Welcome to CATS!
This is to help new and experienced smokers alike with their time at CATS and with cigars in general. Feel free to add but not delete anything from this doc. If you have an alternate piece of advice or a way you feel better than is currently listed, add it, but leave the other. CATS is more like a family than a forum. Please don't call anyone out publicly. Instead of posting or PM'ing when you are aggrivated, explain what happen to an Admin on the site. If you are not sure whom the admins are, click on the members number at top of forum (to the right on this last update) and it will show all members and you can see the admins separately. Current Admins are listed below. Please contact one of the general admins first as Storm, Chris and Matthew stick to their titles and Storm stays pretty busy. It is best to send a PM to all admins so we can see whom has responded and make sure someone has gotten back to you quickly:
Founder: Storm Boen
Graphics Officer: Matthew John Zeigler
Marketing Officer: Chris Trebing
General Officers: (Contact these Officers first and in a group message to all at one time)
Alaine Dibenedetto
Casey Aldulaimi
Dez Appleton
Jim Davison
John Krump
John Walker
Joshua Jeremiah Mandle
Micah Taylor
CATS Rules:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/279242672129307/doc/344849828901924/Bombing Etiquette:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/279242672129307/doc/388678507852389/CATS Personal Favorite Cigars - Add your own on here!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/279242672129307/doc/445473495506223/Glossary of Cigar and CATS Slang:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/279242672129307/doc/389044311149142/Current CATS Specials: These are specials only available to CATS members
https://www.facebook.com/groups/279242672129307/doc/524365100950395/List of B&M shops around the world with reviews. Feel free to add your own!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/279242672129307/doc/493154194071486/CMoM (CATS MEMBERS OF THE MONTH):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/279242672129307/doc/370160453037528/Smoking Guide! Please add to anyone or anything with information that you think anyone fairly new to smoking cigars would love to read and learn from. If you disagree, don't remove the other comment, just add yours and point out the other option you have. Remember some of those things that you learned and helped your experience improve when smoking. Either write out tips or add your favorite links with a description of what your links refer to. I will clean it up as information is added thank you to everyone who adds to it.
Why it pays to rotate your cigars: Found by Kim Carbonare Trikich
When you check your hygrometer, do you assume that the RH% (relative humidity) is the same throughout the entire humidor? If your humidifier is mounted under the lid of your humidor and you have several rows of cigars, you may be surprised to learn that the cigars on the bottom row usually don't get as much moist air as the cigars at the top.
Check your cigars on the bottom and see if they feel a little drier by giving them a gentle pinch and compare their suppleness to the cigars at the top. Even if they feel about the same to you, rotating your cigars from the bottom up every 6 to 8 weeks will help ensure that all of your cigars are getting an equal amount of moisture. Moreover, you may find that you have fewer bad-burning cigars.
Finally, if you have a large number of cigars in your humidor it may seem like a lot of work, but take your time and be careful of the wrappers, especially if you've removed the cellos. That extra little labor of love will payoff in the long run
Kim Carbonare Trikich
How to exercise your palate
As you puff on your cigar, try directing the smoke at different parts of your tongue. Your tongue picks up different flavors depending on where it's touched. Give it a try and see how many other flavors you pick up. Take it one step farther and try retrohaling. Retrohaling is when you direct the smoke from the back of the mouth, up through the sinuses, and exhale through the nasal passages. Simply introduce a tiny bit of smoke into the air stream as you gently exhale through your nose, by raising your tongue to the roof of your mouth. The delicate nuances you detect are the cigar's " bouquet."
!!! - Train Your Palate - !!! Submitted and written by John "GruntmaN" Krump
(What is a $25-30 investment into your smoking hobby in the grand scheme of things? Do This! You will thank me for the rest of your cigar smoking life, I promise!
If you would like some advice to train your palate, read on. What you will need:
Water, preferably bottled spring water at room temperature or slightly cool. Not freezing cold ice water that will numb your taste buds.
