Hey guys. My father got a copy of
The Complete Guide For Habanos' Enthusiasts from someone he works with. He had to return it, but we liked it enough to grab our own copy from eBay. There are a few up right now if you search it out.
The book is relatively thin, about the size of a few magazines stacked atop one another. It has a very attractive cover of black, with a pattern of all the marcas' logos in gold. There is no author listed, nor is any publications information available inside.
The table of contents is organized in a very unorthodox manner. While you might expect marcas to be arranged alphabetically, this guide has chosen to arrange the smokes by how widely available they are. Brands like Cohiba and Montecristo appear in the first section, "brands that you can find all over the world." Bolivar is listed as a brand you can find "in most countries," so on and so forth.
While each marca is given a short blurb at the beginning of its dedicated section (including information such as the year founded, number of vitolas and blends, and their relative strengths) the real beauty of this book is in its pictures.
Each stick is depicted at actual size in full color. They are separated by color codings which indicate Heavy, Standard, and Slender ring guages. You will also learn which sticks are completely made by hand, machine assisted, or "mecanizado"--machine mades. There's a handy glossary towards the center, as well as a section for you to write in your personal notes at the back.
Personally I really enjoy having this book. Having the stogies all lined up at actual size can really help you decide what you want to pursue. Of course there are websites and review databases which can do this, but if you're not right next to a computer it's nice to have a handheld field guide. I've already made good use of this book once: I didn't know what stick I was holding, and instead of measuring it with a ruler and gauge, I simply found the Punch section and compared my stick to the pictures.
As far as I know this can be acquired without damaging your wallet. If you like habanos and cigar pics, definitely grab one.
Edit: I did some further research, and I think I should add that this does not include regional or special editions.
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Originally Posted by Cyclone:
I have the MRN... How does it compare?
I'm sorry to say that I haven't checked that one out. I'd say the MRN is probably more of a complete history, from what I know of it. I like this Guide for the pictures and easy identification. I guess that makes it good for the novice habanos fan.
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