Cuban Cigars

[SlowEddy]

I smoked cigars for many years before I bought a Cuban cigar while visiting Mexico. I bought a few good ones ranging in price from $8.00 to $25.00 each. I'm here to tell you they were good, but I could not tell the difference between the best Cuban cigar I had and the same size Punch cigar (President size). In my last post I mentioned the Parodi as a good cheap, all natural cigar. But a great higher end bourbon cigar is Punch--dark wrapper. GREAT with Wild Turkey Rare Breed. The best! No glass, no ice!!
Slooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww Eddddddddddddddddyyyyyyyyy

[Tennessee Dave]

You got to try the Gurkas. All are good but the Centurian XX is as good as any Cuban on the market. In fact it is made to resemble the 1959 Bolivar. Check it out at Cigar International at their website.

[SlowEddy]

You got to try the Gurkas. All are good but the Centurian XX is as good as any Cuban on the market. In fact it is made to resemble the 1959 Bolivar. Check it out at Cigar International at their website.

I'll give it a try.
thanks,
SE

[melting]

I'd have to say that country of origin is certainly no indication of the product's quality. Cuba is no different than anywhere else. Some bad, some good and some outstanding. Actually the quality of the average Cuban cigar has diminished over the last few years I believe. They were running at full speed emphasizing quantity instead of quality.

I'm not positive, but I think they started really cutting back on the producting early last year to try to improve the quality again.

Chris

[MJL]

My experiences with Cuban cigars indicates that they may be the singularly most over rated product in the tobacco world. Some are good, some are great; many are mediocre or even poor but all are way over priced for what they are. I think that inflated price is the price paid for the mystique of forbidden fruit but, after smoking dozens and hundreds of Cuban made cigars my experiences are that the tobaccos are usually excellent but the execution is often poor. I would reckon the best rollers have exited the island and are now plying their trade in Nicaragua, DR or Honduras. I have met enough of them in the Miami area to know that they do know their business but without the personal profit incentive of making a consistent, quality product it will not be made. Witness, for example the Miami and Nica made Don Peppin Garcia that are every bit the BETTER of the best Cuban cigar on the market today for less than HALF the inflated price.

[BourbonJoe]

I also agree that cuban cigars are, for the most part, overrated and certainly overpriced. Give me a good Honduran or Nicaraguan any day.
Joe

[gr8erdane]

Shoot Joe, you'd settle for your Dad's Roi-Tan.....

[cigarnv]

I find comparing Cuban's to Nic's, DR's, Hon, etc.. is like comparing a wheater to a rye... neither is better, they are different and will appeal to people differently.

As for price Cuban cigar's are for the most no more costly than premium NC's if one avoids the tourist traps and fakes sold through out the Carribean. Most top quality Cuban cigars can be found for "reasonable" prices at LCdH's in country's with reasonable tax structures .... about equal to what I pay for a Padron 1964 or a Fuente Don Carlos .... and far less than a Padron 1926 or Opus X.

[Vange]

My experiences with Cuban cigars indicates that they may be the singularly most over rated product in the tobacco world. Some are good, some are great; many are mediocre or even poor but all are way over priced for what they are. I think that inflated price is the price paid for the mystique of forbidden fruit but, after smoking dozens and hundreds of Cuban made cigars my experiences are that the tobaccos are usually excellent but the execution is often poor. I would reckon the best rollers have exited the island and are now plying their trade in Nicaragua, DR or Honduras. I have met enough of them in the Miami area to know that they do know their business but without the personal profit incentive of making a consistent, quality product it will not be made. Witness, for example the Miami and Nica made Don Peppin Garcia that are every bit the BETTER of the best Cuban cigar on the market today for less than HALF the inflated price.

Here is my story.

I got scammed into buying "cubans" from a friend. After I did EXTENSIVE research I found them to be fake and dedicated weeks to getting more info. More alarming is that I read that OVER 95% of "cubans" in the world ARE fake. Be VERY wary when on vacation in the Caribbean and in Mexico even at resorts! I guess we can't blame them they dont know what is real or fake. You would think they are real, but most are not. I have become pretty adept at spotting fakes now. The easiest way for me to tell is my looking at the sealed boxes. There are many dead giveaways. Looking at loose cubans can be trickier. The black light trick though is my favorite for identifying a fake box label.

An an example, here is a site DEDICATED to selling fake cuban labels, bands, etc. The link is below to illustrate how easy it is to counterfeit cubans.
www.justfakes.com

SO...when I finally did get a box of real cubans and smoked them the difference was apparent. The strength of the cigar, the methodical burn, and overall deeper tobacco flavor stood out. With that said, I still like my Padron 1926s better, but I could "see" the difference now. My fakes were not horrible, but doing a side by side smoke was very educational.

[mythrenegade]

I have had a few cuban cigars in my time. The first one I bought while on vacation in the carribean. I searched extensively, and when I found the store that sold the real deal, it was _very_ apparent. They had catalogs, they had marketing materials, they had much better looking cigars than everyone else etc. Just to be safe, I bought a "tubos" which is in a metal tube. Those are almost never copied because it's a lot more work...

I was hoping it would be good, but not much better than the DR Montecristos. Sadly, it was fantastic. I loved it, but it was bittersweet knowing that I couldn't get more.

I've had another that was given to me (indirectly) by a very famous movie star. It was also clearly genuine.

I've also had fakes. Generally they were just average. When I bought those I had my doubts (buying them sight unseen, price seemed too good to be true) and as soon as I lit it up I could tell the difference. Research proved me right.

For the most part I've moved on to a pipe, which I enjoy more than cigars, but I do still have a very nice looking Montecristo #2 (torpedo) that I'm saving (in the humidor) for a special occasion...

Joel