Cigar Aficionado

[CoventryCat86]

Well I'm not relying on the opinions or statements of others, I'm judging from my own experiences. My friend gave me a dozen Cubans, and as far as I am concerned they were no better than some of the non ISOM's for my tastes.

I'm not trying to start trouble here or talk down to you but if you've only smoked a couple of dozen from what is not a reliable source, I would suggest smoking quite a few more before you draw any conclusions.

Heck, I've been smoking Cuban cigars for 13 years and yes, the first few, hell even the first few boxes, I said "WTF?, What's the BIG DEAL here?" but as time has gone on, I've grown to appreciate them for what they are. I also said the same thing about the first ten or twenty Opus X I smoked, "AH, these things are overrated and aren't worth it. " THEN I started waiting for them to dry out BEFORE I smoked them (since the friggin cigar shops keep them too wet) and now I love them.

I concur with F.T. Pulver on the humidity level. I keep mine closer to 60% for the exact reasons he mentioned.

Regarding price, MANY great Cuban cigars can be found for less than $10.00/stick and can be found easier than a Padron 1926 or an Opus X.

[Island Epicurean]

Living outside the U.S. I would have to say I smoke Cubans and "Others" in about equal share and there is still a great differential between the two. While there are a lot of good non-cuban cigars, especially from the Dominician, they are simply "good" not great. The Cuban's still have a definite advantage over the rest of the world when it comes to quality, taste and construction. There could be any number of reasons for the rise of other brands, but from personal experience I still prefer my Cubans!

[cigar no baka]

I'm not trying to start trouble here or talk down to you but if you've only smoked a couple of dozen from what is not a reliable source, I would suggest smoking quite a few more before you draw any conclusions.

Heck, I've been smoking Cuban cigars for 13 years and yes, the first few, hell even the first few boxes, I said "WTF?, What's the BIG DEAL here?" but as time has gone on, I've grown to appreciate them for what they are. I also said the same thing about the first ten or twenty Opus X I smoked, "AH, these things are overrated and aren't worth it. " THEN I started waiting for them to dry out BEFORE I smoked them (since the friggin cigar shops keep them too wet) and now I love them.

I concur with F.T. Pulver on the humidity level. I keep mine closer to 60% for the exact reasons he mentioned.

Regarding price, MANY great Cuban cigars can be found for less than $10.00/stick and can be found easier than a Padron 1926 or an Opus X.

OK then I won't give up on Cubans, wasn't really planning to, but my access to them is very limited. I will try what someone else recommended and age them 6-12 months first. Plus they are pretty expensive and usually outside my price range, but not always.

[Chè]

While this may have been mentioned I could not read everything posted (sorry), but it is simple business that cigar Aficionado rates Cuban cigars mediocre. Have you paid strict attention to how much advertising Habanos SA does in cigar Aficionado's magazine being that the magazine is US based and Cuban cigars are considered contraband? My understanding is a full page add is over $50,000.00 in cA's magazine - need there be other reasons why they are constantly telling you Domincans are better cigars??

As said 99/00 was the Cubans' big mistake. It did allow the other markets to point to the quality diminishing and it provided people with the confidence to believe that non Cubans were on equal footing. Pesonally I disagree but that is just my personal taste.

Aside from the keeping up with the about to bust, "boom", the collapse of the USSR left Cuba without any backing. Areas that were otherwise not previously considered to have top notch soil for tobacco growth were seeded regardless to try to make up for the gap of income the Soviet Union's collapse created. Subsequently a substantial amount of lower standard leaf was produced and obviously was not discarded. In addition the treatment of the cigars was sped up (some say barely fermented) - all of which leveled the playing field. There was also the switch of the wrapper etc.

What is funny is most of that has long been resolved yet the same rhetoric marches on. If one likes typical Domincan cigar flavors, who am I to say otherwise. But let's not be obtuse and not realize that cigar Aficionado is not going to step on it's $100,000's contributors (per edition) to say that there is any hope for thier $0 contributors. That'll never happen and Cuban smokes will always be no better than damn good (if that).

I also find it strange that all the talent has supposedly gone to the D.R. when you tune into the rhetoric, but it took up til what maybe 4 or 5 years ago or so for a true Puro to be produced on the island. If you look around, up til that point there was no suitable wrapper leaf on the entire island and it was all imported from various other tobacco growing regions.

[F.T. Pulver]

Che' is right on. If you look closely you will also find cigars that buy full page, double page spreads get fairly nice reviews the next month, or even the same month.
If you want to wonder something, wonder why a NC cigar never appears in Connoisseurs Corner. Funny ain't it? You'd figure with all those highly rated sticks from years past that SOME sort of NC product would have made there.

He's also right about the Cubans opening a window for NC makers to point fingers by trying to meet demand during the boom, and seeding fields with tobacco that were unsuited to grow it. Many vegas were turning out tobacco that would not have been accepted in past years, and it showed in some of their product.

[Thurm15]

If you want to wonder something, wonder why a NC cigar never appears in Connoisseurs Corner.

Actually your wrong about that. Last Months Con. Corner featured a Fonseca 10-10 from 94 and thier have been others although few and far between.Those ratings are crap anyways. Gordon Mutt and his 1968 Monte #1 sucking on a Mojito in Downtown Havana I personally believe that Cuba does Produce the best Cigar Tobacco in the World. Definately Distinctive and unique to anything else. I've never enjoyed a Padron Addy or an Opus X as much as I've enjoyed a Punch Punch or a Saint luis Rey Regios. I do smoke both NC and Cubans but if I had the choice it would be almost exclusively Cuban.

[F.T. Pulver]

I will take your word on it Thurm since I never keep any back issues if ca I can't check it out.
You're right about the ratings being crap, I LOL at your descrition of mutt chuggin down a drink (and a sweet one at that) while reviewing an aged cigar.