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OT- Cigar question

Macca

Macca

Kidney Dominant
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
Messages
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I was in Ontario and was able to secure some Cubans, the duty free variety so nothing special but curious to know if I can find some down in Florida in April. I will be in Naples. I smoke Ashton's for the most part up here but looking to expand my horizons. The Cuban I had was great but I am sure I am not even scratching the surface of a top notch cigar. I am a plug in the jug guy so I am relatively new to the cigar world, open to suggestions or to be ridiculed. Either way I can handle it. If this thread is not Kosher, apologies and delete away. Full body if anyone actually answers this request. And yes, I am a Canes fan, have a tattoo to prove it and my knowledge is relatively extensive just in case the post count thing comes up. Canestime print subscriber in the early 90's.
 
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Macca said:
I was in Ontario and was able to secure some Cubans, the duty free variety so nothing special but curious to know if I can find some down in Florida in April. I will be in Naples. I smoke Ashton's for the most part up here but looking to expand my horizons. The Cuban I had was great but I am sure I am not even scratching the surface of a top notch cigar. I am a plug in the jug guy so I am relatively new to the cigar world, open to suggestions or to be ridiculed. Either way I can handle it. If this thread is not Kosher, apologies and delete away. Full body if anyone actually answers this request. And yes, I am a Canes fan, have a tattoo to prove it and my knowledge is relatively extensive just in case the post count thing comes up. Canestime print subscriber in the early 90's.
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Was one of Cubans named Lazaro?
May be my uncle.
Please keep him secure.
 
Lots of options out there. Best thing to do is try different types of sticks and figure what you like. Body and flavor are two different things. You'll want to try some full bodied cigars but may find they are one dimensional in terms of flavor. Conversely, some medium body cigars are very flavorful.

I am partial to medium to full bodied cigars with lots of flavor. Check out maduro, corojo, and sumatra wrappers. Mexican San Andreas is the popular thing now. Those tend to me mostly medium body but have substantial flavor. My personal favorites are:
Tatuaje Cojonu (I like 2003 the best)
Black Label Trading Last Rites
Black Label Trading Deliverance
La Barba Purple (very tasty)
La Joya de Nicaragua Dark Antaño Corojo (kick in the nuts)
Padron 1926

Cuban cigars don't justify the expense, although I good Montecristo no. 2 or Partagas Series D are enjoyable. A new cigar that is very Cubanesque is the Julio R. Eiroa Aladino.

Salud.
 
Pixelated bukake said:
Lots of options out there. Best thing to do is try different types of sticks and figure what you like. Body and flavor are two different things. You'll want to try some full bodied cigars but may find they are one dimensional in terms of flavor. Conversely, some medium body cigars are very flavorful.

I am partial to medium to full bodied cigars with lots of flavor. Check out maduro, corojo, and sumatra wrappers. Mexican San Andreas is the popular thing now. Those tend to me mostly medium body but have substantial flavor. My personal favorites are:
Tatuaje Cojonu (I like 2003 the best)
Black Label Trading Last Rites
Black Label Trading Deliverance
La Barba Purple (very tasty)
La Joya de Nicaragua Dark Antaño Corojo (kick in the nuts)
Padron 1926

Cuban cigars don't justify the expense, although I good Montecristo no. 2 or Partagas Series D are enjoyable. A new cigar that is very Cubanesque is the Julio R. Eiroa Aladino.

Salud.
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Thanks bud. Really helpful. Appreciate the detail and effort.
 
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The only way to know for sure you’re getting a real Cuban cigar, unless you totally and 100% know and trust your S. Florida seller, is to buy them in Canada from a reputable seller.

Plenty of counterfeits are sold in south Florida as the real thing.

Also, there are so many non-Cuban choices that are excellent that since I only burn the occasional stogie, I’m fine with a Padron 1964 (very expensive) or I’ve got a few Opus X mellowing in my humidor. My go to is the Fuente Hemingway short story, not outrageously priced, bold enough, and since I don’t want to spend 2 hours smoking the **** thing, perfect for me.
 
Cigars are like art, there are some very high value cigars that are really good quality; there are also some inexpensive sticks that may appeal to your palette. I prefer a good Cuban Maduro and I have a connect in Dallas for that. But I really like LFD (particularly the Chisel) and Padron as well.
I've also run across some really impressive and inexpensive Jamaican brands like Brio and BMC (Blue Mountain Club). BMC makes a cigar called the 'Threesome' that starts with Connecticut shade, has a natural leaf in the middle and finishes with a strong but smooth Maduro - it's 3 cigars in 1. Really awesome experience. Good luck.
 
