Your personal cigar picking priorities ???

[99call]

In reading a post about oily cigars, I got me wondering?

When you're in a walk in humidor of a kindly cigar merchant, and you have a nice table to open boxes, and try to find the qualities you're looking for. Whats your order of priorities (and add to it if you want) when picking a box.

1, Uniformity

2, Oil content of wrappers

3, General quality of wrapper, minimal veins, hue, texture

4, Hard spots, Soft spots, Over Packed, Underpacked

5, Aroma

6, Small non significant breakages, i.e tiny cracks to feet etc

7, Box codes, (this has to exclude year) 

8, The box was sealed before you inspected it. (i.e. it hasn't been fingered over)

9, No mould/beetles present  

10, A humidity condition (wet or dry) you approve of at point of sale. 

 

My pick in order of highest priority is   9,4,5,1,3,10,6,2,8,7

Whats your FOH??

 

[Schwartz22]

Same as you 9,4,5,1,3.  If I am satisfied with those 5 items, the rest don't really factor in to my decision.

[99call]

3 minutes ago, Schwartz22 said:

Same as you 9,4,5,1,3.  If I am satisfied with those 5 items, the rest don't really factor in to my decision.

I have to agree that my percentage of concern would have a similarly massive drop of at the half way point.

[PigFish]

... why could you not just number them in a logical order in the first place!!!? -LOL

9

I see 1 and 4 as the same field of study.

5

11... ocular not oil of wrapper centric. Color of wrapper in combination with 3.

12... year produced/boxed.

Cheers! -Piggy

[99call]

1 minute ago, PigFish said:

... why could you not just number them in a logical order in the first place!!!? -LOL

9

I see 1 and 4 as the same field of study.

5

11... ocular not oil of wrapper centric. Color of wrapper in combination with 3.

12... year produced/boxed.

Cheers! -Piggy

Because I'm difficult!!!   you know this Ray... speaking of difficult, you broke the rules on adding in year produced! I take it you'll be opting for the RG Lonsdales from 1995 in this imaginary humidor of yours?

[99call]

Damn, I just realised I said you could add numbers, Why did I do this. 

[PigFish]

11 minutes ago, 99call said:

Because I'm difficult!!!   you know this Ray... speaking of difficult, you broke the rules on adding in year produced! I take it you'll be opting for the RG Lonsdales from 1995 in this imaginary humidor of yours?

No I am not talking 90's here!

I can tell you though that I am not impressed with cigars from 14 and 15... Are they available in your store? Frankly, I might try a '17 or '16 cigar verses buying something that I had poor experience with.

Of course much of this might be dispelled with a cigar that I rate a firm and correctly packed...

How about this... I will continue to what I do... stick your damn brick and mortar store... -LOL (read with levity). I mean why would I pay $1500 in tariffs for a $250 box of cigars???

Throw me out... I dare you! That is my lawyer there in my limousine!!!

Now I am actually going to picket your damn store, damn you...

This guy does not like fat, bald capitalists in this store... DON'T SHOP HERE!!! -LOL

-Ray

[99call]

3 minutes ago, PigFish said:

-Ray

Well put

It does surprise me though, that if you look at some of the 'issues' that are creeping into what are considered good cigars, it's all turning 'arse about face' as we say in the UK.

I'd recently had issue with a vender (no names) who would not open a box of cigars to take an image of them, "as every client wanted to open their own box?"

My line of questioning was, "what happens if someone opens a box, and they don't like what they see?" are they somehow honour bound to buy a box of cigars that look and feel  and smell bad?, all this, in a bid to protect the kind of buyer who doesn't like the idea of someone looking at "His or Hers" cigars?? Crazy. 

I can agree that, i've seen people A, handle 50 cab bundle like a grizzly deals with a salmon, and B, get a bit to intimate with huffing on dress boxes etc etc. but it seems the focus of what denotes a good cigar, is moving more and more toward the collectors resale market, than someone who genuinely wants to find and smoke a good cigar. 

It seems the germaphobes are to inherit the earth, I wonder if they know cigars are made with hands? 

 

 

 

 

[topdiesel]

I have a caveat to number 9.  Beetles are a no go.  Mold doesn't bother me as much, unless excessive.  

How would I know any of the other items if I choose number 8.  So, if I want it to be fun like the lottery (sometimes I like this on cheaper cigars) 8 is the only criteria.

otherwise:

9 no beetles

4

5

3 & 2 -- color of wrapper included in this.  For the most part, I prefer a golden wrapper opposed to darker wrappers.