3 sticks of the same size and with the same main profile, ie: 3 Full, 3 medium or 3 mild cigars.For full flavored fans, I really enjoyed using the VSG, Mi Amor and San Cristobal
Raw, unsalted or lightly salted Almonds
Get three sticks; 3 milds, 3mediums or 3 full flavored. I highly recommend the Ashton tasting. They do this in most stores across the US. They offer three sets, mild, medium or full. Since I am a full flavored guy, I will share what I was given, all robusto size; an Ashton VSG, La Aromo De Cuba "Mi Amor" and an original San Cristobal (this is what I did at an Ashton tasting and highly recommend you start with these) - These are all Ashton cigars; though they are all full, they are quite different and make it a lot easier to identify the differences, even subtle ones. For example, have you ever tasted cherry in your Mi Amor before? It's there! The VSG is a stick made for Ashton by Fuente and with Fuente tobaccos while the other two are Pepin Blends. As I mentioned, they are all quite different, even the wrappers are amazingly different.
STICK WITH room temp to cool WATER ONLY TO DRINK!
Light up the VSG first, smoke it as you normally would until you are an inch into it. Smoke slow and try to pick up the flavors you are tasting. Rinse with water occasionally to refresh your mouth. Remember to focus on the taste!
Clean your mouth/palate with room temp to cool water (not freezing cold that will numb your mouth) and chew up a couple of plain almonds. Water and Almonds help neutralize the flavors left in your mouth.
Light the Mi Amor and smoke it about 1/2" to 3/4" in. Again, focus on the flavors. Compare it to what you were tasting with the VSG. You can even smoke them right after one another without the cleanse if it helps you; I know it did me!
Repeat Step #3, the cleanse.
Repeat Step 4 with the final cigar. This will be the San Cristobal if you are using the three I recommended, and light the third all while keeping the other two going. Retrohale (Exhale through your nose) to get more flavor. As you continue, you can smoke without the cleansing but you will REALLY START TO NOTICE the subtle flavor changes. The Mi Amor will seem like a chocolate bar with bits of black cherry coming through occassionally and other flavors but I don;t want to give it all away, the VSG will be cedary, leathery and spicy (try to pick out the different spices) while the SC will bring on a wealth of new flavors, earth, coffee, etc. This is a lesson I recommend to EVERY CIGAR SMOKER!!!
You have to train your palate! You can smoke hundreds of cigars and slowly pick things up or you can spend a couple hours and $30 and really learn to enjoy every stick that much more. If you have ever smoked an ESG and have not trained your palate, you wasted $25! There are some crazy complex cigars on the market in this blessed boutique world we live in. Some are incredibly cheap in comparison to the complexity they offer such as the Aging Room, My Father, Liga Privada, illusione Epernay or MJ12, Pepin la Reloba, Natural by Drew Estates, AVO Domaine, Viaje Holiday Blend, LFD 2000 series or Air Bender, La Sirena, especially the Ariel if you are lucky enough to find one. Once you start to pick up the flavors in sticks, it will make it much easier for you to find cigars you like. Learn the leafs in the ones you enjoy and look for other cigars with a similar blend!
For those that feel they have no palate, this will train you more than you can imagine. Again, what is a $30 investment into something that will literally DOUBLE OR TRIPLE your smoking pleasure for the rest of your life! Once you have your footing on flavors, splurge and get yourself a highly complex stick like the ESG, Opus X, Liga Privada Unico Series, Padron Family Reserve, etc. You've likely had one before but try it again and realize how much you missed out on before!
Bleeding your lighter: Submitted by Kim TriKich
Smoke This!(our Cigar Tip of the Week)"Bottoms-up" to bleeding
Any experienced cigar smoker knows that when your torch lighter runs out of gas, it's essential that you bleed all of the excess fuel and air out to keep it working in prime condition. No problem, right? So, try this. When you bleed any refillable butane lighter, you'll get much better results by holding the lighter bottoms-up as you depress the fuel valve. Any remaining gas and air will rise out of the base, rather than being "blown" out the bottom when held upright. To ensure that all of the air has been bled out of the lighter, alternate between depressing the ignition trigger, as air will also rise from the gas jet/s, and repeating the inverted bleeding at the base until you no longer hear a psssst sound coming from the fuel valve. For one, it really works, and two, you'll have fewer ignition problems.
Submitted by David Zayas in Allentown, PAStore Manager, The Humidor at Leaf
What does the appearance of the ASH mean.http://www.cigars4dummies.com/cigar-smoking/the-ash-knows-.html
Want good breath for your loved one after you smoke, read this walk through:
http://www.cigars4dummies.com/cigar-smoking/how-to-avoid-bad-breath-after-smoking.html Thank you Kim Carbonare Trikich!!!
