My First Cigar(s)

[Bill w/ eoPd]

I bought some cigars from the very limited selections on offer at the convenience store in town. I am fairly certain that these are mainly used to smoke other tobaccos but they were surely intended to be smoked as is, though they are obviously at the lowest end of the spectrum.

My first cigar wound up being a Black & Mild (with an off-white plastic tip), which was too terrible to continue smoking or to say anything else about.

After brushing my teeth and waiting a few minutes, I gave the Optimo Cigarillos Green Candela Wrapper a shot. This looked like an actual cigar, except for the fact that it was greenish in color, and was at least passible to my completely inexperienced palate.

I just came inside from smoking the final of three types purchased, which was a Swisher Sweets Perfecto. This was more inline with my expectations and is probably closer to being a proper cigar than the others that I smoked yesterday. The cigar had a somewhat pleasant sweetness (artificial?) which seemed to lessen the more that I smoked, which was fine by me. Having only begun pipe smoking a few weeks ago, I have little~nothing to compare any of these cigars to but the Swisher Sweets Perfecto is definitely my favorite of the three.

I will probably need to consciously avoid smoking on an empty stomach in the foreseeable future, as I am feeling a decent buzz at this moment.

 

[dawgie34203]

Keep on trying everything that you can find until you find something that you like better than the Swishers. Then start over until you find something you like even better…keep repeating.

 

[whopper]

I bought some cigars from the very limited selections on offer at the convenience store in town. I am fairly certain that these are mainly used to smoke other tobaccos but they were surely intended to be smoked as is, though they are obviously at the lowest end of the spectrum.

My first cigar wound up being a Black & Mild (with an off-white plastic tip), which was too terrible to continue smoking or to say anything else about.

After brushing my teeth and waiting a few minutes, I gave the Optimo Cigarillos Green Candela Wrapper a shot. This looked like an actual cigar, except for the fact that it was greenish in color, and was at least passible to my completely inexperienced palate.

I just came inside from smoking the final of three types purchased, which was a Swisher Sweets Perfecto. This was more inline with my expectations and is probably closer to being a proper cigar than the others that I smoked yesterday. The cigar had a somewhat pleasant sweetness (artificial?) which seemed to lessen the more that I smoked, which was fine by me. Having only begun pipe smoking a few weeks ago, I have little~nothing to compare any of these cigars to but the Swisher Sweets Perfecto is definitely my favorite of the three.

I will probably need to consciously avoid smoking on an empty stomach in the foreseeable future, as I am feeling a decent buzz at this moment.

Keep some peppermints handy.

The sugar will offset the nicotine buzz.

I don’t like peppermints so I use M&M’s.

 

[Eshaw99]

I would venture a guess that most of us here started our cigar journey very similar to the way you are (although I understand that your reasons for getting into this are beyond just normal curiosity). I'll just jump in to add some advice that I used to give to novice smokers from back when I worked in a cigar store..."The best cigar is the one you like the best". If you find a gas station cigar that you enjoy, there's nothing wrong with sticking with that one. It doesn't matter how cheap or mass-produced it is. If you like it the best, then it's the best one.

Keep on trying everything that you can find until you find something that you like better than the Swishers. Then start over until you find something you like even better…keep repeating.

This is great advice. If you find you really enjoy this and want to continue to explore what's out there, a milder hand-rolled cigar (like a Macanudo) may be the next step for you. Also, @PuffTheMagicDragon keeps a running thread that reviews inexpensive cigars here: El Cheapo Smoke of the Day. I've found several good sticks from that thread that don't break the bank. There's no reason to spend a lot of money on this hobby until you want to.