Any cigar smokers?

[Fuzz]

Which are your favorites and where do you purchase?

I just had a Cusano Corojo 1997 last night and loved it. And also enjoyed the R. Patel 1992.

I used to enjoy cigars years ago, but then the cigar 'boom' hit and the quality went down as the prices went WAY up so I stopped. But the prices seem to be coming back to normal again and the quality is going up again.

[yorgatron]

1. 1 cigar per day on average.

more on cards night,maybe 1 1/2 or 2.
and i refuse to spend more than $2.00 apiece,unless it's Cuban.

[Fuzz]

2. Ya, the prices went crazy for a while there

Good to see they are coming back to normal.

[trackfan]

3. I stopped smoking decent cigars when the price went up.

I still keep some cheap ones around and smoke about 1 a week.

[ohiosmith]

4. My Canadian SIL just brought me some Cohibas from Havana.

I typically buy locally rolled Don Pablo's.

[jmowreader]

5. I smoke only JR Alternates

JR Cigars is the largest wholesaler of handrolled cigars in the entire world--IIRC 80 percent of all the cigars imported into the United States are imported by this company.

Because he deals in such volume, he can do things like the JR Alt. I think of the JR Alt as the Torcedor Full Employment Act--there are ten factories that roll these, and any time they're not rolling branded cigars they roll these.

How the Alt system works: Let's pick a stick...oh, the Cuban Cohiba Esplendido. It's 6.75" long, 3/4" in diameter (or "48 ring"), parejo shape, wrapped in an English Market Selection wrapper and it's got a nice medium body to it. They make a cigar like that one and call it "Alternative to Cohiba Esplendido." Trust me, it tastes absolutely nothing like the stick it's supposed to be the alternative to--it's closer to a Punch Punch EMS, which is a Lonsdale and not a Julieta. But I like the Punch Punch, and a stick that tastes like it is a damn fine cigar.

The best part: these fine cigars cost between $15 and $25 for a bundle of 20. You can afford to smoke these every day if you like.