Whatever Happened to the Good Nickel Cigar?!

OK, I know. Inflation.

My name really is Joe, and I welcome you to ANOTHER freakin’ cigar blog/site! Why another?

Well, I’ve been smoking cigars since 1976 and in all that time- from the time of print dominated media into the internet age, and through “The Boom” in both cigar and cyberspace, I have yet to see any source of cigar information for average guys like you and me. I want to know how I can get good cigars at a good price. Anybody can find great cigars for $20 a pop, but how about a really good cigar for $1 to $3? They’re out there and my mission is to find them, and let you know about them. There are many house brand cigars, most of which are not worth your money. But, some... a few, are quite good. Together, we can find them.

And, how about the perspective of the current crop of cigar magazines, websites, and blogs? They all assume we make $200,000 a year and spend every other weekend playing golf in Florida or the Caribbean! I can’t relate to them, and they sure don’t relate to me. They do a good job of rating cigars, but include few lower priced cigars, and refuse to rate the house brands.

The plan for this blog is to invite you to share your great cigar finds with the rest of us, for me to share mine, and together maybe have some fun along the way. Some time in the coming year I’d like to have some of you help me do a blind test of some of the good value cigars we discover. I will also rate some of the expensive cigars when I receive them as gifts, or the occasional one I can afford to buy for myself. However, my focus will be on finding those good cigar bargains.

I have no objection to anyone who wants to spend whatever they want on any great cigars that strike their fancy. I admire people who work hard enough to succeed financially, and can afford expensive cigars. But you and I work hard, too; we just don’t make the money to buy a $15.00 cigar very often- no matter how great it may be.

In summary our mission will include the following:

1. Have fun using this blog to share info on good cigars.

2. When rating cigars try not to use descriptive terms that nobody understands like “undertones of Genovese balsamic gingernut leaf”, or “reminiscent of great northern black oak, recently extracted from Napa cabernet barrels”- like, what the hell does that kinda crap mean?! (OK, I made those up, but you know what I’m talkin’ about.)

3. Compile two ratings lists: One of all the “Official” ratings of this blog, and one of all your ratings (see Rating Cigars tab for requirements)

4. Create a Joe Average’s Top Ten List of great cigar values.

5. Sort through the many "house" brands of cigars to find the ones that actually are good- so you don't waste your money on the ones that taste like lawn clippings rolled in a grocery bag. God knows I've wasted enough money on those!

The bad news is that not all of this is ready, yet. I am compiling some ratings now (and enjoying the smoking good cigars part!) and building the blog so it will be easy to use. I plan to have the first few ratings in the next couple weeks, followed by building the two ratings lists (probably early Feb ’08 timeframe), then a Top Ten list as soon as we have ten cigars worthy of inclusion.

I am looking forward to hearing from some of you, and what you think of my plans for this blog. Hopefully, you will have some other great ideas, or you can share some of your great cigar finds with the rest of us. I am looking forward to this.

Yours,

Joe Average

p.s you'll notice there are not 10 cigars on our Top Ten list. There will be as soon as we smoke 10 good value cigars!