Subjects covered:

Other Cigar Information
Characteristics of Tobacco from different countries
How to evaluate cigars
Why not buy drug store cigars?
Cutting cigars
Lighting a cigar
Humidification devices

Any Cuban that is authentic, such as a Romeo y Jullieta, Montecrsto, Punch, or Cohiba would be a great addition.  This is only if you live outside of the United States or if you are given a gift from a diplomate.  Unless you find a pre embargo cigar.

Artero Fuente comes in many different price ranges. If you can find a signature series or a Don Carlos(Black band on the normal label), you should give them a try. These are some of the hardest cigars to find.

This is about 200 dollars in cigars so you might want to cut down the amounts, however it will take some time to collect them all and you will really enjoy the hunt. This starting list represents a wide selection of cigars from the four major countries. They range from mild to strong and from simple to complex. Try to keep them seperated in the humidor so the tastes do not marry. You can use thin cut pieces of spanish ceder. This can be found in most cigar boxes.

If you have internet access with newsgroups you can learn and enjoy cigar facts by checking out the group Alt.smoking.cigars.  This group gets several hundred posts daily so you need a newsreader. It is here, you can learn a great deal about cigars, meet many of the "players in the cigar world", make friends and learn where cigar events are in your area.  You can also check out the  FAQ. (Frequently asked Questions) of the Internet Cigar Group.  In any event check out the FAQ which is on the Web in hypertext. I also recommend reading Smoke magazine and Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado rating of cigars is meaningless after about an 87. The magazine articles are really fun to read and ratings above 86 are usually pretty good. Some of my favorite cigars have never had a decent rating, so you should make up your own mind.  Smoke magazine has much more reliable ratings and you get a lot of information from the tasters. However, many of the cigars they rate are new brands.  The magazine itself is not as enjoyable article wise so you need both.  

A pretty good name brand handrolled cigar is unfortunately between $5.00 and $7.00, but the price is coming down. I have found several good everyday cigars for around 2 bucks, but you have to buy them by the box. In the beginning stay away from new brands. Do not let store owners stir you to unheard of names. Most are bad as well as over priced. JR Cigars in mail order or at their stores has some of the best prices and some good deals on no name cigars. I would recommend a flor de farach, or JR Ultimate. The JR Remedios is a really good cigar after aging.

The above list is a good selection of tobacco grown in different countries;

Jamaican (Mild without complex flavor) ie the Macanudo, although the Hyde Park Maduro is great.

Honduran (Medium to Strong with complex flavors) St Luis Rey, Hoya de Monterey,

Dominican (Mild to Medium with the exception of the Opus X) ie Artero Fuentes, Licenciados

Nicaraguan Cigars (Mild to Medium with complex flavors). Flor de Flores Cabinet Selection, Padrons

Cubans (Mild to Strong with complex flavors) Not all Cubans are good and not all Cubans are Cubans. Many Cubans are counterfeit. A good percentage of Cubans from Mexico, Miami and Bahamas are phony. This is really big business so it is hard to get real Cubans. Good sources are Europe and Canada. The best brands, if you travel. are the classics. Romeo y Jullietta Churchills, Montecristo number 2, Simon Bolivar and Cohiba.

There are also cigars from the Canary Islands, Mexico and the Philippines. None of these are a good starting place. There are also many mixed cigars, (tobacco from several countries), however first I would learn the basic characteristics of the major brands.

Use these comments as a guide for there are truly few handrolled cigars that are bad. Everyone's tastes are different So try to pay attention to what you like. Remember how does the cigar burn (Even or Uneven), How is it wrapped (does it unroll and fall apart as you smoke it).

There is a difference between flavor and strength. Something can be strong or mild and still have good or bad flavor. How strong is it?, how is the flavor ( After a few hundred cigars, you will notice different flavors from grassy (underaged tobacco), to woody, chocolate, creamy, chemical, etc., as well as hardly any flavor). How is the draw? Is it light and easy or is it very difficult. How is the aftertaste? Some are good and some are really bad. How long does it linger? Several minutes or 24 hours, if the taste is good this is a great quality and if the taste sucks this is really bad. Does the cigar burn hot or cool? Try several cigars of the same brand before you make a decision because there can be some inconsistency. The most important feature of any cigar brand is consistency. Poor storage can make a poor draw. Never buy out of a new box or from a store without proper humidification and temp control. Many new cigars are shipped over-humidified and it takes a couple of weeks to settle in. Also different sized cigars of the same brand have different flavors.

