I've been visiting the humidor here for some time now, and I'm finally ready to take the plunge and make an investment into a little humidor and a few sticks to keep on hand. A little bit about my habits and preferences first:

I'm a casual smoker, maybe once or twice a week with some of my fraternity brothers, as well as whenever I'm out golfing. I absolutely love Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real, but those are a little out of my price range in the long term. I like a medium body, and just something that's smooth. I'm still new so I want to try some different bands, shapes, blends, etc.

I'm looking for something maybe 2-3 bucks a stick if that's doable. I'm a sophomore in college so money isn't exactly the most abundant at the moment. There is one other obstacle as well. I'm not 21 (sucks for plenty of reasons in a college town), but it also hinders me since a lot of online retailers will only sell to 21+. Any suggestions as to what to look for/avoid, good deals that may be out there, or specific recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

How many cigars can you store at once, and how much do you want to spend?

If you are in a fraternity and there are other guys that smoke then get everyone together, find some cigars that people like and start buying and splitting boxes.  This will allow you to do a few things:

1) Try some different cigars that other people like
2) Buy in bulk
3) Have people to trade with if you get something you don't like
4) Find some smoking buddies

If you visit cigar bid do yourself a favor and start with buying a humidor that is about 5x as big as you think you will need.  If you frequent the site you will find good deals on cigars that you like and you will buy them and you will need a place to store them.  Your first three purchases should be a humidor, heartfelt beads and a digital hygrometer.  If you have all of those things then order the biggest sampler that will fit inside your setup and have a good time.

This sampler is a good deal. 40 sticks for $99, plus they always do some sort of free gift for online orders over $99. The gift isn't usually all that great, but it's free!

There are some damn good cigars there, plus some good golf course smokes.

Those are Ave Maria's, but still a Fernandez cigar... no where near a MOW in taste, IMO.

Those are what I was thinking of as good golf course smokes. Not too heavy, don't worry too much if you waste it.

Make sure that whatever sampler you get has at least a couple of MOW Ruination in it.

I like the TRUE GRIT sampler at CI.

Wow, lots of responses, so thanks for posting so quickly!



I ordered a 50 stick humidor, so in reality probably 30-40. As far as cost, I'm trying not to go above $30 or $40. I'm looking for 15-20 cigars. That'll last me a little while and let me figure out what kind I want to try more of, rather than just having the same variety for the entire semester.

I like the looks of that true grit sampler,it's a little more than I wanted to spend per cigar, but I won't be settling when it comes to quality so it might be worth getting. Are there any other samplers you'd suggest around that price range/count?

You said you like medium bodied cigars so unless you are wanting to try a full body style cigar I wouldn't go with the true grit.

Run on over to Famous and pick a medium bodied sampler....you can sort through a few and give them a try.
Famous


Also...use Cigar Monster (just Google it...) and you can pick them up with free shipping to boot.
Monster


And look in at the Mash up between 11:00 and 12:00 AM and PM for a full list of that days offerings unless they have sold out for that day.

Cigar monster ended up being the best! I ended up going with this sampler for 30 bucks with the free shipping. 7 of the 10 were medium bodied, and I'll just save the other 3 for a little while till I decide to step it up a little. Thanks for all the help, I think I'm hooked now

Here are a couple of samplers you may want to look at:


Eight Angry Coronas

20 Cigars + a Humidor

OP....did you pick that one because you recognized the barnd names in the pack?


Just trying to gauge which way to point you next....

I'm guessing the RyJ and the price were good enough to seal the deal.

Yeah, the brand names were part of it. It had a lot that appealed to me though; mostly medium cigars, no duplicates, good price. I know I'm not gonna love every cigar I get, but I feel like I'll enjoy most of them and be able to get a better idea of what to get in the future. One of the biggest appeals was the fact that it was a true sampler with 10 different cigars, meaning I'm gonna be able to try a wider variety and then go from there.



And yeah, both the price and the RyJ were just too good to pass up too.