Do you keep a Cigar Dossier ?

[laficion]

Putting my last cigar band in my Cigar Dossier, I asked myself if this was not going a

bit too far, but so enjoyable. Am I one of the few who likes to keep a trace of certain

cigars that are a little exceptional and that I'm sure that I will not smoke anymore or

never? Cigars that , for me, will not be available that often. Since the year 2000, with

my childhood friend in New Jersey, we have the same book and we put down our

impressions on some special smokes that we send each other from time to time.

He sends me NC that I cannot get here in Europe and I send him certain Cubans that

I get when I'm in Cuba. In this book,I mark down all my special smokes such as the

custom rolled I had made in Havana or others that are exceptional such as cigars

that I smoked in the 70's or 80's and that I still had the band. ( see photos).

I would like to know If any of you guys at FOH keep a cigar dossier and If so,

to tell us a little about your story and maybe a photo or two.

You never know, maybe this would interest some members on the forum.

Thanks to all.

[Jay Hemingway]

very nice man! i would LOVE to sit back and read your book.

[Fatshotbud]

Nicely done - Worked for quite sometime with a computer version that included scanned images of each cigar prior to smoking.

Uuuuhh - and did not make a backup copy before my PC crashed.

Never felt like starting over.......

[Miami101]

I don't I have a table with all the labels under a glass that I have smoke, but looking at what you have created it looks great. I happy you posted this information....it is a great idea.

[sounddust]

Siboney! Wow. I keep a collection of the cigars I have smoked, with the bands on and a 1 page review. It's not in a book form, but a compilation of review sheets I keep in a folder. I pen my thoughts on all cigars which I have tried after tasting 2 sticks, as well as updates every 6 months or so for boxes.

It has been a wonderful journey, with about 50 entries so far. Doing this has indeed helped myself to better appreciate these handmade wonders of the world, as I am able pin the complex flavor profiles down with greater ease compared to when I first started smoking. Not to mention gaining the joys of gaining insight on the various personalities each marque and vitola may have with regards to construction, burn rate etc.

[MikeHoncho3133]

very nice man! i would LOVE to sit back and read your book.

X2. Sounds like it would be a fun read.

[mbrody]

I love the Dossier laficion. I too keep a cigar journal. Sometimes it turns into a journal for special life events that coincide with the smoke I choose for that day. My choice was really plain and simple. A Marble notebook! I like to glue the bands (when I have the time). Fun to re-read tasting notes and recall memories...

[anacostiakat]

That looks great! I wish I had the discipline. Sadly I do not. . .

[Professor Twain]

It is really great what you are doing with this... it will be priceless to your family. I have my cigar stock computerized and post reviews of exceptional cigars online but it lacks the grace of what you have done.

[kanuna]

Wow, didn't realize the world of smoke could go this far. I am impresed.

[smokem]

Very nice!!! Must be interesting looking back and reading your impressions from years ago. I don't write anything down, just go by memory, which at times appears to be failing me. What was I saying?

[Colt45]

Guy, that's a wondeful book

I don't keep one myself. Come to think of it, I keep few mementos of anything - I may regret it.....

P.S. I notice you've written it in english?

[Guest rob]

I'd love to keep a journal of what I smoke.... but I'm afraid it would read like this 5 nights a week:

"Ramon Allones Small Club Corona..."

But I should definitely consider documenting the better moments.

[Ginseng]

Very classy! In time, it will become an heirloom to cherish.

Wilkey

[laficion]

P.S. I notice you've written it in english?

The reason why I have written the book In English is so that no one ,around me,

can read my soul

Now, the real reason is because my friend and I have the same book and every two years

we conpare notes. I send him my 2 or 3 pages and he does the same. The problem is, he

only reads English. Next year we will be celebrating our 50 years of friendship and we plan to

meet somewhere , with our wives, to spend a good week of cigar smoking, wine drinking and

all around party. at that time we will both be bring our books.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not a collector of anything, no band collection or cigar labels, etc etc

I only have this cigar dossier because I can share it with my buddy, not to leave something behind

me when I'm no longer here. It's always good to have something that reminds you of great

moments you shared with friends.I think I'll stop there. Did I answer your question Colt ?

I can't be the only one, lets hear from some others. Thanks

[xapa97]

That's a great idea! I currently just save the labels, write a little something on the back and throw them in an old cigar box.

Thanks for sharing.

[Colt45]

Now don't get me wrong, I am not a collector of anything, no band collection or cigar labels, etc etc

I only have this cigar dossier because I can share it with my buddy, not to leave something behind

me when I'm no longer here. It's always good to have something that reminds you of great

moments you shared with friends.

