Are cigar samplers a good deal?
May 1, 2010 12:12 PM Subscribe
Are cigar samplers a good deal?
I've smoked my share of cigars (usually the obligatory stogie when on a guys trip to vegas, playing golf, or at a poker game), but don't consider myself a cigar aficionado. However, I do enjoy it from time to time. Over the past several years, I've seen many ads in magazines where they will send you 20 or so "premium" cigars and a humidor for what seems like a great price ($19.99 or so). I assume the humidor is worthless, but not knowing a Macanudo from shinola, can anyone tell me if the cigars provided in these samplers are actually considered good cigars? Or are they generally the chaff of the cigar market? Can decent smokes be found amongst them?
I've smoked my share of cigars (usually the obligatory stogie when on a guys trip to vegas, playing golf, or at a poker game), but don't consider myself a cigar aficionado. However, I do enjoy it from time to time. Over the past several years, I've seen many ads in magazines where they will send you 20 or so "premium" cigars and a humidor for what seems like a great price ($19.99 or so). I assume the humidor is worthless, but not knowing a Macanudo from shinola, can anyone tell me if the cigars provided in these samplers are actually considered good cigars? Or are they generally the chaff of the cigar market? Can decent smokes be found amongst them?
Samplers are a good value, particularly if you don't know what you like. They're quite often half good cigars half crap/value/store-label cigars. Even if you absolutely loathe half of the cigars, it's still a decent price.
The humidor you get is typically fine, though many people prefer putting together a coolerdor as it's much, much less work to maintain everything 'perfectly'.
Cigars International is one of the bigger online retailers (and one of the 2 or 3 that place those magazine ads) -- they typically have a whole variety of sales going on.
posted by wrok at 3:30 PM on May 1, 2010
The humidor you get is typically fine, though many people prefer putting together a coolerdor as it's much, much less work to maintain everything 'perfectly'.
Cigars International is one of the bigger online retailers (and one of the 2 or 3 that place those magazine ads) -- they typically have a whole variety of sales going on.
posted by wrok at 3:30 PM on May 1, 2010
My partner and I have bought three or four cigar samplers, and been given a few more. As mentioned above, they're great for figuring out what you like. Often there'll be one cigar in the bunch that neither of us can stand, and the rest will run the gamut from nice enough to fantastic.
Thompson Cigar has had several samplers that we really liked. It's in samplers that we first tried CAO, Ghurkha, Rocky Patel, and Hoyo del Monterrey--all pretty nice brands, and expensive enough that we'd've never dropped the cash on a five-pack or something without trying them first.
The best-selling samples page on Thompson's website have eight different samplers under $30. If you're thinking about buying one, based on what I know about (and have smoked) of the brands listed, I'd suggest the World Class Assortment Sampler or the Cohiba and Friends Assorted Sampler--both contain some really nice cigars that definitely aren't chaff.
posted by MeghanC at 9:44 PM on May 1, 2010
Thompson Cigar has had several samplers that we really liked. It's in samplers that we first tried CAO, Ghurkha, Rocky Patel, and Hoyo del Monterrey--all pretty nice brands, and expensive enough that we'd've never dropped the cash on a five-pack or something without trying them first.
The best-selling samples page on Thompson's website have eight different samplers under $30. If you're thinking about buying one, based on what I know about (and have smoked) of the brands listed, I'd suggest the World Class Assortment Sampler or the Cohiba and Friends Assorted Sampler--both contain some really nice cigars that definitely aren't chaff.
posted by MeghanC at 9:44 PM on May 1, 2010
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posted by govtdrone at 2:52 PM on May 1, 2010