I am currently serving my 24^th year of service in the U.S. Army. 

During the past quarter century, my family and I have had the distinct pleasure to have traveled around the world. Together we have lived from coast to coast and in the heart of Europe in Germany. The first three year tour in Germany was in Stuttgart, while the last three year tour was in Wiesbaden. My personal travels have included serving in South Korea, Panama, Antigua, Kuwait and Iraq.

Cigar smoking came to this smoke-free guy in a curious way. I was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas in the middle of the Boom and I worked for a Major (nicked-named, Polo) with whom I admired. During that time I wanted to accompany my then-smoking wife who spent much time in the backyard with our smoking neighbors. So one day I went to our local store and picked up a box of Swisher Sweets with the honey flavored wood tips. I puffed away together with my wife and our neighbors and felt good about sharing a common vice with some good people. Each Swisher lasted through several of their cigarettes making for longer, enjoyable outdoor discussions.

One day during a field exercise, Polo met up with me while I was smoking a Swisher with a fellow soldier. Knowing this Major was a cigar connoisseur, I hesitantly offered him one of my cheap smokes which to my surprise he graciously accepted. We chewed the rag and learned something more about each other that afternoon.

Two weeks later, Polo hands me a hand made long filler Dominican churchill named, 'American Eagle'. I was touched, impressed and flattered at the same time. We went out back behind the Command Headquarters and spent a wonderful hour herfing during lunch. The whole time he schooled me on the finer points of cigar etiquette. I will always remember that day.

The Boom took its toll on me and stunted my efforts to develop my new hobby. Since I swore off domestic machine-made cigars completely I was in complete frustration. Polo had since shipped off and shortly after so did we. My wife quit smoking, so my cigar hobby was officially suspended for six years, until one day...

In Summer 2002, while in Germany out shopping in a department store on our base, I casually pass down the tobacco aisle when for some strange reason a three-pack box of corona cigars beckon my attention. I read, "Handmade, all Long filler tobacco". My head reels, my taste buds awaken and begin watering. I reach and grab the last two boxes on the shelf.

When we got home, I saw my new friend, Todd from work by his house. I ask him to come by that evening for a drink.

Todd stops by with his wife and we all have a drink. I invite him to join me in the backyard and as he follows me out I hand him a cigar. He sports a wide grin and says that all he has ever smoked was Swisher Sweets!

We sat back, light our smokes while I school Todd with the finer points of cigar etiquette. Several times that evening my thoughts quietly recall and thank Polo.

 
Ken, ‘Kilobyte”

Reyes Family Cigars Forum Admin

Some people are interested in history and others could care less.  My guess is that there are a lot of people in the middle; that's where I stand when I look at cigars now vs. cigars in the 80's.  The market (available cigars) has changed and there are certainly many choices to be made by the consumer today vs. in the 1980's.  My opinion is that more choices are good but that quality (vs. quality in the 80's) has changed.

Packaging used to be fairly simple in the 80's.  When the first batch of Pleiades arrived at my retail store in the mid-80's, I couldn't understand the packaging.  Pleiades were the first cigars that I'd seen that arrived in fancy boxes.  There were cigars with florid bands, cigars in colored glass tubes - yes!  But, the packaging wasn't as important back then as the flavor of the cigar was.  Most cigar smokers chose cigars by the taste, not by the 'fancy box' packaging, in the 80's.

Cigars back then had (for the most part) a good cedar flavor with complexity.  The leaf in most cigars was well aged and though the quality of the flavors varied, cigars were judged by taste alone. To be sure, some smokers preferred strong cigars and others mild but even the mild cigars (Jamaican Macanudos, for example) had a depth of flavor that is unmatched by the current (2008) product.

Are there still - in 2008 - good aged cigars with complexity?  Certainly!  However, between the packaging, the press(re:marketing!) and some consumers voting with their eyes and not their tastes, the market has become somewhat skewed.  We've been trained to judge by the total package and not the cigars themselves.

In the 80's there were no cigar magazines, no Internet and certainly no marketing ploys.  Are marketing ploys and packaging evil?  Not really - but, marketing and packaging does play a role in the success or failure of cigar brands in 2008.  Consumers are now somewhat pushed into certain categories.  Cigar companies have become somewhat consolidated as the big companies have bought out smaller companies and moved production to centralized factories.

