I'm pretty happy with the mid-sized humidor I bought at cheaphimidors.com. Also if you Google "cheap humidors" you will get some decent links to other sites and information.

For decent discounted cigars try JR Cigar's online store. Good cigars in that range include Don Diego, H Upmann and many others. Look for the specials too.

~ Rick

thanks for the advice, jrcigars looks pretty good. How necessary is a humidor, since I am a novice smoker will i really notice the difference between leaving them in the box on top of my desk and keeping them in a humidor?
edited to include humidor deal
Does this seem like a good deal?

My go-to cheap cigar is La Finca , which is a decent, medium strength, long-filler Nicaraguan. Their coronas go for $39.95 for a box of 25 on jrcigars.com.

I've tried the AF Curly Heads and they're good value for your money (pretty much anything AF makes is good). They're made with scraps from the regular Fuente production so you're getting good tobacco. But it's not a true long-filler cigar and the construction can be a bit iffy sometimes -- they tend to fall apart and get "mushy" quicker than regular long-filler smokes. My experience is they also burn a little hotter.

If the smokes sit out for more than a week, you'll definitely notice the difference if you don't use a humidor -- they'll taste dried out and harsher. But you don't need anything fancy. You can get a decent 25 to 30-cigar capacity box for less than $50 -- just google "cheap humidors." Even a big ziploc bag or tupperware container with a $20 Credo humidification disk will do the trick.

This looks pretty solid. I'm not a huge fan of Gurkhas, but they're definitely smokeable. Add in all the extra stuff -- butane lighter, cutter -- and it's a good deal for $50. Only caution is that the humidor is pretty small -- it'll only hold about half a box at a time. But overall, this looks like a nice starter kit.

Keep in mind this is a real small humidor; something you wouldn't be able to store even a single box of regular cigars. OK for a desktop if you are taking them to the office from a regular sized one though.

In this size range JR would often have small humidor deals with I think better cigars. Also a while back there was a humidor thread (or perhaps it's somewhere in this one).

I'd say a humidor is very necessary. For years I used a JR style (BTW, Lou Rothman, owner of JR Cigar writes funny ad copy) "iglooadoor"' essentially a plastic tub with the humidity devices but since I got the humidor as a gift a few years back I'm getting much better results.

~ Rick

PS Please forgive grammar, this was written during a commercial break of the Red Sox game

Ok i have been doing some more research and found what i think are pretty good deals on Thompson cigar. Which of these two deals do you guys think is better?
deal 1
or
2

I ended up going with the second deal, including shipping it was only $35 for a 25 count humidor and 25 cigars.

Sounds good.

If you live in a low humidity area you might want to add something like this to your humidor (put the beads in an empty pill bottle). I live in relatively dry area of California and found the single humidifying device that comes with the humidor not quite up to the task. It also helps keep things right on 70% humidity (I bought the more expensive digital checker). The cheap gages given with these deals will usually be way off and drive you crazy.

Also regarding cheap cigars you may want to try GENUINE PRE-EMBARGO COUNTERFEIT CUBAN EPICURE CIGARS from JR Cigar. Sports betting buddy and I just had one in the Jacuzzi after we gave up on the Sox game. Good for the price.

~ Rick

The tupperware version is what JR calls the "igloadoor"

~ Rick

I recently moved to providence for college so not sure about the humidity levels here. Those look pretty nice. Rick thanks for all the help, my usual cigar is a white owl from 7/11 with my friends but I wanna move up in the world of cigars

i recently moved from Indy to Cali and cannot get good cubans out here....does any know where i can get a box of Partagas #4 serie D? I only smoke stuff from Habana and im about to go crazy here.

Indy

I'm from Newport/Middletown Rhode Island although I never smoked a cigar there. My experience is that the relative humidity is close to the level you need so your humidor probably won't be stressed too hard.

People who live in places like New Orleans or Florida need their humidor to keep humidity out while a place such as Las Vegas would stress the humidity device. The various cigar sites have good info on the techniques to get it right. I'd link but I'm multi-tabling donkaments .

While in Providence hope you get a chance to check out Havens Brothers diner late at night along with the various NY System Hot Weiner joints. Lots of good music clubs in Providence too. Nice little city; enjoy it!

~ Rick

I am originally from outside of Boston and have found Providence to be a very manageable and a good first city to live in. At alot of the bars around campus you can turn 21 early which is nice and i will definitely check out Havens Brothers diner after a few cold ones./hijack sorry el d
edited to include: I have already eaten there and the food was delicious but a bit overpriced. I was in the area at an 18+ bar that serves everyone, what a nice concept!

Can someone please tell me the benefits of smoking a cigar? I may be smoking it wrong, however the only thing I get out of smoking is actually tasting tobacco. If I inhale even a little I start to feel like crap. I smoke cigarettes occasionally and at least get a buzz off them. Whats the big enjoyment from cigars?

