A Beginner’s Guide to Cigars.

Right off the bat, I just want you to know that as someone looking to start smoking cigars, there’s no clear-cut, written-in-stone set of choices or methods for cigars, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned smoker. Because let’s face it, it’s cigars we’re talking about here, not Math. No one’s going to grade you on what brand of cigar you’re smoking or how you chose to smoke it.

There’s no form of assessment, it’s all just about relaxation and maybe kicking back with friends to share a smoke and have some drinks and laidback conversation.

So what have we established here? The best experience that you will have with cigars is if you don’t overthink it, trying to get it perfect at all costs. Because trust me, no smoker ever has. Getting it wrong, getting it half-right, and even possibly finding that one mind-blowing cigar that is just right for you, are all integral parts of having the best experience with cigars for you.

However, this is not to, in any way, discredit the knowledge gained by people who were once beginners like yourself and can confidently tell you of the mistakes they made, how to avoid them, and what better choices you could make.

Your very first cigar is almost as important as the very first step you took as a baby. That first cigar is what will enable you to decide whether you want to carry on with cigars as a hobby or not, and if you do decide to, it’ll also set the tone for how you will be able to appreciate your subsequent cigar smokes.

So benevolently coming from a knowledge bank of experience, here are a few suggestions of cigars that will most likely hit the mark for someone looking to start or someone picking up the habit again after a very long time:

1. Arturo Fuente 858 Flor Fina

Starting or restarting your cigar journey with an Arturo Fuente is one of the best choices you can make as a beginner because they are regarded as one of the finest cigar brands owing to its long history of quality and consistency. This means the smoking experience with their cigars hardly ever disappoints! Furthermore, their Natural line of cigars is perfect for beginners looking for a mild introduction into the world.

Crafted with an African Cameroon wrapper and Dominican Republic long-filler, the 858 Flor Fina is a medium-bodied smoke with a lightness and smoothness that isn’t complex or overwhelming and stays consistent the entire time you’re smoking it. The cigar has a sharp spicy and sweet taste from its cedar and mild tobacco flavors, and a hint of espresso notes in the aftertaste.

The Arturo Fuente cigar is available in a range of shapes and sizes, with a benchmark retail price of $6. With the outstanding quality that you will get from the cigar, this is a great bargain.

SHOP ARTURO FUENTE

2. Romeo y Julieta 1875 Bully 

The Romeo and Julieta brand started in Cuba in the year 1875, so this cigar appears to be a callback to their beginnings. Truth be told, you can never go wrong with Romeo y Julieta. Today, cigar smokers usually go for their 1875 line of award-winning cigars because, quite frankly, these cigars are superior. One of the attributes that make the 1875 Bully cigar unique is the origin of its wrapper which is from Indonesia! That’s something you rarely see in the cigar crafting world.

For a cigar with the name “Bully”, this vintage cigar has such a nice texture and flavor to it, leaving a smooth and creamy finish in your mouth when you smoke it. It has an all-around mild to medium-flavored body with some deep oak and cedar flavors and spices coming from the timeless Dominican Republic long-filler. And get this. This first-rate cigar retails for around $5 a stick! So without a doubt, you will be getting more for less if you opt for this.

If you’re just getting into cigars, and even for veterans too, the Romeo y Julieta 1875 Bully with its mild taste and very affordable price is a great choice for you.

SHOP ROMEO Y JULIETA

3. Macanudo Café

Macanudo is well-known for its wide range of cigars that cover everything from different budgets to a variety of people’s tastes with their flavors. Plus, their Café series is one of their most well-known line of cigars because it delivers a very mild, yet unforgettably flavorful smoking experience ideal for everyone, be you, beginner or veteran.

The Macanudo Café, with its silky Connecticut wrapper around an amazing blend of long-aged Dominican long-fillers, is a light cigar with rich and interesting flavor notes and an extremely smooth feel to its smoking experience. No wonder it is one of Macanudo’s bestsellers. I would highly recommend this stick to you if you’re looking to cut your teeth on cigars. And here’s a bonus: this cigar costs only $7 a stick, so for someone who is trying new things, it won’t put a dent in your wallet, that’s for certain.