The HTF or "hard to find"/limited edition cigars became in vogue in the 90's.  Big tobacco companies gobbled up brands, changed blends and changed packaging.  A "HTF" cigar became something to collect.  Some of these cigars were wonderful and others were woeful.  This is marketing 101 and thus a whole genre of "collecting" cigars became a fad that exists until this day.  Again, some HTF's are wonderful smokes but many are simply marketing schemes.

Tastes are subjective.  There is no way to define taste other than to say that there are many opinions and all are somewhat valid.  Take it all with a grain of salt and continue to buy what you like.  That's the main thing to remember - if you like it then buy it.  On the other hand, if you're enjoying the cigar solely because "pride of ownership" is important to you then taste is (more than likely) not an issue.

Let's face it.  There are a lot of "middle of the road" cigars on the market today.  Companies are fighting for your dollar.  The downside to the multitudes of different cigars is lack of GREAT, properly aged and properly managed tobacco.  The aging of the tobacco (which used to be common) has now become something of a price point.  Companies like to say that the leaf is aged "so many years"..  Who's to prove them wrong?  The quality of the leaf has also suffered in that "middle range" cigars back in the 80's used good leaf.

Recently our local B&M cigar store had a tasting for select customers.  My choice is not to mention the brand.  The cigars are lavishly packed in fancy boxes with beautiful bands and the price points to an "upper scale" smoker.  I smoked the cigars (I'd tried them beforehand and didn't find them worthy of the price).  The EVENT was more important than the cigar!  The rep had Talisker Scotch, fine chocolates and told us how to smoke the cigar - coat our tongues with the chocolate - sip the scotch and supposedly taste the cigar in our nose...  It was fun but normally I'm not drinking Talisker and eating 88% pure dark chocolate while smoking a cigar.

The cigar was decent.  It was a $5.00 cigar marked up to $10.50 because of the packaging.  The cigar was NOT complex, it was well made but better yet - it was VERY WELL marketed!  Most of the customers in attendance went ape crackers over the presentation and bought cigars by the handful.  A feeding frenzy - the hype worked!

My tastes tell me that there were a dozen better cigars in this particular B&M's humidor, without a doubt.  But some of these cigars were in plain boxes with plain bands and there was very little excitement to the presentation of these better cigars.  What's the difference?  Why do good cigars get panned by the critics/boards while the 'hot cigar of the month' gets press?  Because many people buy with their eyes and are influenced by what they read/hear. Taste is not "hip".

I take the bands off my cigars when the cigar gets warm enough to keep the glue/band from tearing the wrapper leaf.  I don't care to impress the guy sitting next to me.  It's my money, my cigar and I really don't care what I "represent".  I like what I like!  There is no "pride of ownership" involved in taste.  If you are one to be impressed by prices and not tastes then this article isn't for you.  Buy the most HTF and expensive cigar you can find, leave the band on and live with the good/horrid taste in your mouth.  It's your money, spend it however you like.

However, if you want a good cigar then smoke the cigar and judge for yourself how the cigar tastes by the TASTE of the cigar and not the band, box or hype.  Simple enough.

Ok, what do I know?  My opinion is built over years in the business and by smoking 100's if not more different marques.  What's the truth?  The truth is that we need to smoke a cigar before making a decision.  There are numerous quality products on the market but many of these products are pleasing to the eye and not to the tongue/taste.

Expensive does not equal better.  Hard to find does not equal excellence.  In some cases the expense is justified but in many cases (yes, I said many) it's marketing hype.  The Truth is that Dominican tobacco does taste different than Cuban tobacco, which tastes different than Honduran tobacco.. ad infinitum.  Taste IS subjective but just because a cigar is made from Honduran tobacco doesn't mean that the cigar is better or worse than another.  The aging of the leaf, the quality of the roll and the blending is key.

The point of this little briefing is to say that you (as a cigar smoker) shouldn't base your tastes solely on price, solely on marketing or on any variable other than your tastes.  Try a cigar, forget what the other guy says and enjoy what you like.  My belief is that you'll find a $5 cigar that you love without having to spend $12 on a cigar that the "in crowd" says is the best cigar in the world.  Folks, vote with your tastes.  That's what the old school did and they bought what they liked, not what some other person told them to buy.

"Old School"