Two Cigar Mistakes you have made.

[AlexOk]

Mistake #1: Lit a cigar at the wrong end. (It was a perfecto without anila)

Mistake #2: Bought a cheap box, without having a previously test of at least three cigars.

[mash]

1. I second the suggestion to be prepared to age yourself. It is attractive to buy "vintage" stock, but there may be a reason why these cigars are still around, especially if on sale.

2. Along these lines, if you don't like a cigar from a box and it's relatively new, don't write it off. Try another in a few months, and repeat. I've had many sticks I didn't like until they had 2-3 years on them. They changed dramatically as they aged.

[88keys]

Artur [the Polish spelling: he disliked his name being rendered and pronounced as Arthur] was, to my mind, the greatest pianist of his time.

"In later years, my manager Sol Hurok used the h-less 'Artur' for my publicity, but I sign 'Arthur' in countries where it is common practice, 'Arturo' in Spain and Italy, and 'Artur' in the Slav countries." (Quoted from his memoir "My Young Years")

The very few pianists who ever studied with Rubinstein said that he inevitably smoked a cigar during lessons. One said that if he kept smoking it was bad news for her, but when he let the cigar go out she knew that he had enjoyed her playing.

[Van55]

1. Clipped a cigar and put it down to go get a soft drink. Returned and lit the wrong end. What a mess.

2. Tried infused cigars from Lars and Drew. Yuck. Never store them with real cigars!

[ucla695]

1. Not buying the biggest humidor I could afford. It would have saved me money down the road.

2. Not sampling more before pulling the trigger on boxes.

[Omskakas]

1. Asking friends to bring cigars from their travels. I've had cigars with mold, cigars with maggots and bad tasting cigars - wayyyy too many of them. NEVER ask a friend to buy cigars for you if you don't think he knows at least as much about cigars as you.

2. Don't smoke cigars you don't like. Life's too short for that.

[cigcars]

1. Clipped a cigar and put it down to go get a soft drink. Returned and lit the wrong end. What a mess.

2. Tried infused cigars from Lars and Drew. Yuck. Never store them with real cigars!

!!!YES!!! Make that suggestion again! I once made the mistake of putting some Caribbean Rum Runners in my Decatur humidor, not thinking. I was on mission Anti-flavored cigars for 7 years after that incident. I have since given CAO flavored a chance - and of course, keeping them far FAR away from my precious regular smokes

[arnehd]

1. Smoking a rather fresh VR Familiar on an empty stomach on a rather cold spring morning when you're new to cigars and giving the other eight or so cigars away because you think you've had enaugh of cigars. Never let one dudd get you down.

2. I second the beads, the storage device will evolve enventually, but soggy plugged cigars are no good as are those drywall types.

[winelover]

Two cigar mistakes made:

1. Overpaying for cigars online (at a Swiss retailer I used several years back)

2. Using cheap cigar cutters (more likely to damage your cigar than assist)

Re the above: (1) Rob's prices are very competitive and there are always good sales and comps; and (2) try something like a Palio cutter which is made from surgical steel

[BigGuns]

1. Asking friends to bring cigars from their travels. I've had cigars with mold, cigars with maggots and bad tasting cigars - wayyyy too many of them. NEVER ask a friend to buy cigars for you if you don't think he knows at least as much about cigars as you.

2. Don't smoke cigars you don't like. Life's too short for that.

couldn't agree more with both.

[Traz]

Awesome thread, lots of good posts. I like to think I did my homework fairly well when I got into the cuban cigar scene, but two mistakes in my case could be:

1. While it is not a problem right now, my glass-top humidor is pretty much full to the brim. I could maybe fit another five, but that'd be it. I think it's one of those humidors that is said to fit "100+" where in reality you'll squeeze in 50~ tops. If I wanted to buy a couple of 25~ cigar boxes, I'd need to get a second humidor for aging. Although that concept doesn't bother me too much anyway.

2. Cheap cigar lighters from Hong Kong suck much ass. Although even my more expensive ones ($50~ instead of $10~) still take a lot of fiddling around with to get to work properly. They will work good at first but then seem to require a dozen+ attempts to get the lighter to work, even when topped up with (butane) gas. I always have to adjust the +/- flame until it's at that magical spot that will light consistently. Eh.

[MaltPointer]

1) Be very careful who you buy from. You get amazing service and commitment to quality, of course, from Rob, Lisa and the Czar crew . . . but it's far from the norm. I tried one other source, one other time, and it was a disaster. Not surprisingly, Rob was very generous of his time in helping me understand--via email correspondence--what might have happened. He reached out to me out of genuine curiosity and empathy to the fact that I had had a bad experience. I've never forgotten that, nor will I.

2) Agree with everyone about buying a large enough humidor. Once I truly realized that not every cigar in the humi is "smokeable" at any given point in time, it dawned on me that I needed MUCH more storage than I thought.

