Cigar guys in here!

[Roscoe]

You're welcome. The ones I sent you and Don are top 10 for me. Don got 10th Anniv Tatuaje. You should try one.

I definitely will have to twist an arm...

I bought the same sampler from them. With Man'o War, the darker the wrapper the better the smoke, IMO. Far left best in box, then 5th from right. None are bad smokes (like that Guano Ltd Ed Don had me try on the golf course in Vegas). Nasty.

Lol, I remember that - I tried it to and didn't care for it too much either!

[davbrucas]

No clue, haven't had one yet, which is why I got a sampler box.

I bought the same sampler from them. With Man'o War, the darker the wrapper the better the smoke, IMO. Far left best in box, then 5th from right. None are bad smokes (like that Guano Ltd Ed Don had me try on the golf course in Vegas). Nasty.

[davbrucas]

You're welcome. The ones I sent you and Don are top 10 for me. Don got 10th Anniv Tatuaje. You should try one.

[Roscoe]

Dr Dave hates fatties but knows a good smoke... Ty! Had to crack this baby open...

[jewozzy]

Sadly I think I know the answer but mold or plume? I pulled out the ones I was talking about and looked a little closer.

[DON SVO]

I like the Man O War. Good smoke.

[Roscoe]

How's that man O war??

No clue, haven't had one yet, which is why I got a sampler box.

[DON SVO]

Tasty Saturday treat:

April 2010 Ramon Allones Specially Selected

[Cobraman]

Juan lopez is my main nigga

[Roscoe]

The only cigar that has made me vomit(although the first cigar I smoked with Don got me close)...the last part of this cigar is a beast. I have another in my humidor...I'm gonna wait a bit to give it another try.

I think it's too much for you.... You know my address

I love the Trinidad Reyes and the SD4... Need to load up on a few boxes here soon.

[davbrucas]

The Ingenios was the only recent Trinidad that can be found without spending a piss-load. Still a $30-40 cigar though. I am a HUGE fan of the Trinidad Reyes, that's a stout little fucker.

if i remember correctly it was the 2007 - Edición Limitada. it was around 2008 when i had it.

The only cigar that has made me vomit(although the first cigar I smoked with Don got me close)...the last part of this cigar is a beast. I have another in my humidor...I'm gonna wait a bit to give it another try.

[jewozzy]

The Ingenios was the only recent Trinidad that can be found without spending a piss-load. Still a $30-40 cigar though. I am a HUGE fan of the Trinidad Reyes, that's a stout little fucker.

if i remember correctly it was the 2007 - Edición Limitada. it was around 2008 when i had it.

[DON SVO]

yeah i agree. the only cuban ive had that i actually enjoyed and noticed a huge difference on was a trinidad limitada i forget which year. it was the absolute best cigar i have ever had. i was at work with a lot of time to kill one day when it was offered to me so i knocked it out there. had i known it was going to be so good i would have waited til i was at home where i could knock out a glass of whiskey with it.

The Ingenios was the only recent Trinidad that can be found without spending a piss-load. Still a $30-40 cigar though. I am a HUGE fan of the Trinidad Reyes, that's a stout little fucker.

[jewozzy]

yeah i agree. the only cuban ive had that i actually enjoyed and noticed a huge difference on was a trinidad limitada i forget which year. it was the absolute best cigar i have ever had. i was at work with a lot of time to kill one day when it was offered to me so i knocked it out there. had i known it was going to be so good i would have waited til i was at home where i could knock out a glass of whiskey with it.

[DON SVO]

I was given 5 Cubans about a year ago that I out in Tupperware because my humidors were full. I put some heartfelt beads and a digital hydrometer inthere with them. Yesterday I found it (I moved the week I got them and forgot I had them) they show 70% humidity and they still feel good not dried out. What are the chances they are actually still good?

If they have managed to stay at 70% then they are good to go.

Since I've wanted to talk a bit about this topic for a while, I snapped a few photos of some of my stuff. I only took pictures of some of my older examples, I have a sizable quantity of 2010-newer Cuban cigars in my humidor. I enjoy Cuban cigars not so much for their mystique but for the fact that no other country, not even Nicaragua where the fickle Cuban tobacco seed can grow, offers the flavor profile and aroma of a quality Habanos. Bar-none, my top-3 favorite cigars are all Cuban and it's just simply because of their aroma, complex flavor profiles, construction, power and finish. They are the Cohiba Behike 54, Juan Lopez Seleccion #2 and the Bolivar Royal Corona (and not necessarily in that order). No other country produces anything that can compare to one of those 3 how, once I was finished, it could make me sit dumbfounded at how terrific the cigar was. Period, end of story there.

As for average Joe and the Cuban cigar, I definitely appreciate the cool factor to smoking one... even if you're not a frequent cigar smoker. There's a certain sense of badassery for folks to being able to say they had a great Cuban cigar on a trip, or their brother snuck in a box of Cuban cigars from Cancun, etc... it's almost a sense of validation in a way, like a cigar smoker's rite of passage to say "hey, I've had a Cuban cigar". Shit, it's the reason I bought my first few singles off a collector I knew! Nowadays, for me, they're just one country's product that I find very enjoyable. I try my best to enjoy them in moderation, like a treat. If the awesomeness wore off of a 2011 box date Juan Lopez #2 I might lose hope in humanity as a whole!

Anyways, back to the post.

The dates on the following samples are correct, as there's a large market for vintage/aged Cuban cigars and I can get a hold of older aged Cuban stuff whenever I want to make my wallet cry. I personally have a smaller collection of the aged cigars simply because I find the older Cuban smokes to have lost some of their power... I appreciate what a complex, strong Habanos offers and after 10-12 years most of the ones I've had (and being able to compare them to recent offerings often) have certainly mellowed. Now, taste-wise, I have a variety that are absolutely fantastic and have 'mellowed' into a real treasure. They may lack the power of their younger versions, sure, but they make up for it by being absolute flavor bombs. Here's a few that I will be sad when I have the smoked the last of...

Punch Royal Selection, December 2000:



August 2000 box of Punch Double Coronas:



Pair of March 1997 Partagas Petit Coronas:



In terms of Cuban cigars, my opinion hopefully makes some sense. Really though I hope somebody enjoyed this post, I enjoyed writing it