i'm sure everyone has some system. collecting every fig under the sun would be an ideal situation, but who has the room or the time? so how do you choose what you really want to add to your collection? 

i started with 3 that i heard to be good. then from there one, i decided to get as many as i can which are said to taste good. after that, i added more reliable ones. at that point, i ran out of room. now i'm only getting ones that are exceptional and rare. 

i lean toward dark red center. soft skin. the color doesn't really make much difference, but i do notice that dark figs have stronger... more intense taste. 

For it's cold hardy figs without a doubt. I don't have the space or luxury required to make my collection as large as I would like. If I wasn't in the military I would've settled down somewhere with a backyard. I go for whatever non so common figs I can get. Mostly dark figs for me. 

jarrett, you staying for 20 yrs? my sis in law's husband got out of military after 20 yr with SF. 7th group. he couldn't stand the civie life and went back in for additional punishment and went to iraq and that other place. he loves it. well.. not as much as grilling steak and drinking beer with me, but sitting on top of transport vehicle with .50 in his grip sure makes his blood pumping. i gave him two 1 gal last yr. he killed them both. can't water them when he's in middle of that place or the other. 

The way the economy is going I will stay the full 20 years. The downside to that is my love of figs. I'm set to deploy in the up coming year soon. During that time I will have no one to look after my trees. We deploy to Kyrgyzstan 99% of the time, hopefully they have figs for me to bring back. In order for me to keep my hobby alive i must deploy during the winters months when my trees are dormant and freeze my butt off while working. If I can't choose then I must find someone to care for them while I'm away if I leave during the summer months. 

Im the USAF will take me to a country with figs. There is a fig tree on ebay from Iraq, the sellers father brought it back during the operation Iraqi Freedom. Stories like that is my light on the end of the tunnel. 

My collection is made up of: Nero 600m, Negronne, Alma, Afganistanica, Sal's, and a UNK. Just a small collection to keep me sane and busy. 

jarrett, you have two options. faithful girlfriend/wife or your family. i say faithful, since i know too many navy friends who came home from first gulf war to empty nest. 

I go by rumors of what tastes good then try to grow it here and see which are best.  There's a long wait from cutting to acclimatised tree and I'm not getting any younger so I opt for too many trees and hope to be able to downsize to a few of the best.

bob, yeah... 4-7 yr for mature fig is way too long. i'm finding that 3rd yr from the first figs should give clear idea. if not, burn it. 

I paid attention mostly to what people in my type climate grew and asked them for recommendations.   But those wish lists......ugh.......I can't help but read everyone's and you quickly see a pattern emerge of what multiple people have listed so of course then I must have those:)  The problem is those are a lot harder to get but patience is the key.  

Pete,

This is how I pick my figs.
Round and round and round she goes, where she lands nobody knows.

After spending some time reading older posts, decided to start by buying readily available varieties (cultivars) from the "major flavor groups" and to eliminate the ones that weren't productive, hardy or tasty.

The groups, to my understanding are;
Sugar...Improved Celeste, Eastern Brown Turkey, O'Rourke, Etc.
Honey...Italian Honey, White Marseilles, Atreano, Etc. 
Adriatic...Adriatic JH, Conadria, Green Ischia, Etc.
Bordeaux... VDB, Mission, Vista, Etc.
Dark(Black)... Sals EL, Hardy Chicago, Dark Sicilian, Etc.

I also collect found (unknown) healthy productive varieties from NYC gardens...I have been able to fit these into all the flavor groups except Bordeaux. It seems that the Bordeaux varieties may not be as hardy as the others. They may be there, but I've yet to find any.

I just started out with figs so I went to TONS of nurseries around the Baltimore area and got whichever were decent sized.  Ended up with Celeste, Brown Turkey, Hardy Chicago, and Mission.  Pretty standard varieties.  If I can get these to stay alive then maybe I'll try to get some rarer trees.

I just wanted a couple more that were as good ad my Vista. That led to collecting "them all". So now it is "is it a fig? then I'll take it."

I know of two criteria I use:

1. If a fig is talked about a lot in good ways on the forum for productivity and no negative mention of other attributes then I would like to try it; or

2. If I see an appealing picture in literature, a dark/black/purple looking fruit then I would like to try it.

I have had no disappointment in the first category but a number of disappointment in the 2nd category.

I do similar to Akram, but I usually judge the fig in the first year unless told that it really shines after.  For instance, I got rid of Diredo last year, it produced a lot of figs on it's second year, it grew well, but it was very watery, thick skin so I thought I have heard similar things it's not good for my climate so I am ditching it.  I gave one to a person who put it in a commercial greenhouse (just a corner) and it performed really well for them, other people were fighting over it as their fig instead.  The extra heat in the greenhouse did better for it and no additional rain.  I have just compared them to Colisanti Dark, I have tasted from the mother tree from person I got it from and taste from a 2 year old tree at that time and used that as my standard, if it isn't at least as good as Colisanti dark it gets ditched.  If I really think that it's worth it to wait base on others experience I will give it another year.  Maybe this isn't the best way but for me it works, I had 50 trees this year and after this week I will only have about 35 with more that I need to get thin out yet.  If it doesn't survive winter then it won't get replaced unless it's really and excellent fig, but then I will take cuttings in the fall just to back up.

To be fair I will end up with 6-8 trees in pots over the next couple years with 8 in ground so I may be a little hasty in my selection process.

I have a list in my iPad that I add to whenever I hear good things about a specific variety from multiple sources . I also ask or refer to posts from the Gurus that live in my climate like Adriano , Herman , Nelson , Paully , Chivas .. Etc .
Also anything recommended by Pierre Baud for cold climates .
On the experimental side I have family in Greece and if they have a variety that is awesome , especially from a high elevation mountain village , then I give those a try .
Also there are many locals you get to know who have been growing a tree for years who don't know the variety ( and don't care ) that is great .
I thin out the herd as needed , if a tree is sickly ( both paradiso neros ) , or just not up to par they get scrapped . I don't sell them or even give them away anymore , I don't want to perpetuate a crappy variety making the rounds wasting people's time .

John

Sugar (Malta and friends)
Honey (Kadota and friends, Italian Honey and friends,  Marseilles and friends,...) 
Adriatic (Adriatic, Conadria, Smith, Monstreuse, Verte, Bataglia green, Calvert...)
Mt Etna (Hardy Chicago, Sal's, Gino, Dark Porteguese...)
Bordreaux (VdB, RdB, PN, Valle Negra...)
Parsotte (Violette de Soliés...)
Mission types (Mission, Coll de Dames?, Noire de Caromb, Maltese Falcon?)
Brunswick types (Magnolia, Castle Kennedy,...)
Cali Brown Turkey types (Aubique,...)
Black Madeira types (Black Tuscan, Fico Preto,...)
Modern breeds (Emerald Strawberry, Galbun, 160-50, 187-25, 309-b1, Texas BA-1,...)

Of course, this is only about the common types.

As for me?  What I want are figs in different seasons.  And I want boutique table figs.

Thats an easy one.

Listen to people like Bass and Rafed etc. especially since I am looking for cold hardy figs. Doing pots to test Nd if I like flavor they will go in ground.
Jarret. Thanks for your service and hope you come home with some great figs to share!

If I don`t have it I want it. I just wish I have 20-30 acres of land.

If it's dark, thin skinned and closed or close to closed eye, I want it!