How do you navigate the NC world?

[awesome1]

Do you constantly try new things or do you have a favorite go to smoke that just makes things simple. A brand like tatuaje which I just discovered is a nice cigar. But they have so many cigars under the brand name. It's really overwhelming to try and research all of them. Turns out I now have 7 different ones on hand. Without even trying I probably dropped 300 on them at least in the last month.
Then there is Curivari which I also really enjoy but not every cigar under the brand name has the profile I am looking for. Unfortunately I have spend considerable money on both of these brands and really narrowed it down to maybe 2 cigars from each brand that I would like to have on hand.

Then we get to Ep Carillo or Rocky Patel or So many others that I haven't even looked into. How do you navigate all of that? I wouldn't even know where to start with Rocky Patel.

[CSMAnderson]

Not knowing what strength of a cigar you prefer it's difficult to answer this. But, EP Carillo's cigars are so good you can't go wrong. Petel's cigar I have given up on. He doesn't grow his own tobacco, this has led to his cigar being inconsistent from year to year. Drew Estates cigars are all great as are Dunbartin Cigars made by Steve Saka. Hope this helps.

[awesome1]

Originally Posted by CSMAnderson

Not knowing what strength of a cigar you prefer it's difficult to answer this. But, EP Carillo's cigars are so good you can't go wrong. Petel's cigar I have given up on. He doesn't grow his own tobacco, this has led to his cigar being inconsistent from year to year. Drew Estates cigars are all great as are Dunbartin Cigars made by Steve Saka. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info. Good to know about Petel cigars. So many cigars under the brand name that I have never even considered looking.

What I am looking for, and trying to hone in on, are cigars that have a decent price structure that are still high quality tobacco.
Morning coffee cigars like like some sweetness mixed in. No pepper bombs for breakfast. Medium strength but full flavored. The Curivari Reserve Limitada Cafe petite corona does fit that bill but they only come in boxes of 10 and there's very little supply from what I have found.
I really liked the Dunbarton Sobremesa but I think it's priced a little to high. West Tampa Tobacco Black are excellent. Just on the upper end of what I want to spend but for the quality I feel like the value is there. If I could find similar quality at a lower price point I would be very happy.

black works studio Killer Bees were excellent. Priced a little high for a PC but very good cigar and I have a note to pick up a box of them.

For the rest of the day smokes I'll take any strength. The pepper bombs are fine once in awhile but I really want cigars that have the complexity of the West Tampa blacks. Maybe those are the best deal going for the money but I have so little experience that it's hard to know. It's just hard to navigate all the different brands.

Any opinions on
AJ Fernandez
Aganorsa leaf
Alec Bradley
Esteban Carerra
CP has decent deals on a lot of these on a pretty regular basis.
How about the Nicaraguan Overruns? 40 bucks bundle is very affordable but not if they suck. LOL.

[ElkTwin]

AJ Fernandez and Pepin Garcia roll some beauties.
Lately I've been digging the Olivas, especially the Series V. The Lancero is amazing.

[KatDad]

Agree on AJ Fernandez and Pepin Garcia. I guess I need to break down and try the Oliva V, especially since Oliva Serie G Cameroons are a "go to" of mine.

[gumby]

Originally Posted by KatDad

Agree on AJ Fernandez and Pepin Garcia. I guess I need to break down and try the Oliva V, .

Well dang it, ya'll got me interested, I just ordered a few of all 3 of these from Neptune.

[awesome1]

Originally Posted by ElkTwin

AJ Fernandez and Pepin Garcia roll some beauties.
Lately I've been digging the Olivas, especially the Series V. The Lancero is amazing.

I'm just finishing up a series V No 4. Very good.

[ElkTwin]

Originally Posted by awesome1

I'm just finishing up a series V No 4. Very good.

Get a box of 24 for $96 with with free shipping until midnight tonight.
https://www.cigarpage.com/weekend-en...ce-encore.html

[smbauerllc]

For me, it has been and continues to be, lots of samplers to get to try as much as possible, and anything I like, I find the cheapest amongst my preferred vendors and bookmark it in Chrome for future orders.

I friggin love cigars

[tonycsmoke]

I've been mostly NC for along time. I have a couple of dozen "favorites". I tend to know what I'm going to buy. But beyond that I tend to look at the make-up of the cigar. What wrapper is used? Binder and filler? I'm a huge fan of Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper but not so much of the more neutral US grown. I tend to favor cigars that use Ecuadorian wrapper (Habano, Sumatra) than the seeds grown in other countries.

I also love when you find unusual blends. Years ago Famous had one of their house brands. They had two cigars that were fantastic. One used a Honduran grown Connecticut wrapper. The other had either a Mexican grown binder or filler (I don't remember). They were about a buck a stick. After I found them they disappeared after a few months. It was from some small company in Nicaragua that claimed to be cousins of the Oliva's.