Smoke a Cigar: 7 Important Cigar Smoking Tips for Beginners
Here are the answers to the seven most common concerns beginners have when they smoke a cigar for the first time.
1. Holding a cigar
Cigars should be held between the index finger and thumb, not between the index and middle finger as you would hold a cigarette.
2. Removing the band
Removing the band is entirely your choice. But if you do remove it, smoke the cigar for a few minutes first. This will loosen the band so that removing it will not tear the delicate cigar wrapper. Be aware that in some circles, drawing attention to the brand you’re smoking is frowned upon.
3. Lighting a cigar
You may use ordinary matches to light a cigar, although special cigar matches which light up slowly can be used, as can a gasoline lighter. The gas lighter is least desirable because it causes a change in taste. The main thing is to light your cigar slowly by holding it horizontally while rotating the flame around the open end of the cigar. When it begins burning, take some light puffs. It is important to create an even burn so that one side does not burn faster than the other. Exhale over the foot (open end) of the cigar, to assist with regular burning. Some connoisseurs like to light their cigars with cedar, which is obtained by breaking off a piece of cedar from the cedar layer in a box of cigars.
4. Inhaling when you smoke a cigar
Cigars should never be inhaled. The flavor and body of a cigar can be thoroughly enjoyed without inhaling. Inhaling can cause nicotine addiction and an array of lung and other health problems. Click here for more information on health aspects of cigar smoking.
5. Length of time to smoke a cigar
Cigars need to be smoked slowly and drawn infrequently. Too many puffs will overheat the cigar and ruin the taste. Take no more than one puff per minute. Plan on taking about a half hour to smoke a corona and one hour for the bigger cigars.
6. When a cigar stops burning
If you have smoked half of a cigar or more, it is normal for it to stop burning. Remove the ash by letting it fall and light it up in the way described in tip no. 3. But this time, exhale to remove the cold smoke then proceed to light it as you would a new cigar. You can smoke a cigar until two hours after it first stopped burning. After that, the taste is permanently altered. But if less than half of a longer cigar has been smoked, you can continue smoking it the next day.
7. Managing the ash
The length of the ash is a mark of the quality of the cigar. However, there is no reason to either shake the cigar to make it fall or try to keep the ash as long as possible. Just allow the cigar to do what it does naturally. Fostering an excessive amount of ash can obstruct airflow and cause an uneven burn.
Bonus Tip
8. When to put a cigar down
If you smoke a cigar down to the last two inches, it will emit a great deal of heat and leave a bad aftertaste. That is your signal to put it off. It is not necessary to crush it in an ashtray like you would a cigarette. Left inside the ashtray, a cigar will stop burning by itself. However, it should be thrown out quickly or it will leave a bad odor in the room.
Observe these eight practices when you smoke a cigar and you will appear to others to be an experienced smoker with admirable sophistication and taste.
Smoke a Cigar – the Book!
http://www.cigarpass.com/index.php/cigar-terms.html Terminology is key to understanding the language spoke
http://www.cigar-info-guide.com/cigar-glossary.html another great link for Terminology
http://www.famous-smoke.com/cigars-guide.cfm Complete guide to cigars
www.cigarsintl.com/FD2012Click on this link if u want FREE Shipping for CI
I like to categorize Cigars into 4 categories which most on CATS do the same.
Trads= Traditionals
Infused= made with natural oils
ACIDS= Drew Estate speciality infused with Botanical oils
Flavored= what most considered Blackwoods, swisher sweets
Dog turd rockets= while usually what people considered horrible premium cigars we on CATS tend to believe no such thing as a bad premium cigar just premium cigars that aren't what our paletes enjoy. A true Dog Turd Rocket are swisher sweets, White owls, Black and milds. While a place in the cigar world because without them alot of folks may not have ever tried cigars, general consensus they are not considered premium cigars
Billy Mitchell: People will call a perfecto a figurado as well, which is true since it is a figurado. If you are new and are wondering what a main difference between the two is, a perfecto is going to be more pointed at both ends. And its seems more and more these days companies are calling shapes by whatever they want to lol.
