The best cigar

[yossie]

Hey Gentle men, Let me know the your best cigar in life.

Mine is Siglo1 which was my first cigar. I think I've smoked better cigars than it, but It's most memorable.

[Taino]

My best cigar ever was a cuban robusto, don't know really the brand but was a cigar I smoked aftr a day of fishing in a beautiful spot in Patagonia, with me 2 best friends.

[Ken Gargett]

interesting post, yoss, especially because you have already qualified it in a way - most memorable is not always the best. it is good to make one focus on this sort of thing occasionally.

rob put me on to a box 97 lusi's which were absolutely brilliant. the best of them truly stunning. i still have a couple left.

a top esplendido goes close. as young cigars, both the cohiba LE DC and sublime were brilliant but still youthful. it has been a few years since i have tried one of either. the early sig vi's were fantastic.

loved the punch ss2 when on form (another rob tip) but i think that there are three contenders for me.

the upmann tang monarchs, though i have only had a couple, were brilliant - have locked the rest away for very deep storage as i think that they had so much going for them but i wish i had one to hand right now (if anyone has tried one recently, please let me know how they are going).

the very first (2001) SLR DC's. i'll never forget how rob brought them to one of the cigar dinners he used to do and he could not get anyone interested. not a big name. i remember that he cut the price on the night from $40 to $20 so i grabbed a big handful (i remember the ash on the one i smoked at the dinner lasted until moe than half way before first falling and what a tuly fabulous, if young, cigar it was). i think that hopefully down in deep storage there might be one or two left. i love the SLR DC but i don't think that they have ever been better and i deeply regret not buying even more and not saving more for the long haul.

that leaves hamlet. i have said elsewhere that the only negative to a hamlet cigar, other than availability, is that quite often i'll fire one up only to realise that it really did need quite a few more years. but when one is singing now, glorious.

i have mentioned the one i smoked early last year in the havana airport, reading a book after the other guys had caught their flight - i was headed in a different direction - it is probably the cigar that gave me the greatest pleasure. i can't even recall if it was a DC or rodolfo but i do remember that it was truly magnificent.

[hoyopr]

Yossie, funny as mine was also a Siglo 1, it was a gift from a friend a few year ago. It really was so much finer then anything else I had tried to that date, that I new I had to really begin to explore some of the finer Cuban cigars. Thus began the slippery slope into Habanos, having said that I don't think I've had one since although I'll get around to getting a box one of these days.

[shortsqueeze]

For me it's a tie. Cohiba DC EL and a Hamlet Flying Pig.

[habanohal]

2001 Cohiba Lancero

[mkz]

For me it was an Monte:4 on a balcony on Gran Canaria 1,5 years ago. I was perfectly drunk and had just had an epic meal with my wife and good friends.

[patman24]

'03 Siglo VI, nothing else comes close.

[Bill Hayes]

1. SLR DC 04'

2. Partagas D4 EL 2000

3. First Trinidad Reyes in their first year, can't remember.

4. First Siglo VI in their first year. I think 03'

Although I'm still waiting on a grand occasion to fire up the Cohiba DC EL. I reckon it will take the cake.

[perfectform]

2003 Hoyo Piramide EL

[shrink]

My favorite cigar has always been the Ramon Allones 898V. I just love the dalia, and the flavor profile. They just keep gettin' better.

[Ken Gargett]

2003 Hoyo Piramide EL

they are crackers. also the partagas pyramide LE from 2000.

[Boston Mike]

Best tasting was a 2000 (go figure) Siglo IV

Most memorable was a Dunhill Cabinetta the night my son was born.

By the way, these were both enjoyed with a glass of Ron Zacappa 25'th Anniversary. YUM!

[bobarian81]

A 4 yr old Cueto Salamones shared at a herf with some good friends.

[El Presidente]

I have had cigars from the 20's/30's 40's and to this day.

I had an argument with my wife 3 years ago and she stormed out of the house (in retrospect....rightly). I went to my home humidor and pulled out a 2003 Cohiba robusto and from the fridge a bottle of 96 Pol. I thought my marriage was over.

People talk about honey in a cigar. However this CR was dripping in honey. I suppled at the nipple of perfection. Nothing has come close since.

[yossie]

I would choose Bolivar Petit coronas in such a situation with strong alcohol I basically hate. Well... I don't have lady to get in controversy though..

