question about cubans

[IHT]

I agree they should too . I bought a box of ERDM that has the year 2003 burned into the bottom of the box . Hopefully this is when they were produced and not when the box was made . Nice informative thread here . Good job BOTL's .

they could have been made in 02. what was the month on the box?
after they make 'em, they set them in another room to be seperated. sometimes they can sit there a few months waiting to be boxed... so, the actual box date is when it was boxed/shipped out of cuba to a vendor.

the master did make great points on the fact that cuban cigars are not pre-aged, unlike the vast majority of non-cubans. ever see a non-cuban cigar ad that didn't mention how long their tobacco was aged before rolling, etc?? almost never.

so, while they still need a few years to get rid of the ammonia, they are still a lot better than the majority of non-cubans that are 5x the age.
i'm no where near an expert, but i have been given the opportunity to smoke some aged cubans (a couple pre-embargo as well). it's amazing what only 2 yrs of aging can do for the likes of a RASS or Juan Lopez. just wish i could get some that are 5-7 yrs older than that.

[da klugs]

they could have been made in 02. what was the month on the box?
after they make 'em, they set them in another room to be seperated. sometimes they can sit there a few months waiting to be boxed... so, the actual box date is when it was boxed/shipped out of cuba to a vendor.

the master did make great points on the fact that cuban cigars are not pre-aged, unlike the vast majority of non-cubans. ever see a non-cuban cigar ad that didn't mention how long their tobacco was aged before rolling, etc?? almost never.

so, while they still need a few years to get rid of the ammonia, they are still a lot better than the majority of non-cubans that are 5x the age.
i'm no where near an expert, but i have been given the opportunity to smoke some aged cubans (a couple pre-embargo as well). it's amazing what only 2 yrs of aging can do for the likes of a RASS or Juan Lopez. just wish i could get some that are 5-7 yrs older than that.

All you have to do is ask Greg. :)

[ggiese]

it's amazing what only 2 yrs of aging can do for the likes of a RASS or Juan Lopez. just wish i could get some that are 5-7 yrs older than that.

You're absolutely right - I love a RASS with a coupla years of age on em... It's even mroe amazing what a couple of years age will do to a Quinteros Brevas!!!

[The Master]

In my opinion the RASS is one of those cigars that takes forever to get good. I had a box of 97's that took over 6 years and I have a box of 99's that are just coming around.

If you are looking for a Cuban Robusto that is smokeable early on, then the Juan Lopez 2 would be my recommendation.

[Coolbus]

Although age is very important on any cigar, I look to the date on Cubans for quality issues. There were several years pre 2003 in which the construction was questionable for many island sticks.

[The Master]

The two years that were Cubas worst construction wise were 1999 and 2000. The real bad part about 1999 was that the crop of 1998 tobacco was one of the best in Cubas history, so many of the poorly constructed cigars were made with great tobacco. As with any year, there are great boxes and there are lousy boxes. As long as your tobacconist is willing to gaurantee your satisfaction, taking a chance on 99 and 2000 cigars isn't a big deal. You can find some incredible boxes from those years.

[Bubba -NJ]

they could have been made in 02. what was the month on the box?
after they make 'em, they set them in another room to be seperated. sometimes they can sit there a few months waiting to be boxed... so, the actual box date is when it was boxed/shipped out of cuba to a vendor.

:

I should have mentioned that they are not Cuban , the date on the bottom of the box says June 2003 .