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A cigar sampler pack can be a fantastic gift idea. It is a great way to give someone a taste of flavors from around the world. And what better way to seal your friendship than for both of you to grab a cigar, sit outside, and talk about your hopes and dreams while enjoying a fine smoke.

Cigar sampler packs are also great for the cigar-smoking novice. Everyone has different tastes and preferences, and cigars are no exception. From mild to full flavor, there is a whole range of tastes and sensations to the cigar world. The only way to find where you fit in is to try all of them.

The best way to do this is to start out with a cigar sampler pack. But where to start? Here are ten cigars that you can’t go wrong including in a sampler. They run the whole spectrum of price, taste, and strength to give you a small glimpse into the world of cigar smoking.

1. The Davidoff Aniversario #2 is a great way to start off any sampler pack. Though a mild smoke, it has a rich blend of tobaccos and a surprisingly intense aroma. It was originally created to honor Zino Davidoff’s 80th birthday and it still makes a fantastic gift for any friend. Kick back and pontificate on the meaning of your friendship with the Davidoff Aniversario #2.

2. Moving up the strength scale but down on price we find the Montesino Napoleon Grande. Tabascalera A. Fuente owns the company that produces these cigars and he makes sure that they are all handcrafted with fine Dominican fillers and sweet Ecuadorian Connecticut Wrappers. They come in three wrapper options: Natural, Maduro, or Claro.

3. Padron Delicias is a cigar with a secret. They use aged seeds imported from Cuba, but they grow the tobacco plant in Nicaragua. The shape of the cigar is pressed into a square and the flavor gives you a hint of cocoa bean and coffee. The company limits the number of these that are made every year so you can be sure that the Padron Delicias will always be at the peak of their flavor possibilities.

4. The Swiss may be neutral when it comes to world wars, but they stand firmly on the side of delicious taste, exemplified by the Villiger Premium #7. The Switzerland-based Villiger cigar company has been creating delightful cigars since all the way back in 1888. The Premium #7 comes square-pressed and you have the choice between Sumatra Natural and Brazilian Maduro wrappers.

5. The Graycliff Red Label Pirate is a cigar that gives the smoker a taste of the old Caribbean. It uses an unusual blend of Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Brazilian tobaccos to achieve an entirely unique flavor. In the Graycliff line this is still known as the “original blend.” The consistency of production that Avelino Lara insists upon is surely the reason for the Graycliff Red Label Pirate’s fantastic reputation.

6. When you start to consider moving up to a richer-tasting cigar, you can’t go wrong with the Gran Habano Connecticut #1 Rothschild. This cigar features Nicaraguan filler, a binder from Nicaragua, and an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper. All of these flavors combine perfectly to create a smooth and creamy smoke.

7. No cigar sampler would be complete without a vintage American cigar like the gold old-fashioned Kentucky Cheroot. They buy tobacco from Tennessee and Kentucky and then cure them with hickory smoke before aging the tobacco for four months. This classic cigar-making tradition is carried on in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Steamtown? More like Smoketown!

8. The Flor De Gonzalez Torpedo Natural is a sandwich cigar with a distinctive taste. The Dominican and Nicaraguan filler blend is rolled up in binders and wrappers from exotic Indonesia.

9. The Tabamex Robusto is a mild Mexican cigar that is best when enjoyed outside among friends. It uses Mexican filler and binder and you get to choose between either Connecticut broadleaf Maduro or Connecticut shade natural wrappers.

10. And of course no cigar sampler would be complete without the classic CAO America Anthem. This gorgeous cigar is a pinstripe style and features American-grown leaves and a filler blend from Nicaragua, Italy, the US and the Dominican Republic.

Whichever cigars you eventually decide to use in your sampler pack, remember the reason that you are buying them. If you are buying them for yourself, then it is to explore the possibilities of the world of cigars. So be sure to enjoy them alone, in silence, while you ponder the complexity of the flavors as well as the complexity of the universe.

