Mr Maltby said:CAO made a killer, nice, full bodied smoke for the Sporanos which was a limited edition that I would love to find again.
RedPop4 said:Lately, over the past two years, I've been gravitating toward smaller sized cigars. The non-Cuban manufacturers are just beginning to realize that this is occurring. It seems that demand in the American market is still calling for girthy smokes, 54-60 ring guage. This was all the rage two or three years ago, and there are still quite a few like that still around and being introduced.
However, over the same period of time, I've been enjoying coronas, Lonsdales, petit coronas, and even tres petit corona sized cigars more, with an occasional robusto or longer cigar, especially if someone is giving me a nice one to smoke right then.
Some brands of note I've been enjoying over the past year include
Rocky Patel Sun Grown
Padilla 8/11
Carlos Tora?±o Exodus 1959 and Signature Series
Perdomo Edici??n de Silvio (although it's quite expensive, the ones I had were gifts.)
Tatuaje--this is a boutique brand out of Miami, they're pricey, too, but they have a couple less expensive lines. These are made by a gentleman named Don Pepin Garcia, and the cigars with his name are good too. These are all fairly stout cigars though. If you're accustomed to Avo, Don Diego, Macanudo or CAO Gold, these will hit you hard.
I haven't had a Padron in a while, although I really enjoy the "1000 Series" with a nod to the 5000.
Last night for my actual 40th birthday, my buddy gave me a Partag?°s corona (Habano); for the surprise party a couple weeks ago he have me a Juan Loez #1 (Habano). The Juan Lopez has been a sleeper brand out of Havana for a couple years, now, I enjoy them immensely, especially the #2 which is a Dalia (Cuban for robusto sized.) The #1 is a bit longer and thinner.
Punch Punch is a fantastic cigar, I've had a few of these lately, as well as Punch Super Coronas and one other size, which are, in fact, almost identical in size, being super coronas or corona majors. The Royal Selection #12 and Super Selection #2 are also similar in size, and they all seem to have my number. I could ALMOST live on Punch (Habanos) if I had to choose only one brand to take on the deserted island with me.
The H. Upmann Magnum 46 is excellent as is the newer brand the San Cristobal de la Habana, especially the smaller sizes in their line.
As for good bargain cigars I like
Perdomo Fresco....I got a robusto in this line last week for $2.35. The toro size was only $2.65
Mayorga at $35 a box
The Flor de Oliva bundles are great cigars priced really nicely, under $30 a bundle.
Consuegra are "seconds" from the Villazon factory (these are seconds of the Honduran Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey, Belinda, El Rey del Mundo)
The Sancho Panza Extra Fuerte line has boxes as low as $35
Padron are in the process of changing their boxes, making them larger than the standard 25. The new boxes will hold either 26 or 30 cigars. Thus the box of 26 Padron Londres, a corona size, will cost you only $55 at most online vendors. That's a bargain for a Padron.
The Honduran Punch or Hoyo de Monterrey Rothschilds come in a box of 50 and if you look around online, you can find that box for $95. This is a bargain, that's less than $2 per cigar for a premium, hand-rolled, well-regarded brand.
JR sells a Perdomo-rolled cigar called 1958 Pre-Embargo Genuine Counterfeit Cuban Cigars, the "Gourmet" a little perfecto, comes in a cedar box of 50 for just $89 That price hasn't changed in five years. And it's a pretty good little cigar. I still have remnants of a box I purchased this time in 2001 and they're just lovely.
That's what I have right now, just off the top of my head.
Long ashes, my friends.