[sounddust]

A 15 year old Bolivar Coronas Extra 2 years ago. It was my very first vintage cigar and also the first time I learnt how a cigar could bring such joy and pain at the same time. Damn, it was strong.

[Stalebread]

I decided to start 2009 off with what I hoped were some of the best cigars I have. So the first of '09 was a Ramon Allones 8-9-8 from '99. A really good smoke! Then came a Hoyo Piramides 2003 LE. Outstanding. The third was -- and I know I might be talking heresy here -- a Padron 1964 Anni that I bought in 2006. Mighty fine. It was, they were, a great way to start the new year.

But when I think about the all-time best I have to go with an Upmann Monarch A/T from 1998 that I smoked last year.

Without a doubt, the best cigar I've smoked to date.

[aavkk]

wow, just reading the posts has sparked some great memories. The best cigar I remember smoking was actually also a H Upmann Monarch A/T back in 2000, I didnt have the box code on their but my guess would have been 97 ish. It was dark, dripping in oil and it just blew me away. At the time I had very little experience with cubans so its possible if I smoked that cigar side by side with the 03 Siglo VI's that the Siglo would take the cake but who knows.

The best experience I had with a cigar was actually this past summer. My dad and I both smoked 03 Siglo VI's on the deck looking out at the ocean. I dont think we said more than 50 words to each other in 2 hours, just a lot of smiling, nodding and an mutual appreciation for the moment and the cigar.

[DocRKS]

Best I have ever experienced from a commercially available cigar marque - Dunhill Havana Club and Dunhill Estupendo - I have seldom ever experienced such a sublime feeling thanks to a cigar as I did on these 2 occasions.... These cigars came as close to 'cigar perfection' as I have ever come across.

Tastiest custom rolled cigar I ever had was produced by Sr. Valdez in Habana- 2005 Gran Corona.... it is a cigar that dreams are made of....

[Van55]

So much of cigar enjoyment depends on the context in which a cigar is smoked. I have had so many great smokes with good friends at celebrations etc. that it is hard to single out just one.

I smoked my first Boli Gold Medal (DIC 04) on August of 2005 with friends at the Garden Bar in the Lobby of the Flamingo in Vegas after a fine dinner with the HCF crew. Though the cigar was a bit young, I found it exquisite, balanced and complex already. I still have a couple boxes of these (FEB 05) left that I have refused to touch.

In October of 2006 there was another HCF gathering in Vegas. I had procured a box of Montecristo Especial (#1) from 1997 for all of us to smoke from in the hospitality suite at Caesar's Palace. Absolutely amazing cigar and great company.

On my birthday in 2007 I smoked a Davidoff Dom Perignon of unknown date. Though on this occasion, I smoked the cigar alone, it was nonetheless a memorable experience simply because of the cigar. It was written by some that these cigar were past their prime. If so, in their prime they must have been the world's finest cigar ever. A good friend, Karlz, had traded me this cigar for a Chateau Margaux, even up. Little did I know at the time that his end of the trade was worth about three times my end. I thought of Karlz as I enjoyed the Dom Perignon. The guy's generosity is legendary.

[stargazer14]

You know life is good when you cant choose just one...

An Olivia Serie 'O' while floating on my back for an hour in a pool in Jupiter FL, Dec 07,

and

a Hoyo Petite Robusto while sitting on the windowsill of my apt. in Barcelonetta,

looking out over the beach, May 07, backed up by a bottle of Kettle One.

[Colt45]

2003 Bolivar Corona Gigantes.

[smk819]

A Bolivar tubos #1 that I had after dinner at The Bear Foot Bistro in Whistler, BC. I had it with a Vintage'59 Port, the name of which I don't remember. The year I smoked it was 1999, but I have no idea the vintage of the cigar. It was sweet and fruity and the port was also memorable, that is everything but the name.

[Habanos2000]

An interesting common thread through many of these posts is the environment or occasion that surrounded a most memorable smoke. When my 2nd son was born in 98 I enjoyed a Dominican Davidoff Special "T", and still have one in reserve for his college graduation. I remember that as being a great smoke, but certainly the occasion assisted.

The best smokes I've enjoyed have been the 03 Siglo VI's. Consistently delicious.