I'm a Hospice chaplain and I had recently a patient who loved cigars. I had never had a cigar in my life but because he loved it and it brought him peace...i learned to smoke as he taught me, which he seemed to enjoy immensely as I learned. I would put him in his wheelchair and take him to his front porch and we would watch nature and he shared his war stories as a veteran and his struggles as a man and his hopes for his family after he was gone.

We, over the course of several months, enjoyed our share of cigars and stories together.

I just recently did his funeral and his family presented me with a humidor with a few cigars in it. It has now become one of my most cherished gifts. The last cigar we smoked together was a really strong one to me....Nub of some kind as he couldn't sit long anymore. It was apparent he was close to the end. Anyway he was kind to me and I was honored to help him peacefully transition.

And now every other evening or so I have been enjoying one in memory of him and have found it to be a great way to end my day and recenter myself.

I'm obviously a very newbie when it comes to this but I would love to hear your suggestions Cigars for an old Cajun Chaplain like myself in his early 50s learning to enjoy a good cigar at the end of a day. And if you have some good ones to sell or trade that maybe too mild (or just not your thing) for you, let me know. Happy to pay for them and try them out myself.

All the best,

Chris

(I posted this in trades accidentally and am deleting that now, apologies...newbie error)

I should add I'm currently bidding on these. So any advice with regard to these would be great.

Drew Estate Infused Gift Set 5 Cigars

Man O' War Puro Authentico Corona (5.0"x42) Pack of 5

Man O' War Damnation (Robusto) (5.5"x52) Pack of 5

Cuban Honeys Drunken Truffle Corona (5.2"x43) Pack of 5

Tatiana Mega-Sampler 24 Cigars

Those last two I wouldn’t touch with Drafter’s lips and Teedubya pushing.

Best advice for a new smoker, try different wrapper types from different countries. You’re going to find what you like which as you get along is going to be your next joy in this hobby. Then at some point along your affliction of TAD (Tobacco Acquisition Disorder) you’ll find your tastes have changed…..now you’re going to have cigars that aren’t your favorites. You will also have a grand excuse to exercise your TAD and update your collection with new offerings.

Find a local shop and see if they keep their stock in good shape (PLUME IS MOLD) if those bassturds say it’s plume leave and don’t ever come back. If it’s a good shop, they may have get togethers or as we call them “herfs” this is in fact what you were doing with your friend that crossed the rainbow bridge. New friends mean new opinions and probably new experiences, for the most part BOTL/SOTL (brother of the leaf/ Sisters of the leaf) are a generous and good natured bunch. Except Ram. Ram will hit you with his bat if he has had enough of your nonsense, we expect he may have murdered CROS. Don’t tell Ram though, I don’t want him catching on to our ongoing investigation.

Look at the noob trade. Get involved. Hang around a while to get the feel of this joint. And for the love of God tell me you like pancakes and not waffles. I don’t like commies.

Many of us began our obsession with cigars by trying flavored cigars. Within a very short period of time, we tire of the artificially sweetened flavors and start enjoying the natural flavors of real tobacco leaves grown specifically to be enjoyed as cigars.

Try a variety of cigars made with different wrapper leaves, such as: Ecuadoran Habano, Maduro, Connecticut Broadleaf, Cameroon, Sumatra, Corojo, Candela, San Andres, Habano, Oscuro, Colorado and a few others.

Start by buying fivers instead of boxes, so that you don't get stuck with half a box or more of cigars you don't enjoy. Most of us store our cigars at between 58 - 65% relative humidity. The commonly suggested 70% RH is too high, causing burn issues with many cigars. Welcome to the Brotherhood Of The Leaf.

Enjoy your stay. Most everyone here is great people, but all of us have been known to pitch a hissy fit on occasion. Well maybe not Frankie T and the Hawaiian Kamikaze Palma.

Don’t ask for advice about flavored cigars as very few people here smoke them, or if they do they won’t admit to it. Stay away from the $1-$2 a cigar sampler packs. They aren’t worth what you’ll spend on them.

Jamie aka Z said something about trying different cigars from different countries. That’s very good advice because you’ll find that cigars made from the same tobacco varieties, but whose tobaccos are grown in different countries have very different tastes. BTW, if Jamie invites you to go camping, quickly decline. He lives in a van down by the river.

Check out halfwheel.com. Lots of great info over there. Look for info regarding different types of tobaccos as well as the different sections of leaves from an individual plant. You’ll find information regarding how different ring gauges of the same cigar blend changes flavor because the wrapper imparts flavor inversely proportional to the diameter of a cigar.

I might recopmmend finding some of the smaller 6-12 cigar sampler packs tha tcontain different brands/blends to try out different cigars. the Cigar Page (combine those words and put a .com at the end) has samplers per-region/country, per-strength, etc... so you might find some good starting places there.

Flavored cigars should never be stored in your main humidor gets a seperate humidor or make a Tupperware humidor. Some say smoking a flavored cigar is crazy but honestly it has its time and place and frankly I like them and I always keep some for me and friends/guests to try. I bought the Tatiana sampler and I enjoy them and find a flavored stogie with a yeti of adult beverage waking the dogs at night or mowing the yard refreshing in this Texas heat sometimes. Same experience just totally diffrent tasting notes. Actually got some acids and Cuban honeys coming in as well in the mail to try.

As far as the now infused cigar route get yourself a few samplers that cover the gambit. There are some good nub samplers on right now. Try everything and take notes of what you like and didn’t like then head to a well reviewed cigar lounge in the area and ask for ideas based off your taste preferences. Everyone like something diffrent and there is a cigar out there that you will say this is my cigar benchmark.

Try diffrent countries, tobaccos, styles, and even sizes and welcome to the society and brotherhood of the leaf.

Noobs can do well by sticking to AJ stuff initially, then branch out to other well respected blenders.

DPG

Saka

Crowned Heads

Litto Gomez

Padron

Fuente

Pete Johnson

Dion Giolito

And others….

did you mean Charlie Chaplain?

HA!