Commentary: Cigar New Year’s Resolutions
9 Jan 2014
New Year’s resolutions are a annual tradition. And even though they are a few days late (nine, to be exact), here are my cigar-related resolutions for 2014:
Smoke More Socially – I smoke plenty of cigars, but not enough in the company of fellow smokers. Part of the reason is I smoke a lot of cigars for reviews, and plenty others while writing other content for this site. But even when I just smoke a cigar to relax, too often it’s just me and a couple fingers of bourbon. (Don’t feel bad for me, I have plenty of friends; just not many who enjoy cigars.) So this year I’m hoping to sit around the table more with my cigar-smoking buddies.
Don’t Neglect the Big Cigar Makers – While I reviewed plenty of cigars this year, a very small proportion of them were from the larger cigar makers like Altadis, General Cigar, Fuente, and Davidoff. Those companies make a disproportionately large percentage of handmade cigars. Yet I reviewed very few of their cigars last year. They make some excellent cigars, so while I won’t be ignoring the smaller, boutique makers, I plan on making a point to review more of the largest cigar companies new releases.
Update Old Reviews – StogieGuys.com has been around for nearly eight years now. And while cigar makers may refuse to admit it, the truth is a cigar can change over such a long period of time, and I don’t mean because of aging. A cigar we reviewed five years ago may be a very different cigar today, even if it shares the same name, size, etc. So while there’s no shortage of new cigars to review, this year I’d like to revisit some of the cigars I reviewed in the first few years of the site.
Share My Favorite Affordable Spirits – I wrote about twenty-some bourbons over the past year and a handful of other fine spirits. That includes a lot of my favorites, but perhaps it skews towards the limited edition, hard-to-find variety. One of things I find so amazing about bourbon is the high quality of easily found, non-expensive bourbons. So this year I want to focus on the $20-40 bourbon range, and share my favorites with you.
photo credit: Stogie Guys
Patrick Ashby
Co-Founder & Editor in Chief
Patrick Semmens
Co-Founder & Publisher
George Edmonson
Tampa Bureau Chief
Patrick, that sounds like a good list to keep! Feel free to throw in some more Rum reviews too….. 🙂
Great list of resolutions, particularly the first two.
As for the second (not neglecting the big brands), I've been pleasantly surprised by a few notable cigars that have reset my previous opinion about these big makers. Starting with the Partagas Spanish Rosado, then followed by the R&J 1875, the original Foundry (Wells), and then the great Benji Master Series (Partagas). You all have reviewed most of these–and very accurately too. Each of them had something unique and enjoyable to offer. I'm glad I finally got to them!
I've just recently delved into the abyss that is the world of cigars, although I've enjoyed them on many sporadic occasions in the past. I was just mentioning to my buddy (who is not a fan) that I need to find people with whom I can enjoy cigars and all the perfect little nuances that come with them. It's on the must do list for 2014…Light up a stogie my friends and romance in their wondrous appeal and delights!
looking forward to seeing your tasting notes on re-reviews.