What are the biggest challenges newcomers to Cuban Cigars are finding (or have found).

[PigFish]

I experience a higher percentage of tight draws in Cubans. Improved over the last 5 years, but still notable. Anybody else note this?

... 5 will get you 10 you smoke cigars too wet! Or, of course you could be acclimated to NC cigars. While I won't impugn your tastes, many of us here will reject the 'wind tunnels' that the community calls NC cigars! Not all of us mind you but there are purists here of which I am one.

Smoke what you like of course, but knowing how to smoke Cuban cigars, and how to keep them is very important to enjoying them (MHO). -P

[stogieluver]

I experience a higher percentage of tight draws in Cubans. Improved over the last 5 years, but still notable. Anybody else note this?

Sounds like you may have an issue with storage conditions? I run into tight draws less than 10% of the time, and I smoke 10-12 cc's a week. My entire stock is CC's and I keep them at around 63% rh.

[PigFish]

Not to be too Confucian, but the biggest challenge over my first 6 months in this new world has been not knowing what I don't know.

I started my journey with one of Rob's "New to CC" samplers in order to try to pin down all of the flavor profiles that I have been reading about on the boards. I really couldn't taste much of anything in those, either because I have too few taste buds, or because I just don't know what I'm looking for. I would have even settled for just understanding the differences in taste between each of the cigars, but that is nearly impossible because I couldn't light all of them up and try them side by side (well, I guess I could...).

On a whim, I ordered a box of aged PSD4s from the 24:24. The first one of those that I smoked had a taste that was remarkably different than anything else I had smoked. So, I bought an aged box of Ramon Allones, and... BAM!... another new flavor. I still wouldn't say that I can identify those favors as anything specific like Rob uses in his 24:24 descriptions, but I can definitely pick up on the fact that the flavors are different. So, I am buying up boxes when I can and stashing them in the OLH to age in hopes that the aging enhancement is the ticket for my palate.

in a perfect world, the two things that I wish I could have had 6 months ago were: 1. A sampler consisting of aged sticks (unless the ones in my sampler were aged, then I'm back to square one); and 2. A beginner's guide to the cigars that maybe suggested a sequence in which to smoke them and the different flavors to look for in each. Both are prob. unrealistic, but thought I'd put them out there.

Thanks to all of you who make this community such a wonderful place!

Many of us will likely agree that smoking can be cerebral. Don't over think it. Take what the cigar gives you and enjoy the experience. Don't over analyze, not at first anyway. The old 'goat' will know the juiciest leaves and they will describe them as they experience them. Don't try to compete with anyone. Cigar smoking is personal, not competitive, not superior or inferior, it is individual, like you, like the cigar you choose.

Don't worry about what others claim to taste. It is not a contest. Don't judge yourself as a result of what reviews you read. There are many variables and it is too soon to look for problems when none likely exist.

Can you not enjoy music as well as the music critic? Of course you can! Can you not enjoy the violin, or the electric guitar without knowing how to play it, without knowing the licks, the notes the chords? Yet again, of course you can! You don't need to be an expert to enjoy smoking cigars... Just like you need not be a musician to enjoy music.

There are no 'expert' smokers. There are only those that have more, less and certainly varied experiences to your own. No one is right about your tastes. There is only one critic worth noting and that critic is you.

Cheers! -Piggy

[PigFish]

Sounds like you may have an issue with storage conditions? I run into tight draws less than 10% of the time, and I smoke 10-12 cc's a week. My entire stock is CC's and I keep them at around 63% rh.

... I have not had a plugged cigar in many years.

Water content is a huge player in Cuban cigars husbandry... Don't get me started! -LOL

-Piggy

[Bennettjohnl]

Heaven help me, storage conditions drove me insane the first year. Just finally got that nailed down which has alleviated countless amounts of frustration. Being able to dig deep here into some great information regarding storage helped me get things squared away.

[PointFivePast]

The lack of singles and samplers out there. Of course once I found FOH this problem disappeared. I know it was a big stumbling block in the first six months or so of my interest until I found the proper resources. It gets expensive buying boxes just to sample a certain marca and vitola. IMHO, Cuban singles seem to see a larger mark-up compared to NC. Some NC singles and 5 packs are nearly as cheap as a box but often when I see Cuban singles they are MUCH much expensive than the box. I don't have access to a B&M with CC singles so I'm not aware of their pricing as much. Again, FOH has helped with this issue but for those lost in the wilderness, it's still tough going.

Other than that, the learning curve is a big hurdle but proper research fixes that pretty quick.

Oh and discontinued sizes and limited runs. It sucks when people go on and on about how great a certain vitola was and then I Google it and discover it's been out of production for 3 years.