SHOP MACANUDO

4. Oliva Serie G

The Oliva brand has impressed a lot of people over the years with its cigars. The Serie is one of the brand’s most popular Cameroon cigars with its very earthy flavor, throwing together a bold combination of raisin sweet, cedar, and cinnamon notes to create an extraordinarily smooth smoking experience. With its exotic construction and silky taste, it’s the perfect cigar to give you a more robust idea of what cigars can be like as a beginner. https://macularetinavitreouscenter.com/

The Oliva Serie G is a medium-bodied cigar filled using an all Nicaraguan long-filler wrapped in a Cameroon Wrapper to give you that little taste of Africa. At $6 a stick, you will be amazed at the variety of bold flavors that you will get out of smoking a Serie G.

5. CAO Gold Robusto

This cigar really does deserve a gold medal for its smoothness and striking simplicity. It’s the perfect cigar to have with friends and drinks, owing to its dry yet creamy taste that stays consistent throughout when you light it up for a smoke. It is medium-bodied at most, so it’s nothing too harsh and very suitable for a beginner. CAO produces a very diverse and impressive listing of cigars.

Their Gold Robusto is a neatly traditional smoke with mild flavors that will gently ease you into the world of cigars.

Made with a solid, 100% Nicaraguan long-filler, wrapped in a sleek Connecticut Shade wrapper, this cigar scores high points in both looks and taste, incorporating a pleasant combo of sweet, spicy and, earthy flavor notes that you will, no doubt, enjoy. CAO also produces its Gold series of cigars in a great assortment of sizes and shapes that you can choose from as well, plus they mostly retail at a neat $5 per stick.

SHOP CAO CIGARS

6. Padron 2000 Natural

Padron is another cigar manufacturer that makes many great and high-end cigars.  Their Padron 2000 Natural is a great first stop for beginners on their journey through the world of cigars. It has a smooth, consistent, earthy flavor that was crafted to suit the purpose of daily smoking. This is why Padron has a lot of very loyal patrons because they make cigars such as this one that you can smoke every day if you want to.

The Padron 2000 Natural offers a great introduction to cigars with its medium-bodied, all-Nicaraguan tobaccos profile, with notes of nuts, spices, and an earthy sweetness. It also has a long finish so that you can have all those amazing flavors lingering on your palate for a while. For $6, you can get access to some of the best tobacco in the world from this premium stick.

Now that you’ve gotten a few first-time cigar suggestions, here are some more tips to make it easier for you to discover what brands, flavor tones, levels of richness, and so on that you prefer among the countless varieties of cigars.

• Begin with affordable sticks: This will enable you to acquire a step-by-step appreciation for the different tiers of tastes and flavors of cigars that you will get to try out with time. Starting at the top with the most expensive cigar or the best cigar in the store will make it difficult for you to acquire this appreciation and really experience the world of cigar varieties the way you should. Anything from $3 to $8 should be perfect for you as a beginner before you begin to work your way up to the pricier $15 to $20 cigars.
• Start with a light-colored wrapper leaf/light-bodied cigar: As a beginner, it can take some time for you to learn how to appreciate a rich, robust cigar. Most times, a light-colored wrapper on a cigar connotes lighter flavors which can serve as the stepping stones, or in this case, cigars that will help prepare you for smoking more full-bodied cigars.
• Find out what your friends are smoking and learn from their experiences.
• Your way is the highway: Nobody should be able to tell you the “right” or the “wrong” way to smoke a cigar because, in as much as it will be really helpful to get tips from friends, the type of cigar you want to smoke and your method should be totally up to you.
• Maintain good cigar care to preserve the cigars you will begin to gather in your humidor so that they will remain intact for your consumption. In addition, learn to practice good smoking etiquette so that you stay considerate of others who may be around you while you smoke. And ensure you follow the right steps to cut and light your cigar, just so you can have a very pleasurable experience.