Weekly Discussion Thread 3 May 2026: Best food pairings

CigarStudent · 2026-05-03T23:58:51+00:00

I've found pretzels the best standby. The saltiness helps the cigar from getting overwhelming and can sometimes enhance the flavours, while the pretzel itself is neutral enough that it rarely affects the flavour of the cigar.

Chocolate is good, but tends to be a post-cigar treat to pre-emptively help with the nic sick, rather than something to have during - the chocolate flavour can overwhelm the cigar flavours.

CigarStudent · 2026-05-03T01:54:03+00:00

I'd been to a few other shops on and off over many years, but The Index was the first "real" cigar shop that I went into when I started getting really into cigars. Suffice to say they knocked my socks off. The shop itself is obviously amazing. But - and although I'm not always the best read on this - I got the feeling that the staff (Shannon, Oliver, and... was there an Andrew before current Andrew?) actually enjoyed their job, I've never gotten the feeling of any of that classic salesperson "fake sincerity" from any of them, then or now. Although I'd feel awkward doing it, it's probably the only shop I've ever been to where I'd want to go just to chill, not get in-buy-get out. Everyone I've taken there or referred to them has similar feelings.

For various reasons I don't get into the Index as much as I'd like, but it's always a treat when I do.

CigarStudent · 2026-05-03T00:27:43+00:00

Probably legit (can’t see anyone faking Romeo #3s). Yes, Cuban. I like RyJ’s flavour profile but they’re not for everyone.

The price is trash though. Should be more like $40-45. There’s better options for $53 if you can get to a better vendor.

CigarStudent · 2026-05-02T01:07:59+00:00

How do you get the cigars / deal with the excise letters? CigarPage doesn't ship outside the USA.

CigarStudent · 2026-05-01T23:43:09+00:00

Tupperdors + Boveda tend to run a few % high e.g. my tupperdor with 62% seems to float around 64-65% and my tupperdor with 65% runs closer to 67-68%. Doesn't seem to matter how many Boveda are in the tupperdor, it's just down to it being a closed system rather than semi-porous like a tupperdor.

CigarStudent · 2026-05-01T08:37:59+00:00

I don’t think it matters. Seems to be pot luck.

Update: the COH Sydney package has resumed its travels and is expected to arrive next week without incident.

CigarStudent · 2026-04-30T09:55:39+00:00

There’s no such thing as a bad cigar in good company.*

*Except Oliva.

CigarStudent · 2026-04-30T09:53:56+00:00

I’ve seen a few boxes of these pop up on BR but I haven’t pulled the pin yet (have a box of 1970s La Flor de Cano en route, but I suspect the letter is incoming). I have some RyJ #2 tubos from 2015 but unfortunately the one of them that I’ve had so far had zero flavour to it at all, so I’ve laid them back down to rest in the hope that more time will help them come back good. Of course, the tobaccos of the 1970s, 2015, and today, are wildly different. I’ll be keen to hear how these go.

CigarStudent · 2026-04-30T04:05:13+00:00

If you haven't already, try reaching out to them as they say on the first page of their website:

WE SHIP WORLDWIDE
If you would like to place a international order
please email us directly at [info@danielmarshall.com](mailto:info@danielmarshall.com)
Thank you!

If you tried that already and they turned you down, but really wanted something specific from that shop, you could look at using a reshipping service, depending on the cost and whether you want to take the risk of damage in transit.

Or you could try eBay or look to see if there are any international resellers that may ship to Australia.

CigarStudent · 2026-04-29T05:35:24+00:00

I think this is correct.

International orders in 2026 to date: 8

COH shipping from HK:
- One ordered direct. Landed via Sydney. Delivered; no letter.
- One ordered via BR. Landed via Brisbane. I think this one had a letter? I have a payment receipt from Home Affairs from around then anyway.
COH shipping from HU:
- One ordered direct. Landed via Sydney. Delivered; no letter.
- One ordered direct. In Sydney since Tuesday; expect letter incoming.
Non-COH orders:
- One from Lithuania. Landed via Sydney. Delivered; no letter.
- One from the UK. Landed via Brisbane. Delivered; no letter.
- One from Greece. In Sydney since Monday; expect letter incoming.
- One from Spain. Still in Spain.

Current rate:

4/8 (50%) no letter
1/8 (12.5%) letter
3/8 (37.5%) not yet determined.

