What is it?

[RevSmoke]

1) What is it... that I am most looking for when I sit down to smoke a cigar?

Flavor profile, and for the most part, I gravitate toward spicy/sweet cigars - I like that combination. I like stronger flavors, but not necessarily strong cigars (if that makes any sense).


2) What is it... that will most likely change my cigar choice/desired taste at any given time to select a cigar?

What I am drinking. I want my cigars to taste good and match whatever I am drinking at the time (coffee, tea, H2O, beer, wine, bourbon, Scotch, rum, cognac, or whatever).

3) What is it... that appeals to me most in my top 5 favorite cigars? (and maybe you list them and specify what it is in each that makes them most appealing)

Oliva V has a nice full flavor, sweet spice and a hint of cocoa seem to fill things out.
Coronado - here the spice seems a bit more dominant, and the complexity is wonderful. After a few of these, I know that I will get the same experience, but what exactly those flavors are, I am not sure. I just know that I like it - a lot.
Litto Gomez Diez - they are pricier than I can afford to smoke regularly, but they are incredible smokes. Spice and burnt chocolate seem to predominate, and just wonderfully complex
Rocky Patel Edge - yeah, I know, nothing fancy, but I love them. Fuller bodied, rich and flavorful

4) What is it... that most influences me to try a new cigar/marca?
There are certain people whose tastes seem to mirror mine. When I see them "groovin'" on a new stick, I'll look into it. If the price is right try it, I will.

5) What is it... that makes my "go to cigar," the one I reach for when I don't want to seriously contemplate what I am getting from a particular cigar?
Presently, I don't really have a "go to" cigar. I have been smoking about 3 sticks a week, so each one is chosen carefully. When I was smoking more regularly, it was the cigar I knew would always satisfy me - the flavors were the same and would still make me sit up for a moment, no matter what I was doing, and pause to enjoy it and say, "Nice smoke."

6) What is it... that makes your "special occasion cigar" so special?
The company I am with when smoking it - that is the first criterion. After that, I will try something that I have been dying to try or something that I have spent a bit more coin on and have been saving for the right occasion. But, I won't smoke it alone. I need to be with others who will enjoy it with me.

7) What is it... that keeps "those" cigars out of my humidor, and even more so, out of my mouth?
Bland, flavorless, one dimensional, boring. As I said, I don't smoke that many cigars each week, so each one needs to be something I am really looking forward to enjoying. Like I have said elsewhere, it has to have the "Wow" factor going for it.

8) What is it... that you'd like to comment on in regard to this thread which reflects my preluding ponderings, but isn't reflected in the questions.

I already posted it, so I don't need to expand any more here.

Peace of the Lord be with you.

[KillerCelt]

Originally Posted by RevSmoke

1) 6) What is it... that makes your "special occasion cigar" so special?
The company I am with when smoking it - that is the first criterion. After that, I will try something that I have been dying to try or something that I have spent a bit more coin on and have been saving for the right occasion. But, I won't smoke it alone. I need to be with others who will enjoy it with me.

I could not agree with this more. I see the cigar as a vehicle to enjoying and appreciating life more not because of its merits in profile or body, but because of the people it brings me into contact with and the life lessons I learn from them. I have had mediocre smokes that I remember in a much better light than some fantasric sticks just because of who I was with and the important things we talked about while we smoked. To me, the encounter dictates who special the cigar becomes. An Opus X smoked whilst playing 18 holes on my own is a good smoke, but the Partagas Black Label I smoked on the deck with my Dad this summer was something truly special (even though it had me spitting like crazy )

[RevSmoke]

Originally Posted by KillerCelt

I could not agree with this more. I see the cigar as a vehicle to enjoying and appreciating life more not because of its merits in profile or body, but because of the people it brings me into contact with and the life lessons I learn from them. I have had mediocre smokes that I remember in a much better light than some fantasric sticks just because of who I was with and the important things we talked about while we smoked. To me, the encounter dictates who special the cigar becomes. An Opus X smoked whilst playing 18 holes on my own is a good smoke, but the Partagas Black Label I smoked on the deck with my Dad this summer was something truly special (even though it had me spitting like crazy )

Although, I do remember the Monte #2 I smoked with my uncle on the back deck in 1985 (my first Cubans) - they were stellar smokes. Of course, the 100 year old bottle of Napolean brandy that he made us drink with those cigars may mean that my memory of those cigars might be a bit illusionary.