drockspang1

Had a JO a couple weeks ago which is now 4-5 years old. Awesome from start to finish. Have smoked a dozen or so over the years. Always good except the "sick" period as has been discussed. Great guy to deal with...great prices too. Def worth it IMHO. Easily found on OLH

:-)!! Great thread here... 'Torsion', we've all made some 'newbie' mistakes somewhere along our quest for cigars & knowledge. This is definitely one for the books though brother! Like some have suggested, you may want to shove that box to the bottom of the humidor and forget about it. It may bring a premium someday. :-)

Here's how I believe codes are an important guide. When a certain code is known to be producing above avg cigars(not a certainty, but raising the odds of procuring a decent box) from a particular time period, then it is worth it to seek out that particular code & date stamp. For example: '12 BTO Cohiba, ''13 BAM Punch Punch & '13 UPE Upmann are a few codes that have been discussed on the boards and that I have had success with personally. But I wouldn't go blind into any of these codes with current '14 production, because the variables that made these codes a success in the past, have probably changed by now? Hope that helps?

^^^"once in a lifetime"^^^

Awesome report on what must've been 'lifetime' trip?:-) Thanks for posting!

That's a pretty good compliment.

Also, there was another thread I posted in a while back, or maybe it was even this one? :-) About "b side" or lesser known artists. If you like acoustic guitar: Check out: John Prine... while I wouldn't consider him "b-side" at all, surprisingly most people have never heard of him. Awesome song writer & highly revered amongst song writers...Blue grass/country. Mike Pinto: from Philly originally but now lives in San Diego. A buddy of mine turned me on to him 5-6 years ago. I'm surprised he's not a bigger name. Talented guy. Reggae/acoustic/ska

Alice in Chains "AIC" or "3 legged dog" album. I had forgotten how good this band was.

Impeached

Bugatti

Bugatti

With

Die hard Nittany Lions fan! Have been for as long as I can remember. Try to go to at least 1 game a year. Going to be an interesting year in the Big Ten!

Milk

^^^Well said above, Pigfish^^^. I have some serious questions to those of you who've been around longer & have more insight and experience with CC's: Has this trend been seen before? Maybe not the smaller rg cigars being axed to make room for larger rg... But as a whole. Has there been periods in the past where Cubatabaco/HSA has either completely discontinued marcas, or largely reduced that marcas vitola range based off of what was 'hot' or 'trendy', only to reverse itself down the line? Or do they just stick with those decisions? Also, does anyone know what drives these decisions? Seriously... do the powers that be do any market research? Surveying/testing? What in the hell drives these 'market trends'? The 'bling buyer' or 'trendy cigar smoker'.., or whatever you want to call 'em, cannot make up the majority of CC cigar smokers worldwide, can they?(<-real question... Idk the answer) I understand the LE/RE incentive. It's marketing 101. Creat a false sense of exclusivity by fancy packaging & double bands, to increase profit margins. Makes sense. It appears that most(not all) of the LE releases are from well known marcas... Cohiba, Monte, RyJ, H Upmann, etc... Most of the RE releases seem to be from the more revered marcas by more experienced CC smokers... RA, Punch, Partagas, Boli, etc... If the RE program is influenced by regional distributors, as has been stated, then who is influencing the distributors? What impact has Altadis & subsequently Imperial Tabacco had in recent changes...if any? I find this topic interesting, and just really want to know. I have absolutely no idea why HSA does what it does? I've only been smoking CC's seriously since '11. I smoked them before that but basically went in on whatever my brother had in the pipeline.

Worst box of cigars I own... AKA the next cigar I'm going to 'gift' to one of my buddies! lol! I'm as guilty as anyone, that's for sure!

2 boxes, both bought in 2012. Forget the codes, and don't wish to remember: ERDM Choix Supreme... the frustrating thing about this box was 4-5 were actually pretty good. The other 20 were a disgrace. And I mean the worst cigars I have ever tasted! Terrible construction(wind tunnels) and on some it was like the wrapper was fireproof? I was amazed at the quality contrast in one box. Cuba I guess?... I haven't any ERDM since. Punch Punch. I have half of this box aging in the hopes they come around? But after reading numerous complaints from BOTLs on various boards about 2012 Punch Punch, I'm not too hopefull?

