well, i smoked another one the other day. its been about a month. definitely a huge improvement. based on this one, they are worth what i paid. the other one i smoked was right when i got it. hadn't spend 1 minute in a humidor, so that could have had something to do with it. it burned very even, it was a little tight, but not bad enough to really complain about. probably gonna let em sit another month before i smoke another.