Creating the Perfect Cigar Sampler for a Bachelor Party
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.
Richie Matthews is a freelance writer who writes about luxury items such cigars
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com
