One possibility is that the cigars are still fresh, i.e., less than three months after rolling - so they're still unevenly humidified and still doing a lot of out-gassing.

About half my smokes are short-filler cigars. Some may be okay at one year, but I know that it'll be at least two years from the box date before most will be decent, and probably three years will make them better.

Moving away from short-filler/Cuban sandwich cigars for a moment, a good-for-the-price bundle is Flor de Oliva. Long-filler and a variety of wrappers available. I'm not saying they are great cigars - they're not complex or anything fancy - but it is hard to think of a better cigar for the money (close-out specials excluded). A lot of B&M's carry them so you can see if you want to spend $35/$40 or so for a bundle.