Editorial Comment on Big Cigars
If I am smoking a cigar on my porch, and I am alone, I often smoke a big cigar. By that, I mean a fat, long, tapered honker. Since I smoke a cigar immediately after rolling it (no glue to dry), a small cigar means that I run out of cigar sooner, and will have to roll another one.
If any other living human will see me smoking my cigar, I become self-conscious about the size of the cigar. People (even non-smokers) have expectations about how big is too big for a civilized cigar.
Social issues aside, a fatter cigar cross-section results in cooler smoke, a larger volume of smoke per puff, and generally an easier draw. I find that more relaxing. That having been said, a thinner cigar will tame overly potent tobacco. (Imagine a 58 ring Toscano.) If the blend is really strong...really strong, then a short, narrow cigar is usually more enjoyable for me.
[I recall ten years ago, walking into a Walmart store with an unlit, 4-1/2" x 50 maduro cigar in my mouth. I had purchased it shortly before that, didn't have a shirt pocket, and didn't want to leave it in a hot car while I shopped. The number of fellow shoppers who showed the whites of their eyes, upon noticing my cigar, numbered in the dozens. Some felt compelled to comment to me directly. "Damn, that's a big cigar!" "I hope you don't plan to light that thing in here." Wives elbowed their husbands to turn and look. Mothers drew their children close. My little robusto had shocked their sensibilities. I suppose most had never seen any non-drug store cigar. But everyone (us included) has a notion of how big is too big.]
The 18" x 60 Cuba Aliados
General that my brother gave me in 1997 was too big. It began to fall apart after smoking only about a foot of it.
As you can see, they were sold in boxes of 1.
Bob
