For an aromatic cigar, try Kaluha cigars. Also, as suggested above, Drew Estates Acid line. I'm a fan of the former, not of the latter.
Pipes vs Cigars
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I don't understand the Cigar versus the Pipe. They are two different worlds. Enjoy both, and for the purist, all of it is flavored. Both pipe and cigar. Either by casings, or toppings, or by the expert use of mixing natural tobacco flavor profiles. So explore both worlds and most of all. Enjoy!
Just getting into pipes after smoking cigars for a little while (3ish years), I'd have to agree. Pipes, to me, seem like a whoooole different monster. That said, I think it's fun to enjoy both. They are very different, but still complementary.
You may want to give "flavored" cigars a try, but give "regular" smokes a try too! It seems to me that added flavorings and casings are a lot more common in pipe tobaccos than cigars. Apart from Drew Estate's Acid and Java lines and CAO, there aren't a whole lot of options for flavored cigars (At least not when compared to the huge number of "unflavored" lines and brands)
And as for room notes, just ask my wife. Cigars are for outside; pipes are tolerable at worst, and often smell good! I have been actually been complimented on the lingering "Frog Morton" fragrance from pipe smoking. Never the case for any cigar!
This was a long post, sorry. I am just having fun exploring the similarities and many differences of cigars and pipes! I would definitely recommend one to someone if they enjoy the other!
Used to smoke La Glorias, 2 a night & 3 adult beverages to relax, now I still do the same, week days only, but smoke Casa de Garcia's at about $2.00 a stick & like them well. Have smoked higher priced ones also. Like the pipe better, more flavors and flavored cigar suck to me.
Apples & oranges, tacos & cheese cake.
Apples & oranges, tacos & cheese cake.
My favorite cigar is La Gloria Cubana Series R. Taste so good! I have never had a cuban unfortunately though.
I've been a cigar smoker for 10 years and it is apples and oranges. Cigars are more expensive but if you know what to look for or wait for sales you can get some really good cigars for fairly cheap. The two cigars I've been digging lately sell for less than $40 a bundle.
I have a collection of over 100 hand made cigars in my humidor at home. I've just started smoking piles and have to agree that they are apples and oranges. If you're on the go cigars are much easier to do, and breezes outside don't have as much impact on the smoke. CAO has a great line of milder cigars that are not flavoured, but milder and creamy, probably my favourite cigar of 2012 has been the Arturo Fuentes Hemingway Short Story. Great flavour with cocoa and vanilla hints all from the aged tobacco. However at $15 a stick it gets cost prohibitive, hence my experimenting with pipes now
I smoked cigars for some years in the 1970s. Back then a great cigar was $1. Now it is $10. I never gave up pipes because the fact is, pipes are a better smoke and less expensive. Cigars are easier for a certain on the go type lifestyle. If you smoke a cigar, smoke one that tastes like a cigar. The same for pipes. Before Castro, Lane Ltd. used to sell a real Cuban pipe tobacco called Vuelta Abajo (Down in the Valley). It was what great cigars were made of. It tasted awful in a pipe.
Cigrmaster wrote: "For a number of years I was smoking anywhere from 1500-2200 cigars a year. I have smoked every thing worth smoking,and I honestly believe that the flavors of pipe tobacco offer more variety and more complexity of flavor. Cigars are not cheap and even when you factor in the price of pipes, cigars are way more money. Once you own your pipes, you own them forever. A good cigar is at least 5 bucks and the price of a tin is ten, with bulk even less. There is no cheaper way to enjoy tobacco than a pipe in my opinion."
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I realize I am beating the already dead horse here but...
For five bucks I can get an ounce of really good pipe tobacco and enjoy it several times. A nice cigar will run about 5 bucks or more. I have 2 large humidors packed with amazing cigars that I can't find the time to smoke because I'm too busy with pipes. Last night was NYE and I promised my self I would burn a high end stick to ring in the new year... Never happened. Packed bowl after bowl.
For five bucks I can get an ounce of really good pipe tobacco and enjoy it several times. A nice cigar will run about 5 bucks or more. I have 2 large humidors packed with amazing cigars that I can't find the time to smoke because I'm too busy with pipes. Last night was NYE and I promised my self I would burn a high end stick to ring in the new year... Never happened. Packed bowl after bowl.
It sounds like cigrmaster has more cigar experience than anyone I know, and I'd take his word over mine on the subject.
If you ask me though, Pipe vs Cigar ... Pipe wins, every time. Not because of the pipe, but because of the tobacco.
I dropped a lot of money on cigars over the period of a couple of years. Plainly, I had to spend over $10 for one cigar that was only half as good as a $2 ounce of pipe tobacco.
You can put out a pipe and finish it later. I never felt right doing that with a cigar that cost so damned much.
Pipe tobacco is not just cheaper, but is available is in so very much more variety than what cigars offer (in my humble opinion).
Now a good cigar dipped in aged cognac is pretty nice. But it still doesn't beat a good english blend.
If you ask me though, Pipe vs Cigar ... Pipe wins, every time. Not because of the pipe, but because of the tobacco.
I dropped a lot of money on cigars over the period of a couple of years. Plainly, I had to spend over $10 for one cigar that was only half as good as a $2 ounce of pipe tobacco.
You can put out a pipe and finish it later. I never felt right doing that with a cigar that cost so damned much.
Pipe tobacco is not just cheaper, but is available is in so very much more variety than what cigars offer (in my humble opinion).
Now a good cigar dipped in aged cognac is pretty nice. But it still doesn't beat a good english blend.
Well-alot has been said and I agree with just about everyone. Especially Rothnh.
