I recently visited a local cigar shop in eastern PA just outside of philly. There I tried a new cigar that was a house blend. It had no wrapper and was $1.50 each. After I smoked it I was amazed at how awesome it was, does anyone else have a favorite cigar that is really inexpensive and is just amazing?? Just wanted to see what some opinions were...

Thanks

Here we go again about "wrapper".

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Silverzone,

Jwing.....I know you meant to say band but said wrapper by mistake. Yes there are some cheaper favorites on these boards. While I have kind of stayed away from house blends, I have smokes some cigars around that price range that I have found enjoyable. The Flor de Oliva bundles are one of my favorite (lesser expensive) smokes for under 2 bucks a stick. Give them a shot and let us know what you think.

James

Here in the Bronx I buy a bundle of Conn. wrapped all Dominican robustos at La Casa Grande cigars(www.LGCcigars.com) for 2.00 a stick. Best morning cigar I ever smoked!'

I smoke a local blend, (Rudy's Blend to be specific) that he sells at his shop, and i love em. They are like 2 or 3 bucks a stick and i always have a few on hand.

Havent tried a "local blend" however, I did purchase some cigar.com brand cigars(cameroon and cuban blend) and they were less then stellar. I wont be purchasing those again.

Theres good house blends out there im sure, its just you have to do the footwork and spend the money to try and find em.

Every time I try to save money I end up getting hosed. The saying, you get what you pay for really applies to cigars. I get sooo pissed when I light up a cigar that burns uneven, tastes like crap, or is plugged. At this point, when I have the money, I will gladly pay extra and save the heartache.

Jwing, I live in Jersey and am in Philly all the time. Do you hit Holt's? Philadelphia Cigar Co.? I can recommend some places.

As for the wrapper comment, please try to learn some nomenclature. I normally would rip you a new orifice but it's my birthday so you caught a break.

Cigars come covered with clear cello, cellophane, sleeve or plastic to protect them.

They have a band or ring to identify them.

They have a wrapper leaf to hold them together, look good and taste good.


As for your original question there are several unbanded, non-celloed brands I like. The most notable is the Plasencia-made Honduran Factory Corojos available at JR's.

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Originally posted by pmpimbura:
The saying, you get what you pay for really applies to cigars.

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I find rule applies mostly to Cubans. NC's you can buy lots of real horshiz for alot of money, or spend little and get some decent smokes.

NO I think it applies to most nc's also. It just does always mean the more you spend the better the stick. It seems most sticks under $3 ussualy suck. but cigars that cost 10+ may always be good but not worth the money. It doesn't apply to all, but I think it works with most.

I wasn't really talking about the cheapies. But anything from around 45 dollars and up per box for NC's is just still going to be a crap shoot. Construction and taste, there is no direct linear relationship to cost.

You spend alot on Padron annis and get a decent tasting cigar, but a POS cap and construction. Or you can spend like 70-100 bucks and get Padilla hybrids with great construction and decent taste.

let's face it, the NC market is flooded with a huge range in quality with prices that make no sense at all...mostly due to the large number of consumers who are not that well educated and experienced with cigars, very much unlike the Cuban consumer market.

I was just referring to lower end N/C's (daily smokes) Personally I would rather pay more and smoke 1 padron or torano a day than save money and smoke something cheaper. I just don't enjoy many cigar that are less expensive. I think PRC hit it right on the head with the <$3 cutoff. On the other end, I also won't pay more than 7 or 8 bucks each for most N/C's because they just can't compare to something like a PSD4 or a rass for the same price. I would love to find a bundle cigar that I enjoy on a consistent basis but I haven't found one yet. I think the cheapest cigar I smoke with any regularity is the punch elite. That is a pretty nice consistent smoke and real cheap.

Good call on the padillas. I have smoked at least half a dozen in varying sizes and wrappers but I don't think they are worth all the hype. The construction IS top notch but the flavor isn't fantastic or anything. Out of fairness to the padillas, I have never had one that sat in my humidor for more than 2 weeks so I can't really comment on the aging potential. I bet they are a hell of a lot better after 5 or 6 months.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pmpimbura,

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Originally posted by pmpimbura:
I was just referring to lower end N/C's (daily smokes) Personally I would rather pay more and smoke 1 padron or torano a day than save money and smoke something cheaper. I just don't enjoy many cigar that are less expensive. I think PRC hit it right on the head with the <$3 cutoff. On the other end, I also won't pay more than 7 or 8 bucks each for most N/C's because they just can't compare to something like a PSD4 or a rass for the same price. I would love to find a bundle cigar that I enjoy on a consistent basis but I haven't found one yet. I think the cheapest cigar I smoke with any regularity is the punch elite. That is a pretty nice consistent smoke and real cheap.

Good call on the padillas. I have smoked at least half a dozen in varying sizes and wrappers but I don't think they are worth all the hype. The construction IS top notch but the flavor isn't fantastic or anything. Out of fairness to the padillas, I have never had one that sat in my humidor for more than 2 weeks so I can't really comment on the aging potential. I bet they are a hell of a lot better after 5 or 6 months.

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In 5 or 6 months be expecting a Padilla hybrid Robusto or 2 then.

