Quote Originally Posted by CoventryCat86
Excellent post F.T. Pulver

There is NOTHING in the world like the taste of Cuban tobacco therefore it is impossible to "catch up" It is impossible to use "Cuban" seeds and try and grow it in another country. The soil is different and the taste cannot be replicated. Many have tried, they all have failed.

"Quality problems"? That's a funny one!!! I pull more stems out of non cuban cigars and have far more plugged or too loosely rolled NON Cuban cigars than Cuban cigars.

In my experience (unlike Scotty who just repeats things but lets you believe he has first hand knowledge), on average, Cuban cigars with box codes from the '99, '00, '01 time frame had a slightly higher chance of exhibiting "quality problems" with respect to being plugged. Since then, the cigars are fine. I have yet to smoke a Cuban cigar with an '03 or '04 box code that was plugged and you're going to have to take my word for it that I've smoked "a few"

If you guys want to keep listening to the urban legends and the non Cuban manufacturer's propaganda, go right ahead but you'd be doing yourself a HUGE favor if you let YOURSELF decide, not the jerkoffs at CAO or the dope at your local cigar shop who obviously will fill your head full of bullshit because he CAN'T legally sell you Cuban cigars.

There are two factors here that people are talking about as one. The quality of the TOBACCO suffered during the time cat outlines, although I would give it a smaller window of late 99 into early 2000 and most of this was due to Habanos trying to meet the demand of the boom, it mainly affected wrappers and was mainly on larger ring cigars. I believe, although someone may correct me, it was at this time the Cubans also switched wrapper tobacco strains. When I hear guys griping about cigars from this time frame, they are more often than not referring to the issues with the tobacco.

The second issue, which is completely separate is the quality of the CONSTRUCTION. As is always true with any hand made product, there will variations from the mean that will result an poorly constructed cigar. Although, due again to high production demands, there were inexperienced rollers on the line, so there were construction problems during that time too. As for plugs, they exist. In fact, some guys won’t even order Lonsdale vitolas due to their notorious reputation. Now the problem seems to be that some smokers feel the draws are too loose, which is most likely a result of the installation of draw machines in the factories in the last couple of years.


When most people tell me that they’ve had a plugged or otherwise poor cigar from Cuba, it’s usually one or more of the following reasons. 1. It’s a fake, plain and simple most Americans haven’t had enough experience with Cuban cigars to know the difference between a fake and a real one. I can’t tell you how many guys I’ve seen get a dose of the real deal and wonder what the hell they had been buying. They, to a man, claim to have trusted their sources/friends. 2. Humidity too high. Cuban cigars should be kept, IMO, at around 63% RH. 70 is way too high, and will result in a hotter burn and taste and tighter draw. Most guys who complain about plugged cigars don’t really have a plugged cigar, they have one that’s too tight from being over humidified. If you have some Cuban cigars in your humidor and its higher than 65, drop it down to that for a couple of months, then try it again. You won’t be disappointed. Domestic cigars will do fine in 65 too. 3. Lastly, they are smoking them before their time. Although there’s lots of controversy about this, Cuban cigars go through a period where they aren’t as good. Some refer to is as the “sick” period. I have plenty of cigars that were great when I got them, then they went flat, or bitter, or the taste was just off. Wait a few months, maybe a year and they come back even better than they had started.

Despite all this I would take a Cuban cigar over a domestic every day of the week and twice on Sundays. If you'd ever spent an hour with a Mag46 or PSD4 that was "on", you'd know exaclty what I mean.