well over an hour.

It was great. I am admittedly a total noob to cigars, but I found this one to be very very smooth. It's unfortunate, because I cannot come up with any descriptions for the flavors I tasted, except for the fact that I felt it was very smooth and did not impart any harshness at all.

Once I corrected the uneven burn from my initial lighting, this baby remained evenly lit throughout the smoke. I smoked down to the band, then a little more after band removal, and it never really became too hot a smoke.

I have two more of these left from the five pack I won on. And boy am I glad. But I am already looking forward to exploring what else there is in the cigar world for me to experience. Looks like i'm gonna need myself a humidor.