If you are buying them for a friend, realize that it is kind of like buying someone a gift certificate to a restaurant for their birthday. You are secretly hoping all along that they are going to share the gift with you.

www.SmokingHotCigarChick.com In this video I’m taste testing the elements of what go into a CAO LX2 Cigar. This is such an exciting and innovative idea, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and try this out. Special thanks to Brian McGee of CAO. This box contains 3 small puro cigars and one LX2. The puros are the elements of what go into the LX2 blend, thus the name. Each of the puros is about 3.5″ x 44. The LX2 is a Robusto 5″ x 52. These little puros are “regional puros,” not puros by country of origin. They are Puro Dominican Piloto, Puro Esteli and Puro Pueblo Nueva. I found Dominican Piloto to be very thin, nutty and light. The Esteli was more chocolately and had a good body. It was quite a drastic difference from the Dominican Piloto. The Pueblo Nueva was pepper and was all on the front with a very short finish. And the LX2 was heavenly. Sweet with a pepper taste. Not a full bodied cigar but don’t that keep you away. It was a pleasant sweet smoke. After having the puros, my palette was very sensitive and I could really key in on each of the flavors. I’m not sure I would have noticed the nuttiness of the LX2 if not for first puro. Overall this was an absolutely delightful experience. I would love to see similar offerings from other cigar makers to highlight the flavors and masterful blends of their cigars. This was a real eye-opener and a quick education in what goes into cigar blending and cigar making. Check my blog for some more details about this cigar. As …

When it comes to celebrating birthdays, most people serve cake. At a wedding, you’ll often receive a glass of champagne to toast the happy couple. But when it’s just the guys, out on the town for a bachelor party, it’s time to break out the cigars.

If you’re in charge of planning this big night out, be sure to include a sampler box of cigars. This allows you to offer a variety of smokes that hopefully meet everyone’s tastes. Just as the guys probably won’t all drink the same beverage, neither will they all want the same smoke.

Cigars can be categorized as mild, medium or full-bodied. This is the way to describe the cigar’s strength and flavor, just as you would describe the body of a particular wine.

Mild cigars are light and, as such, have a lighter flavor.
Medium cigars offer more flavor than a mild cigar, but they are not overpowering the way some full-bodied smokes can be. (And remember that the term “overpowering” is not necessarily a bad thing. What is overpowering to some smokers will be a rich smoke for others.)

Full-bodied cigars have the maximum flavor and strength.  

You’ll also want to consider the size of the cigars you’re offering in your sampler. Cigars are measured by their length in inches and their diameter by the ring gauge. The ring gauge is based on 64ths of an inch. This means a 32 ring gauge is a half-inch in diameter, a 48 ring gauge is three-quarters of an inch, and so on.

Some of your choice of sizes include the petite cigar, which is about 4 ½ inches long with a 40 to 42 ring gauge. The Churchill (named for the famous cigar-smoking Sir Winston Churchill) is 7 inches long with a 48 gauge. A Robusto is a short Churchill, only 5 inches to 5 ½ inches in length with a 50 ring gauge. At the top is a Double Coronoa, which measures 7 ½ inches and a 52 gauge.

Another way to ensure a good selection of cigars is to look for tobaccos grown around the world. Today’s smoker can find handmade and handrolled cigars made with tobacco grown in Africa, Mexico, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Jamaica and Dominican Republic. A good cigar will blend up to five tobaccos from fields around the globe in an effort to produce a world-class cigar.

Of course you can only judge a cigar by smoking it. And even then, your taste will differ from other smokers’. But if you want specific advice on your selections, go to the experts who offer cigar reviews based on the following five qualities:

Overall appearance. Is the color of the wrapper consistent? Is the shape uniform? Is the wrapper oily or does the leaf have a sheen?

Draw. This measures the ease or difficulty you’ll have drawing smoke through the cigar.

Burn rate. Not only does this judge the speed of the smoke, it also looks for an even burn. You do not want your fine cigars to go up in smoke before you have time to enjoy them.

Construction. The way a cigar is assembled can greatly affect the way it smokes. It should not be too loose or too tight. And the cigar should not come unwrapped while you’re smoking it.

Taste. A lot goes into judging the taste of a cigar. First there is the cigar’s actual taste: light, powerful, smooth, bitter, etc. But taste also takes into considering the point at which you experience the taste. Is it half way through the cigar? Or did you experience it throughout the smoke? Did the smoke start out pleasant, but turn bitter before you finished it?

