Immersed in Nicaraguan bliss with a Padrón Family Reserve 1964 #95 Maduro. This Petit Robusto 4 1/2 X 60 is composed with 10-year-aged Nicaraguan tobaccos for the wrapper, binder, and fillers. Rich & Hearty notes of earth, leather, coffee, and spice saturate your palate with each puff, producing a full-bodied, full-flavored finish. I’ve sonically paired the classic sounds of Genesis (Tonight, Tonight, Tonight)…

Arturo Fuente Gran Reserva — Hemingway Short Story

Pairing with a black medium cold brew.

Initial impression: A well-constructed cigar with an interesting, almost prune-like taste. I went with a standard cut on this.

The initial light leaves a good impression—no super harsh, fresh-burn taste like some cigars. I get a hint of wood/cedar on my tongue. It really complements the black cold brew well.

Coming toward the end of the first third of this stick, I’m getting a bit of a dark chocolate/woody taste with mild spice, almost leaving a light cinnamon hint on the tongue.

At the halfway point, the cigar has a very smooth, mild cedar to it. Very enjoyable.

Toward the end, the flavors are smooth, almost creamy, leaving me wanting another. The finish was strong, with no harsh aftertaste. A definite lip burner, leaving me wanting more.

Overall, I give this a solid 9 out of 10.

For the size, it is extremely smooth and well put together. Decent notes, nothing crazy, but very consistent. With the standard cut, it had a phenomenal draw to it.

How big a difference does vitola size/shape really make in the flavor experience? I tend towards 50ish ring sizes and 5-6" lengths, but that is mostly because I tend to have 45min- 1hour 15 to smoke and a big vitola just takes to long. So am I missing out? Are there cigar that are better in Churchill sizes?

I dove headfirst down this rabbit hole about 6 months ago. What started as "let me try a couple decent cigars" rapidly devolved into hunting down rare Fuente releases like a degenerate hunting vintage bourbon.

Right now I’m sitting on about 15 different OpusX vitolas (Destino al Siglo, Angel's Share, Oro Oscuro, etc.) tucked away in the humidor. Every single time I open the cedar drawer intending to smoke one, I talk myself out of it, stare at the gold foil for five minutes, and grab a $10 daily driver instead.

It got me thinking about two questions for the sub:

1. What is your actual trigger for lighting up a holy grail stick? Do you strictly wait for major life milestones (weddings, promotions, kids), or do you just say "fuck it, it's a sunny Tuesday afternoon"?

2. Do you have a "Never Smoke" trophy stick? Is there a cigar sitting in your stash that is purely a display or sentimental piece that will literally rot before it sees a flame?

Curious how you guys balance the fine line between collecting and actually enjoying the tobacco. Cheers!

Today's smoke was a curly head candela and I'll be honest, I think I liked this one more than the conneticut!

I got that same mild Dominican flavor, with a slower burn for some reason and the sweetness and greenness of that candela matched the harshness of the short filler. The blend seems to be the same to my taste just a different wrapper. Not too much to say other than if you find yourself craving candela this is a cheap way to get your fix

My order was Natural but next to Padron 1964 Anniversary Series Superior “Maduro” their wrapper is identical

I want to start this by saying I am still only a somewhat new cigar smoker, I have been smoking for about 2 years, and have only smoked about 20-30 cigars in that time, so take that into consideration in my review.

I picked this up at wild bills as a bogo for $15, so $7.50/stick.

Construction - It seems to be fairly well constructed, burns fairly consistently, no issues with tunneling or offset burning.

Draw and smoke - The draw is nicely open, fairly easy to draw through and a nice volume of smoke for each draw. The end seemed to constantly be letting of a thin stream of smoke between draws.

Flavor - The flavor is very mellow, with light tea and hay notes coming through, as you can expect from a connecticut. I could not detect any change in flavor I progressed through the stick. Its fairly one dimensional and consistent, but disappointingly so.

Overall - 65/100, it is an adequate cigar, but far from one of my favorites, and overall kind of boring. If you are just getting into cigars and want something that is mellow and easy to smoke, it will work but there are definitely better options out there. I would recommend a Romeo Y Julieta Reserva Real or a Rocky Patel Connecticut instead.

I paired it with a bottle of cream soda, which paired well.

Edit - just finished the cigar. Another sign of how much I didnt enjoy this cigar. Usually I am the kind of guy that smokes to a nub, only calling it quits once I can't actually fit my fingers on it to smoke it. I put this out when there was still a good 2 inches left of it. I have never stopped a cigar with that much left. As I result, updating my rsting from 65/100 to 40/100

I know. Most people think bigger is better but the lancerò ring gauge and length are my favorite.