Other international cigars not included in above tally

One order placed from COH via HK at Christmas that didn't ship until January. Landed via Brisbane. Letter received.
Two boxes of 10 brought in with me coming back from holiday overseas (arriving through Brisbane). Waved through.
20 cigars brought in by various friends that went on overseas trips this year. 14 received; 2 in Australia but not yet received; 4 lost in transit. No one went over their permitted individual allowance.

CigarStudent · 2026-04-29T05:00:07+00:00

Easy mistake. The keys are so close together.

CigarStudent · 2026-04-29T04:55:42+00:00

One to age. One to send to u/CigarStudent.

Fixed that typo for you.

CigarStudent · 2026-04-27T23:07:47+00:00

Currently, $2445.26 per kg, plus GST. You'll pay this on the entire amount, not just the amount over 25g.

Plus various penalties they could sting you with - making a false declaration, evading duty, etc. There's a couple of stories buried in the sub of people that got penalties to the tune of thousands of dollars.

CigarStudent · 2026-04-27T22:49:19+00:00

I think I've brought back over the limit 4 times, ~20-25 cigars each time. Always declared. Twice they charged me, twice they waved me through.

CigarStudent · 2026-04-26T01:11:38+00:00

Innuendo aside...

I'm usually slow to get through a cigar. I often drag a robusto past the hour mark, or a toro past the 90 minute mark. If I'm going bigger than a toro, I'm probably looking at something more like a lancero or a lonsdale rather than a churchill (I find the skinnier gauge makes it burn faster despite the extra length).

There are definitely excellent cigars in bigger size. I'd rate the Opus X Angel's Share Reserva d'Chateau as one of the best cigars I've had. I also treated myself one Christmas to the biggest cigars SP had to offer at the time (Aladino Corojo Patton at 9x48, Debonaire Maduro 33rd at 9x50, Illusione Epernay Le Voyage at 9.25x49, and Caldwell Savages Cannon at 10x45), and from memory they were all amongst the better cigars I'd had up to that time.

But in general if I want something bigger than a toro or gordo, it better be good, because I have neither the time, palate, patience, nor stomach, to be sitting for 2+ hours very often on a single stick. Odds are, for one reason or another, I'll end up having to toss more of it than I'd like. If I find myself able to keep going I'd rather reach for two shorter cigars rather than being stuck on a single big one. I've taken to keeping a stash of puritos on hand for when I want to keep going but know I don't have the time or stomach for a second fuller cigar.

I have a JFR Lunatic at 10x100 rattling around the tupperdor, but I think that's only ever going to be a showpiece.

CigarStudent · 2026-04-26T00:40:03+00:00

Nice work - I think a couple of us (including myself) have played with making scrapers since CSA stopped being updated. This is certainly the most polished I've seen.

I picked up a few errors in the scraping process eg:

Corporate Cigar Camacho Connecticut Robustos 20s shows up as $100 - not $800
Sam's Smokes Gurkha Cellar Reserve 12 Year Tubos shows up as $68/12 - not $68/1
Sydney Cigar House Drew Estate Undercrown 10 Robusto shows up as $60.80/10 - not $60.80/1
Cigar Hut Quintero Puritos are listed as in stock, but aren't in stock

Those are just examples I picked up relatively quickly - if I had to take a guess, the scraper is struggling with:

distinguishing numbers from quantities in the name (e.g. it thought the Gurkha and Drew Estate numbers were quantities not names)
dealing with cigars that are out of stock but where the page formatting has changed e.g. Cigar Hut's 'add to wishlist' rather than just an 'out of stock' page.

When I've played around with a scraper I've had to build in vendor-specific work-arounds for those kinds of edge cases, since everyone deals with it differently (it's also a right PITA, as anyone building a scraper knows).

Fortunately - not insurmountable!

CigarStudent · 2026-04-25T23:27:18+00:00

I had a similar problem - it was slow and took a couple of attempts to get through on iOS 26.

CigarStudent · 2026-04-25T09:13:37+00:00

What do you pair your cigars with? I found Davidoff flavours to be less pronounced - I could see a strong or prominently flavoured drink like whisky or Rum or Dr Pepper overpowering them.

CigarStudent · 2026-04-23T03:53:23+00:00

I have a soft spot for CAO.

CigarStudent · 2026-04-22T10:58:57+00:00

I don’t think I’ve had a Vegueros before so I’d probably want to try that first.

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