[scho63]

Coffee without sugar allows your palette to reset while you smoke the cigar and experience the different flavor stages of a cigar. The foot and first 1/4. Then the next 1/4 and the building of flavors. The 3rd quarter normally will start changing flavor notes followed by the last 1/4 that can have real intense flavors.

When I have a whiskey it sometimes mutes some of the more intense flavors of the cigar.

For me, nothing beats a cup of coffee with half and half no sugar.

Many of the newer cigar smokers love Acid or other flavored cigars. I don't smoke those and stick to the pure, more full bodied cigars.

I do have some mild to medium that I smoke in the morning or first if I have 3-5 for the day.

If you haven't done retrohaling yet you should practice first without the cigar and then try with the cigar. It takes practice and the tendency at first is to try too hard to push the smoke from your mouth through your nose. It should be a smooth transition when you close your mouth and continue exhaling through your nose.

If you really like cigars, try smoking a few back to back to see the differences. Some may have a metallic taste, some peppery, or leathery, or cherry or grass/earth.

Going from a Henry Clay War Hawk to a Rocky Patel Decade to an Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua should taste like 3 different cigars and not just 3 cigars in a row.

When smoking a cigar be careful not to speed smoke it and burn it up too fast and miss the flavors. It's OK and acceptable to have to relight a cigar more than once when smoking it.

When lighting a cigar keep the flame as far away as possible to achieve an even light and not burn the wrapper around the sides.

Don't keep flicking the ash! You knock some of the lit portions off, it develops poor uneven burn and you need to relight excessively. I can smoke an aged PG cigar and develop a 3"- 4" ash before sliding the ash off on the side of the ashtray.

Make sure to buy a proper torch lighter, a V-cutter, a blade cutter, and a 4-in-1 tool that has a large and small punch, a draw tool for tight or poor rolled cigars and a nubber that allows you to smoke the last 10% of the cigar without burning your fingers.

Learn how to correctly cut a cigar so that you don't cut off too much and have too much air and no flavor. Torpeedo, Belicoso, or Salamones are good sizes to control your cut, about halfway down the taper of the cigar.

Large 60 or larger ring sizes work best with a V-cut or a large punch. Sometimes a double punch next to each other will work.

Box pressed also work well with a v-cut.

Small rings do best with a small punch or v cut across the cap. Don't cut below the cap.

Box humidors must be Spanish cedar, should have a distilled water sponge or humidification, a digital hygrometer, and NO GLASS WINDOW. The glass window allows humidity to escape and it gets worse over time. Buy Boveda humidity packs to help you control humidity. 68%-72% are all acceptable.

Do not take your cigars out of the cellophane to store them and try to store like cigars by like cigars.

Buy and try cigars to find what makes your palette happy. One man's favorite is another man's clunker.

Some great cigars: Oliva Series V Melanio torpeedo, E.P. Carillo Encore valientes, Rocky Patel Sun Grown Maduro churchill, Alec Bradley Prensado robusto, Hoyo de Monterrey Excaliber epicure, Padron 1964 Anniversary #9, Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua, Liga Privada #9, La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor duque, San Cristobal Revelation toro, Montecristo 1935 Anniversary.

Lastly, save your cheap mild cigars for the golf course or fishing on boat. Smoke cigars in order of mild to full bodied. Some cigars like the La Flor Domenica Double Ligero will knock you on your ass with no food. It's a powerhouse so smoke after a nice meal.

Hope that helps and Happy Smoking!