Another way to assemble your sampler of cigars is to include several cigar makers. That way you can try the best of several different brands. The following list represents 11 cigars made by such cigar makers as Palsencia, Rocky Patel and others.

1.Aspira Corojo Robusto Natural (4¾ X 50, which means 4 ¾ inches long and a 50 ring gauge)
2.Don Tomas Special Edition #300 Natural (5 X 50)
3.Aspira Corojo Robusto Natural (4¾ x 50)
4.Don Tomas Special Edition #300 Natural (5 x 50)
5.Famous Nic. Corojo Robusto Natural (5 x 52)
6.Georges Reserve Robusto Natural (5 x 50)
7.Olor Rothschild Natural (4½ x 50)
8.Plasencia Reserva Robusto Natural (4¾ x 52)
9.RP American Market Robusto Natural (5½ x 50)
10.Rafael Gonzalez Robusto Natural (5½ x 50)
11.Rocky Patel Honduran Robusto Natural (5½ x 54)

After you’ve assembled your sampler, relax and enjoy the evening. Your guests may not agree on which cigar is the best, but with a good variety, you’re helping to make this a night they will long remember.

A few years ago, in 2006, the Nevada legislature imposed a public smoking ban.

The new rule doesn’t apply – as yet – to the storied casinos of Las Vegas, where smoking is still allowed on gaming floors. And of course Nevada is hardly the only recent state to impose restrictions on public smoking. Indeed, it joins over thirty states (at this writing) with such laws on the books. If you are reading this from the United States, it is likely that a similar law applies to your area: half the country’s population is currently under the jurisdiction of a public-smoking regulation of some kind.

But the idea of a smoking ban passing the Nevada legislature seems almost like a kind of spiritual defeat for cigar smokers: after all, what could more epitomize “cigar cool” than the mental image of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack, cigars and drinks in hand, finger-popping their ways through the floor of a Vegas casino?

It just symbolizes a fact that’s made passionate smokers’ lives a little more difficult over the past decade: in the interest of public health (and out of consideration for asthmatics and others), more and more city councils and state legislatures are choosing to ban public smoking outright, or are limiting it to certain licensed facilities.

Arguments about the effectiveness or appropriateness of these bans to one side, we can all agree that they mean that smokers have to put a little more energy into planning vacations. For a person who loves the taste of a good cigar, for whom relaxation doesn’t become meaningful until there’s a stogie involved, there’s no point in a vacation where you can’t even smoke in your hotel room. With smoking bans underway in Atlantic City (and this ban extends to casinos) and similar one-time bastions of cigar culture, frustrated cigar smokers are turning to a new option: the cruise ship.

And why not? Cruise ship vacations offer the ultimate chance to “get away from it all,” a continuous expanse of blue water, and the opportunity to meet interesting people from all over the country (and world). Few cruises are completely smoke-free, with most offering, at the very least, designated smoking areas that might include cigar bars or lounges. So it’s hard to go completely wrong – wherever you book your passage, you’ll almost always have at least some chance to smoke.

More and more luxury cruise lines don’t allow smoking in living quarters – that’s one downfall. After all, the next person using your room might be a nonsmoker, and it doesn’t make economic sense for cruise ship directors to designate permanent “smoking” and “nonsmoking” rooms; such a move would involve logistical nightmares during booking. But luxury quarters often include balconies, where smoking is sometimes still allowed.

The recent case of a cruise line headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida gives smokers an indication of what they can expect. The cruise line, according to some reports, lost millions in bookings after instituting a partial smoking ban in 2007. But compared to those bans that have caused smokers such dismay in Atlantic City and Ottawa, the Florida-based cruise line’s smoking ban doesn’t even apply to the on-ship bars and casinos.

Indeed, the cruise ship industry seems to be following the opposite track of most US states and municipalities – as they grow more restrictive toward smoking, cruise lines are growing more permissive. One completely smoke-free cruise ship line went out of business awhile ago; another once-smokeless line changed its policies to allow some smoking on the boat.

