Looks like a stellar price to me at $50.

http://www.famous-smoke.com/cao+visi...mpaign=ZWW2507

Great find! You used to have to buy the crappy cigars that came with it.

just tried my first Rocky Patel 15th anny stick.

tried the torp first. First thoughts are: well constructed as always, but less firm that the decades. leather, coffee, cocoa flavors, slightly lighter, creamier and sweeter than the decade line. Burn was not perfect, required a relight or two. Will try more shapes soon though. Well worth the 8-12 buck price.

i like a cohiba robusto but they kinda last too long. cigarillos are what im smokin nowadays

Tried the corona gorda last night. at 6x46 it was noticeably smaller than the torpedo i tried previously. construction was spot on, burn was consistent and even. This stick just didnt seem as complex as the torpedo did, more nutty flavors up front and then I missed out on the chocolate and deep leather of the torpedo. The smoke also seemed slightly less creamy and less plentiful than with the torpedo. I picked the corona gorda up for 8.95 from my local JR, and at that price I thinkits worth the extra 2 bucks to get one of the other sizes. I'll likely try the toro next, which weighs in at a more substantial 6.5x52. The torpedo was 6.125x52 for reference.

cliffs: torpedo > corona gorda

I headed to my cigar store to look for the Rockey 15th anny sticks and he claimed no one has them yet. They were also woefully low on RP's so he recommended a Kristoff Maduro.

Looks very well constructed with a twist at the mouth end and the front covered flat with the wrapper and twisted as well. Going on a sail and will smoke this for sure, possibly along with another.

Will post a TR soon.

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Had a Padron 3000 Maduro the other night around a campfire with a few buddies. Highly recommended, smoked it until I couldn't hold it anymore.

Had a CAO America the other day. It was a very potent smoke. I usually smoke full body cigars, but this one packed a hell of a buzz. Very tasty though and the beautiful pin striped wrapper is something to see, even if it was a little dry.

It's hard to find a good store / humidor being on the road, but at least the variety is good.

cigarsinternational has a sweet deal for first time customers.

cigarsinternational.com/sax72. sample pack of 8 cigars + 5 cigar travel humidor (perfect for golf imo) for ~$20 shipped.

I like sample packs, cuz I don't smoke often enough to commit to a full box and like trying different kinds. I just ordered this pack last night as well as the lighter.
http://www.cigarsinternational.com/p...13&cat=6&page=

Anyone got any other insane deals like these on other sites that they wanna share?

I like using cigarmonster for deals at famoussmoke.com.

Different deal everyday, sometimes 5 packs, sometimes samplers, sometimes boxes. Also free shipping on your whole order if you buy through them.

http://www.cigarmonster.com/

A lot of these style online cigar shops don't pot their shipping policies. Does Cigar's international actually ship internationally?

Over the long weekend I smoked the following...

Fuente Hemingway perfect ending
CAO Brazillia
La Flor Dominica Double Ligero

The Fuente was good. A longer smoke than any of the other Hemingway's I have smoked. Very sweet But not as sweet as the smaller ones. Price is very high at ~$8.50 for such a short smoke. Found myself wishing it was a lot longer smoke.

CAO Brazillia: Not as dark and flavorful as i was hoping. I have found myself disappointed by the last few Maduro's I have smoked but this was by far the best of the bunch. Thick cigar and not too long so it was a very good length smoke. Gave me some terrible cigar breath though. Overall good but not great. Probably worth the price of about $6.50

La Flor Dominica DL: I remember these being much stronger and deeper chocolate tasting smokes. The wrappers are a lot lighter than they used to be, however the last half of the cigar was still quite satisfying. Just not as good as I remembered but that is probably subjective. Cigar ash was very solid and didn't fall off even in some moderate wind unless I ashed it. Well constructed.

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fwiw

Just snagged a pair of these, a pair of the RP Decade Limited with the maduro con. shade wrappers, and a pair of the 1990s with the large ring gauge. I am loving the RP smokes, but man the price is getting steeper every time I purchase them. I think I paid ~$75 for the 6 smokes.

I also picked up 2 maduro JFR's. These are an unbanded cigar. The name stands for "Just for Retailers" and I have gotten really good recommendations on them in the last month. $6.50 a smoke so if they are good they could easily go into the regular rotation.

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Smoked a JFR maduro at the Redskins tailgate.

For a $6.50 cigar this was a very good cigar. The taste was phenomenal, however the construction was mediocre. The draw was a little loose and it went out tons of times. Also toward the last 25% the wrapper just disintegrated and flaked off causing the cigar to burn very hot.

Overall I would give it a B based on value but wish they were rolled a little tighter as I think that would have made the cigar an A-.

