Beginner Questions (Ask Them Here!)

[cjhalbrooks]

It doesn't bother me. But i will never smoke in a walk-in. It is just a way to show that i respect the owners.

[Porch Dweller]

Originally Posted by cjhalbrooks

It doesn't bother me. But i will never smoke in a walk-in. It is just a way to show that i respect the owners.

[alfredo_buscatti]

I have some cigars that were not in the proper humidity for 3.5 weeks; since then they have been in proper humidity for 2 weeks. Approximately how long, total time (2 weeks + X amount of time) will it take in the proper humidity to return to optimum smokeability. If you would reply a month then that is the answer I seek and I would keep them in proper humidity for 2 more weeks before smoking them. Thanks!

[14holestogie]

Mike, you really don't have enough information to make a good evaluation. Were they too wet, too dry, and by how much? What does your hygrometer say now? What kind of humidity control are you using? And then once you have all that information, "optimum" smokeability is still subjective.

Don't sweat it that much and fire one up. If it works for you, then it's optimum.

[dijit]

Tim is pretty well right on target. Some of us like our sticks between 60 and 65% rh and some as high as 72% rh. I say if they have been in a balanced environment for 2 weeks with no issues then try one.

That being said I also tend to leave my smokes in the humi for at least 30 days before have one. This is just to give them a chance to balance out to my preferences and give the flavors a chance to start to blend a little more than what the manufacturer has deemed acceptable.

[alfredo_buscatti]

Thanks, Tim!

One of the reasons why I like this forum so much is that a n00b can get an answer fairly quickly. I come from the pipe world, and having spent a dozen years in it more or less exclusively, I know what I'm doing; but the cigar world, although there is overlap, is another realm entirely. In another thread I've been asking questions for about a month in the attempt to properly season a very cranky humidor and have had help all along the way. Go cigarasylum!

Geez, I thought there was a formula for rehydrating so that you could know before firing up a water-deprived cigar if it was properly humidified; but I see it's a lot more complex than that.

I think I'm going to give these cigars a month or two, probably two, before smoking them. Should be enough to enable that magic, if it is to exist, in smoking them, to work itself to be expressed. (That means that the cigar smokes very well.)

Thanks again! Mike

[pnoon]

I was thinking 4-8 weeks total. Better to go a few weeks longer than too soon.

[SG-1]

I just smoked my first cigar today, it was pretty good. But I lit it with a lighter and charred the end you smoke too much. I knew I'd mess up so I only spent $8 on one. I'm sure my experience was probably relatively crap compared to someone who had a better cigar and handled it properly.

No one in my family smokes, so if I sound clueless - I am. Will I get addicted to these? I don't want to get cancer either. I'll only smoke them every once and a while. If I smoke a couple times a year, what risks would I be taking to my health? Negligible or just as much as someone who smokes often?

Shame smoking causes cancer. I enjoyed it

[RWhisenand]

I didn't get addicted, I don't worry about cancer from smoking cigars, it takes quite awhile to learn how to light up one correctly, well for me anyway. You're not the only one in your family, just the first. Stick around, there is a lot of great info on smokes and method as well as friendly brothers and sisters willing to help a new guy out.

[DirtRider500R]

Originally Posted by RWhisenand

.... it takes quite awhile to learn how to light up one correctly, well for me anyway...

You're supposed to light them?

[RWhisenand]

Originally Posted by DirtRider500R

You're supposed to light them?

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by SG-1

I just smoked my first cigar today, it was pretty good. But I lit it with a lighter and charred the end you smoke too much. I knew I'd mess up so I only spent $8 on one. I'm sure my experience was probably relatively crap compared to someone who had a better cigar and handled it properly.

No one in my family smokes, so if I sound clueless - I am. Will I get addicted to these? I don't want to get cancer either. I'll only smoke them every once and a while. If I smoke a couple times a year, what risks would I be taking to my health? Negligible or just as much as someone who smokes often?

Shame smoking causes cancer. I enjoyed it

Smoking cigars is meant to be relaxing. If one obsesses over cancer, it will outweigh the relaxation, so I would say cigars are probably not for someone like that.

Here is an interesting list of everyday things that some studies show cause cancer....might as well just throw in the towel right now....

http://www.thedailydust.co.uk/2009/0...-cause-cancer/

[Fredo456]

Originally Posted by icehog3

Smoking cigars is meant to be relaxing. If one obsesses over cancer, it will outweigh the relaxation, so I would say cigars are probably not for someone like that.

Here is an interesting list of everyday things that some studies show cause cancer....might as well just throw in the towel right now....

http://www.thedailydust.co.uk/2009/0...-cause-cancer/

Tobacco isn't on the list, so we're clear!

[SG-1]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I've been busy with college.

I know a lot of things cause cancer, but smoking does so orders of magnitude more. Although, some people never get it, but I don't want to risk anything.

Smoking a cigar will be something I do on rare occasion, I've made it a rule to keep it minimum once a month. It is quite enjoyable - maybe that way it will continue to be enjoyable since I won't be doing it very often.

[AdamJoshua]

I have to agree with Tom, you seem to worry too much about what might happen, I don't see how this can be relaxing and enjoyable to you.

My brother, cigars are pure relaxation my man. Sit back and use that 1 or 2 hours and do nothing. Those moments are why we do it.

I wouldn't worry too much about getting addicted to it either. I personally only know 2 guys who might be addicted and that's because I've literally never seen them without a stick in their mouths.

I also wouldn't worry too much about cancer. To each his/her own, but people die of lung cancer every year without ever smoking...people die every year of liver cancer without ever drinking...I hear more positive stories about old time guys who had a stiff drink or 2 at night with a cigar and lived until they were a healthy 95 than I do about fitness loony tunes who eat leaves, drink mulch, gluten free yada yada, and exercise 25 hours a day and are always sick, look terrible, and surprisingly die younger that normal bad ass men do.

[Outlaw God]

Originally Posted by Dopey

My brother, cigars are pure relaxation my man. Sit back and use that 1 or 2 hours and do nothing. Those moments are why we do it.

I wouldn't worry too much about getting addicted to it either. I personally only know 2 guys who might be addicted and that's because I've literally never seen them without a stick in their mouths.

I also wouldn't worry too much about cancer. To each his/her own, but people die of lung cancer every year without ever smoking...people die every year of liver cancer without ever drinking...I hear more positive stories about old time guys who had a stiff drink or 2 at night with a cigar and lived until they were a healthy 95 than I do about fitness loony tunes who eat leaves, drink mulch, gluten free yada yada, and exercise 25 hours a day and are always sick, look terrible, and surprisingly die younger that normal bad ass men do.

I would add that George Burns live to 100 years and died of heart failure and never had any lung cancer and today Jan 20 he was born in 1896

[funkyporcini]

Originally Posted by Outlaw God

I would add that George Burns live to 100 years and died of heart failure and never had any lung cancer and today Jan 20 he was born in 1896

I knew there was a reason I smoked tonight after quite a while.

[Outlaw God]

Originally Posted by funkyporcini

I knew there was a reason I smoked tonight after quite a while.

His personal brand was surprisingly good

[AdamJoshua]

His cigar of choice though was the El Producto Queen, a perfecto-shaped cigar that Burns liked to call "my little lady."