If you choose to write up a guide Please Sign your name at bottom. Videos are also great sing the video if you find one as well. Thank you all in advance
Maduro the myth and the method. Great Article about Maduro wrappers
http://cigarpress.com/maduro-the-myth-and-the-methodGuide to Lighting a cigar in the old fashion way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TNL7evhhoU VIDEO Old School
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF2ir96lHkU VIDEO Standard way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bswDNrUQNM VIDEO Very detailed with lots of good explanations
Written Guide:
Four Essential Tips For Correctly Lighting A Cigar
For new cigar smokers, lighting a cigar can seem as daunting as learning to choose a good single malt scotch. To help make the task a bit less daunting, here are four tips to guide you in lighting a cigar for the first time.
Use cedar matches, if possible. If you prefer to use a lighter, make sure it's a butane lighter to avoid strong odors. You don't need anything stinking up the aroma of a great cigar.
Warm the open end of the cigar (aka "the foot" of the cigar) slowly over the flame, without touching it to the fire. Let a black ring form around the end.
Place the cigar in your mouth and draw in slowly. Hold the cigar over the flame, about half an inch above it, again without touching. Continue to draw in until the cigar draws the flame. Turn the cigar slowly, spinning it to establish an even burn.
Once your cigar is lit, take it out of your mouth and observe the burn you have established. If the burn appears to be uneven, simply blow on the unlit sections to draw the burn, and then take one or two draws from the cigar to reestablish an even burn.
You will now have a perfectly lit and ready to enjoy cigar.
Guide Cellophane or No Cello:
Most new cigar smokers always ask - “Cello on or off?”. This again is a personal preference. My advice is to leave the cellophane on, even if you’re aging cigars. The cellophane will help keep the cigar from getting damaged (cigar wrappers are very delicate and will crack/split easily). Also, if you’re storing different types of cigars and the cellophane is off, the cigars will “marry” over time, and pick up each others flavors. I highly advise leaving the cellophane on, though do what works best for you.
The last point I’d like to touch upon is temperature. Without going into too much detail, it’s a good idea to keep your cigars between 60F-75F. If the temp goes much higher than 75F, you’re at risk for tobacco beetles. Tobacco beatles like to lay eggs on tobacco leaf, and if your cigar has eggs in the tobacco, they may hatch at 80F +. If the eggs hatch, the beetles will eat your cigars, and you’ll be left with cigars that look like swiss cheese. Aside from beetles being a threat, cigars prefer it at 75F or less; this will prevent them from becoming damaged.
2. Guide to Retrohale Thanks Jacquest Smith!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMcDOSypco8&feature=youtube_gdata_player3. Guite to Cutting a Cigar and various types of Cutters
http://www.jrcigars.com/index.cfm?page=jrcu_cutting thanks Neal Wollenberg
Neal Wollenberg: Also, I advise against using the Dickman cut on anything but perfectos/figurados/belicoso/torpedo style cigars because the cut goes below the cap on a parejo (most common shape of cigar). Cutting below the bottom edge of the cap can cause a wrapper to unravel. The caps on most perfectos cover more area of the head and the Dickman cut will still stay above the bottom edge of the cap.
4. Guide to what type of fire should be used on Cigars
5. Guide to Calibration of your hygrometer:
http://exoticpets.about.com/od/herpresources/ss/hygrometer.htm 6. Guide to seasoning a Humidor
a. http://www.cigarpass.com/index.php/season-a-new-humidor.html
b. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0qw6N3K2uI (Thanks Philip Kohn!)
7. Types and location of Humification devices
a. http://www.cigarmony.com/humidification.aspx
b. http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/
8. Guide on building a coolidor/Wineador:
http://www.stogiereview.com/2006/09/26/how-to-build-a-coolidor/9. Guide to buying a purifiers
10. How to properly nub a cigar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdJugyOcwFg11. List of trustworthy vendors
a.
http://www.deadwoodtobacco.com/ with Ms Vaughn Boyd
b.
https://www.cigarhustler.com/ with Mike Szczepankiewicz
c.
http://podmancigars.com/ with Tim Podika
d.
http://www.cigar.com/index.asp with Tina Edwards
e.
http://www.coronacigar.com/ with Kristy Six
f. Mike @ The Smoke Shop @ Etch-Art
g. Ralph Brunch will get phone number
h. Rancho Maduro will get link
Subject: CATS Smoker Guide - Start Here! - has so much valuable information to make you experience better 
Fri Sep 27, 2013 11:03 am
