Any really good, underrated non-cubans from lesser known brands I should be aware of?

[G-man]

Fuente's and Padrons

Nice smokes but for the money Id keep with the Fuente's ! Perdomo is a great cigar maker. Hes for the workin man . I wouldn't by whole boxes till you sample a bunch. This is how You can figure out what trips your trigger as far as taste and complexity. Just My . 0 2

[SeanP]

white owl swisher sweet and dutch master are pretty nice on the wallet too!

Friends don't let friends smoke cardboard!

[misterbulgarin]

They do when friends want to look cool or take part in cigar smoking but don't take into account the taste, complexity and other connosieurial things that come with the cigar experience

[cohibaIV]

Well, I really don't think you can go wrong with the NC Punch Rare Corojo..

As TJ knows, I am a sucker for them..

[SeanP]

They do when friends want to look cool or take part in cigar smoking but don't take into account the taste, complexity and other connosieurial things that come with the cigar experience

I guess I'm just used to sub $1 cigars that are good like Slow-Aged by Perdomo, Sol Cubano Series B, Victor Sinclair Primeros & Connecticut Yankee. They are good knock around smokes or "Yard gars" but easy to pass out and not break the bank.

[SeanP]

Well, I really don't think you can go wrong with the NC Punch Rare Corojo..

As TJ knows, I am a sucker for them..

The Magnum vitola (5.1" x 54) is very nice indeed

[cigarssogood]

The problem is that I have introduced my friends to really good cigars and now the bastards can tell the difference between them. Although, I love the idea of having knock-around smokes that you can hand out to people. They're really helpful when people are drunk. I myself compared a D4 with a cheap house robusto from my local shop and, thanks to the dozen jello shots and innumerable vodka and cokes, I could not for the life of me distinguish the two! Haha. Gotta love booze!

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! Keep em coming. I love to learn about cigars!

[misterbulgarin]

Funny enough I had a guantanamo while drunk and it was pretty sublime!

[cigarssogood]

Crawling drunk?

[TomUfer]

Fuente Cuban Belicoso
El Baton
Brick House
Padron Londres

[G-man]

Keep um come in !

Although the suggestions are great this does not get you off cheap!
So lets see what else comes up ?

Any thoughts? I have ordered some CAO Gold robustos and am going to get some Rocky Patels, but those are really popular brands. Something new and perhaps not extremely well known. I like to surprise my buddies with new and obscure smokes, especially when they aren't so expensive I wince when I hand a few out at parties. Haha

[misterbulgarin]

I dunno what to make of CAO, each one I've had has been pretty poor, but they seem to be doing alright money wise? Not that It really matters either as it's subjective, but most people I've seen on other forums don't like the brand, especially the Brazillias! I've not tried them though so I can't comment.

I remember one CAO absolutely floored me, honestly, this cigar made me feel ill, light headed and not feel good at all. Can't remember what 'country' one it was but, god was it strong as anything.

[kingcohiba]

im not a cao fan either. the only one i can smoke is the sopranos.

[MP928]

I have been very impressed with the Viaje Platino Line, especially the lancero.

[cigarssogood]

I just wanted to let you all know that I followed your advice and got a box of Arturo Fuente Cuban Coronas with the Maduro wrappers. They're great! I am not usually keen on pyramid-style cigars, or cigars with small ring gauges, but they sure are tasty...way better than the CAO gold robustos I bought. I was wondering if you guys had any more recomendations for Fuentes. If I could find a fuente with the flavour of those cuban coronas, in a larger, non-pyramid roll, like a robusto, that would be great.

All the advice is most helpful...It has most certainly saved me money, time and horrible smoking experiences, so thank you guys! Trust the brits to actually know something about cigars. Most of the Canadians I meet who say they know a lot about cigars actually know less than me, and I'm a rookie.

BTW; I am going to order some Perdomo lot 23's now.