Macca said:
I was in Ontario and was able to secure some Cubans, the duty free variety so nothing special but curious to know if I can find some down in Florida in April. I will be in Naples. I smoke Ashton's for the most part up here but looking to expand my horizons. The Cuban I had was great but I am sure I am not even scratching the surface of a top notch cigar. I am a plug in the jug guy so I am relatively new to the cigar world, open to suggestions or to be ridiculed. Either way I can handle it. If this thread is not Kosher, apologies and delete away. Full body if anyone actually answers this request. And yes, I am a Canes fan, have a tattoo to prove it and my knowledge is relatively extensive just in case the post count thing comes up. Canestime print subscriber in the early 90's.
Click to expand...

Padrón 1964s are nice. If you are ever down here in Miami, come check out the factory in Little Havana. I happened to run into Coach Gus there a few weeks ago, who visits often. The owners were trying to gift him a box of cigars for CMR but he straight up told them that CMR doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, etc. They were all so shocked LOL.

Enjoy your stay in Naples. I love it over there. It's my little getaway.. GO CANES!
 
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Good thread OP. Never hurts to get a little different conversation going on in here. Great suggestions also. I think I will be trying some, Padron 1926 or 1964 and maybe even the Jamaican one (BMC). Thanks for the info gents!
 
Liberty City El said:
My favorites are Cohiba behike's with the nice Nicaraguan/Honduran blend.

Also like the hand rolled Montalvo's from Jamaica.
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Lmao outstanding it’s funny cus it’s true

I’m in the cigar industry, Sales Manager for EPC, was previously with Espinosa Cigars, took a massive step up, If you smoked a La Gloria Cubana that was Ernesto Carrillo blend and cigar before he banked by selling it to General.

Any who, this right here is hilarious cus it’s true. First, I dealt with the Canadian market, God Bless you guys for still buying cigars, those taxes are ridiculous. As for the quality of those Cuban cigars? Before you light it get your Ashton (Symmetry for me is their best cigar, I call it baby Opus) and smoke both of them together at the same time. The purpose is for you to see how bad the Cuban is to your Ashton. The Canadian market is down the list in priority when it comes to the quality of the cigars they get from Cuba. Why does it still sell there and people rave about it? Because 65% of cigar smokers don’t know a **** thing and perception takes over

Now as for Cuban cigars. I preface this by saying, I am of Cuban decent. Cuban cigars are vastly overrated and suck. And most of the people who smoke legit Cuban cigars don’t know a **** thing and mind**** themselves into believing it’s the best thing cus it’s a Cuban cigar. First off, ladies and gentlemen you are not smoking a 100% Cuban tobacco cigar. They are importing tobacco from Nicaragua, Honduras and D.R. Because they do not have enough tobacco to fill it with to meet the worldwide demand. Secondly, the tobacco crop sucks, due to their horrible situation Cuba is using its soil to grow anything, and with tobacco you must turn the soil properly to revive the soil with proper nutrients to grow tobacco, they are not doing that, this the quality of tobacco is bad. Third, all the “talent” has died or left the island. What does that mean? The blenders, the top rollers, heck even factory managers have died or left the island. You can have all the top ingredients to make a great meal, but your chef sucks the meal will suck, and that is the situation over there.

Now if all things were optimal, there is no better tobacco than Cuban, but that is not the case, and since most cigar smokers don’t know ****, and perception is reality, they actually think they are smoking a great cigar cus it’s Cuban, when amongst true cigar connoisseurs, it is crap and overrated and poorly constructed, and not to mention not 100% Cuban. Believe me I know all the growers and distributors of tobacco who sell to Cuba


Enjoy the smoke, and hope you learned something.

And as stated before, be a ***** and smoke everything, though clearly smoke an EPC Cigar first lol

As I’ve told smokers before, everything in a stores humidor is great and everything in a stores humidor sucks balls, what’s the difference? What is great and sucks balls to you and only you. It all depends on your palate.

And a final note, learn to retrohale (fancy word for blowing smoke out your nose) Once you can do that, you will get the total experience and profile a cigar has to offer. If you got any other questions ask away

And if ya don’t know now ya know....
 
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Fzac75 said:
Lmao outstanding it’s funny cus it’s true

I’m in the cigar industry, Sales Manager for EPC, was previously with Espinosa Cigars, took a massive step up, If you smoked a La Gloria Cubana that was Ernesto Carrillo blend and cigar before he banked by selling it to General.

