Discussion about "The Slope" - An Introspective

[Andyman]

Admit it. You are OCD and live in a garbage house do'nt you.. Oh with 150 cats too

Originally Posted by madurolover

I have decided that I am going to have a limit also. When I have no room to put another cooler I will suspend purchasing. I think part of my deal is that I like collecting. I collect change, cigar bands, cigars and pretty much anything else.

[madurolover]

Originally Posted by Andyman

Admit it. You are OCD and live in a garbage house do'nt you.. Oh with 150 cats too

[CosmoKCohiba]

I have a 300ct desktop in my office, only has 47 sticks in it right now, driving me nuts, just looks wrong (glass top) and i'm the only one who ever sees it!

sniffle sniffle, guess I have a good life when this is what keeps me up at night.

[madurolover]

Originally Posted by CosmoKCohiba

I have a 300ct desktop in my office, only has 47 sticks in it right now, driving me nuts, just looks wrong (glass top) and i'm the only one who ever sees it!

sniffle sniffle, guess I have a good life when this is what keeps me up at night.

Get to filling that thing up man!!!

[Cigary]

Originally Posted by supdog

For me it's about variety. With a larger selection it's easier to pick the right stogie to fit the occasion (what ever that may be).Plus, you know that feeling you when you walk into the cigar store and see all those boxes of cigars to choose from? Now imagine that same feeling when you are opening your humi! It's also about searching for that perfect cigar, the one that makes you say "Damn, why do I bother smoking anything else?".

I agree with this logic as I have been a cigar smoker for quite a long time. We all have our own independant reasons for buying what we do and with the amounts we want to have on hand. I tend to keep a years worth of cigars and for those cigars I have a special affinity with I buy boxes of those.

[nhlfan]

I am slipping down the slope as we speak! I first signed up here less than a month ago, had 9 stogies that I had bought for a weekend and needed some temporary storage for them. In the meantime I have somehow accumulated a 15 ct. Cigar Caddie (until I get my humi at Thanksgiving), another 10 assorted cigars, bought a box of CAO America yesterday (tried one a couple days ago and LOVED it), have 2 samplers of 10 cigars each coming in the mail today.

It's funny, in the movies when someone is sliding off a mountain or something there's always that branch or rock for them to grab at the last minute. I think is going to be a shot straight into the deep end for me!

[Rev2010]

Well, one thing is for sure... if the tobacco tax increases with the SCHIP bill extension I WILL be buying a large humi, probably a VinoTemp or other wine cooler, and many many boxes of my favorites. Just to get as much as I can before the prices go up, no joke... I'd drop about two thousand for boxes.


Rev.

[vtdragon]

I bought a 50ct desktop humidor from Thompsons early on and decided to simply stick with it. When it is full, (most of the time), I don't buy anything until there is room in it. Now, I will admit that this is easier for me since I do not have access to a local B&M and do virtually all my buying online. I will admit to shuffling smokes around in the humidor to try to figure how many I can buy though.

[Moglman]

This is a sane question and worthy of discussion.

I freely admit to purchasing when logic, reason and pocketbook clearly dictate not to, and in that sense it's rather obsessive/compulsive. Logic is a two edged sword though. It's fun to joke that when one sees an incredible sale that it would be a crime not to buy, but this can be partially true, especially if you really like the cigars and are looking at high end sticks that will not lose value if properly stored. Most of my collection will hold value or increase, and is certainly a hedge against future government intrusion. Still, cigars are a poor investment strategy if cash value is the consideration. I like mature and aged cigars, and I know the cigars that I have are in optimal storage conditions, so from the point of view of investing in cigars for the enjoyment of smoking in the long term, I can't think of a better alternative.

I herf with people quite often and I trade smokes when I do. As Greg mentioned, the best people I know are through this hobby. I expect I'll be meeting up with fellow cigar smokers for my lifetime. This is an important part of the slope for me.

