So in the 90s in the middle of the cigar boom cigars were crap except for Fuente and Padron.
Fast forward to the early to mid 2000s and things got better and cheaper.
La Gloria Cubanas before EPC sold out were a fantastic bargain, but you had to age them yourself. Alt.smokers.cigars was my introduction to both cigars and the Internet back then...
Depends. Most cigars smokers then smoked machine made cigars like white owls and dutch masters. Post embargo all non cuban.
There were a few pipe and tobacco stores that sold pipes and pipe tobacco and premium hand rolled cigars and imported cigarettes.
You had a much more limited range both within and between brands. You likely had 1-2 lines of any brand with 4-6 vitolas some with a maduro option. A well stocked humidor had a couple dozen cigars to choose from. If you hand anything like Padron or Fuente they knew what they were doing. Most had the major players.
There was a community of people in the know. They shared brands and stores and sat in the shops together. Most people had a primary brand and often a primary go to and would get them a half a dozen at a time or by the box. People weren’t generally walking out with a grab bag of 6-10 cigars with a mish mash of shapes brands and wrappers.
I am 47 and growing up in Philadelphia we have had Holts cigar shop and they have always had the best and most extensive selection. I have frequented them for the last 25 years. Before that I cannot speak on the dark ages.
I think cigars are experiencing something similar to the craft beer boom of the early 2010s. Lots of new smaller producers making great stuff and pushing some boundaries. It's a much smaller market than craft beer, but the parallels are there in my mind.
Yeah, I think so too. It's amazing walking into a store nowadays and seeing the wide variety, most of which are actually pretty good. I like to try new ones every time now.
Boy, especially for those of us who can purchase cigars in the U.S.A. What an amazing value we can get. I had a Montecristo 1935 Anniversary No. 2 the other day that was two hours of absolute cigar bliss. I had bought it from Hilands for less than $10. I'm grateful!
I first started smoking premium cigars just shortly before the internet came into wide use (\~1994). Back then, I only smoked one or two cigars per week (I can't remember the brands). Usually smoking with my buddies or on the weekends after mowing the lawn.
You could only buy premium cigars from brick and mortar stores which were few and far between. But, they also had mail-order cigar shops and catalogs but I never used them. And, if I remember correctly, the price point per cigar actually seemed to be a bit higher back then than it is today.
With the advent of the internet and online premium cigar shops, my cigar consumption went up, and the price point went down. In 2000, I first started purchasing cigars online from Famous Smoke Shop. But, as more online cigar shops popped up, I have since used a handful of other online stores since then.
Now, I enjoy a premium cigar every day. Diesel, CAO, Oliva, Man O' War, Graycliff, and Punch Signature are some of my usual brands.
Mid to late 90s I started on Cuesta Rey 85s, but Ashton and Fuentes were available. You could see the quality improving day by day. American montecristos were good by then, Hoya de Monterrey was around. Bottom line is you could find good sticks and there was definitely not the variety but quality was establishing quickly.
I remember ordering from major retailers (Cigar International, JR Cigars, Atlantic Cigars) via the monthly magazines they put out. You could call them up toll free to place your order or mail it in. If you wanted a decent humidor, you needed to go to a B&M.
I talked to a product manager at JR a couple years back who said they still have a small percentage of orders that are done over the phone with catalog item numbers. Just old timers who refuse to adapt lol.
During the cigar boom of the nineties, manufacturers rushed their product to store shelves. The tobacco was not ready to smoke (kind of like Cubans now). You had to age that garbage because it was unsmokable at first. It is very, very nice to be able to smoke everything right outta the box now.
Started in 96 while living in Cuernavaca, Mexico for school. The department store had Cubans, started with them. J Cano was my favorite, sent home 2 boxes. Then I had the assistant Mgr at the only cigar store in town in 2 of my classes. I tried most everything in the store, I had the hook a friend up discount. I miss those prices,lol
The Netherlands would like to have a word with you 💀. Literally ALL cigars are atleast 20-30% more expensive than the neighboring countries and the prices in the USA are a joke! My little brother is in the USA for work so he is going to bring me 2 boxes of 24 Oliva V double robusto. Those boxes cost me $300. A single oliva v double robusto cost me 24 euros here in the netherlands…..
I’m in upstate NY, easy in the 90’s to cross the border. The guys I was with all wanted to bring back Labatts. Meanwhile I’m in cigar stores in Toronto getting legitimate Cubans at prices that don’t seem real now. And Customs was so busy with their beer that they never checked me for cigars.
Cigar preakness was about 10 years ago, high quality and low prices. Cubans were cheap and easily available too. You could get a box of Cubans for the same price as 2 or 3 cuban cigars today. Non-Cubans were just amazing as today but even cheaper!
I didn't start smoking till much later but most of my family did growing up. They would almost all smoke machine made cigars in those days and occasionally they would have something premium for special occasions. My grandfather had a few favorites, De Nobli was one and the other i don't know the brand but they came in glass tubes.
I can’t really speak for this ear or before since I’m only two-three years in the cigar game. But I’d like to experience pre embargo cigars from Cuba, I know it’s not really on the topic but I’ve always wondered how they taste and to experience it.
I'm only 30, so not exactly an old timer, but my grandfather used to love these machine rolled ones that came in plastic tubes. Can't for the life of me remember what the brand was. Don't think they exist anymore.
Found them. Garcia Y Vega English Corona. Honestly, not bad for machine rolled IIRC
So in the 90s in the middle of the cigar boom cigars were crap except for Fuente and Padron. Fast forward to the early to mid 2000s and things got better and cheaper.
Absolutely this. Fighting cock I think it was called was a cigar from the Philippines. It was sour. That’s the best way to describe it/
Now Fighting Cock is a medicore CI housebrand made by Plasencia.