[Pariah89]

I'd have to say that letting them sit for so long before touching them is pretty.
But a bit thing for me being, new to the CCs, is finding a flavour profile that I enjoy. There are so many different ones out there, I guess i'm going to have to try them all... what a terrible problem to have.

[kooser1574]

Trying to figure how to email Diana how buying the cigars that are posted. Haha

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Habana Mike]

Trying to figure how to email Diana how buying the cigars that are posted. Haha

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

This one's not so hard:

email to [email protected]

say hello in a nice way

compliment the shoes

suggest having a glass of wine

remind Rob's a piece of work

mention the box you would like

give all your details - name, address, serial number, credit card specifics, next of kin, sexual preferences and any other detritus you'd like to share

compliment the shoes again

suggest another glass of wine

give some idea of how your day is going, life in general, family, interests or hobbies

remind again one or another of Rob's faults

leave a cheerful closing comment or two

thank Di profusely for all her hard work

hit send and hope for the best!\

Works for me!

[JoeyGunz]

I reckon the biggest problem is not being schooled up on aging cigars, especially if buying singles e.g. you buy a party d4 that doesn't smoke well, you rule them out buying again. If you grabbed another D4 out that same box 6months later you might fall in love and never want to smoke anything else!

[RijkdeGooier]

Most likely a combination of different draw (construction is different) and related higher humidity.

Try to:

1 smoke at around 65rH

2 smoke much much slower

3 regularly purge

... 5 will get you 10 you smoke cigars too wet! Or, of course you could be acclimated to NC cigars. While I won't impugn your tastes, many of us here will reject the 'wind tunnels' that the community calls NC cigars! Not all of us mind you but there are purists here of which I am one.

Smoke what you like of course, but knowing how to smoke Cuban cigars, and how to keep them is very important to enjoying them (MHO). -P

[Fuzz]

One thing I learned long ago was to never completely dismiss a cigar/brand I don't enjoy. When I started 20+ years ago, it was Montes and Cohibas. The last 5 years I've moved on to HdMs, Partagas and Ramon Allones.

However, I still haven't found a Bolivar that I consistently enjoy. That doesn't mean I stop trying Bolivars. If I did, I would never have had a very nice Bolivar Tubo No.1 a few weeks back. Does this mean I've found the Bolivar for me? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Your tastes change and develop over the years. What you like now, you may not enjoy in 5-10 years time, and vice versa. So keep trying and experimenting. As others have said, enjoy the journey and see where it leads you.

[Waldschrat]

My personal challenges:

-which single one or two cigars I should purchase to how do I avoid buying too many boxes

-how to adjust humidity in my small humidor (fear of mold). Meanwhile I added beads to keep @ 65RH and everything is fine (and for storage capacity a new cabinet is under construction...)

-how to cut (and which cutter to use). Now I use my finger nails - never let me down....

-thought initially you need to keep drawing to keep burning. With lower RH at storage burn is now no problem any more. Slow down and enjoy the additional flavors

[CigarDarr111]

I didn't have many frustrations at first, simply because I had no clue what to be frustrated about. I knew that I loved to smoke, smell, and hold a cigar. What at first was intimidating to go into a cigar shop and stand in front of the humidor and pick a cigar not having a clue what I was looking for or what all the different type with in a brand meant. It wasn't until I discovered FOH that I found out I had no clue to how much more there was to cuban cigars. I quickly found out the depths and degrees of different cigars and how they were meant to be to be enjoyed.

Once I discovered some of the basics, smoking a cigar wasn't that basic to me no longer... it became a ritual were I became really present to the tobacco and the cigar wasn't just a cigar any longer, Each one different from the next, having personality and character. Its been an amazing journey in such a short period of time thanks to all the brother and sister's of FOH.

Here's the best part not only can cigar lovers from around the world gather to share their knowledge or seek knowledge from others but you buy cigar which are being graded by our host. . Brillant !! P.S. my wife hates it... *sorry about the grammar.

[joeypots]

The topic it self verifies the premise that Cuban cigars can frustrate the novice.

What are the biggest challenges you have faced. The biggest frustrations.

Storage and care of Cuban cigars frustrated me to no end.

In the simplest terms possible here we go. I had to learn that,

1: Ya gotta let the cigars rest after they travel. I don't know why. Thirty days works for me.

2: Ya gotta dry them out, or get them to something like 62% RH for a while before you light up. It seems Cuban cigars can be very wet when young and they are harsh and bitter when smoked too moist.

Storage, RH, and patience are my basic requirements of successful Cuban cigar bliss.

That's my .02$. and it cost me a lot more than that to learn it.

[Destino30]

Great thread, folks, and as a relative newcomer to CCs I enjoy and appreciate all of his info on FOH. Thanks for having me.

