So are swishers and white owls still cigars? No thry are mass produced and are dirt cheap. More expensive cigars are actually hand made with fine tobacco
While it is true that cigars are not exclusive to the rich, but everyone can smoke them, since there are quality variants but at a decidedly affordable price, here in Italy we have our own variant of cigars, totally different from the Caribbean format widespread in the Americas: first of all it is bitronconical, so it can be lit and drawn from both sides, and by virtue of this it can be halved with a cigar cutter, obtaining two mirror-image halves that can be smoked separately, it is much smaller in diameter at the belly, it is dried by fire rather than by air and has standard curing times that tend to be much longer than the traditional Caribbean, it also has a much, much more decisive flavor, with aromas of oak wood, walnut, leather... and it has a significant nicotine strength, less than a Cuban, but not to be underestimated, which, combined with its small format in the halved variant, makes it easy to transport and a perfect all-day or walking cigar, although the advice is not to smoke more than one or two (so two or four halved ones) per day, since you could run into the much-feared "nicotine hit" if you abuse it. Now they sell it pretty much everywhere in Europe, and it has also arrived in the United States. There are infinite models. The best one to start with, in my opinion, if you are already familiar with cigars, is the Antico, or the Bracco Robusto (this cannot be halved, given the large diameter of the belly and the shorter length), but - why not - also the miniature version, the Piccolo Rustico (this also cannot be halved). The best part? The negligible cost: a pack of 5 Anticos costs less than €10, a pack of 4 Bracco Robustos around €8, while a pack of 5 Piccolo Rusticos costs €5; if you want to go for an entry-level, you can try the Toscanello, the Garibaldi, the Classico or the Extravecchio. The reason they are so cheap (the more commercial ones) is because these cigars are machine-made. They are all made with Kentucky tobacco grown in Italy, in the Tuscan, Beneventano, North American and Valtiberino varieties. The top of the range MST cigars are, in my opinion, the three most famous hand-made ones: the Originale (also called "Stortignaccolo", literally "all crooked", given its characteristic lumpy shape; a pack of two cigars costs around €12, if I'm not mistaken), the Moro (as long as a forearm and sold only at Christmas; a cigar, around €40) and the Toscano del Presidente (the king - or the "president", in fact - of the mezzanines, so called because historically MST gave a pack of this model to the newly elected President of the Republic; a pack of these costs over €70). If you come to Italy there are many other brands that make even better cigars: I recommend Mastro Tornabuoni (try the Cittino and the Cacciatore, the Scorciato and all the others) and Amazon (try the Arabesque - a Tuscan disguised as a Caribbean one, and more precisely a mini puritos -, the Nerone, the Traiano and the Italiano, but also the Professore, the De Amicis or the Brigante).
I could talk at great length about this. Cigarettes are made of the lowest quality tobacco, they burn down if you leave them in an ashtray because of the carcinogenic chemicals they are treated with, and you have to inhale the smoke right into your lungs to try and get a hit out of them, and no sooner you finish one you want another because they never satisfy. Cigars are made with the highest quality pure natural tobacco, they go out if you leave them in the ashtray, and you only have to simply taste the smoke without inhaling it to be taken on a legendary journey that is straight out of an epic poem which can leave you satisfied for days. In short, cigarettes are dog food, and cigars are fillet mignons at the London Ritz. And anyone can buy them. Just not anyone can afford a box of 25 Cohiba Siglo IIIs.
I smoke mostly Perdomo. They are high quality and cost $10-15. Perdomo believes that everyone should be able to enjoy a cigar. So it's basically a Koenigsegg with the price of a Dacia.
No friend, you have it all mixed. Cigars are the ultimate unifier I would say an equalizer of all classes. Both blue-collar and wealthy men come together to enjoy cigars because at the end of the day, there is something refreshing about a cigar. I’d say cigarettes are more for people who are always running on “microwave time “. Adventure to say it’s usually people with financial issues we can’t afford to spare time.
Bro, I got my hand on a 2$ Philipino cigar. And a 5$ Nicaraguan cigar, it ain't expensive unless if they're cuben which are made by a communist shithole.
Well I'm middle class man as of now and i always prefer cigars to cigarettes. Even a middle class worker like me can afford premium 2 cigars a month between 15 to 50 euros/- dollars a month. I love sitting 2 times a month during my day off from work and enjoy a Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill's, La Aurora ADN Gran Toro, or even a Davidoff or Winston Churchill brand which aren't above 25-40 euros. I sit on an Italian like restaurant around 18:00 PM i order Irish whiskey or Irish coffee. When my order arrives and have my very first sip then i proceed to cut and light up my cigar with a torch lighter or zippo. Then i enjoy my solitary thinking for around 2:30-3:00 hours. Thinking how to get better at things in my life that i struggle with. Cigar smoking isn't an unhealthy habit it's meditation. After this 18:00-21:00 PM cigar meditation once or twice a month a regain my strength for the next 15 days each time.
lol i rember my mate use to get them cos they were like 30p for 20 lol that is the lowest form of tabaco out there and far worse for u then ciggretts well at least they dont smell of cigs