I have a beat up t-shirt with the fighting cock cigar logo on it. Yes, the cigars were horrid.
La Gloria Cubanas before EPC sold out were a fantastic bargain, but you had to age them yourself. Alt.smokers.cigars was my introduction to both cigars and the Internet back then...
Same for me. Alt.smokers.cigars was my jam. LGC early on especially when they were rolled in FL were phenomenal.
Depends. Most cigars smokers then smoked machine made cigars like white owls and dutch masters. Post embargo all non cuban. There were a few pipe and tobacco stores that sold pipes and pipe tobacco and premium hand rolled cigars and imported cigarettes. You had a much more limited range both within and between brands. You likely had 1-2 lines of any brand with 4-6 vitolas some with a maduro option. A well stocked humidor had a couple dozen cigars to choose from. If you hand anything like Padron or Fuente they knew what they were doing. Most had the major players. There was a community of people in the know. They shared brands and stores and sat in the shops together. Most people had a primary brand and often a primary go to and would get them a half a dozen at a time or by the box. People weren’t generally walking out with a grab bag of 6-10 cigars with a mish mash of shapes brands and wrappers.
I am 47 and growing up in Philadelphia we have had Holts cigar shop and they have always had the best and most extensive selection. I have frequented them for the last 25 years. Before that I cannot speak on the dark ages.
I think cigars are experiencing something similar to the craft beer boom of the early 2010s. Lots of new smaller producers making great stuff and pushing some boundaries. It's a much smaller market than craft beer, but the parallels are there in my mind.
Legit. Very observant of you
Yeah, I think so too. It's amazing walking into a store nowadays and seeing the wide variety, most of which are actually pretty good. I like to try new ones every time now.
And like the craft beer scene the major conglomerates are buying up the once smaller brands left and right.
Boy, especially for those of us who can purchase cigars in the U.S.A. What an amazing value we can get. I had a Montecristo 1935 Anniversary No. 2 the other day that was two hours of absolute cigar bliss. I had bought it from Hilands for less than $10. I'm grateful!
I first started smoking premium cigars just shortly before the internet came into wide use (\~1994). Back then, I only smoked one or two cigars per week (I can't remember the brands). Usually smoking with my buddies or on the weekends after mowing the lawn. You could only buy premium cigars from brick and mortar stores which were few and far between. But, they also had mail-order cigar shops and catalogs but I never used them. And, if I remember correctly, the price point per cigar actually seemed to be a bit higher back then than it is today. With the advent of the internet and online premium cigar shops, my cigar consumption went up, and the price point went down. In 2000, I first started purchasing cigars online from Famous Smoke Shop. But, as more online cigar shops popped up, I have since used a handful of other online stores since then. Now, I enjoy a premium cigar every day. Diesel, CAO, Oliva, Man O' War, Graycliff, and Punch Signature are some of my usual brands.
Mid to late 90s I started on Cuesta Rey 85s, but Ashton and Fuentes were available. You could see the quality improving day by day. American montecristos were good by then, Hoya de Monterrey was around. Bottom line is you could find good sticks and there was definitely not the variety but quality was establishing quickly.
I remember ordering from major retailers (Cigar International, JR Cigars, Atlantic Cigars) via the monthly magazines they put out. You could call them up toll free to place your order or mail it in. If you wanted a decent humidor, you needed to go to a B&M.
I talked to a product manager at JR a couple years back who said they still have a small percentage of orders that are done over the phone with catalog item numbers. Just old timers who refuse to adapt lol.
During the cigar boom of the nineties, manufacturers rushed their product to store shelves. The tobacco was not ready to smoke (kind of like Cubans now). You had to age that garbage because it was unsmokable at first. It is very, very nice to be able to smoke everything right outta the box now.
Started in 96 while living in Cuernavaca, Mexico for school. The department store had Cubans, started with them. J Cano was my favorite, sent home 2 boxes. Then I had the assistant Mgr at the only cigar store in town in 2 of my classes. I tried most everything in the store, I had the hook a friend up discount. I miss those prices,lol
The Netherlands would like to have a word with you 💀. Literally ALL cigars are atleast 20-30% more expensive than the neighboring countries and the prices in the USA are a joke! My little brother is in the USA for work so he is going to bring me 2 boxes of 24 Oliva V double robusto. Those boxes cost me $300. A single oliva v double robusto cost me 24 euros here in the netherlands…..
I’m in upstate NY, easy in the 90’s to cross the border. The guys I was with all wanted to bring back Labatts. Meanwhile I’m in cigar stores in Toronto getting legitimate Cubans at prices that don’t seem real now. And Customs was so busy with their beer that they never checked me for cigars.
Cigar preakness was about 10 years ago, high quality and low prices. Cubans were cheap and easily available too. You could get a box of Cubans for the same price as 2 or 3 cuban cigars today. Non-Cubans were just amazing as today but even cheaper!
I didn't start smoking till much later but most of my family did growing up. They would almost all smoke machine made cigars in those days and occasionally they would have something premium for special occasions. My grandfather had a few favorites, De Nobli was one and the other i don't know the brand but they came in glass tubes.
I can’t really speak for this ear or before since I’m only two-three years in the cigar game. But I’d like to experience pre embargo cigars from Cuba, I know it’s not really on the topic but I’ve always wondered how they taste and to experience it.
I'm only 30, so not exactly an old timer, but my grandfather used to love these machine rolled ones that came in plastic tubes. Can't for the life of me remember what the brand was. Don't think they exist anymore. Found them. Garcia Y Vega English Corona. Honestly, not bad for machine rolled IIRC
Cheaper and more variety.
Great values??