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For those in the Chicago area, Burning Leaf Cigars is hosting an event Thurs Sept 30th with Pepin Garcia AND Pete Johnson attending.

Chance to meet arguably THE two biggest names in the industry at the moment, plus food/drinks and boxes on sale. I'm going to be making the drive from Canada for this one. If anyone is interested in going or needs more info, fire me a pm.

Saint Luis Rey Serie G Maduro

Thick flavorful smoke.

Cueing up a Padron 80th anniversary Maduro for an upcoming trip. Really excited as it is the most expensive cigar I have ever purchased and I got a box of 8. Hope it lives up to expectations.

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Cigar noob here. Just bought and recieved the Humidor from the FTP store. What is the best process to get this up and running from anyone that has bought this before? I'm assuming there is more to do than just toss my cigars in right?

Thanks!

this is fairly good

http://cigars.about.com/od/seasoning...s/0061702c.htm

basically you need to get it to a reasonable level of humidity before you fill it.

the important parts are distilled water (easy to get at any grocery store) and realizing this **** takes time

trip report? (the smoking part anyways)

Anyone know where to get a good smoke in Reno, NV?

Also my son just turned 18 and I am looking forward to lighting one up with him there.

Any recommendations on a starter? I was thinking about a Macanudo or a RP Connecticut maybe?

I was thinking Montecristo white, something reasonable in size.

Although most 18 year olds think they are badass, you dont want the kid to puke his first time. So unless he is a seasoned smoker already, I'd stick to something light.

Just recently finished up the CAO MX2 ($8) and the Fonseca 2-2 (<$5).

The MX2 Toro was absolutely fantastic. The first third was quite possibly the smoothest, most flavorful smoke I've ever smoked in my life. I wasn't particularly impressed with the draw itself, it was quite loose with a solid cut. The second third had hints of mocha and leather. The final third was very cinnamony and the flavor began to diminish.

On a side note, if you smoke this cigar while smoking another herbal substance you get the craziest hints of mountain dew.

The 2-2 was subpar. Decent construction, decent draw, mediocre flavor.

Have a Lonsdale that I'm saving for Halloween time, will write a little review on it.

OK got back from my trip yesterday. Smoked a bunch of cigars that are worth noting since there was a cigar bar on the ship.

Mostly I took a ton of Rockey Patel's and one of the 80th anniversary Padrons. The first cigar I smoked on the ship was the Padron to celebrate being on vacation.

For those that don't know the Padron's are a box pressed Perfecto. Interesting shape that supposedly only one guy at the factory can actually roll. I had heard reports that these were one of the best non-cuban cigars ever made. I had the Maduro wrapper version and it is supposed to be very chocolaty and rich tasting. I have to say that I was more than slightly disappointed with the smoke. It was much more mild than I expected and although it smoked well the flavor was actually relatively bland for my taste. By about halfway through the cigar I was not only regretting having purchased a box of 8, but also hoping that leaving them to age a bit longer in the humidor will perk them up a bit. I have also been really disappointed with these cigars as the construction is not flawless as you would expect with a very high end cigar. The wrappers on the first box I bought were damaged near the end where they were put into the box and despite going through the trouble of returning them for a new box the new box showed up with the same issues. Padron was really nice about it but I think that their quality control here is weak for some reason. I have smoked much cheaper Padrons that I enjoyed much more.

The cigars I bought on the trip were a 3 pack of Cuban Montecristo's which were so bad I can only hope that they were fakes. I purchased them in a duty free store and the labeling and seals all looked legit but they were total crap smokes. If this is what the fabled Montecristo No 2 is supposed to be then I think that the people who like them are nuts. They were pyramids but the weird thing is that all three were not very oily, had a very thick leaf vein in the wrapper and looked virtually identical with a deep crease in the same part of each cigar, to the point where I was questioning whether or not they were machine made.

On the trip I also smoked a RP 15th Anniversary and another 1990 in a torpedo shape. The 15th anniversary was ok but not fantastic. i did not like the decades either so I guess I should not have been too shocked. It was spicy but not very flavorful and had a somewhat harsh smoke. Also the draw was very stiff even though I cut a little more off the end 2 times after the initial cut to try to correct it. Immediately afterward (I only smoked about 2/3 cause it was not great) I smoked a 1990 and was amazed at how much better it tasted.

I can only say that my opinion of Rockey's is very high but that the best by far I have smoked of them is the 1990. Maybe my tastes are not standard for what is a "good smoke" but flavor is a key ingredient and its got that in spades. Instead of a spicy flavor its more of a port/wine taste that is just fantastic.

My two favorite RP's so far have gone quite against the grain and are the 1990 and the Patel Bros which are both quite reasonably priced.

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