Any who, this right here is hilarious cus it’s true. First, I dealt with the Canadian market, God Bless you guys for still buying cigars, those taxes are ridiculous. As for the quality of those Cuban cigars? Before you light it get your Ashton (Symmetry for me is their best cigar, I call it baby Opus) and smoke both of them together at the same time. The purpose is for you to see how bad the Cuban is to your Ashton. The Canadian market is down the list in priority when it comes to the quality of the cigars they get from Cuba. Why does it still sell there and people rave about it? Because 65% of cigar smokers don’t know a **** thing and perception takes over

Now as for Cuban cigars. I preface this by saying, I am of Cuban decent. Cuban cigars are vastly overrated and suck. And most of the people who smoke legit Cuban cigars don’t know a **** thing and mind**** themselves into believing it’s the best thing cus it’s a Cuban cigar. First off, ladies and gentlemen you are not smoking a 100% Cuban tobacco cigar. They are importing tobacco from Nicaragua, Honduras and D.R. Because they do not have enough tobacco to fill it with to meet the worldwide demand. Secondly, the tobacco crop sucks, due to their horrible situation Cuba is using its soil to grow anything, and with tobacco you must turn the soil properly to revive the soil with proper nutrients to grow tobacco, they are not doing that, this the quality of tobacco is bad. Third, all the “talent” has died or left the island. What does that mean? The blenders, the top rollers, heck even factory managers have died or left the island. You can have all the top ingredients to make a great meal, but your chef sucks the meal will suck, and that is the situation over there.

Now if all things were optimal, there is no better tobacco than Cuban, but that is not the case, and since most cigar smokers don’t know ****, and perception is reality, they actually think they are smoking a great cigar cus it’s Cuban, when amongst true cigar connoisseurs, it is crap and overrated and poorly constructed, and not to mention not 100% Cuban. Believe me I know all the growers and distributors of tobacco who sell to Cuba


Enjoy the smoke, and hope you learned something.

And as stated before, be a ***** and smoke everything, though clearly smoke an EPC Cigar first lol

As I’ve told smokers before, everything in a stores humidor is great and everything in a stores humidor sucks balls, what’s the difference? What is great and sucks balls to you and only you. It all depends on your palate.

And a final note, learn to retrohale (fancy word for blowing smoke out your nose) Once you can do that, you will get the total experience and profile a cigar has to offer. If you got any other questions ask away

And if ya don’t know now ya know....
Click to expand...

Interesting report on the growing conditions in Cuba and sounds 100% legit since everything else there is threadbare and runs on a shoestring - not a big surprise that major corners are being cut in growing. Soil management is obviously a big factor.

So many good cigars/leaves/plants being gown in other areas like the Dominican, Nicaragua, Jamaica, etc where there are excellent conditions to grow and single source or mix and match that you can get top shelf quality from these places.

Thanks for the lesson. Going to stop by and add to my collection.
 
I have a ton to learn about cigars but I smoke them and if I like them I grab more. I try different kinds and ask the shop owners for their opinion. There is a dude in Naples on 41 who was cool and helpful. The shops in my neighborhood are not great so I have to branch out around Boston to find a good shop. I had heard the Cuban cigars were by reputation these days so it was great to get some feedback from people in the know. I appreciate the information and the detail. I will grab all of the cigars suggested above that I can get my paws on and try them out.

If anyone else wants to toss on some personal favorites, be my guest. Spring and summer is on the way in my parts so it is cigar season for me.
 
I have smoked primarily Cubans for the last three or four years. I prefer Montecristo Edmundos and Partagas No.4. I also buy MC4's to have around for new smokers and for an every day cigar. Unless you are pretty expert at identifying them, I'd stick to buying from La Casa del Habano stores. There are also some "safe" online sites but that is illegal in the US still so of course I would never use one of them. Everyone raves about the Cuban Cohibas and I have to say I've had most of the line and the Behlke 54 is the only one I particularly cared for, and last I checked it was selling for over one hundred dollars per cigar. Not too practical. For non-Cubans, I like the La Gloria Cubana line pretty much. Right now I am buying non-Cuban Cameroon wrappers from HUpmann or Fuente. You basically have to buy a lot of different sticks and give them a try. Also, at least for me, my taste in cigars has changed a great deal since I started smoking more regularly four to five years ago. So just because you didn't like something today doesn't mean it might not be your favorite in a few years.
 
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I may know a Cuban that works at the embassy that might exchange some cigars for a nice jacket.

th
 
when i come to Miami i always go with the crippy cigars, smooth, not harsh at all, good flavor flav, and the smell just drives me nuts, we dont have em here in Texas like that all ours come from Mexico
 
Cigars are like women. Lots of good ones out there and some of them cost U more than they're worth. With that said, right now I prefer My Father's Flor de las Antillas, Rocky Patel Royale Or Oliva Melanio. Gurkha is about the only thing I won't buy.
 
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