Smokers will likely want to evaluate cruise line policies prior to booking as there are has examples of ships with almost smoke-free policies. Smoking on such lines may only be permitted in two designated areas – and if you light up anywhere else, you could be kicked off the boat! (That presumably doesn’t mean you’ll be forced to walk the plank, but it’s probably not worth finding out.)

Another rule of thumb mentioned by several travel writers: if you’re looking for company as you smoke, go for a cruise line with a high number of European and Asian clientele. Citizens of many of these countries often still smoke in higher numbers than do contemporary Americans, and there is a Spain-based cruise line that currently sports the least restrictive smoking policy out there.

For those who do a lot of entertaining, it’s hard to come up with new party themes. But the recent popularity of cigars offers a great creative party idea for stressed-out would-be party hosts.

Putting together a good party is hard – and gets harder as you grow older. In college, it’s easy enough to satisfy your guests with, say, a bowlful of pretzels and a keg of beer, but friends burdened with adult responsibilities – a job to get up for, a child to raise – may not want to drive out to your place just for some stale salt-heavy snacks and a can or two of average quality beer. So you’ve got to come up with fun new ideas. But this gets stressful, complex, and sometimes expensive as well. After you’ve tried out your first two or three great inspirations, you may begin to burn out on entertaining all together.

But there’s hope. Try throwing a cigar-sampler party.

Cigars aren’t just your grandfather’s chosen indulgence anymore – they’ve grown increasingly popular during the past fifteen years or so. After bottoming out during the 1980s, cigars became the break of choice for a well-educated, younger demographic, even as other forms of smoking went into decline. They’re just luxurious enough to feel like the break you deserve, but, since they’re designed to be smoked slowly, one at a time, and in moderation (unlike cigarettes), they won’t break the bank. Their infinite differences in taste offer the pleasures of connoisseurship as well: experienced smokers learn to enjoy the differences between double claro cigars (light and generally dry-tasting, with very tan outer wrappers) and maduros (dark brown in color and sweetish), between the great cigars of Nicaragua and those of the Dominican Republic or Turkey. A cigar-themed party makes sense if your friends are smokers, and it also makes sense for those who aren’t (as long as, you make sure not to invite anybody who’s passionately anti-smoking or allergic to tobacco).

Here are some tips on throwing a cigar-themed party:

1) Buy a sampler or two of premium cigars, until you have enough to cover the number of planned guests. (Keep the guest list small – you’ll have better-quality interactions, and you’ll keep the party affordable.)

2) Cigar samplers are easy to buy online, but be careful. Some cigar stores “lead off” with a too-good-to-be-true deal – an inexpensive sampler labeled “premium.” Usually these cheap “premium” platters actually contain only a few top cigars, and are then rounded out with cigar pawns – cheaply-made knockoff cigars. Make sure that your sampler comes from a high-quality cigar shop or online store, and that you know what you’re getting.

3) Once you have your premium-cigar sampler, assign one cigar to each guest.

4) On the night of the party, serve simple snacks before you serve the cigars. (Cigars tend not to go well with ultra-creamy or rich foods.) Hard cheeses, dark chocolates, fruit, coffee, and fine red wines or beers are recommended. Remember – avoid anything too rich!

5) After folks have eaten and had a few drinks, bring out the cigars. Have everyone head outside with his or her assigned cigar and a drink; light everyone’s cigar, and tell them to smoke up. You’ll have given all your guests something new to talk about.

6) If desired, encourage your guests to bring their own cigars, which can be collected and served as part of a “second round” later. Guests could compare the tastes of their two assigned cigars. You could even encourage one of your guests to bring some non-premium cigars, even off-brand gas-station cigars, as a gaga – though only if you’re going for a second round of smoking!

Experienced cigar smokers will enjoy the chance to share their enthusiasm with others. New smokers and nonsmokers will be trying and enjoying something new.

Remember when lighting to cut the cap of the cigar, then, using a wooden match or a zippo lighter or other full flame (not a paper match), turn the end of the cigar in the flame a full 360 degrees until every part of it is lit. Remind your guests who haven’t smoked cigars before that they shouldn’t inhale – this isn’t a cigarette! Pull the smoke into your mouth and taste it thoroughly without allowing it into your lungs. Remember, it’s about the taste.