Bonus round--if you live in the US, don't bother buying any NCs at your local tobacconist. I know you want to, and they look and smell so good when you're in the store . . . and you want to buy SOMETHING . . . but trust me on this. They'll just stack up in the humidor and take up space you could be using for CCs. Because when it comes right down to choosing what you're gonna smoke on any given evening, are you seriously gonna choose an NC over a CC?

[Mel]

#1 Mistake thinking EL meant better cigars.

#2 Assuming one good box of cigars will be follewed by an equal one on the next purchase of the same marca and vitola.

Cost does not equal quality and each cigar is an individual. One box may have duds and stellars and not all boxes are the same.

I now cut and examine all cigars before leaving the house. How many times have I been disgusted by a tight or otherwise poor cigar.

[cellinisart]

1. Don't waste money on a big expensive humidor unless your into showing off, otherwise get coolers and use beads. Spend that money on cigars

2. Don't worry yourself about climate control unless you are going to do allot of ageing (3-10 years). Again save the money for more cigars.

3. Stay away from LE and highly marketed stuff. The diamonds are the low production underground vitolas.

[Leopolis Semper Fidelis]

Bonus round--if you live in the US, don't bother buying any NCs at your local tobacconist. I know you want to, and they look and smell so good when you're in the store . . . and you want to buy SOMETHING . . . but trust me on this. They'll just stack up in the humidor and take up space you could be using for CCs. Because when it comes right down to choosing what you're gonna smoke on any given evening, are you seriously gonna choose an NC over a CC?

Hear!, Hear!

[michaelhealy]

Take your time and find what you like. Your the one paying for it. Try everything.

Really enjoyable when you find another Cuban nut to smoke them with.

[boopdeep]

Timely bump w/ all the new members, including myself. Another great thread!

[Diamondog]

2 mistakes that I made that I would advise against

1. Dabbling far too long and spending far too much money on NC's

2. For my setups (coolers/humidors) not moving to silica beads for humidity sooner

I will add a 3rd after reading

3. I have hundreds of dollars worth of fancy lighters that worked for a few months and now collect dust but I have $20 in cheap torches that have been going strong for a couple years...

[olotti]

Lots of great advice here Ill try and add something but it's probably been said already.

1) Invest in a cooler, a big one, if you think its to big it really isnt and buy beads, do not waste time with anything else. Ive used the same beads for almost 10yrs now and they still keep a perfect 65% in my cooler.

2) Theres all this talk of ageing cigars and while there is alot of truth to that regarding some marcas ie RASS, PLPC, if the cigar is smoking how you like then smoke em and enjoy them because sometimes you wait and you miss the sweet spot.

3) Not a mistake really but something I did and others mentioned it was when I first got into CC's was buying samplers and singles from every brand, this way you can figure out where your tastes fit in.

4) Oh and do research and read reviews if your thinking of a certain cigar. This site is probably one of the best around for that with all the video reviews the FOH crew does and the written reviews alot of the members do.

5) Ok last one sorry. DO NOT under any circumstance buy cheap butane if you have a good torch lighter, it will seriously foul it up. This was my one big mistake.

[brazoseagle]

Cigar Mistakes:

1) Don't Underestimate how big of a humidor you need, or will eventually need.

2) Two Words : "Cohiba Secretos"

3) Do your research first on both cigars and vendors.

4) Don't buy boxes before you buy samples.

5) Don't Over humidify your cigars 65% RH Max!

[NMJoe]

This applies to my experience prior to discovering CCs, and my opportunities to smoke them in my home country.

1) Listening to the hype and buying BEFORE trying.

2) Buying based on CA's top 25 list.

After my fortuitous exposure to CCs, and a couple of very generous members of this forum taking me under their wing (David, Wes, et al), I would say the following:

Take your time, contribute to this forum, and listen to those that have been involved in CCs for years/decades. The wonderful members of this forum WILL gladly help you and even send you bombs to help you better understand the hobby. But, please don't behave like a 15-year-old boy on his first date with the best looking girl in school. Go slow, behave, show respect, listen/observe and give more than you take. The results will be amazing and you will become part of a family.

Just my take on this subject, and my personal experience with the fine folks on this forum.

Cheers,

Joe

[BradNC]

1. Don't smoke your first cuban cigar - during the peak of the summer - sitting on a bucket - in your steaming garage - after working in the yard for a few hours. You will end up naked on your bed only wearing socks and tennis shoes two hours later.

2. Samplers are your friend when starting out. Find out what you like and then buy the best box you can find from a trusted source such as Rob and the gang. Repeat.

[jay8354]

Only two???

I have too many to count.

First 2 for me will be:

Not knowing how to store them in the first place, that was a long discovery. For new members, get informed and read /search through the forum posts.

This one is definitely more for new members, if in doubt, do a search on the forum. There is a wealth of knowledge here. If there is no answer, ask on the forum. Look no one is going to bite you (if you follow the forum rules) and there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers. If you don't ask, you will never learn.

[BonVivant]

1. Know your vendor

2. Early bird gets the worm

[dangolf18]

1.) Starting off with a desktop humidor. Get something big to start.

2.) Starting off with CC's, go for an LCDH or Czar. Got burned by some of the prominent online vendors.