I have several hundred cigars in my humidor that I've been smoking for the last 35 or so years. I have found that there are special friends who can get together and sit around and chew the fat over a great cigar and dinner/or a good adult beverage.
Being and all or nothing guy, my humidor is sitting there all alone, lonely, missing me now that I have once again returned to pipes.
I have taken to giving the cigars to friends who come over to play some poker; sharing the smoking experience is just about an indescribable joy for me. The comraderie is like a private club that anyone can join, but few do.
In the New York area, the 'politically correct' folks have made smoking to be something to be 'ashamed of' (thier view, certainly not mine). If you smoke a cigar in the open many look at you as if you were no better than a child moslester, and I'm not exaggerating. Never mind that many men and women douse themselves with enough after shave or perfume to choke a horse; just showing up with a pipe and God forbid a cigar in your hand is enough to call the thought police!
Getting back to the subject, the good tobacconist at De La Concha in NYC, when discussing the price of a new Dunhill made it clear to me that a fine pipe is a one time investment-cigars are a never ending expense. Worth it, to be sure, but when calculating costs, pipes do win out.
Last month when I had my monthly card game with smoking friends, I tried one of my cigars again, and exclaimed how actually good it was to smoke it after a long absence. But i find that i just love the smell, tradition, and ritual of preparing and smoking a pipe. It relaxes me like a cigar does not, and the room flavor is much more agreeable to the ultimate decision maker, my wife-although she hasn't said much about the difference. She indulges me in either way, bur I know it is nicer on her nostrils.
In any case, many of you might be aware of what our good mayor Bloomberg is proposing in New York City; a ban on smoking in one's home or apartment building. Unbelievable. Luckily so far, it has not passed. But the anti-smoking politically correct people are out there.
Sorry for the long rant.
Allan
I have several hundred cigars in my humidor that I've been smoking for the last 35 or so years. I have found that there are special friends who can get together and sit around and chew the fat over a great cigar and dinner/or a good adult beverage.
Being and all or nothing guy, my humidor is sitting there all alone, lonely, missing me now that I have once again returned to pipes.
I have taken to giving the cigars to friends who come over to play some poker; sharing the smoking experience is just about an indescribable joy for me. The comraderie is like a private club that anyone can join, but few do.
In the New York area, the 'politically correct' folks have made smoking to be something to be 'ashamed of' (thier view, certainly not mine). If you smoke a cigar in the open many look at you as if you were no better than a child moslester, and I'm not exaggerating. Never mind that many men and women douse themselves with enough after shave or perfume to choke a horse; just showing up with a pipe and God forbid a cigar in your hand is enough to call the thought police!
Getting back to the subject, the good tobacconist at De La Concha in NYC, when discussing the price of a new Dunhill made it clear to me that a fine pipe is a one time investment-cigars are a never ending expense. Worth it, to be sure, but when calculating costs, pipes do win out.
Last month when I had my monthly card game with smoking friends, I tried one of my cigars again, and exclaimed how actually good it was to smoke it after a long absence. But i find that i just love the smell, tradition, and ritual of preparing and smoking a pipe. It relaxes me like a cigar does not, and the room flavor is much more agreeable to the ultimate decision maker, my wife-although she hasn't said much about the difference. She indulges me in either way, bur I know it is nicer on her nostrils.
In any case, many of you might be aware of what our good mayor Bloomberg is proposing in New York City; a ban on smoking in one's home or apartment building. Unbelievable. Luckily so far, it has not passed. But the anti-smoking politically correct people are out there.
Sorry for the long rant.
Allan
I too have smoked cigars for a long time (15-17 years), and I love them, but they are different. I just started to get into pipes and I love the fact that there are so many factors about pipe selection and pipe tobacco, its crazy. I am only smoking Pipe Aros right now, but that is how I started with Cigars also, so my pipe smoking taste might change. I would say initially pipe smoking is more money, but in the long run,unless you collect really nice pipes its not. I started to collect humidors so you could imagine how much that costs.
I could not agree more, I have had many Cuban cigars and currently have some sitting in my humidor and I prefer a nice Dominican instead. There are some Cuban's that I do like though, but unless you get them free (from Cuban resident, like me) not worth the cost IMHO. Not to mention you have to watch for counterfeit ones, even in Cuba!!
As it's been said a hundred times here, cigars are completely different than pipe tobacco. I now prefer to smoke pipes. With that said, there is nothing better than sitting around a campfire with a bunch of friends, good whiskey and good cigars. It's difficult, for me anyway, to try and make a point, especially when the conversation turns to politics, to make a point with a pipe in hand. Just holding and sipping a pipe seems more mellow and less prone to the heated arguments we eventually get around to.
I had smoked the finest Habanos (Cubans)for 30 years until I recently stopped due to budgetary considerations. I've smoked pipes for 50 years. Those who say they are two different worlds are correct. Each offers enjoyment, but the flavors and rituals are very different, as well as the prices.
Those who say that the Cubans aren't worth it are probably Americans with a 'sour grapes' attitude. For years there has been a campaign among American distributors to upgrade the image of non-Cubans and downgrade that of the Cubans, but most international cigar smokers agree that most of the Cubans are superior to most of the nons.
I personally like pipes more since they are something to perpetually care for and remain with you for years - as opposed to a paper cigar ring.
Those who say that the Cubans aren't worth it are probably Americans with a 'sour grapes' attitude. For years there has been a campaign among American distributors to upgrade the image of non-Cubans and downgrade that of the Cubans, but most international cigar smokers agree that most of the Cubans are superior to most of the nons.
I personally like pipes more since they are something to perpetually care for and remain with you for years - as opposed to a paper cigar ring.
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