Stoge, if you keep doing that I'm going to have to send you more!! haha..... oh, wait until you try some of the new stuff being worked on!!! Best ever I promise

I'm always up for a free sample or review I wonder if thats top secret wrapper Ernesto's been working.

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Originally posted by sobek:

You spend alot on Padron annis and get a decent tasting cigar, but a POS cap and construction.

let's face it, the NC market is flooded with a huge range in quality with prices that make no sense at all...mostly due to the large number of consumers who are not that well educated and experienced with cigars, very much unlike the Cuban consumer market.

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A few points I disagree with greatly.

First, I have never experienced "POS" cap and construction with any PAM/PAN I have smoked. The construction, draw and flavor have always been great. Does the $$$ justify the cigar? Yes, IMO. PAM's are the preferred smoke in my book; ranking over most premium NCs and some Cubans.

Second, I don't think that the NC market is flooded with cigars right now. I don't know if you remember the boom, but during that time the market was flooded with varying quality cigars. Today however I think quality has greatly improved. Prices have held steady and quality has increased dramatically. I definitely see a correlation between price and quality. You can get a decent cigar for $2 but you won't get a great cigar for that price.

Also I disagree with your notion that the Cuban consumer market is "well educated and experienced." I think that is just "Cuban snobbery." To the rest of the world, Cubans are widely available and fairly common. They don't have to research the different brands and sizes to select a smoke before they buy like we have to do in the U.S. Also, since we have a wide range of NC cigar choices available to us in the U.S., I think that the average cigar enthusiast has a heck of a time making an informed selection. If you don't believe me then why are so many posts on this board dedicated to questions about NC's? Why do people concern themselves with terms and tobacco origins?

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Originally posted by BinDerSmokDat:
First, I have never experienced "POS" cap and construction with any PAM/PAN I have smoked.

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As nice as the PAM/N's are, all padron cigars suffer from a suckarse cap. This is well known thing.

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Second, I don't think that the NC market is flooded with cigars right now. I don't know if you remember the boom, but during that time the market was flooded with varying quality cigars.

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Are you serious? All you have to do is flip open a Thompsons catalog or look through the JR inventory to see that there are way too many crappy cigars being made.

I remember the boom. Overall quality has improved since, but there are still way too many brands.

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If you don't believe me then why are so many posts on this board dedicated to questions about NC's? Why do people concern themselves with terms and tobacco origins?

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First off, the people who post here represent a population who you would expect to know or care more than the average smoker. But the people who post here represent a tiny percentage of the total NC consumers out there.


Second, one word proves my point ===> Iguanas

The very fact that this brand can exist and almost do well in the NC market shows NC consumers are not as well educated when it comes to cigars. Do you think anything remotely similar in quality would survive in the Cuban market for more than a year? I think not. And that is just 1 dog rocket brand. There are probably 30 brands just as bad that not only survive, but probably turn profits.

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Also, since we have a wide range of NC cigar choices available to us in the U.S., I think that the average cigar enthusiast has a heck of a time making an informed selection.

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I don't think we are in huge disagreement here. I think there are too many brands, which confuses most people and allows such wide variation in price and quality.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sobek,

There are a lot of good points in this thread. Namely that 1. you get what you pay for with cigars and 2. that the caps on Padrons leave something to be desired. I personally fall into the category of people who would rather spend more for a quality smoke and only be able to smoke one or so a day that get a great "deal" on a bargin smoke that I can burn 2-3 of daily. I put "deal" in quotes because I really think that it's a relative term. For me buying a box of Padrons, Toranos, H.Uppmann etc. is a "deal" because I feel like I'm getting every bit of my money's worth out of the prdouct. While there are cheaper cigars to be had, these would not be a "deal" to me because I would be disappointed with them and therefore, even though a cheaper cigar, I would not be getting my money's worth.

It's been said before that being an avid cigar smoker is not a poor man's hobby and I agree. If you truly want to have top quality products and smokes you're going to have to give up some cash. The only thing I can say is that once you've experienced premium quality, there's no going back.

It's not that NC smokers are "less Educated" at all. NC's are obviously easier to get and people who are just starting out smoking, won't be buying Cubans no matter what because they can't truely appreciate what's going on with them, or know where to get them. I've never smoked an iquana and never will, but you have to be able to see why a new smoker would, they have to be one of the mildest things out there. And as any cigar smoker learns more, and their palate developes you can bet that those iguanas won't be found in their humidors anymore. I smoke mostly NC's because they are easy to get for me and you bet that I know just as much about cigars as the next guy and can, have and know how to appreciate CC's. I really can't believe you feel that way Sobec. That's like saying people who drink white wine are less educated than people who drink red. Your comment is in itself seems uneducated and bias. NC smoker's may be less educated because the majority of new cigar smokers start out with NC's because they are easy to handle, they don't know how to get CC's, and as I said before, their palates can't really appreciate them. Education really has nothing to do with NC and CC smokers. It may influence one as they learn, but it is not direct at all.

Also, how could one call themselves educated when they don't sample tobaccos from all regions? One can't really be affluent in knowledge or give opinions if they are only familiar with one or two regions. I stay away from putting my two sense in CC's because I haven't had enough experience to take myself seriously.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cigarsmoka,