The Best Cigars!

[Poika]

http://www.independence-cigar.de

[P.I.M.P.]

I have a very good (and inexpensive) cigar contact in Moscow... weekly right off of the Havana inbound flight... PM me for details

[Braders]

The Canary Islands where my Bro lives (lucky basxxrd) have some fine Cigars, i think they are called La Palma's, could be wrong.

[DaveUKagain]

...... someone call for Don Luigi Habanos ?? ;) This sounds like my cue......

[DaveUKagain]

Dave`s current Fave Stogies, by the way -

Cuba

Cuaba Generosos
Cuaba Exclusivos
Montecristo 2
Sancho Panza Coronas Gigantes
Romeo y Julieta 1, 2, 3
Jose L Piedra Nacionales (the standard smoke)

Honduras / Dominican Republic

Don Tomas Toros (and robustos)
Quorum (for price) - usually Churchill sizes

Jamaica

Macanudos - good starter cigar but you`ll tire of `em after a while...

Pop over to www.cgarsltd.co.uk and the online shop there, folks, if you`re not an aficianado - lots of reviews there, some of them mine.... don`t buy `em in the UK, for God`s sake, your bank manager`ll love you. ;-)))))

Pipes - I seem to remember we have a very famous pipe smoking gent on this forum - can he make any suggestions for a good beginners` baccy ?? (Thanks RoB.... ;-)) )

[ReturnOfBroadmoor]

Pipes - yes - start off with Ashton #6; it is available at Gavana on Komsomolsky pr-t last I checked. Alternately, there is the green label Caledonian mixture or Ashton #1 if you want pure tobacco with no aromatic flavoring (a better choice for cigar or cigarette smokers). Caledonian is in short supply now, but Ashton 1 should be available at Gavana or via www.tabachok.ru

[DaveUKagain]

I thank you kindly, Mr B. ;-))))))) At UK cigar prices, think I`ll go for a pipe soon. Well. Can`t exactly smoke at work - training course at the moment, so - do without the coffin nail cigarettes and have a decent smoke at home is the way I look at it at the moment...... cheers for the info.

[xt-tsi]

Has anyone heard of Danneman cigars?

[Moscow Wolf]

Yes, sold in numerous places even Ramstore, (as you walk in on the right in a display cabinet) or, if not there then, certainly the next supermarket down on Krasnopresnenskaya. I think they are Dutch and mainly minatures but I'm not certain. They don't like us smoking in the Zoo, the visitors begin to think we're spoilt!

[ReturnOfBroadmoor]

Danneman are German, made with Brazil or Sumatran tobacco and are available in sizes ranging from filtered minis to full size coronas. They recently introduced a premium line of Nicaraguan cigars; that was what I was smoking last time the band played at Hard Rock - it was nothing special given the price (just over 500 R)

[DJ Biscuit]

Danneman suck big time. These little guys are pushed in most bars and pubs and they CANNOT be called cigars, pleeeeaaaase!

[DPG]

Are those the ones that are dipped in cognac and sold under the name 'Al Capone' or something cliche like that?!

There is a place in the perekhod outside the brown line at prospect mira which has a large selection of pipe tobaccos and cigars...don't know how expensive it is though.

[ReturnOfBroadmoor]

Dannemann's version of the Al Capones (for all I know, they also make Al Capones) is called MOODS. Not very good at all.

[DaveUKagain]

Flavoured cigars get the big thumbs down with serious stogie smokers, or anyone who doesn`t wear clown shoes for a living. :) Danneman`s are like Villigers, King Edwards et al - not the potato - they`re a cigar for people who have never seen a cigar but once heard one described....... ;)

America had, and still has, a tradition of the "five cent cigar" - the good ones usually cost 15c, but I digress. Garcia Y Vegas, Al Capones etc usually belong to that category, but it`s a fiercely competitive market with brands coming and going, and it takes something special to stand out. As RoB will tell you, Cubans are of such variable quality that buying one`s an expensive risk - threw away an expensive Cuban corona tonight, totally plugged, wouldn`t smoke. Dominicans and Hondurans are recommended - I know RoB smokes Ashtons - haven`t had the pleasure yet, but I`m tempted. But. Your tobacconist - if he`s a good `un - will usually recommend a decent smoke to you if all this confuses you. ;-)) Don`t buy stogies outside of specialist tobacconists, by the way - they`re usually badly stored and the fella selling them to you don`t geef a damn if you come back or not. A good tobacconist WILL make the effort.

Ey up, DJ, have you been converted to the cause recently ? :)

[ReturnOfBroadmoor]

Ashton cigars disappeared from Moscow lately - unless I forgot where I found them in the first place (at a reasonably high price - Aromatniy Mir near m. Dobrininskaya has them for >600 RUR which is not really worth it, to put it mildly).

[Random]

Disagree slighty with you there Dave - I like a Villigers every now and then, and would not put them in the same class as say a Hamlet, which are frigging awful.

Just for the record I like Bolivars & Trinidads - and when in lighter mood a Cohiba or a Montecristo

:respect:

[ReturnOfBroadmoor]

Another one to avoid - Fittipaldi - apparently Emerson Fittipaldi either invested in or sold his name to a Dominican cigar company - and the result makes me want to drive away, very, very fast. Only agent for them in town is the otherwise quite good Tabakeria chain (Serpukhovskaya, Arbat, Galeria Akter).