Phase 1: Core Six
The Complete Beginner's Guide to Cigars
Finally, a cigar book that actually makes sense. Nearly three decades of factory knowledge, blind-tasting data, and straight answers. No gatekeeping. No pretension.
Storage & Collecting Manual
Phase 1: Core Six
Storage & Collecting Manual
2026 Edition: You're Storing Your Cigars Wrong. Here's How to Fix It.
Miguel learned cigar storage the hard way in 2003 when he stored a box of Montecristos in his closet during a South Florida summer. The cigars didn't survive. The lesson did. Nearly three decades in the industry, plus a walk-in humidor closet his wife Liliana tracks with a spreadsheet, taught him what works, what doesn't, and why most rules are nonsense.
Launches 2026-04-14. Drop your email and we will tell you the day it goes live on Amazon.
Inside this book
- The truth about humidity: why 70/70 is wrong and what actually works
- Storage solutions for every budget (Boveda packs to wineadors to Spanish cedar cabinets)
- How aging actually works and which cigars benefit from it
- When to rotate, when to rest, and when to just smoke the damn cigar
- How to spot fakes, mold, beetles, and construction defects
- Inventory management systems that scale
- The secondary market: where to buy, what to avoid, how to authenticate
- Collecting as investment: what appreciates, what doesn't, why most lose money
About the author
Miguel Solano
Lead Author, The Modern Cigar Library
Miguel Solano started smoking cigars in 1997 when his friend Augusto Reyes handed him a Fuente Hemingway Short Story at a lounge in Coral Gables. That cigar changed his life. Since then he has built a career in the premium cigar industry that has taken him to factories in Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic, to fermentation warehouses in Cuba, and to every PCA trade show since the late 1990s. He consults with boutique producers, maintains relationships with distributors and retailers across the Americas, and writes the books he wishes had existed when he was learning. He lives in South Florida with his wife Liliana, who manages the spreadsheets that track his cigar spending, and their cigar friends who fill the screened porch his late father Gerardo used to sit on every night.
More about Miguel SolanoOther books in the Phase 1: The Core Six series
Phase 1: Core Six
Tobacco Science & Origins
Why does a Padrón taste like cocoa while a Liga Privada hits like dark chocolate ganache? The answer is tobacco science. Most cigar books skip it.
Phase 1: Core Six
Lifestyle & Culture
Cigars aren't just about tobacco. They're about people. The lounge conversations, the herfs, the community, and the culture that forms around a shared ritual.
Phase 1: Core Six
Brands & Pairing Guide
There are over 1,000 cigar brands. Most are mediocre. Some are exceptional. A few are legendary. This guide is the filter.
Phase 1: Core Six
Industry Intelligence Report
The premium cigar industry is a $10 billion global market most people don't understand. This report tells you what's actually happening and why it matters.
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