[eef]

I need a recommendation. Since I have built a cigar stash and now have some 80 cigars in my new humidor, the opportnity has come up quite often that people I know wanna go have a cigar.

Now... there are different kinds of people. There are people that love cigars, know their brands, they actually buy cigars and can distiguishthe good from the bad. But there's those other folks who like to smoke a cigar for the novelty of it, so they can feel like George Burns and the name on the band means nothing to them... they're just having fun. Or their just doing it cause I'm doing it.

Well, I'm still pretty new to cigars myself, but most of the cigars I own are individually different, mostly all kinds i have not yet tried. So when I get one of these "smoking just for the novelty of it" people around and they wanna take a cigar and smoke it, it's hard for me to give up a cigar I haven't even tried... it's like, why let this person who doesn't even care smoke a cigar that could be a potential favorite??

So I was thinking maybe I could buy a box of "trick-cigars"... cheap cigars that still burn as slow as a high quality cigar, taste good enough to pass as something higher than a swisher sweet, and would still give someone that novel cigar smoker feeling, while I light up one of my samples and explore the new flavors available to me. Something that looks official enough but doesn't cost much.

I bring this up because I let my younger brother have an A. Fuente the other day, I lit it for him and as I started it I was like "wow this is a good cigar"... and I'm not sure if he even tasted it. I could have given him a swisher and he wouldn't have known the difference, or cared.

I do have friends who love the leaf who I gladly will share a quality unknown stogie with to get their opinion, also knowing they would probably return the favor. But I don't want to cast my pearls before swine.

I want to hold that cigar-lover's tradition of generosity, without crossing the line into wasteful stupidity. Any ideas?
-eef

 

[Roger Miller"]

Buy a bundle of decent low end cigars.
Check out a search for "every day cigar":
http://www.clubstogie.com/vb/search.php?searchid=60656
and look through there for ideas like:

FdO's
Consuegra
etc

Keep a bundle on hand for such occasions where it is deserved, and just tell the moochers to buzz off and buy their own.

_____
rm

 

[Funnymantrip]

For my cigar smoking friends who come over my policy is if it's in the humidor help yourself. They will do the same for me. I won't take their last Opus and they won't take mine.

That box moves behind the bar when we have 'regular' company and I pull out the box with the Fdo's the Curly Heads and the La Floridita's. They all seem to enjoy those and I don't get bitter the next day when their are half smoked sticks laying around.

 

[(909)]

FdO. Buy a handfull of these. You can give them away, they're not too bad and at a $1.50 each, you didn't spend a bunch of your cash.

 

[Steeltown]

I was looking for the same thing:

Thread regarding a gallon of cigars

The general response was to go w/ FdO naturals. They are here for $24.50 for a bundle of 25. I'm going to pull the trigger on them later this week.

Anyhow, I'm not speaking from experience - I am basically in the same shoes as you are, but this is what I was told. These guys know their stuff, so I'm sure neither of us will be dissappointed.

Good luck.

 

[kamikaiguy]

The Problem with the FdO is that you will like them so much that you will not want to give them out either.

My personal choice ito give out is a Flor de Oliva for the new unknowing person that I want to turn on to cigars.

I would give out to just the average I want one too goober, the JR Honduran Factory Corojo's. I think 50 for $35.00. These are good but not the greatest. They are eith Punch Grand Puro seconds or HDM dark sumatra that never got dark.

People I don't like I give Jose Girbes from thompson's

 

[Da Klugs]

EEF - Trick cigars? Come on get with the lingo. Value based cigars. good everyday smokes...... :w

Trick cigars sounds like something MoTheMan would send and KAABOOM.

FDO
Sherpa

 

[SeanGAR]

JR Cuban Alternatives Bolivar Corona under 90 cents per stick delivered. Decent size, you won't feel bad handing them out, but you can smoke them yourself. Not great, not nasty.

Not cheap enough?

At JR he you can find Nicaraguan factory Corojos Fumas, 50 for $22 shipped. http://www.jrcigars.com/graphics/cig-vt/NCFU.jpg I haven't had one yet .... I've had the churchill size JR had last year and they were decent if not outstanding smokes....

Sean

 

[kscotty]

this isn't a big issue for me.....I have a bunch of Fuente Gran Reserva churchills left over from one of my first two box purchases and I share those freely. They are OK but not good enough for me to make them part of my regular smoke routine since I only get one or two chances a week to enjoy my hobby and I want to have only those cigars that I think are among the best....

 

[MoTheMan]

Trick cigars sounds like something MoTheMan would send and KAABOOM. :w

Brevas Royale or Curley Head made by Fuente
Jose Piedra Fumas by Padron
Montesino Napoleon Grande by Fuente
La Vieja Habana & Outdoorsman Reserve (sister cigars) by Drew Estate
Villar y Villar (many sizes) by JR
. . . and of course many decent cigars from JR Cigar.

What DaKlugs said, flavorful, decent, good, and economical. The occassional smoker should like it and you won't feel too bad if they throw it away.

 

[singlguy9]

I agree with all of the above choices for moocher delights, dog rockets, whatever you wanna call em' .............although I try not to spend $$$$ on cigars that I may not be willing to smoke myself.........and the more you smoke and the more $$$$$$$$$$$$$ your taste become, this list will narrow considerably.


