If you buy 10 cigars and only smoke 5 before you buy another 10, you will have 15 cigars. Repeat and then you have 20. Then 25, etc. So it goes and your humidor starts to fill up.

Now there is a moral to this story. If you keep buying more than you smoke and you aren't sure what you like, you're going to end up with plenty of cigars you don't like. "Don't like" is a very relative term and it might just mean cigars you thought were OK, but you wouldn't look to buy again. So as you start out, my advice is to buy at a rate that only slightly exceeds consumption. You are far less likely to end up with too many smokes you don't want.

A few thoughts:

Some of the mid range singles on CBid go for $4-$10. The $4 ones go in 5 packs for $12-$17 and the $10 ones maybe $25-$40. Some will say one is not enough to judge a cigar. I'll go along with that. However, it could be said that 5 is more than enough to know you don't like it. If you start with buying the singles that you have read about by regular smokers, like on the "What are you smoking now azzhats" thread, you will get more variety for less overall expense and you'll be less likely to end up with excess that you don't enjoy. Your cost per cigar will be higher, but your cost per cigar enjoyed will be lower.

Ignore the ad copy from the seller. They are there to sell cigars. Every single cigar they sell will sound like a piece of heaven rolled in a tobacco leaf. The wrapper, binder, filler info is something that is useful.

Many, many samplers suck. There are some samplers that are a good, but none that I can think of that are $1-$3 per cigar that come with a free lighter or humidor. Stay as far away from these as you can. You can find samplers from very decent cigar makers, but thy are more likely going to be $4-$10+ per cigar. Some might even come with a cheap lighter or cheap cutter. Some real good samplers can be had, but for real variety, you'll have to look at other sites



TLDR: Read up on cigars from places that don't sell cigars. At the beginning buy only slightly more than you consume. Avoid cheap samplers.

As others have said, your cigar preference can change over time. I've tried many different blends, sizes, makers. My tastes have changed over the years. Some of my favorites are still around and some are long gone. One thing that hasn't changed is my like of Padron cigars. I got my first one from Dave Zippy who was my newbie/elder match. I still remember it. A simple Padron 2000 maduro. As I tried various of stuff over the years the Padron 2000 turned into my baseline.

One thing that I've found to help is when you find something that works for you, read and follow others that have the same preferences. If I had to pick one "legal" cigar, I'd pick full bodied, maduro, Nicaraguan blend. With that said, I also like blends with Dominican and Honduras tobacco. I'm not into CT wrapper or mild cigars. I'm sure there are a ton of different ones out there that great but for some reason, they don't work for me.

I also ignore the published reviews and put more stock on comments and reviews from folks that have similar taste profiles as mine.

As for biding here, I place my max bid at 60 or 65% of the Cigars International (mother ship) selling price, If it doesn't win, no loss. I can try again because it will be up for auction again.
As for a bundle cigar I like the Flor de Oliva Maduro. This would be my choice for a bundle cigar. Padron use to sell a Fumas but the are long gone
As for other inexpensive cigars I like the Nica Libre, 5 Vegas A or Triple A Maduro, La Flor Dominicana, La Gloria Cubana, Man O' War and Man O' War Puro Authentico (haven't tried the others in this line),

Helpful link for operating in this forum:

https://www.cigarbid.com/Forum/c/posts/617445/Commonly-Used-Acronyms-and-Abbrevs-Rev-1217 

100%

Also expect your tastes to change. The best cigar you ever had you may not want to have 50 in your humidor after you've found a different best ever cigar. Stay small, fivers max. Some sites do singles sales. You'll pay a bit more per cigar than fivers but for $100 you could get upwards of 20 good cigars to try.

Buying bulk cigars to save money on the per cigar can cost a lot more than paying more for a single. I'm still caught by this at times, I'll get a box for the price of 3 fivers or 10 singles and try something new by thr box. Try 3 of rm and decide its not something I like. In the end I just spent $50/cigar because I only smoked 3 and gave away the rest. Should've just paid $50 for the fiver or $15 for thr single.

Current favorite bundle cigar room 101 ichiban habano (didn’t like the maduro at all and I love maduro cigars)
Perdomo fresco maduro is really good
Flor de Oliva are all good that I’ve tried
Oliva seconds are good
I buy Nicaraguan overruns for any time smokes

Thats my basic grab for cheap stuff I actually like.

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Amazing stuff guys, thanks for the advise! Feel like this is the way to learn rather than sites that lean towards promoting certain products!

Keep them coming! Currently puffing on a man o war virtue, pretty decent!

Build humidor for low cost sign up for email alerts for every cigar website known to man. I’d use a burner email address because they get to be a bit much. Every day something is on sale. That’s how I’ve built my stash. I’ve also got several cigars that I don’t like too much that same way so id recommend doing some homework before you buy a lot.

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I have made that mistake, I receive around 20 emails daily from them all and keep track of retail me not for new coupon codes that pop up each month. I would love to support my local b&ms but they are way too high. Try to at least buy a stick here and there when I want to try something different

In cigars, size does matter.

I'm not a fan of large ring gauge (60 something or other) which seems like the big thing recently. A corona size would be in my target size but I do like belicoso and robusto (ring size of 50's ish or under), Everyone is different so smoke what you like.

That too Bucky is something I wish I knew as a noob. I thought bigger is better more bang for my buck n stuff.