Beautiful, Guy

[SmokinAl]

Beautiful, Guy

I try to disagree with Colt purely out of principle but when he's right, he's right. Beautiful.

Guy, the Trini Robusto A was quite a score. I'm very impressed.

I appreciate the pleasure you'd get out sharing this with a mate but I think Colt has a point, this'd be quite an heirloom.

All the best mate,

[Colt45]

I try to disagree with Colt purely out of principle

love ya, man....

[Bolismoker]

Wow!!!! I'm an idiot is all I can say. I should have been doing this for the last decade. I'm going to start one as soon as i find a suitable journal to keep.....Thanks for the inspiration.

[MikeHoncho3133]

I do occasionally use a "cigar passport" I was gifted. It's nice, on the back page I can check ring gauge and it has a ruler.

Cigar Passport

[CanuckSARTech]

Well, I was going to open a new thread, but in the interest of forum tidiness, I'll just re-awaken laficion's thread here...

I was wondering a bit of the same thing as Guy. How many people keep some sort of documentation of their cigar experiences? From the multitude of reviews and such on here, it is something that really has a tendency to help each other better understand the various marcas and then the individual vitolas. So, how many of you bother to do a detailed self-analysis, to better guide your own cigar experiences?

I also have a Cigar Dossier - I can't applaud it enough. It's a nice, black, hardcovered book, with nice quality, almost parchment paper pages. The one I have is by Jostens Printing/Arango Cigar Company, edited by Shawn M. Preston (ISBN: 0-9647874-3-1, for those who want to find a copy, usually right around $30 or so). It is very well organized, with about 200 pages or so, and then spots for 4 reviews on each page. It's just an awesome item - it's right up there on my prime bookshelf, with my MRN Encyclopaedia, my "Great Habanos Factories" Rius book, and my "The Complete Guide for Habanos Enthusiasts" by Habanos S.A.

I started mine on June 2nd, 2008 (so it says), after already smoking a couple hundred cigars to this point. A friend of mine in LCDH in Canada recommended starting one of these, and it really was firmed up for me when a LCDH staffer in Cuba made a similar recommendation to me in April of that spring. Also, I actually noticed on that trip a few other aficionados who were actually travelling with their dossiers or journals and whatnots, and filling them out poolside in Cuba while they were enjoying their wares.

When I started my dossier, I was only regularly smoking cigars since early 2005 or so, after getting back into it after an absence of a few years. I found that my tastes had evolved since I first got into cigars in the 90's, especially considering that my palate was more neutral since I had quit smoking cigarettes, as my taste buds were no longer being affected negatively by the cigarette smoke. In a conversation I had with this LCDH friend, and a few others about our cigars, I mentioned at how the taste profiles were much more discernable to me - I was able to pick out black cherries or raisins or plums, for example, rather than just noticing something "fruity" but not being able to pinpoint it down any further than that. So, it was recommended to me that I start a dossier, a "cigar diary" so to speak, and use an old trick for connoisseurs of fine items (wine, cheese, cigars, etc.) - create a journal/log/diary/dossier, and use it to track your tastes, to track the progression and improvement of your aged stogies, and to make note of any special items for future reference.

It's helped me refine and focus my experiences tremendously over the last few years. I have a handy little reference to let me go back through the pages, and look up what I thought of a particular cigar from a year or two before or longer, to compare the same vitola but from different box codes and/or years of harvest.

It's a hugely valuable resource. For all of those on here who are newer to cigars (or even for those who are old hats at this), I can't recommend highly enough about how you should start one of these.

[Ken Gargett]

i did keep thorough records on computer for a while but it all got a bit out of hand and now i have piles of pages of notes that i promise myself i will detail at some time. but i'm not hopeful. i have enough trouble keeping track of what i have and what i've smoked.

[Habanakane21]

I kept one from 1995-1999. It was for me too figure out what cigars I liked, since I was just starting out. Once I figured that part out I tossed it in the trash.

[laficion]

Keith, thanks for re-lighting the thread, LOL LOL

I see that we have the same Cigar Dossier, but I gave mine a little personal touch

Anyway, I do enjoy going back to see how that or that cigar did at the time, it's fun.

I got mine in 2000 and at that time it only cost me 10 bucks, I see that now it's 3 times more

I never meant to mark down EVERY cigar, only the special one's that I'm sure I'll

never try or smoke again, like the 1492 and others or, ones that have really changed in there blend.