I would get the Punch Roth in Maduro or X................they are $2.00 each if you buy fifty. If they take two puffs and toss it, no biggie. If you're stuck with em', they're pretty darn good and you can smoke em' yourself.


If you're looking for cheaper, I would have to vote for JR Alt or Consuerga (both from JR's). They are CHEAP and, at times, can be a decent smoke for $1.25 or less a piece.

 

[BayouDawg]

FdO, Fuente Brevas Royal

bd

 

[c2000]

I don't have any friends but if I did I would give them something good and try to get them hooked too..Always looking for a herfing buddy besides my two bulldogs...

Jerry in Minnesota.

 

[txmatt]

To impress a person who wasn't totally into smoking I would go with a boxed cigar that is long filler but still in the $1.25/stick range. You also probably should stick with mild to medium smokes instead of medium to full. Finally occasional cigar smokers or the uninitiated are really impressed by long cigars and figurados.

Several of these are everyday favorites for me, so you may enjoy smoking them yourself. Make sure to keep moocher cigars as a reserve for times you don't have cash for premiums. I strongly recommend against buying cigars you don't like; you don't need to buy rockets to get cheap smokes.

Here are some that would fit the bill nicely:
La Finca Coronas (or Bolivares to get long ones) - $28/$34
La Flor Del Caney Bouquet(figurado) $30 Smoke Mag gave a 4.2
Mantequilla XXX (can go with Maduro or Natural) $30

Another choice that would give you dirt cheap cigars in a FANCY looking box would be the La Finca Valentino Humidor ($80 @ JRCigars gets you 72 cigars in a humidor with a removable tray). Let me tell you a La Finca with a couple years on it is an outstanding smoke, I don't care if cigar snobs joke about 'em. This was the only brand I smoked during a lot of the boom (and they got as high as $90/box 25 back then)

-Matt-

 

[Quixote]

eef,

I have a personal rule about this:

I never gift a cigar that I wouldn't personally smoke.

A derivitive of this rule would be that if I hadn't tried it yet, I wouldn't gift it.

The only exception would be if I gave an experienced smoker a stick that I know he already likes, but for which I don't personally care.


A recommendadtion for a good smoke to give to cigar newbies- Fuente Curly Head Deluxe. It has a band, looks great, tastes good, and doesn't hurt you too bad if'n they lay it down after only puffs.



-Q

 

[morningsmiler]

They all seem to enjoy those and I don't get bitter the next day when their are half smoked sticks laying around.

I personally hate seeing smashed, half-smoked cigars left in an ashtray...

 

[Uniputt]

I received 6 free smokes from a retailer a few months ago when I bought a 3-finger travel case. 2 of them were Trinidad y Cia. I had never heard of them or smoked them. I didn't know anything about them, including what they cost.

I took one out to the golf course the following week and was pleasantly surprised. It burned well, lasted a long time, (it was a double corona) and had a very nice mild flavor to it. Not harsh/dry at all. Again, a very nice smoke.

A few weeks later I gave away the other one to my firend. he concurred with my assesment. Not a bad smoke at all.

Anyway, I had all but forgotten about these until I received a catalog from a retailer. Then I read about them. They are made from the table trimmings from quality long-filler cigars...and they are hand made. Check this link out.....you can get a whole bundle for about $13. Is that inexpensive enough?

This is from the JR website:

TRINIDAD Y CIA
Handmade NIC
Wrapper: ECSU Binder: HON Filler: DR/HON/NIC
Medium Bodied

Trinidad y Cia are a tremendous bargain for the cigar smoker. Constructed with quality table cuttings remaining from the making of long-filler premium cigars, these are a great tasting, medium-bodied handmade with a sun-grown Ecuador Sumtran wrapper. You can now smoke a genuine handmade cigar for less than many machine mades!

http://www.jrcigars.com/index.cfm?page=cigars :w

 

[dadof3illinois]

I look at it this way. If it's someone that already smokes cigars then they can have what ever I have in the humi.

If it's someone that only smokes once in awhile but likes it then I'll pick them out a stick, something med or mild like a helix or partagas robusto size.

If it's someone that is only wanting to look cool or just smoking because everyone else is then I have a few bundle cigars to hand out, still decent smokes but if they lay it down it doesn't bother me.

When someone lay's one down or throws it away it's not the cost of the smokes that gets me mad but rather loosing a nice stick that someone else could have enjoyed.

 

[kansashat]

There's lots of good advice here, but I guess I'll add my $0.02.

Anything with Cuba on the band gives the uninitiated the warm fuzzies.

At Mike's you can get (20) Lusitania for $29.95 per box, any size. Actually, with age, not a bad stick (made by Perdomo).

Also at Mike's you can get (25) Memoria de Cuba for $29.95 per box, any size. Hit & miss here. About 2/3's of em are as good as Macanudo (which I still enjoy once in a while :bx ) & the rest taste like wet moldy hay.

BTW, thanks to kamikaiguy for the fiver of Jose Girbes.

 

[IHT]

eef,

I have a personal rule about this:

I never gift a cigar that I wouldn't personally smoke.

-Q

i 2nd that.

flip side - i have given a military buddy of mine a few cigars when he comes over, and he friggin huffs 'em down like he's a crack addict!! i've watched him out of the corner of my eye, and almost laughed at how he attacks the cigar... i think that's just how he smokes, a little hyper. so, while i'll still smoke the cigars i'd give him, i don't think i'll give him something you need to take your time with.