The great cigars, and the just okay cigars

[Dbone]

As I journey further down the rabbit hole I'm finding I have cigars within my collection which I absolutely love. I could smoke these day in and day out and always be satisfied. Then there's the rest, they're by no means bad, but not great by any margin. They're just okay.

Although this is the funny thing. When I go "hunting" I'll often choose to smoke the just okay smokes and save the really great ones for another time. This is obviously delusional, right? Am I the only one? Help!!

[TankerT]

I do the same thing.

[77stoneblues]

I do something similar. If I find a great cigar, I buy a box. If I smoke a great one from the box, I tend to avoid it after that. I'm almost afraid to ruin the experience by finding a dud. On the flipside, if I have something I don't like as much, I keep going to it over and over, to find something about it I do like.

[Rushman]

I'm the same way, but I can't think of another hobby or obsession where that also occurs. I have a large collection of cufflinks but time and time again, I go back to my favorite and most expensive pair.

[Wil]

I hate smoking a cigar just to get rid of it.

[mbrody]

I can't help but smoking the so-so ones just to get rid of them, or hope they come around. However, I certaintly don't limit myself to the so-so ones. I sometimes go weeks only smoking the good ones to balance it out!

The thing that gets me most are my boxes that are so-so and then I see current stock on a LITH that looks much better...makes me want to try the newer stuff in hopes that I find that I truly like the smoke, but hard to swallow when you still have a few boxes.

[Rehman]

It did sound perverse to begin with, DBone, till I realised everybody does it who likes anything: "saving the best for last".

[Wil]

It did sound perverse to begin with, DBone, till I realised everybody does it who likes anything: "saving the best for last".

That's right. Part of the pleasure is knowing that you have great cigars. And of course the pleasure of anticipation...

[kcheek]

I do the same Dbone. I call the so-so ones my "utility cigars".

[Wicky]

Why deny yourself of something you love??? Smoke your favorites now and buy more of the same for later.

The others will happily wait until you feel like spending time with them.

[OZCUBAN]

I tend to smoke both but lately

I have been smoking what I love and what gives me the best enjoyment

Life is way to short to put off for rainy day that might never come

Don't get me wrong there are always some special boxes that one wants to put away for a length of time

But as in the case of a good wine IT'S MADE TO DRUNK...

"I know what I like, and smoke accordingly "

And for the most part I like what I smoke

Cheers OZ

[PigFish]

Thank God I have been doing this a few years and know what I like. Recognizing what you like is an important part of smoking maturity. Some would accuse me of being closed minded or scared to change, fearing new products and untested cigars. I call it wisdom.

I still have a sufficient stock of cigars that I may never smoke. I live for the moment and treat a smoking experience as if could be my last. While that does not force me to smoke a certain box of cigars until they are gone, it biases me towards certain cigars proven to deliver good or excellent smoking experiences. Over the years I have cast off most of the boxes of dull robustos, and lenghty and mediocre churchills, EL's and other cigars I consider sub par. I pick one up now and again to see what I am not missing, but I would rather up-average my overall smoking aggregate. There is no excuse not to smoke an excellent cigar, if you have an excellent cigar to smoke.

Life is too short to smoke **** cigars! Hopefully long enough however to prove to each individual smoker what a truly excellent cigar is, with some time to amass those cigars and subsequently smoke through them. It would be fitting for me to take my last breath puffing on the last cigar of the last box of Seleccion Privadas, GdE's or SdC's.

We don't have commonality here mate. I have replaced the cigars that are average with ones I consider superb. Not that all the cigars that I own are superb... I still have a few boxes of EL's and other stray dogs in the dark boxes. They may likely remain there until the day I call the subterranean my home!

Cheers, Piggy

[jedipastor]

I'm the same as you guys. If I'm going to be doing something that takes a lot of my attention (yard work, playing a game, video chat), I'll pick a cigar that is:

1) Cheaper

2) Not incredibly complex (since I won't give it my full attention)

3) Has enough flavor to enjoy w/out having to think about it

Plenty of cigars fit the bill, though for me they are mostly NCs, as I'm still noobish enough with CCs to want to concentrate on them all.