Didn't like these fakes at all, tasted bitter and they didn't draw very good at all.

Rick, this question might seem strange to ask but you seem to know a lot about Cigars and maybe you know. When applying for life insurance when they ask if you smoked any tobacco products in the last year how bad does it hurt your rates if you admit to say 5 cigars a week?

Or anyone else who may know.

same as smoking 5 pax a day. the tobacco nazis make no distinctions.

just ordered some of the JR Alternative Hemingway Signature cigars. i'll be sure to give input when i receive them.

really looking to get some authentic cubans though. how do you think the best way to go about this is? aside from websites that sell boxes...

So what are the ramifications for my friend (not me) of course, if he lied on the form and said he didn't smoke to get the lower rate?

There's at least one good website that seems reliable (I got it from a 2+2er and had good results). PM me if you want it. But aside from that, you could sneak some back next time you go on vacation in the Carribean. I did this once and although it was a little nerve wracking it was pretty easy.

Why? The very top Dominican and Hondurans tended to rate just as well or better in evaluations in the Cigar mags (years ago when I read a few copies). Don't know if they are effectively blind tasted though or does advertiser influence creep in. I'd also be concerned that if a cigar maker knew his cigars were being tested he'd only send product make by his best hand rollers and so on.

The real knock against real Cuban cigars (when you can get them) is that they are being made by a country that has lived under Communism for 47 years. That's not good for manufacturing quality products.

~ Rick

A few things to update this thread:

Casa Fuente in the forum shops- highly reccomend it. Not only can you find a normal stick that's only marked up a little bit (cigars on the strip are often twice your normal price), they also have a great cigar that's a house blend that you can only get there. It's about $20/stick but it blows away any other $20 stick you'll find in vegas imo. They also have some high end stuff, including the opus-x.

I love the way the opus-x tastes. It has a lot of bite and a great draw, spicy and hot. But it will knock you on your ass. I cant even finish the sort of rothschild-torpedo they have.

I bought one of the forbidden sticks last time i was there. At $75/stick it's not 4x better than a $20 stick, but it was exceptional. Very, very smooth, almost like tasting a handful of hot and fresh roasted peanuts/almonds. Great cigar.

My daily smoke has become the punch rare corojo rothschild. I love these cigars b/c i can finish one w/o having a total mind [censored].

I recently ordered some cubans from a very reputable swiss dealer and will post a report when i receive them. included in the order was a cohiba robusto, montecristo #1 (iirc), partagas, punch-punch, and a few other random-ish picks.

Still, for $5/stick, i dont know if i'll find something better than a punch rare corojo


-Tex


edited to add: if you're out on the strip looking for a cigar, buy one from one of the girls at cesars who walk around w/ cigarettes, cigars, roses, etc. You can find a cohiba toro for less than $25 (a good price for the stick) and some ashtons for about $20. Any other place will charge you at least that much for a far inferior stick.


Also, someone needs to go pick up one of the pre-embargo 1932 cubans from the cigar shop at cesars that's right where appian way meets the casino floor. They're $400/stick, covered in plume, and apparently ivey and rene angelil and antoine walker are the only ones to buy one. I know some pre-embargo cubans get sold at sothebys and are likely documented as being stored in good conditions and what not, so i'd think these would be as well. But [censored], $400/stick!!!

Man, you love overpaying for your cigars.

on the contrary. i love sampling great cigars. after receiving my shipment of cubans this week i can say w/o doubt that i'll never pay $75 for a dominican cigar ever again. furthermore, cuban cohibas are rather pricey and after sampling a few i only found one that i thought was worth its price.

the cohiba millenium pyraimdes was a good cigar, exceptionally mild for a cohiba, but not worth the $33 price tag. i thought the $20 cohiba corona especial was a better stick.

i particularly like the hoyo de monterrey petit robustos ($8).

and cubans aren't all hype- while there are a few dominican cigars i'd prefer over a lot of cubans, a good cuban is leaps and bounds better than a good dominican, and in my case cheaper. there's a bunch of cubans between $7-$15/stick that are wonderful cigars. i'm especially looking forward to trying one of the Bolivar gold medals.

if anyone's interested in obtaining the same supplier feel free to pm me, i dont want to post it in the thread b/c 2p2 can be kind of weird about lots of things, probably including posting a link to buying cuban cigars too.



-Tex

Guys, this is a great thread, so I apologize for the noob question. My girl brought me a couple cigars from her trip to Niagara Falls. I don't have a humidor, but both cigars are sealed in metal casing. How am I to store these, and how long will they keep?

Also, the cigars are Montecristo Tubos and Macanudo Hampton Court.