[Shaz]

I am definitely in the experimental phase. I don't have the ability to stop buying.
I have been smoking for many years, but mostly cigarettes. I've smoked a pipe long ago, and have always liked a cigar here and there.
But never really took it seriously until now.
So I recently bought a 50 ct humidor and promptly filled that. Bought a 130 ct humidor and that got filled even faster. I'll have to make a coolador.
Limit? I have no idea, although my wallet will probably be determining that very soon. As I find the smokes I enjoy most, I believe things should settle down. But I do like to have variety. And buying by the box is more cost effective. Plus they can sit in the humi longer this way.
If I would continue to spend like I have in the past two months, then something would have to give. But I smoke 4-6 on a weekend and maybe one or two during the week. Now that it's colder and soon to get worse, I won't be smoking much at all, so I have way more than I need.
As for affecting my life. Not really in a bad way. When smoking a cigar, I am relaxed. I spend more time with my wife (she smokes cigs). Work is stressful. If I am relaxing more often, that has to be good for mind, body and relationships.

[scottw]

I started Sept 07 with 4 left over sticks after gifting them to people for the birth of my son. Right now I have a 100 count full, a 25 count full. 60 sticks in the mail on their way and just purchased a 400 count humi 3 days ago as well. I'm sliding.

[totallytentative]

I feel like I'm slowing down in the last couple of weeks, not because I'm necessarily spending less, but because I get less excited about fewer cigars now. I think the only things that have changed is that I am less focussed on trying to find "good cheap" cigars and sampler packs, and more focused on zeroing in on slightly more costly good cigars. Unfortunately I've also got it in my head to start collecting premiums/ultra-premiums because "they age well"!

EDIT: Actually, that brings up something I've been thinking about lately. Does anyone else feel like they have to stockpile or build up a large collection in the beginning and then slowly replace the stock as it ages and is slowly used up? With all the talk about how aging cigars makes them better I sometimes agonize about trying a stick or letting it sit for a bit longer.... Which in turn makes me want to buy boxes because then the last few of them will be aged the most...

[PerpetualNoob]

Originally Posted by totallytentative

EDIT: Actually, that brings up something I've been thinking about lately. Does anyone else feel like they have to stockpile or build up a large collection in the beginning and then slowly replace the stock as it ages and is slowly used up? With all the talk about how aging cigars makes them better I sometimes agonize about trying a stick or letting it sit for a bit longer.... Which in turn makes me want to buy boxes because then the last few of them will be aged the most...

That is very close to what I've thought about as my "ideal" cigar situation. I don't have the budget for it, and probably never would, and I don't even know if this is a practical idea, but I think I would like to have about 1500 cigars in stock at all times. If I smoke my normal 8-10 a week, that's roughly three years worth. When any box got down to the last five or so, order another one and just keep doing that. You'd always be smoking stuff that had been sitting in there for 2-3 years, long enough to have mellowed and the flavors all married together, but not long enough to have started losing their flavors and going bland. I'm probably completely wrong, though. Since it's only a fantasy, it doesn't really matter..

[totallytentative]

Originally Posted by PerpetualNoob

You'd always be smoking stuff that had been sitting in there for 2-3 years, long enough to have mellowed and the flavors all married together, but not long enough to have started losing their flavors and going bland.

That's exactly what I was thinking..... I might smoke infrequently enough for a rotating stock scenario like this to be feasable.  At some point (no matter how distant in the future ) I should theoretically hit an equilibrium point and instead of the ghastly sums of money I'm spending now, I'd only be consuming probably $30-50 per month on average.

The problem with this whole idea is that dangerous word "experimentation". 

[PerpetualNoob]

Originally Posted by totallytentative

That's exactly what I was thinking..... I might smoke infrequently enough for a rotating stock scenario like this to be feasable. At some point (no matter how distant in the future ) I should theoretically hit an equilibrium point and instead of the ghastly sums of money I'm spending now, I'd only be consuming probably $30-50 per month on average.

The problem with this whole idea is that dangerous word "experimentation".

Sure, there's always going to be new stuff coming out that you try and like, and that gets added to the rotation. Maybe one of your stand-by boxes goes empty, and you substitute one of the new ones in, that kind of thing. Stuff that's not "new", per se, but new to you, and you add some of those in. Samplers, trades, singles. Just one of the many possible snags in the plan.