Quote Originally Posted by MMAB
with little sucess in getting any vendor at any level to give me any answers.

I wonder mainly about shipping cigars and the effects of high temps on them.

As far as buying specific brands at specific times of the year, that might be a bit tough IMHO.

Unless you know box codes, it's difficult to say what you are buying in any store at any given time. In other words one store could have a box or two of brand "X" from one year ago where the next store could have boxes from two years ago, etc. I would think that reaching any type of an agreement about a shipping/QC standardization in the industry would be unlikely.

I do know from reading up on the subject that cigar makers struggle on a yearly basis to keep blends and tobacco as close as possible from year to year or crop to crop. From what I understand it is quite difficult.

Did I make any sense? I'm too tired!
I've wondered that myself

and this may not be the right question. see below.

I'm sure that vendors who're in the business of quality (read: targeting future markets via return business) work to get their product to distributors and retailers in prime condition. So then quality becomes the job of these people - rh & temp of walk-ins, storage, etc.. Maybe the best answer to 'when' is while you're in a reputable dealer's shop.

Yeah, annual consistency in something affected by the weather, genetics, etc. is probably pretty hard.