I'll respectfully disagree with some of your earlier respondents: I'm a big fan of the JR Alternates.

For the price (less than a buck a stick if you buy the bundle), they're unbeatable. Very well constructed, very consistent, smooth smokes.

Are they as good as the real thing? Of course not. For me, they're my yard work cigars. But they do come pretty close with some of their blends. The Cuban alternative Partagas Lusitania and Cohiba Siglo IV (both approx. 7 X 48) were extremely good. I wasn't as impressed with their Cuban Punch alternatives, but they were still pretty good.

Unbeatable for the price. Great for mowing the lawn.

And when you run across some cigar snobs who lift their noses at the plain bands, do yourself a favor: buy a box of the real thing (whatever it is), remove the bands, mix them up with the alternates, and challenge the snobs to pick the real thing. They can even keep their eyes open.

I've fooled more than a few self-described "Aficianados" that way. At least with some of the blends.