Your personal cigar picking priorities ???

[Guest Nekhyludov]

I have such a crappy track record of picking boxes by appearance and feel, I rely on aroma as a differentiator now. 

Or I just let Rob pick 

[Spanishcedar]

5. Aroma... this is where I start.

3. General quality of wrapper... what else can there be after smell?

2. Oil content of wrappers... I like shiny things.

1. Uniformity... they are so pretty.

4. Hard spots, Soft spots, Over Packed, Underpacked... you mean I can touch them... all of them? Yes please and thank you!

6. Small non significant breakages... I can fix that one.

10. A humidity condition (wet or dry)... on the wetter side, I can buy dry ones at almost any 7-11.

9. I'm shopping for cigars and not insect shadow boxes, right?

8. The box was sealed before you inspected it... I thought I was special, oh well.

[Fugu]

10 hours ago, 99call said:

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.

Sure, you can have that, absolutely, in which case I'd also take smell as an additional indicator perhaps, if suspect, and if unfamiliar with the shop. A 5-year old box of Boli, LGC or Punch without any bouquet would make me very alert for sure. So that certainly also has to be put in perspective, I agree. But I don't buy in shops of the kind you are describing... .

However, we are not talking about plain flat boxes in new production, do we? Mostly, - and if I am interpreting you correct with your listing of "aroma" - it's not a yes-no, on-off parameter, but rather we are speaking about differences, pungent or restrained, nuances perhaps only. And that never is decisive in a real-world situation. The "aroma" given off by a particular box is almost never a proxy for the later smoking flavours, neither in type/profile nor in intensity (cigar buying were so simple if it were so...). Striking example perhaps coming to mind, some will know, the Monte 2 GR, fresh boxes, had given off a scent of wood (= box - a problem with most of those heavy cedar casings....) and a very faint matured tobacco note. Nothing to do in any way with them smoking.

Perhaps I am a bit biased here due to coming from a particular situation where in my trusted B&M - where I am familiar with their (top-notch) storage conditons, and where I know the owner family for almost 25 years (- hmm, it's actually been for longer, as I just realise...tzztzzz, time flies...), I simply know, I won't need to bother with aroma/bouquet. So, that's perhaps just me, but therefore smell is absolutely irrelevant to my buying.

[99call]

1 hour ago, Fugu said:

Perhaps I am a bit biased here due to coming from a particular situation where in my trusted B&M - where I am familiar with their (top-notch) storage conditons, and where I know the owner family for almost 25 years (- hmm, it's actually been for longer, as I just realise...tzztzzz, time flies...), I simply know, I won't need to bother with aroma/bouquet. So, that's perhaps just me, but therefore smell is absolutely irrelevant to my buying.

Yep, Fair play, I buy from all over, so i'm always huffing on boxes like a paranoid truffle pig........but a clean careful one!

[Smallclub]

22 hours ago, 99call said:

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

Now that's a funny criteria when you consider the number of hands that manipulate the leaves and then the rolled cigars in the factory…

[LGC]

Now that's a funny criteria when you consider the number of hands that manipulate the leaves and then the rolled cigars in the factory…

Especially as an organic product produced in a 3 rd world country with no regulatory agency. Just because you pay 30 bucks for dried up leaves doesn't mean you are getting a highly engineered product manufactured in a clean room under strict QC standards.

[99call]

50 minutes ago, Smallclub said:

Now that's a funny criteria when you consider the number of hands that manipulate the leaves and then the rolled cigars in the factory…

I completely agree mate, I mentioned it precisely because I think it's mental!. But you would be surprised how many people get OCD over opening cigars. 

 

[cookj1]

My decision is not nearly as complex as the options provided.  Firstly, it has to be Cuban, and secondly, it has to be long leaf vs short leaf. Simple.

[cigcars]

     Well, being in the States box codes isn't really a "given" here.  So the most important cigar picking priorities for me are in the order of:

          3,  2,  5,  1,  10,  9

[canadianbeaver]

On 2017-08-18 at 0:27 PM, 99call said:

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. 

3. 1. 5. 9. 4.