It's starting to warm up, and that means I will slowly being to abandon the pipes and want to start smoking cigars again.
I have pretty much been a Handmade only smoker, aside from an occasional Black & Mild or Swisher Sweet.. I want to know what currently available MM cigars you guys think are in your top 5, as I'd like to give them a fair try. Not sure if we should do a top 5 flavored and top 5 natural, etc.. I will leave that up to you.
“To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
It's hard for me to think of a top 5 in the machine category anymore. The golden age of these cigars has passed, in my opinion. I got into the machine made world just before most of the old, old, old brands went out of business. I have a museum of their boxes that I've saved. I look at those shelves and it saddens me that I can't buy 90% of those cigars anymore. The museum only dates from 5-6 years ago.
I'm going to hold off on saying what my go-to machine mades are because I can't say that I feel strongly about any of them. I don't smoke a lot of machine mades anymore for the reasons in paragraph #1---when you've tasted the best, it's hard to settle for third rate. The brands I fell in love with have passed on to that big humidor in the sky. I'll be smoking a pigtail Marsh Wheeling in Heaven.
I still buy occasional boxes from Finck, but not at the monthly subscription rate I used to. As people who are familiar with me know, I was a big machine made cheerleader back in the day. Nowadays, I don't find anything that really catches my fancy or captures my imagination. I'm interested in what others have to say.
None of the above is meant to imply that Finck cigars or Parodis are third rate. I was thinking more of gas station cigars, which are fine for what they are, but they aren't ever going to be my daily go-to for my one-after-another routine.
Whalehead King wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2019 4:02 pm
It's hard for me to think of a top 5 in the machine category anymore. The golden age of these cigars has passed, in my opinion. I got into the machine made world just before most of the old, old, old brands went out of business. I have a museum of their boxes that I've saved. I look at those shelves and it saddens me that I can't buy 90% of those cigars anymore. The museum only dates from 5-6 years ago.
I'm going to hold off on saying what my go-to machine mades are because I can't say that I feel strongly about any of them. I don't smoke a lot of machine mades anymore for the reasons in paragraph #1---when you've tasted the best, it's hard to settle for third rate. The brands I fell in love with have passed on to that big humidor in the sky. I'll be smoking a pigtail Marsh Wheeling in Heaven.
I still buy occasional boxes from Finck, but not at the monthly subscription rate I used to. As people who are familiar with me know, I was a big machine made cheerleader back in the day. Nowadays, I don't find anything that really catches my fancy or captures my imagination. I'm interested in what others have to say.
None of the above is meant to imply that Finck cigars or Parodis are third rate. I was thinking more of gas station cigars, which are fine for what they are, but they aren't ever going to be my daily go-to for my one-after-another routine.
Fair enough! That all said then, what do you prefer to smoke? Are you a handmade kinda fella?
“To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
1. Any machine made by Finck Cigar
2. Rigoletto Black Jack
3. Dutch Masters Palmas
4. Principe Palmas
5. A&C Grenadiers
6. Any dry cured cigar by Avanti/Parodi
These are all good machine rolled cigars. Most of these have a natural leaf wrapper over an HTL binder. On this list only Finck's Travis Club cigars and Avanti/Parodi are 100% tobacco.
I'm like [mention]Whalehead King[/mention]. It just kills me what has happened to the machine made industry in just the last five years. Most were family run businesses like Finck and Graves that were regulated out of business. It makes me sad and it makes me angry. At least Finck was able to relocate their business from San Antonio to the DR. A Dominican Senator is better than no Senator. Enough of that. That list is arbitrary Paul, but it is a list of the six that popped in my mind first.
Kevin Keith wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2019 6:29 pm
1. Any machine made by Finck Cigar
2. Rigoletto Black Jack
3. Dutch Masters Palmas
4. Principe Palmas
5. A&C Grenadiers
6. Any dry cured cigar by Avanti/Parodi
These are all good machine rolled cigars. Most of these have a natural leaf wrapper over an HTL binder. On this list only Finck's Travis Club cigars and Avanti/Parodi are 100% tobacco.
I'm like Whalehead King. It just kills me what has happened to the machine made industry in just the last five years. Most were family run businesses like Finck and Graves that were regulated out of business. It makes me sad and it makes me angry. At least Finck was able to relocate their business from San Antonio to the DR. A Dominican Senator is better than no Senator. Enough of that. That list is arbitrary Paul, but it is a list of the six that popped in my mind first.
Thanks KK, this gives me a good place to start. The Prencipes were on my radar, but I hadn't yet decided if they were legit. I've tried a few dry cured cigars(Panter, Villiger Export) and liked them, so maybe I will have to explore Avanti and Parodi.
“To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
Villiger Export is a very good machine made cigar. The Brasil and Maduro wrapper versions are my favorites. My only complaint about them is that they are a brief smoke. A 4 1/2 inch Parodi will last me 40 minutes or more, a Tuscarora Straight a bit longer than that, but the Villger is gone in under 20 minutes. They are quite tasty though, and famous smokes has them right now at $5.99 for a box of 5, a good price.
If you keep an eye on their website Famous has frequent shipping discount offers, discounts for signing up for their email list, an entire section devoted to just machine made cigars, and if you’re will to wait, they have a special that pops up 4 or 5 times a year where they offer free shipping with no minimum. That’s a great time to stock up on singles and small packs of various items.