I remembered watching this last year sometime. I remember thinking, "damn"! I'm not a big fan of his, but apparently the man likes his cigars. Can't be all that bad, right? I wonder what he smokes? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wZpDc714xA "cigar" talk at 4:16

^^^ Cisco^^^ Yes, sometimes if I smoke more then 3 in a day, they start to all blend together as far as taste. It does depend on the length of time in between them or what exactly I'm smoking. But I have found that the magic number for me is 3. I really only smoke 4 maybe once or tops twice a week. Usually on my 'long' days at work.

Thanks for making me feel better! There for a bit I thought I was the only one smoking that much. I've read articles of more famous cigar smokers smoking 5 or 6 a day, but amongst the regular ole cigar lovers out there...it's good to know I'm not alone. I do worry about the health effects though. But then again, just think about how many cigars that Fidel has had in his life... He's turning 88 years old! Churchill was said to have been rarely seen without a cigar in his hand... he died at the age of 90! Alejandro Robaina(who you have to figure smoked a decent amount?) died at age 91... Hell, I might just up the ante a bit... I kid, I kid Nope, I smoke them because I honestly enjoy them and like I said before; I have the opportunity to.

Concur with what's already been said: Cream: Hoyo Epi 2 & Des Dieux Pepper: Party SD4 & shorts. Also the 898's

What's funny is when I started back smoking cigars, after a 5 year hiatus, I ran into an old freind who's been smoking cigars for the better part if 30 years. I asked him how many he smoked a day and he said "3 everyday of the week". I remember thinking "damn, that's a lot of cigars!". Now here I am just 3 years later smoking the same amount. I smoke mostly petit coronas, Robustos/Hermosa 4's & coronas. I also should add that a typical work day for me is in the neighborhood of 12-14 hours(I'm a small business owner) so I have the opportunity to... The expense is really starting to be a problem though. Thanks goodness for the 12:12's and LFTH events.

I'm sure this has been covered before on here? And I've seen the question posed on other forums. I'm always curious how many cigars my fellow BOTL/SOTL's smoke a day on average? I am really starting to get heavy(IMO) and am curious where I 'land' on the spectrum? I am between 2-4 a day now, depending on the day. Mostly come in around 3. I smoke exclusively outside, and mostly while I work. The weekends are a bit less as my wife absolutely hates my habit & that time is usually spent with my family. But during the work week... game on! So, how about you?

John Prine (been listening to him for about 20 yrs now) Don't know if he's "2nd tier", especially as a songwriter, but a lot of people never heard of him. His peak was like the late 70's & 80's, but he's still around. He's folksy/country, but his music is awesome. I had a chance to see him a few years back. He is losing his voice a bit, but it was still pretty cool. Mike Pinto A buddy of mine turned me on to Mike Pinto about 5-6 yrs ago. His music is a mix of a couple genres... Reggae, Ska, Blues & good old R&R. Hes mostly acoustic, which isnt for every one. He started out locally in the Philly area, but now lives on the west coast. He's all over youtube. Great music!

I would assume a lot of guys when first getting into cigars read or least had some interest in CA magazine. I know I did. But I quickly got tired of reading about celebrities who knew very little or nothing about cigars, and all the 'high life' type articles. Imo, they really cater to the 'exclusive' or 'VIP' type personality. Which for me personally is not something I ascribe to smoking cigars. The other thing about CA that I find bogus is the top 25. After you've smoked CC for a while(and I don't have nearly the experience as some of these guys), you'll find that top 25 is pretty comical. Driven by nothing more then advertising dollars. Nothing wrong with a magazine making money. But when they are reviewing or 'rating' a cigar, they should only consider the cigar on its merit... not whether or not the manufacturer advertises with them. I think in 2011 or 2012 they had the Alec Bradley Prensado as the #1 cigar of the year. I already knew better but thought I would buy 2 to see what it was all about. Absolute dog rocket! That was the LAST time I ever considered one of their recommendations. No doubt in my mind that if you took out the fact that they are profit driven, and they rated cigars for how good they are. The top 25 would be almost entirely CC. An occasional NC? Sure. But they would be few & far between. As for the CA forum: seems like it used be a pretty decent forum? I hardly go there anymore because of all the bs. A LOT of trolling and a couple pif's & trades went south, so I got out of there.