I won't repeat what my fellow novices have already said - I echo most of their thoughts. The only point that I'll make is that I don't appreciate it when experts criticize and sometimes ridicule the notion of smoking a CC that isn't aged. I am very happy buying and enjoying CCs that are a year or two old. I am sure that greater age would improve the flavor but I'm not presently willing to pay the oftentimes substantial premium for greatly aged CCs. I do have some, but for my money, right now, I'm very happy exploring the "newer" stuff.

Keep the advice coming. I very much appreciate it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kuma]

Into CC's about 3 yrs and the thing that still gets my goat is patience. I would like to buy more top quality brands

Trinadads (Fundies., Cohibas (66, Lan.'s Siglos VI, V's...) just to name a few. When Rob states on the site during

his explaintion of each brand up for sale that day and says; need to lay down for 3 - 5 years well that is a

real crusher. I want to smoke them yesterday and not have to wait 1/20 of my life to enjoy them. I know

you can buy aged smokes but that jacks up the price which is already quite high due

to the brand itself. You would think at my age I have learned patience but alas when it comes

to Cuban smokes I'm sorley lacking in this department.

[egoo33]

Im guilty of trying to chase everything, RE, LE, New releases. when I should be going deep on regular production, I regret nothing

[PigFish]

...a couple of posts above are reflective of why I posted what I originally posted.

One can and should if they wish have a preference, either real or imaginary for aged cigars. That is their choice to make by themselves for themselves. That choice need not be respected by others nor agreed upon, nor considered valid beyond that of an individual choice. There is no universal rule about aged cigars beyond that of what some individual smokers believe, bolstered by what the collector community pushes as they define their tastes as superior to yours.

IGNORE IT...

What was that saying that our moms told us when we were kids. "If one of your friends jumped off a cliff, would you follow them?" Why start jumping now...?

Not everyone in the cigar world is without motivations. There are charlatans in all walks of life and the cigar community is rife with them.

As a side note, if you want Rob to define his commentary you should ask him. I don't think in his statements that he means that smoking a certain cigar at a time less than he suggests is a waste. He simply believes by his model that this amount of age will do the cigars good... You should understand that our host is, for the sake of this conversation, just another cigar smoker! While he knows his stock and his guidance is of great value while shopping his store, he has his systems of beliefs and tastes that are his own like we all do. His beliefs about aging should be questioned just as I would ask you to question my beliefs about storage. We all have our beliefs and our reasons for believing. You should filter it all and that includes the advice I am giving here and now.

There are folks who think this type of prognostication (projecting aging potential) is a bunch of malarky. However, this does not mean that we are going to take one to task for his beliefs every time he mentions it. We simply respect our friends opinions and their rights to express them as they respect ours.

I am certainly a minority opinion on many a mainstream myth about Cuban cigars. That does not keep me out of conversations about them, now does it? It has long since been decided that none of us can prove the basis of our subjective opinions. We leave it at that.

You simple have to find your own way and define your own rules, your own way.

Cheers! -Piggy

[kooser1574]

This one's not so hard:

email to [email protected]

say hello in a nice way

compliment the shoes

suggest having a glass of wine

remind Rob's a piece of work

mention the box you would like

give all your details - name, address, serial number, credit card specifics, next of kin, sexual preferences and any other detritus you'd like to share

compliment the shoes again

suggest another glass of wine

give some idea of how your day is going, life in general, family, interests or hobbies

remind again one or another of Rob's faults

leave a cheerful closing comment or two

thank Di profusely for all her hard work

hit send and hope for the best!\

Works for me!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Smallclub]

When Rob states on the site during

his explaintion of each brand up for sale that day and says; need to lay down for 3 - 5 years well that is a

real crusher.

Nothing is set in stone on this matter. The best way to learn is to smoke one, then if you find it's harsh or lacks complexity or sweetness, try an other one several monthes later… and so on…

Putting a box away just because someone more experienced likes it with X years of age is the best way to never understand the process, IMHO.

[Soup]

Still trying to figure out the retrohale....

Scott

[perkinke]

I will echo a few of the comments above that my biggest frustration when getting into Cubans was the belligerent attitude of "nothing but Cubans is a REAL cigar and smoking anything else marks you as a tasteless moron." Like most of us in the U.S. I started on NC's so that was the reference point I had so finding people and places who would reasonably describe the differences, good and bad, was important to me before I jumped in. I am fortunate to have two very good forum homes, this one and one dedicated to NC's, both populations I feel do a very good job of self-policing to keep the belligerence I mentioned to a minimum.

[mygar]

I agree! Providing cigar sizes on 24:24 and 24:72 would be awesome!!!!

I find i prefer medium or smaller ring gauges. I get better burn and flavor with them it seems. But that is just me and im a newbie to CCs.

[ElPuro]

This is a bit off topic, but do you guys try to age sampler sticks?