Looking for recommendations as they are hard to find at my local bm.

Thanks.

I am looking to build up my humidor, and I am in need of recommendations. I have found I like medium-medium/bold cigars, that are on the sweeter side with little to no sharp pepper notes. I have enjoyed La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor, Ashton Aged Maduro, Mayflower Dream Maduro, Fat bottom betty, Tabak Negra, Oliva V Melanio Maduro, Sweet Jane. What are some others I can add, I am building a sampler so I want to grab a bunch to stock up and try.

God of Fire Secret Motherload from cigar king arrived today.

It included:

1 Don Carlos Robusto

1 Carlito Double Corona

1 Serie B Robusto Tubo

1 Anniversario 54

Packaging left something to be desired(bubble wrap), but they arrived safely and with a small 69% Boveda.

A quick google puts the value around 110-130 maybe? I paid 97 so I'm personally satisfied, but curious what others think.

This fall day is too perfect to not light up a good smoke.

Smooth draw. Even burn. Got hints of roast coffee and some chocolate. Especially in that middle third. Paired with a frappuccino made it all even better.

My Father Blue MMXXV
Toro 6 x 54 box press
Band secondary band blue and gold blue end ribbon
Wrapper Connecticut Broadleaf Rosado
Binder Honduran Criollo and Corojo-seed
Filler Honduran Criollo and Corojo-seed
💪 medium to full. Said to be: milk chocolate, cedar, hay, earth, and a soft white or black pepper spice. 2/3 brown sugar or light honey, backed by core flavors of leather, coffee/mocha, and pecan
😀💰equally as strong, but missing the nice sweetness of the La Lealtad. It's almost a dryer smoke. Some hint of soreness. Enjoying it more toward the second end, as it becomes a little more interesting
Bought a single one for $10 at The City
💵 $240/0 $12 ea

for me, I would definitely choose the slightly cheaper and more enjoyable smoke of the La Lealtad

Has anyone joined Cigar Plus and was it worth it? What kind of deals do you get in the membership? Asking for a friend…

This was the second-to-last cigar from the first box of 5 I ever bought.

I usually smoke once a week or sometimes once every two weeks, but I just fell in love with this haha

I've seen so many people here talking about retrohaling and giving tips on how to do it, so I finally decided to properly try it with this one.

And I FINALLY got it 😂

Holy shit, it's a completely different experience. The flavors really come through once you retrohale. I was getting some anise and cardamom notes, which I probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

Still learning obviously, but that was probably my biggest ohhh, NOW I get it moment since I started getting into cigars.

Had a Sprite with it too, which actually went pretty nicely with the cigar 😂

Only one left from the box now 🥸

Picked up a box of 20 My Father Le Bijou 1922 Petite Robustos, along with a mixed assortment of 39 other cigars.
The Le Bijou is one of my established favorites, and the Petite Robusto is by far my favorite vitola in that line. The rest of the haul is a combination of cigars I’ve enjoyed before and several I’ve been wanting to try.
Although I still occasionally visit my favorite B&M, I’ve been having a lot of fun hunting down good deals on quality cigars rather than paying full retail. All told, the 59 cigars averaged $7.46 each out the door, including sales and excise taxes, shipping, and discounts (publicly advertised promotions and $4.72 in redeemed rewards points).
For space and presentation, some duplicate T52s, Foundation Aksum Maduros, and Undercrown 10s aren’t pictured.
Curious what everyone thinks of the selection. Which would you light up first? What else would you recommend trying? And which of these would you set aside for some extended aging?
I generally smoke a couple of cigars a day, so I can’t put too many away!

They have a decent following size on Facebook, posts seem legit and Google Lensing their page says it's a valid company, but I see very little actual reviews.

Pulling the plug and sending money to an oversees company gives me a lot of pause, so I wanted to see if anyone has actually used them.

https://www.facebook.com/p/Humidor-Master-Factory-61573203717021/

This one had about five or six years in the humidor. Even after that time, the first third was a pepper bomb, with tingling drowning out many of the nuances, especially on the retrohale. What was interesting was that as peppery as this was, I wouldn’t say the cigar was full-bodied. This was medium-strength.

The spiciness subsided a bit after the first third, giving way to a creamy cedar flavor that still retained a bit of bite, again, especially in the retrohale. It finished out relatively creamy, with a woody earth profile.

Draw was excellent, and as evidenced by the photo, construction was good. I think I could have kept that ash going longer but I had to remove the band before the burn line hit it.

