Hey folks,

Sorry I have not posted for a while, since I kinda lost interest after CS collapsed. But I have been around some forums trying to find some balance in my cigar life. However, I rely on reading your thoughts, as always.


I smoke them all from regular production Habanos to sandwich cigars and struggle with finding consistancy in price ($3-$6 on average), flavor (full, spicy WITH a botton flavor, not just fleeting Pepin spice, but more like a Monte #4 cocoa base to carry that spice) and of course, SIZE!

5 inches (on average) and NOTHING larger than 44 RG.

I have stopped judging cigars based on country (Cuba and Nicaragua remain my favorite) and bands (Lord, I have been fooled by shiny objects and will not succumb to this folly hereforth.) and reviews (CA, start smoking more than an inch to tell us what to buy!)

Sigh*

thanks for reading this rant
Dem
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There's your trouble, right there. :-)
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I lost interest in the forums as well after CS, but have gotten started back up here since. As for not smoking anything over 44 RG, you're missing out a quite a bit. I say from what I've seen, the average is 50. I'd go at least 50 so you can expand into a lot more varieties. Also helps with a cooler burn and smoother taste. I seldom smoke anything less than 50. Just not much on those little "pencils".
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Often times smaller ring gauge cigars can deliver smoke more efficiently to your palate. There's nothing wrong with smoking large ring gauge cigars, but if I had the choice, I'd stick with traditional Cuban ring gauges. (40, 42, 43, 46, 48 at most)
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I've smoked some smaller RG cigars, but trying the exact same one in a larger RG seems to work better for me for some reason. I guess thats why they come in so many sizes.
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Have you tried any Illusione? I find their cigars to have a rich, beany/cocoa base with some spice in the nose. My favorite is the cg4, which is slightly out of your size range (46x5 5/8) but is definitely worth trying once, and of course you can't go wrong with the cuban petit coronas like the Trinidad Reyes and Partagas Shorts:-)
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Good point on the Illusione cg4. To that I would add the Cruzado (also from Dion) and the La Riqueza (from Pete Johnson).
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Love the Reyes, love the shorts! The San Cristobal principes and Bolivar PCs are also fantastic. For medium spice with big flavor backbone, I'd go Cuban 10 times out of 10. All the Nicaraguan smokes I've had lately were big on spice but a little thin in the the flavor dept.
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