I'm just getting into cigars, had a wonderful afternoon smoking an Ashton Cabinet with my brother and his flatmate for my birthday which got me interested in the hobby and culturing myself. Anyways, unfortunately the town I live in has no real cigar shop, just a restaurant and a bar that have some cigars as an afterthought. I figured I'd do some research on what I could get my hands on easily so I sent out an email asking for their selection and I have a friend of a friend working on a list from the other place. Just got the email back, and I don't know enough about cigars to sort this list. I tried looking up a couple reviews, but the names here are to vague for me to even be close to being sure I'm reading about the right thing.
Below is a copy of the email:

Here are the Cigars that we offer. If you are looking for something specific we can certainly order them for you.
-Punch $6.99
-Arturo Fuente $2.49
-Macanudo $6.99
-Tatiana Large Flavored $6.99
-Partagas $6.99
-Sumatra Special $0.99
-Tatiana Small $0.99

If I get something specific I'm sure I'll order it myself, but I was hoping I could start out a little locally, get an idea for what I like and dislike and branch out from there. Is there anything here? Any ideas, reviews, tips etc would be greatly appreciated - much thanks.
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Max what you have there largely falls into the big brand classics. Punch would be a medium bodied honduran rather earthy. Macanudo is your standard mild cigar of which their are many that are better like Ashton. Fuente is another usually milder cigar at that price I would guess a curly head which is a mixed fill and is fine for an inexpensive stick. Both tatianas are flavored cigars I don't know which ones though. Dominican Partagas to me tastes like cardboard but is another mild cigar. And sumatra special well I'm stymied.
I will say that I still enjoy punch double maduro rothchilds. though I'm sure I will catch flak for that from someone.
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Punch, Fuente, Macanudo, Partagas all make LOTS of different cigars...tough to make a call with just a marca name, and not the specific cigars identified. :-)
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right but most likely they are just going to have the standard line the partagas red band the mac cafe and probably a punch with an EMS wrapper
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I think your best bet is to order a sampler off of cigarsinternational or famous. Normally, I would tell you to support your B&M, but if there's nothing in your area, you'll be able to find some deals on mixed samplers so you can expand your horizons. As far as that list goes, if they have those in stock, you can't go wrong with Fuente as a novice, but don't order from someone with such a limited selection, check out those sites online and you'll be in better shape.:-)
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That or go to cigarsatyourprice.com and order a bunch of singles and start trying things out.
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Patrick, thanks for the rundown, I think your also right about just having the "standards" all they have is a little humidor I think they only have one type from each brand in the list.

Clayton, yeah, I'll probably end up just ordering things for a bit, I hear this other place is supposed to have a better selection and I'll probably be back with another post once I get their list. I'm really hoping that I can shop local because I don't have any storing equipment for cigars so I one at a time was my goal. Also I need to find a smoking pal out here, so once again local would be nice because than we could just pop round and grab a single and enjoy our afternoon. This time next year, assuming everything goes as I think it will, I'll be in a town with a great smoke shop and some good cigar pals. So we'll see what happens.

Thanks again both of you for the advice
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I got started smoking by going in on a few random samplers with my boss and another guy in the office...it is an inexpensive way to test some out. It is also REALLY fun to put them all on a desk and do a "cigar draft", inclusive of trades after.
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Gotta love a cigar draft!!!
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This can easily be fixed, along with you being able to try some new cigars, by many of the sites out there. For example Cigars International has a Starter Pack that would just take care of the humidor problem and give you a place to store 15-20 cigars.

Alternatively, it looks like they have a Christmas special thing that you can build your own starter humidor and get a 5-pack of cigars with it.

I know I've seen beginner samplers that also come with a small humidor, but I can't seem to find them now.

This doesn't solve your problem of somebody to smoke with, but it's a start :-)
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Cigars can be temporarily(2-4weeks) stored in a ziplock back. No humidification is necessary. You can also get a small tupperware type container and a water pillow for storage. :-)
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I say go in and get one of each and then try a different one each day. This is of course if you want to support your local B&M.
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And remember the golden rule of buying a humidor; buy much bigger than you think you will initially need. When I first got into cigars, I bought about a "50" count humi and thought it was the be all end all of humidors for me. A few months later, it started to fill up FAST. Now I currently have probably upwards of 100 crammed in there with not an inch to spare and have had to use my two travel humi's(15 and 5 count caddys) as overflow when I go a little crazy on buying sticks. Go big or go home. Trust us, you will thank us later.
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Drew, I was trying not to scare the poor guy off so quickly :-)


But seriously, if you're going to get a desktop humidor, you really should just get a solid 150-300 count humidor. Even then you'll find you will probably fill that up pretty quickly being on this board. I bought a 50 count humidor when I first started smoking, I only smoked two or three a month. Then I joined this board and within 6 months my 50 count was full of singles, a 28 bottle wine cooler was full, and a 75 quart cooler was full as well. So I'm not saying you NEED to buy that much storage to begin with, but just be prepared for the inevitable :-)
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Ha ha that turned out a little more scary than Drew's comment, it's all in the details lol. I was planning to be in the couple a month or so for a while, maybe up it a bit down the road but we'll see where I end up
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same happened to me! go larger then you think youll need. cuz once you have more storage space youll buy more and then itll be full. its a slippery slope!
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I am just trying to prepare him for the slippery slope that is ahead, all members of this board are bound for that slope the moment they join!! :-) :-)
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Get a coolidor, I had a 300 count that got filled in like ....2 months. Now I just store singles in it and I use the 120 quart for storage. At least now I can hold roughly 1000 cigars. I'm only about 350 into that but I have more on the way. Maybe another 50 or so. Biggest thing is a 300 count is really a 200 count, MAYBE. They don't account for larger than a corona or a hygrometer and beads.
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^^ exactly. so like a 50ct may hold 50 coronas, its definitely not holding 50 Churchills.
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Well a 50 count won't even hold 50 coronas, probably like 30. When they give the count they don't look at humidification or a hygrometer. They assume you'll use their crappy analog and the crappy black rectangular humidification. That's why to me, I would refrain from using any desktops unless you want a classy desktop for an office or something. Coolidors and vinotemps are much better ideas. I'll get a nice vino probably next summer so I can control the temperature.

EDIT and when I did try those black rectangular things...they fell repeatingly every like 10 minutes. I'd be sleeping and BOOM! Wake up look in and the damn thing fell again.
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