The rest are unimportant to me.

 

[PigFish]

I am sure that I have smoked more nose hairs, brow sweat, and rat turds than most... I have smoked cigars for over 30 years... 

Frankly I would wash cigars if I could. I always wash my fruit and that includes oranges.

I don't know that I would fare well in the world of 'brick and mortar.' I am really damn picky... Personally, I don't really care if the box is opened. The brick and mortar should open all the boxes to inspect them before offering them for sale (HMO). If you want to buy a sealed box, you do so at your own risk (like internet buying).

Fruit in the store is alway picked over before you. Who cares? Most people don't even know what to look for... or are looking for loose cigars that I don't want in the first place. They are likely looking for dark oily wrappers when I prefer the optics of the light ones. To each his own....

If I discount the beetle hole and the mold, the packing is really about all I am concerned with. A cigar without core tobaccos, or a loosely filled cigar is ruined. Ultimately I could not care less about most of the criteria. I want a firm cigar without knots that appears to have a thinner wrapper.

Cheers! -Ray

[BrightonCorgi]

If you are not picking 9 as first, good luck to you.

 

[Customsfan]

I'm going with 9, 2, and 3.  

[TheMonk]

Hmmm I'd say:

9, No mould/beetles present
4, Hard spots, Soft spots, Over Packed, Underpacked
5, Aroma
1, Uniformity
3, General quality of wrapper, minimal veins, hue, texture
2, Oil content of wrappers
10, A humidity condition (wet or dry) you approve of at point of sale. 
6, Small non significant breakages, i.e tiny cracks to feet etc

And I really don't care about these two:

7, Box codes, (this has to exclude year) 
8, The box was sealed before you inspected it. (i.e. it hasn't been fingered over)

 

 

[99call]

I think some have an odd vision of the way they want their cigars to be presented. i.e they don't want them to be opened or breathed near (or for people to talk loudly in there presence), but hand in hand with that, they want 100% assurance, that will be fricken awesome, once the box is open. Hmmm I don't know how that works?

 

[99call]

Schrödinger's cat/cigars.       If the box is sealed, are the cigars trapped by quantum law in a state somewhere between being both oily, and not oily.  I can't take the suspense. Just burn them.......burn them all!

[PigFish]

According to Schrodinger, the 'taste' particle can be an infinite distance from the cigar based on an asymptotic line never reaching zero. I don't know if Mr. Schrodinger ever smoked a General Cigar product, and if he did, he certainly would have concluded differently!!!

-Piggy

[Fugu]

1. Construction

2. Construction

3. Construction

4. Wrapper quality

Aroma: couldn't care less, as this is of very limited informative value (unless perhaps you expect to be offered mouldy sticks).

I guess marca and vitola have been decided upon by entering said shop? If not, that would come first for me: 1. vitola + 2. marca (combination of both actually). A B&M (that is - my favourite home-B&M) I usually enter with a clear idea in my mind what I am looking for. More often than not, I end up leaving with something completely different... haha.

[99call]

14 minutes ago, PigFish said:

According to Schrodinger, the 'taste' particle can be an infinite distance from the cigar based on an asymptotic line never reaching zero. I don't know if Mr. Schrodinger ever smoked a General Cigar product, and if he did, he certainly would have concluded differently!!!

-Piggy

I think it would of looked like this

 

[Fugu]

52 minutes ago, 99call said:

I'd recently had issue with a vender (no names) who would not open a box of cigars to take an image of them, "as every client wanted to open their own box?"

This truly is a joke! Thee goods is not the box, it's IN the box. So, of course(!) need clients be given the opportunity to inspect cigars in a B&M, that really goes without saying. That's the prime task and the very reason to exist of a B&M, otherwise they wouldn't set themselves apart from any webshop out there.

At the very least they should offer to show them to you (with only them touching). But perhaps they were objecting against you taking pics?

[99call]

5 minutes ago, Fugu said:

1. Construction

2. Construction

3. Construction

4. Wrapper quality

Aroma: couldn't care less, as this is of very limited informative value (unless perhaps you expect to be offered mouldy sticks).

I guess marca and vitola have been decided upon by entering said shop? If not, that would come first for me: 1. vitola + 2. marca (combination of both actually). A B&M (that is - my favourite home-B&M) I usually enter with a clear idea in my mind what I am looking for. More often than not, I end up leaving with something completely different... haha.

