Tips For Buying And Storing Your Cigars

Some tips for buying and storing your cigars.

 




The image of a man with a cigar on his hand or in his mouth evokes rugged yet sophisticated manliness. The fact that cigars, especially Cuban cigars and other branded cigars such as Ashton cigars and Padron cigars do not come cheap implies that only men with sophisticated and alluring tastes go for cigars.

If you are thinking of trying out cigars for the first time, it is important for you to familiarize yourself with various aspects of cigars and cigar smoking. Cigars are different from the more common and ordinary cigarettes that you can buy just about anywhere. Below are some tips to help you when buying and storing cigars to help you out.

· Touch and feel the cigar. You can learn a lot about the quality of the cigar you are buying from how it feels in your hand. A good quality cigar will feel firm with a lustrous sheen and slightly oily texture while a poor quality cigar will feel dry, cracked, and dull. If it feels like a cookie in your hands then the cigar has probably been improperly stored for a long time.

· Smell the cigar. Aside from the texture and feel of the cigar on your hands, its smell will also be a good indication of its quality. Good cigars always give off a strong tobacco smell whereas a poor quality cigar will have almost no smell at all. So the stronger the tobacco smell, the better.



· Buy from specialized cigar stores. Try to limit your cigar purchases to specialized cigar stores instead of a general products store. Check that the cigar store has a walk-in humidor that maintains the right temperature and humidity for the cigars. Aside from this, you are sure that the cigars are stored and handled properly because the store personnel of cigar stores are often well-informed, if not experts, on cigars. You can even ask for recommendations from them.

· Buy a day or two before. To preserve the quality of the cigar that you will buy, make sure to buy a day or at most two days before using it or giving it as a gift. This ensures that the cigars are still fresh and has maintained its quality. Buy days or weeks ahead only if you have a humidor where you can properly store your cigars. If you must by a week before, get cigars that are packed in tubes because these tubes are sealed such that the moisture is locked in.

· Get a good humidor. If you plan on smoking cigars on a regular basis, a humidor is a good investment. Buying one will ensure that you can store your cigars in optimal conditions so that you do not have to keep on buying a single cigar every time you want to smoke one.