The wrapper contributes about 20% to the taste of a cigar. You should try some maduro wrappers (dark) in several cigars and see what you develop a taste for. There are many different wrappers each with their own taste characteristics. You will learn as you go. Good cigars start at a ring gauge (measured in 64th of an inch) around 42 and higher. This is because a cigar is composed of filler, binder and wrapper. Each add to the flavor. You just can not blend these ingredients in a thin cigar due to limited space. Just pay attention to the make up of each cigar you smoke. In many ways it is like learning to enjoy fine wines. While using that analogy we come to aging cigars. Most cigars benefit from some aging, however if you have a really large humidor 500 to 1500 cigar capacity. You can explore the world of aged cigars. I age half of all cigars I buy. But don’t get nuts. ( Yes I know, I am nuts)

The main thing that makes a good cigar good is consistency. This means year after year, box after box each cigar tastes the same, burns well and has an even draw. This is why most new brands fail the test.

Drug store cigars have nothing in common with a handrolled cigar. They are short filled. This means they are rolled with pieces of tobacco, usually cheap rejected leaves. Handrolled are comprised of whole leaves that run the length of the cigar. If you get a cigar with too tight a draw, unroll it and you can learn how a handrolled cigar is made. The wrapper is comprised of chopped up tobacco and mixed with vegetable based glue and reformed around the chopped up pieces of tobacco. Yuch! The whole mess is then mixed with propylene glycol, this is so they always have the correct humidification, even when stored outside of a humidor. You can easily see why these things have nothing in common with a good cigar.

It will give you a chance to see what you would like. You should settle on some everyday cigars consisting of mild strength and flavor for midday, golf or before meals, some stronger tasting cigars for after a heavy meal and some special occasion cigars for after an expensive dinner or to savor a special day. (Such as the Davidoff Special R, Opus X or the Padron 30th Anniversary Series.

After you decide on what you like maybe 4 or 5 brands and sizes than you can start to buy boxes.

If you use a blade cutter to cut the end off a cigar, look for where the cap tobacco meets the cigar and cut off less than the cap. This varies from cigar to cigar, but if you cut off too much the cigar will begin to unravel. I prefer a bullet cutter. (It makes one lare hole). Some people think this allows for the concentration of tars and bad things at the opening.  A small minority of people us a V cutter.  I do not find this as good as a bullet cut.  Bitting off the end of a cigar seems only to work in Clint Eastwood movies.  But he also made Bridges of Madison County so I think he blew any credibility he may have had.

When lighting a cigar try to use a wooden match, wait until it settles down. Without placing the cigar in your mouth slowly hold the match under the cigar while rotating it. Try not to let the cigar touch the flame. After the flame leaps to the cigar, place the cigar in your mouth and draw in while holding the flame just beneath the cigar. Again rotate the cigar and after you take a couple of puffs look at the end of the cigar and check for even lighting. If some spots remain unlit than relight those places until you have an even burn. This should take two to three matches. This sound like a pain but in truth it will keep you from inhaling hot gases from the match which will take your taste buds half of the cigar to recover from. Actually if I could bring myself to spend the money I would buy a blazer. This is a small torch that does a great job.  I honestly us a cheap butane lighter, but I wanted to give you the option of doing it the right way.  Never Use a Zippo, as the smell of lighter fluid will kill the taste of the cigar.

Your humidors humidification device needs monthly attention. You also need a gauge to measure humidity and temperature. It takes about 3 weeks for a humidor to reach the correct level. This is due to the wood soaking up moisture. Just be patient. All of these gauges are fairly in accurate and the analog gauges are usually just for decoration. Radio Shack sells a pretty good digital gauge for around 20 bucks. They are usually 3 to 7 percent off. Therefore they have to be calibrated. Get a copy of the Alt.Smoke.Cigar faq and follow the instructions. You do not have to take it apart just write the amount it is off on the cover and add or subtract from the reading. Do not ruin several hundred dollars of cigars. You usually have to add distilled water monthly (tap water causes mold) and credo solution twice a year. (This is just propylene glycol and distilled water mixed 50/50). Propylene glycol can be purchased from any pharmacy for about 5 bucks a pint. Do not buy any special credo solution or any other cigar keeping solution. It is all propylene glycol mixed with distilled water in a ratio of 50/50. This does not have to be exact.  If you are not opposed to shooting sports, go to the local K-mart  or like store, and buy a plastic box of 100 22 long rifle rounds.  It should only cost about 3 bucks.  Buy the one with 100 holes cut in the plastic from which the bullets hang.  Take out the bullets and go target practicing, good for killing the dreaded tobaco beetle, but seriously opens up the draw on cigars, and place a block of flower shop oasis in the plastic box, glue the cover back on and moisten with 50/50 propelene glycol and distilled water.  You now have a great humidification device and it is really cheap.

Let me know what you learn. I personally keep a log of the cigars I try and what I think. Remember everyone has different ideas of what is good.  This article is meant as a starting place for a new smoker.