Welcome to the nut hut and THANK YOU for your service!

http://www.cigarbid.com/FORUM/c/posts/610272/NOOB-TRADE-THREAD-34  and introduce yourself. FGM runs that circus... don't worry, he's mostly harmless! Whatever you do, do NOT look directly into his Thonginator picture on the pic forum!!!!!!!

While you're waiting to hook up with a vet, I'd suggest checking the samplers section. Start with one of the mild ones - even if some folks in your group have more advanced palates, a good, well made mild stick is enjoyable and pretty inoffensive to pretty much everyone. Perdomo champagne, 5 vegas gold and Gurkha doble maduro come immediately to mind.

When you're rested and online again, send a pm to smitty or IUROX or shovlgrrrl (I'd do a thread search for OpFTH, just to make sure you get their handles spelled right - I'm pretty sure they're not) and hook your unit up with them. They took VERY good care of my brother's unit, on all of his desert tours. It never ceased to amaze him how their care packages always seemed to arrive when morale was at it's lowest.

get me your APO addy and ship home date. Will get you added to OpFTH's shipping list

www.opfth.com

Todd

Who are you? DaQueen didn't say you're with OpFTH!!

Another suggestion based on my baby bro's experiences: get a variety of sizes and price-points. Have something nicer and/or bigger for those times when you know you'll have time to enjoy it properly, and some quickies and "yard-gars" that you can either enjoy in a shorter bit of time or that you won't be heartbroken about having to abandon unfinished if the poo hits the fan.

Folks that are new to cigars might enjoy some of the Drew Estates infused stuff - Java and Tabak Especial are coffee infused and very popular - or the ACID line (funky botanical stuff - I like KubaKuba and blondie, but they do kind of smell like grandma's purse, IMO...) CAO flavors are good, and Gurkha has some cognac infused sticks, also, that are pretty cheap here. Those are really the only flavored that I'd recommend - the other brands just seem to be lots of strong flavorings to cover up the bad taste of a crappy cigar. If you have any pipe smokers in your unit, maybe look at some of the DE Natural line, too.

Baby bro also said that they used yard-gars and Gurkhas as trade and public relations fodder in town with the locals pretty frequently. (Apparently, they got a long way with the local "mayor" by offering him a Gurkha Centurian and quoting ad copy like "While Gurkha is one of the most prestigious cigar makers in the world, the Centurian is their most prestigious cigar blend. Made in sparing numbers, the cigar was originally commissioned by the Sultan of Brunei, one of the world’s richest and most powerful men, for his personal everyday cigar." LOL. Centurians ARE pretty decent, IMO, and range from pretty darn affordable to downright cheap on cbid.)