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Overview

I learned the passion of cigar smoking from my friend Paul Novak. I saw him with a cigar in his mouth every day, and inquired what was so enjoyable about it. I tried a few, and my explanation to others is that it is a lot like wine, all the nuances of flavor and aroma is very analogous in cigar smoking!

There is the shape, the texture, the smell, and the whole ritual of selecting, cutting the tip and lighting and smoking it. Another cool thing is that you can smoke 3 or 4 a day and you are not drunk!

I have a taste for strong cigars, and my everyday cigar is normally a stong Cuban.

The Cuban cigar mystique is a funny thing. By now, everyone has heard of them. There are good ones and bad ones just like anything else. So just having a Cuban is not enough. I've picked out what I most enjoy, on the strong side, and that express the unique flavor and taste that is unlike tobacco from any other location.

Humidity

By far the most critical storage aspect.

70-71% is ideal in my book. The cigar is supple, flexible, draws well, and tastes good.

75% and above makes the cigar soggy, draw hard (tobacco expands) and hard to light. The swelling of the tobacco will cause the cigar to burst eventually. Leave them this way for a long time and they will grow mold, the wrapper will stain. They can be dried out by leaving out for a few days.

66% and lower will make the cigar dry, burn hot. The wrapper will crackle, and usually come apart. Leave them this way for a while and they will be ruined. If your cigars get too dry, you can re-humidify them, but you need to do it gently and slowly.

The ability to maintain the proper humidity is related to the ambient humidity, the humidor itself and the humidifying unit. In a well-designed humidor, it breathes enough that a quality humidifying unit will maintain 70-72 percent. I prefer the units that take distilled water, and do not require periodic refreshing with the glycol solution often sold.

A calibrated humidity gauge is a must. Analog and digital gauges are most often used, but note: NONE are ever calibrated right when shipped. Many are off by 10 to 20 percent. If your humidity is off by this much, it is eventual death to your cigars.

I purchased a high precision digital meter, and use it to calibrate all of my gauges. A quality analog gauge can be servicable, but I prefer the digital gauges. You can find reasonably priced ones at Target, a bit bigger than the smaller more expensive ones. In terms of accuracy, they are all about the same!

Another tip: Since a humidor is a closed box, the humidity in it is different (very different) from top to bottom. If you don't believe me, put a gauge on the lid and one on the bottom... they can be several percent different, in just a few inches! Solution? I have found a little battery-operated fan used in RV fridges, they run a month or two on D cells. What a difference! All my friends are sold.

Temperature

Next to humidity, the most important thing is too keep the cigars cool. All cigars have microscopic tobacco beetle eggs. All of them. From my research, they hatch at or above 75 degrees. I have found some inexpensive solid state 1 cubic foot refrigerators. These use a peltier junction device to cool the inside. What is a huge advantage is that the cooling inside is spread out over a larger area, usually the back, or entire inside of the unit is aluminum.

Who cares? Well, a typical refrigerator has a small area for cooling, which being very cold, pulls all the humidity out of the air. So what happens is that it is very hard to maintain humidity. So you have cold, dry cigars. The less cool walls of the solid state unit, while getting the inside just as cold, condense less moisture, thus MUCH easier to maintain humidity. These units run on 12v DC normally, so I put them on a variable DC supply, and lowered the voltage such that they stay at 70-72 degrees. Perfect.

My Favorites

Favorite cigars:

Montecristo #2 (havana) - often counterfeited, not consistent, but when they are good, they are great, big belicoso style, large ring gauge, wonderful full bodied taste with complex flavors.

Cohiba Robustos (havana) - another heavily counterfeited cigar, but wonderful when real. Cohiba is riding high on their reputation, and they are inconsistent, but again when good, they are great. Not as strong as the Montys or the Bolivar royal coronas, but a classic.

Cohiba Esplendidos (havana) - probably the most counterfeited cigar in the world, but a great smoke, complex, tasty, full bodied. Inconsistent and the counterfeits are often with real boxes and bands and a lot of time with Cuban tobacco. Not super strong but another classis.

Bolivar royal coronas (havana) - a longer corona that kicks butt! One of the strongest cigars I have ever smoked, and pretty darn consistent. Have not run into any counterfeits yet. Wonderful, but not for the beginner, even experienced smokers can be a bit woozy. Just plain yummy!

Vegas Robania (havana) - A relatively new company, one of the few since Castro took over. The belicosos can be wonderful, draw like a Monty #2, strong as a Bolivar. Not quite as complex as the Cohiba. Lately they have been hard to find. The Don Alehandros are a double corona and can be great, or cna be way too tight of a draw. Gotta check one out before you buy several.

Montecristo Robusto Limited Edition (havana) - WOW! Too bad they were only made from January to June 2001. Do not over humidify these, the draw will be too tight. 71% or less they are outrageous. Prices are going out of sight.

Partagas Short Story - wonderful strong short smoke in a torpedo shape, one end larger than the other. Stong and well made. Hard to find on the shelves, should be about $8 each, but you will see them up to $15 due to scarcity. Keep them around!