HMmmm I'd agree to a certain extent, as if you cant smoke a cigar it's of little use. Although do you not think a dearth of aroma is a sure sign, the cigars have been poorly kept?     Even when I've bought 10yr old cigars they've been pungent. I find it very worrying when you smell old cigars, and you can literally not smell a thing.

[99call]

5 minutes ago, Fugu said:

This truly is a joke! Thee goods is not the box, it's IN the box. So, of course(!) need clients be given the opportunity to inspect cigars in a B&M, that really goes without saying. That's the prime task and the very reason to exist of a B&M, otherwise they wouldn't set themselves apart from any webshop out there.

At the very least they should offer to show them to you (with only them touching). But perhaps they were objecting against you taking pics?

I agree, it is a joke that this actually goes on. The key thing to realise though is, if the customer that wants things sealed and swabbed with alcohol/hermetically packaged is spending more, then that it, money talks.   Very sad indeed. 

[Fugu]

11 minutes ago, 99call said:

HMmmm I'd agree to a certain extent, as if you cant smoke a cigar it's of little use. Although do you not think a dearth of aroma is a sure sign, the cigars have been poorly kept?     Even when I've bought 10yr old cigars they've been pungent. I find it very worrying when you smell old cigars, and you can literally not smell a thing.

Smell is nice, but isn't in any way indicative of the smoking performance from my experience. Smell depends on a lot of things. One of them e.g. being temperature. While at elevated temps almost all cigars, even matured ones will give off an intense scent, high temperature in intself I would avoid. So, unless there is a musty/mouldy, i.e. a really bad smell, the existence or non-existence of a nice smell is just indicating how many volatile aroma components are given off.

I had cigars with a very nice smell being flavourless duds, and aged cigars that were neutral and almost tasteless even in the cold draw that turned out smoking great.

[PigFish]

As someone who can control rH rather closely and change it on a whim, I can say that rH plays a major role in bouquet. Like @Fugu, while I love the smell of moist cigars, it mean precious little as to how the cigar tastes (MHO). Wetter cigars smell better. Like the taste of smoke, which needs to be wet with saliva to be tasted, cigar smell (I proffer) needs to be attached to water vapor to be easily detected. Dry(er) cigars often have little or no bouquet.

-Piggy

[earthson]

Construction (as assessed by looking at the bunching at the foot and lightly squeezing a couple)

Wrapper appearance (thickness/thinness, hue, oil content)

That's it.

[99call]

3 hours ago, Fugu said:

Smell is nice, but isn't in any way indicative of the smoking performance from my experience. Smell depends on a lot of things. One of them e.g. being temperature. While at elevated temps almost all cigars, even matured ones will give off an intense scent, high temperature in intself I would avoid. So, unless there is a musty/mouldy, i.e. a really bad smell, the existence or non-existence of a nice smell is just indicating how many volatile aroma components are given off.

I had cigars with a very nice smell being flavourless duds, and aged cigars that were neutral and almost tasteless even in the cold draw that turned out smoking great.

 

2 hours ago, PigFish said:

As someone who can control rH rather closely and change it on a whim, I can say that rH plays a major role in bouquet. Like @Fugu, while I love the smell of moist cigars, it mean precious little as to how the cigar tastes (MHO). Wetter cigars smell better. Like the taste of smoke, which needs to be wet with saliva to be tasted, cigar smell (I proffer) needs to be attached to water vapor to be easily detected. Dry(er) cigars often have little or no bouquet.

-Piggy

I'm not saying cigars that smell good, smoke well.  What I am saying if you don't get a good aroma of a cigar, you cannot be 100% sure the cigar hasn't been stored poorly i.e very dry or hot, or both.   It's most likely (as you've both pointed out) that cigars with minimal aroma, are just 'closed' because of temp/rh.  I don't like to keep my cigars wet (between 62-65), but my point is:

Cigar box 1 on the shelf:      

been sat over a radiator for 5yrs and completely burnt out, spent its last 12mths back in a humidor at 62rh-  with little to no aroma, because it's been ruined

Cigar box 2 on the shelf:      

Always been well looked after, spent the last 6yrs at a steady 62rh, with little to no aroma, because it's closed

I agree with your science guys, all i'm saying is that if you haven't got some indication of aroma at the point of purchase, Yes you've probably just got a 'closed' cigar, but but you may,.......just may, have a cigar thats been brutally kept, and got nothing to give wet or dry.