Hope you all are having a blessed day wherever you are.

Arak (or Ksarak) is a traditional, unsweetened, anise-flavored distilled alcoholic beverage popular in countries like Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. A friend gave me a bottle because I usually like trying different things, and he really wanted me to try this Armenian version of it.

And since the anise flavor was so intense, I just brought out a cigar that would be completely obliterated by it: the Teufel Hund Maduro, which is a low-cost Room 101 option, with barely notes of chocolate, earth and pepper.

But because the Ksarak isn't sweetened, the flavor wasn't cloying and I was even able to enjoy a bit of the pairing, though not a really great one per se, just enjoyable.

I feel like this gets talked about with Cubans but not so much with non-Cubans. What, in your opinion are some iconic releases of non-Cuban cigars.

For example:
Davidoff Dominicana (2021) with tobacco from 2014
Davidoff chef’s edition 2016
CAO Amazon Basin (2014)
Room 101 Chief Cool Arrow
Several of the other original release Room 101 cigars
La Palina Goldie early releases (when Goldie was still involved) 2012-2016
OG releases of Opus and Liga
Padron Millenium (2000)
Illusione ECCJ. 15th (2008)

More recent one
Kelner 80th

I’m talking about specific releases, release years, blends, limiteds, that are still talked about years later or in the Kelner 80th example the hype surrounding that cigar has greatly surpassed most other modern releases IMO. Yes maybe a little too early to determine if it will be an iconic historic release but from what I see on the secondary
It’s on its way.

Thoughts? What are some grails in the new world space

Sometimes you just want a guarantee. So far from padron, I've had the 2000, 3000, 4000, and 1964 exclusivo, all maduro (eventually I'll get around to trying the naturals).

This was a nice luxurious smoke. Easy draw, perfect burn, delightful flavor. Similar profile to the 1964, I was getting mostly chocolate walnut in the first two thirds. The last third was more wood/leather and espresso.

Overall this is a bit more pricey than the 1964 but I enjoyed it about the same. Any recommendations on the next padron to try?

I recently picked up an inoperable wine fridge to turn it into a wineador and am in the process of cleaning it and deodorizing it with charcoal.

The shelves in it are mystery meat wooden shelves. How big of an impact would these shelves have on seasoning the humidor, given they're not Spanish Cedar? Would getting Spanish Cedar trays help alleviate any issues or would it be best to try and build or find Spanish Cedar shelves to replace them?

Spotted a few of these at a local cigar shop and had to grab them, especially since they’re no longer in production. Glad I did. Beautifully rolled and an absolute pleasure to smoke. Very nuanced, with great transitions from sweetness to dry, tannic notes and a touch of pepper lingering in the background.

I'll keep flavors notes short as u/ItsGloveGuy recently made a fantastic review on this blend, but boy was it spicy and bready and delicious. I can taste the cinnamon! Got really creamy and oily as the flavor developed without any bitterness. Excited to try more from Aganorsa Leaf.

It paired wonderfully with a pumpkin ale from Dogfish Head on a crisp autumn night.

Cheers! 💨

Aye Yo! I priced 5 robustos and the "rare" leaf isn't the expensive one
Body:
I'm a sales associate at a shop in Kansas, and I'm researching Connecticut shade for a project. Real Connecticut River Valley shade costs a fortune to grow ($30–40K an acre), so I expected it to cost more on the shelf. Nope. The Macanudo Café runs about $12, right in line with Ecuador Connecticut sticks like the Undercrown Shade and the RyJ Vintage. The Cohiba Connecticut, at $22–27, is the outlier, and that's the name on the band, not the leaf.
Can you taste the difference between Valley-grown and Ecuador Connecticut? Or is it all in the blend?

Need some quick advice on upgrading my humidors. I currently own a 16L and a 26L King Chii humidor - 350 total "max" cigar capacity. I've outgrown them so trying to decide if I should:

A) buy a third - eg a 35L - for about $250

B) replace the 2 I have with an 80L ($570+, 600) or possibly 103L ($750, 900max)

I know the general answer is always "bigger is better", but I'm trying to factor in whether there is much resale value to the two I already own. I also was wondering if opening one large humidor daily cause more humidity swings (and affect cigars) more than opening only 1 of the smaller units each day?

If better to bite the bullet and shell out the cash for a bigger unit, I will probably also look at Afidano units (B2/$1200/850 or B4/$1600/1200) as I like the drawers that come with those better.

(ps - I have been trying to solve this with a large Harbor Freight Apache case for my overruns . But in CO, temp swings get up to 75 no matter where I put it in the house and I don't want to risk beetles)