Sir Sooty

Sorry, SOTL ? Duly noted! ??

Just got this post, sorry! My first time logging in in a while. Sorry for your loss brother. I’ve actually come online for the same reason, one of my BOTLs that I know on FoH passed recently so here to read his old posts and remember him by.

Awesome, thanks for this. Gives me more willpower to wait. Reviews are hard to come by! My plan is to crack the box at the 5 year mark and ration 1 per year...

Excel tracking sheet with columns for every imaginable classification to make custom sorting easier. A column for rating the box, a simple 5 star rating system. A column for ad hoc comments, incl abbreviated notes to indicate any changes in rating stars. For example, the most dramatic jump has been a 25 box of P.Shorts which jumped from 1 to 4 stars after a 1.5 year break... harsh and unsmokeable to ripper cigars

Why don’t you try pipe smoking? Particularly since you enjoy the ritualistic aspects. Packing, tamping, lighting all require concentration and the ritual is satisfying. Grab a cheap Missouri Meerschaum corn cob pipe, a cheap tamper or flat head nail, a BIC lighter and some Quiet Nights by Greg Pease and away you go...

I’ve ended up focusing mainly on regular production cigars, and getting a cross between going wide vs deep in fits and starts. In terms of width I’ve focused mainly on 6 houses (in order of volume Partagas, RA, Bolivar, PL, Cohiba, Trinidad) that account for 75% of my inventory. In terms of depth it’s just matter of finances, I try to have 2-4 boxes of each cigar. The most I’ve got is 7 deep in BRC, RASS and PSD4, so not outrageous My philosophy is to experiment widely then go deeper when you identified something worth buying multiple boxes of. Not every cigar you come across will fall into that category.

So err... Will we ever see a Australiano RE? Just planting that seed... Hehe 50 cab lanceros for the win!!!

Churchill is 15 grams, so the tax would be about $21 AUD incl GST Basically it doubles the cost of any decent cigar The rate of duty is virtually the same rate as exchange traded gold or silver... When tobacco is more valuable than gold or silver...something is not quite right...

Montecristo without a doubt. Just yuck.

Where I’ve gone boxes of 4 or more: RASS PSD4 BRC Picadores PSE2 VIGIA PLMC; PLP; Super Partagas; HUHC

I’m in exactly the same predicament lmao ? 1 espy or 2 colas probably the Espy given it’s higher price

And your tastes might change too. Example I took a 13 year hiatus from cigars, only smoked non Cubans for the first year back, discovered Liga and Padron to be my favourites. Fast forward another 6 months, I cannot get enough of that sweet communist leaf, never really looked back since. At this point in time now, I have enough CC experience to be disappointed every time I smoke a young Cuban, because I can see the unfulfilled potential and think what a waste of a smoke this was had I waited another 2 years I’d have been so much happier, the disappointment of young cigars past is what gives me the strength to wait for the delayed gratification

What's with the olive oil empty stomach idea?

I like the Montesco format actually, particularly for its hefty feel. The only requirement is that I punch these to avoid them being jaw breakers. Otherwise o find they tend to smoke very well

Keeping it current production... F: Behike K: anything Monte... M: CoLa, but I’ll take a Fundie too

Sounds like you're looking for value. That being so, I'd run with 3-4 boxes of small ring guage cigars and if 45 mins is not long enough for you smoke another one. RASCC, Partagas Aristocrats, P Shorts, P Super Partagas, HUHC It'd be a shame to limit yourself to just one box. I mean, I love any particular cigar like the BBF but I'd surely get sick of it if it's the only thing I'm smoking all summer long

Must get: 2-3 boxes of BRC, RASS, Picadores, Wide Churchills 1 Fundadores and Vigia 6-10 boxes 40-42 ring guage mixed marca Wish list: CoLa. More double coronas, partagas punch hdm. 1-2 boxes of torpedoes maybe SC or VR.

No, buying cigars from overseas will still be legal but only if you have a permit, by the sounds of it. The general policy is here https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/BudgetReview201819/Tobacco Changes to warehousing rules will also affect FoH’s business operations with more red tape I suspect. Not enough to kill 24:24 but enough to be a royal pain in the ass Question is how long will the Aussie cigar smoker becomes extinct, with the annual Sept hikes and more of these regulations popping up. Soo enough we’ll have a topsy turvey world where marijuana is legal and tobacco illegal...

A lot of good advice here, particularly with the petite coronas being representative of a marca. Sure sign of mature palate when you no longer have the constant urge to reach for the biggest ring guage cigar for your kicks. Having said that, here are my selections for 2 most representative (or in my mind, the "must get" boxes) Bolivar - BBF, BRC Cohiba - Esplendidos, CoLa H Upmann - HUHC, Connie A Partagas - PSD4, Lusitanias Por Larrañaga - PLPC, Picadores Ramon Allones - RASS, RASCC RyJ - Churchills, Wide Churchills Trinidad - Vigia, Fundadores

Rough tally would put these in the top 20, starting from most popular down RASS PLPC RYJ Churchill Sir Winston Lusitanias Connie A Fundadores CORO P.Shorts BRC P.898 Punch punch JL2 PSD4 PSE2 Esplendidos COLA Vigia Siglo 3 Siglo 6

Wide for my tastes. Already have plenty of other favorite robustos (RASS, BRC) so the Wide is a welcomed change of pace.

From my limited personal experience ... Trinidad Vigia PL Panetela, but fades in the final third PL Monte Carlos, but fades after end of first third The first 5 mins of every Cohiba Shorts

CoRo RASS PSE2 BRC CoLa Esplendidos Vigia HUHC PLPC Lusitania / Fundadores

When will the nightmare end? Spoke to Satesh of Melbourne LCDH a while back, he gives retail another 8 or so years before they'll be run out of business. Doesn't seem to be any cause for optimism here in Australia but one can only hope... Or be realistic and continue to load up inventory for the coming years until our individual pain barrier has been reached

There must be some math method to this depending on how fast you smoke, like if I smoke 3 per week that's 6 boxes of 25 per year... That means I've got to go through 30 boxes in 5 years to age nd not touch that box of PLPC Maybe the simple answer is just to buy 2 boxes of everything for 5 years (or as a general rule for life) that way you'll ensure a running supply of aging inventory Stick one of the two boxes away, smoke the other And when you're down to your bottom row or final third, time to stock up again