[Stalebread]

No, apparently you're not the only one, Dbone.

I do the same thing. But in the end, there's little pattern or logic to how I choose what I smoke when I smoke it. Sometimes, I go on streaks where I'll smoke only cigars that I'm pretty sure will be great. But I've noticed that once in a while those "great" cigars disappoint like a Sir Winston that I had recently that just wasn't what it should have been -- or, at least, not what I expected. On the other hand, occasionally one of those "just okay" cigars will end up being an outstanding cigar and I'll be surprised and delighted.

[Bunner]

I also do the same... however when the special ocassion or whatever it maybe arrives I often still smoke my "everyday" smoke... now I think that is crazy.

[Omskakas]

I've been struggling with average cigars the whole summer. I have few boxes of cigars I know are not getting better with time (NC's or construction problems) Yet they are not *that* bad that I would be comfortable to throw them away. I have sold some, gifted some and smoked a lot. And I'm not very happy about smoking cigars I'm not satisfied with. Still, I have to smoke at least as many "good cigars" as "average cigars" to balance things out. That has lead me to smoke much more than I intend to.

[thechenman]

I'm another one who has both great and so so cigars in my collection. Honestly...when I smoke I my own I tend to smoke the so so cigars. I save the great cigars to share and smoke with my friends. These moments make a great cigar even better.

[Dbone]

Amazing, I'm not the only one... whew. Probably the same reason I leave desert for last at the meal. I've already began to purchase multiple boxes of my favorites so I can have those on hand often. Just hope my taste doesn't change LOL

I'm hoping to have a stock of mostly favorites by this time next year, or two years from now. I can only imagine some of you who have been at this for a long time. I learn by smoking one stick at a time, it's the only way.

[Colt45]

If it were possible, I'd only ever smoke great cigars. Unfortunately, by the nature of the beast we will always run into mediocrity from

time to time - and I'll put up with that once in a while. But I would not knowingly grab a mediocre cigar - for me there's no point.

[CaptainQuintero]

Four years into smokings cigars I live the life of the singles

I'm still in the phase of trying one or two of everything that I can. When I come across something which is exceptional and I really enjoy then I pick up a box. Four years in I have four boxes which have met that level:

Upmann mag 46

Quintero Panatelas

Por Larranaga Regalias de Londres

FLor De Cano Short Robusto

That's from a selection of maybe 40 different cigars that I have tried, so for me there are a lot of average but good cigars. Nice enough to enjoy but not special enough for me to buy a box of. Potential buys for boxes are RYJ short churchills and something from Punch if I can find something in that marka which is exception for my tastes. But I'm still exploring and a result of that means I ironically don;t smoke too many of the exceptional cigars that I have bought boxes of! But the aim is that one day I will have a number of boxes which I can choose from whenever I fancy a cigar that I know I will really enjoy.

That's the plan anyway, but until then the variety of trying different markas and violta is keeping me excited/fulfilled enough so that I don;t feel bad about not delving into my 'special boxes' as much as I would like

[Pilgrims]

Good thread and it is inevitable that you end up with a balance of decent, good and great (happens with wine too) I tend to use the decent and sometimes good if I'm going for a walk, playing golf, know that I'll be distracted and then save the "great" for mellow times when you can concentrate a bit and throw yourself into the moment (god that sounds pretentious but you know what i mean)...

[LeafLover]

I find that I have stocked my collection with all what I consider in my palate's eye to be great cigars and especially great cigars that are discontinued. The ratio of these types of cigars I have to "so-so" cigars in my collection is high enough that I find that I have very few cigars I want to smoke on a daily basis.

And, what adds to the dilemma is that HSA is deleting more of what I love not to mention none to limited quantities of the discontinueds that I love to smoke.

What to do?!!