Samplers

[Mad Dawg]

Has anyone else gone through a progression with samplers? When I first got started in cigars, I bought up a ton of 'em. I figured that was a good way to try a lot of different cigars at a decent price, making them a pretty effective way to get my tastes calibrated.

But once I accomplished that, two things happened. First, the allure of the "shotgun approach" faded and I started leaning heavily towards boxes. Hey, if I know I like it, why get one or two when I could get 20 or 25? Second, I looked at brimming coolers and realized I had a hell of a lot of onesies and twosies of stuff I'd probably never smoke.

These days, I've gotten very picky. I won't even look at a sampler if it has house brands salted in amongst the loss leaders, or low-end stuff tossed in to make the numbers look better then they really are. If it's not 100% stuff I know I like or I really want to try, pass!

I still see good ones from time to time, but the standard formula seems to be about 60/40 good/cheap. I might love the 60, and the cost/stick for the whole shebang might work out well, but I'm just not willing to accumulate more meh smokes to get a few more winners.

Discuss!