advice to improve experience

kingjake720

any advice to improve my cigar experience? hard liquor? places? people? which cigars? i'll take anything!

camgfs

Try it all, it's all up to personal taste. You could try drinking anything from chocolate milk to single malt scotch and see what works for you. Not all liquor will go well with all cigars, not all people always go well either, lol. Start with water or club soda (as suggested in this month's video from ccom) until you find what cigars you like.
As for places to smoke, I enjoy a cigar most when either on the deck or out camping...around a camp fire is real nice and relaxing.

Best advice I can give is never EVER smoke when you are in a hurry or if you have too many things on your mind. Smoke when you are relaxed and have the time to enjoy it and everything else will fall into play.

jsnake

My advice would be to send me all of your cigars you have more then one of. This way I can ensure you are smoking good stuff.

There is no right or wrong. I smoke while mowing, relaxing, grilling, at rock concerts, with friends, by myself, at work, etc. Have fun and find what suits you best.

kuzi16

camgfs:

Best advice I can give is never EVER smoke when you are in a hurry or if you have too many things on your mind. Smoke when you are relaxed and have the time to enjoy it and everything else will fall into play.

not only that, when you are actually smoking, slow down. you should be smoking just fast enough to keep the thing fully lit.

t_evan50

One thing I learned is if I don't like a cigar, I put it down and don't continue. Early on (3 months ago ) I would try to force myself through a cigar trying to get my money back out of it. I find that it dampened my spirit on cigars as a whole. So now I just put it out and grab one I know I like and continue loving the hobby.

xmacro

Learn retro-haling to fully taste a cigar (I still can't do it)

camgfs

xmacro:

Learn retro-haling to fully taste a cigar (I still can't do it)

I was "retro-haling" long before I ever knew there was a name for it. Easiest way I can think to explain 'how to do it' is to try this:
When you exhale the smoke, make your lips form a small opening and breath out from your nose and mouth at the same time. If you further limit the room inside your mouth with your tongue, by bringing your tongue up and forward, you will exhale some of the smoke through your nose.

Practice without any smoke until you can blow out of your mouth and nose at the same time. Then try it with a cigar. You won't have to swallow any smoke and you will learn to control how much smoke comes out your nose.
If your having trouble with this, the extreme is to close your mouth completely, and while breathing out of your nose, make the room inside your mouth smaller with your cheeks and tongue. The air that was in your mouth will come out your nose, along with any smoke that was in your mouth.

OK, I admit that explaining it in type is not as easy as I thought it would be, lol.

kuzi16

t_evan50:

One thing I learned is if I don't like a cigar, I put it down and don't continue. Early on (3 months ago ) I would try to force myself through a cigar trying to get my money back out of it. I find that it dampened my spirit on cigars as a whole. So now I just put it out and grab one I know I like and continue loving the hobby.

interesting


i have started many a cigar and didnt like it but after 30 or so minutes, it opened up.


... i guess it all depends on how bad it is too.

t_evan50

kuzi16:

t_evan50:

One thing I learned is if I don't like a cigar, I put it down and don't continue. Early on (3 months ago ) I would try to force myself through a cigar trying to get my money back out of it. I find that it dampened my spirit on cigars as a whole. So now I just put it out and grab one I know I like and continue loving the hobby.

interesting


i have started many a cigar and didnt like it but after 30 or so minutes, it opened up.


... i guess it all depends on how bad it is too.

Yea I guess I was too clear on that. If I like something I will smoke to the bitter end. If I don't, I always give if till the half way mark, if by then they havent opened up, I'm out.

xmacro

camgfs:

xmacro:

Learn retro-haling to fully taste a cigar (I still can't do it)

I was "retro-haling" long before I ever knew there was a name for it. Easiest way I can think to explain 'how to do it' is to try this:
When you exhale the smoke, make your lips form a small opening and breath out from your nose and mouth at the same time. If you further limit the room inside your mouth with your tongue, by bringing your tongue up and forward, you will exhale some of the smoke through your nose.

Practice without any smoke until you can blow out of your mouth and nose at the same time. Then try it with a cigar. You won't have to swallow any smoke and you will learn to control how much smoke comes out your nose.
If your having trouble with this, the extreme is to close your mouth completely, and while breathing out of your nose, make the room inside your mouth smaller with your cheeks and tongue. The air that was in your mouth will come out your nose, along with any smoke that was in your mouth.

OK, I admit that explaining it in type is not as easy as I thought it would be, lol.

Actually, that helps a lot - I'll be trying this later tonight

One2gofst

t_evan50:

kuzi16:

t_evan50:

One thing I learned is if I don't like a cigar, I put it down and don't continue. Early on (3 months ago ) I would try to force myself through a cigar trying to get my money back out of it. I find that it dampened my spirit on cigars as a whole. So now I just put it out and grab one I know I like and continue loving the hobby.

interesting


i have started many a cigar and didnt like it but after 30 or so minutes, it opened up.


... i guess it all depends on how bad it is too.

Yea I guess I was too clear on that. If I like something I will smoke to the bitter end. If I don't, I always give if till the half way mark, if by then they havent opened up, I'm out.

I agree with both of you. Whether I put up with a stick depends on how bad it is and what kind of mood I am in. There are some days when I'll finish just about any decent stick and others where I will can anything that isn't quite right. This kind of sums up my personal philosophy on cigars; do what you want. There is certainly nothing wrong looking for input from others on your way to trying to enjoy cigars more fully. However, don't let anything that anyone says or does change what YOU like. I think we are all guilty of it from time to time, but don't think we should be. If you like a stick that other people think taste like a butt, who cares, you are the one smoking it! I think retrohaling adds a lot to a stick, but if someone doesn't like it, but otherwise enjoys cigars, do what you like! These things aren't aimed at anyone in this thread, just my experience. Seems to me a lot of newer cigar smokers get turned off by the "rules", or what you HAVE to do when smoking a cigar. Funny thing is, I'll see guys lighting up that cheepy, getting the Bic flame all over the foot, puffing way to fast and enjoying the hell out of that stick. Not that I advocate bad cigars, scorching feet or excessively heating a cigar, but I do believe in enjoying YOUR cigar the way YOU like. Nothing wrong with learning more about the hobby, but never let anyone tell you what you HAVE to do. I'll get off my soapbox now.