The Real McCoy

I love it. Curious to see the results.

I’ve rolled my own cigars before. They probably just need to rest longer. I don’t know your method but by the time I make the wrapper nice and pliable, it’s very wet. I dry box for at least a week, then put in the humidor to rest for a while. They might just be too wet when you smoke them.

Who wants cream without something else in it? I like blueberries and cream, personally. Strawberries will do in a pinch. I’m talking about food, of course. In cigars, I like a little cocoa, coffee, or nutmeg flavors in my cream. Or even pepper ?. I like for my tastebuds to be entertained.

A gift is when you release any and all, current or future, sentimental or emotional attachment for an object and give it to another person. Gifts don’t have conditions or stipulations. Those cigars could have been mulched and burned in a bonfire just for fun. They’re his cigars. Shame to waste an excellent cigar though! I just feel sorry for this friend of yours for missing out on such wonderful experiences.

You may be thinking of Altadis. Habanos S.A. is just an arm of the state run tobacco industry, Cubatobaco. Altadis bought half of Habanos S.A. in the year 2000. Altadis was then was bought by Imperial Tobacco in 2008. My understanding is that there is currently a deal pending now for Imperial to sell off most of their premium cigar brands, including the half ownership of Habanos S.A. to a yet unnamed holding company. It remains unclear what that means for CC in the future.

Agreed. When one company (Habanos S.A.) owns the whole thing including each and every brand, there’s no free market creating the strive for excellence. While they have excellent craftsmen, the production is rushed and many ugly and subpar cigars come to market. It’s all about volume. With non-cuban cigar producers, especially the boutique brands, the company’s reputation or maybe even the reputation of a family name is at sake. They typically do a better job of removing any poorly made cigars from the batch. People that want NC have plenty of brands to choose from, so competition is fierce. People that want CC have to buy from Habanos S.A. without choice.

Just like coffee, chocolate, and wine, high quality tobacco is obviously very skilled at capturing the terroir where it is grown. The same Cuban seed tastes different depending on whether it was grown in Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras, etc. I like to appreciate all of the fine tobacco and appreciate all the regions for their own unique tastes. We all have our favorites, of course. This being a Cuban cigar website, I think I can guess which one is our favorite. That being said, there is a lot of very fine NC tobacco and a lot of us here probably enjoy it regularly. I know I do.

Never used one but I hear that kevlar gloves are great for mandolin or other dangerous cutting.

I disagree with you about Padron. I find the Padron brand the most reliable, most consistently well-made cigar on the market, especially all the anniversary series. As someone else mentioned, they intentionally have a slightly loose draw but they do it so well. The volume of smoke those things create is phenomenal. Also, totally agree with your assessment of the My Father factory. Every single cigar they touch is delicious. They're my favorite NC cigar company, by far. I've got more than 1,000 NC cigars. I love non-cuban tobacco but only certain brands. I usually don't care for Dominican or Honduran unless it's something exceptional. Most of my stash was rolled at the My Father cigar factory. They just make great cigars. Period. Even when they're rolling for other brands. I had a special meal with a wine pairing the other night. After dinner, slightly tipsy, I wanted to relax with a nice cigar. I couldn't bring myself to grab a cuban because I didn't want to hassle with any quality control issues. I wanted to be able to relax and enjoy it without worrying about it being plugged or, worse, tasting wrong. So I grabbed a My Father 10th Anniversary cigar from 2018. It was perfection.

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Wow. Amazing story. Just as fine wine or great food, cigars are always elevated by the company or emotions surrounding them. When I light up a cigar, my mind and emotions are often thrust back to the first time I enjoyed that particular cigar or a memory surrounding a prior experience with that cigar.

I have a little website that I’m terrible about updating. I only have a few cigar reviews on it. I’ve just been too busy to give any attention to it. Personally, I hate the 100 point scale. I mean, really, what is the difference between a 92 and a 93? And why do terrible cigars score in the 80’s? I use a more straightforward approach. I score them from 1-10. 10 – Perfect, 9 – Near perfect, 8 – Excellent, 7 – Very good, 6 – Above average, 5 – Average, 4 – Below average, 3 – Not very good, 2 – Terrible, 1 – Revolting.

Wookie, I think you’re dead on. It seems some have misinterpreted your post as asking about specific pairings. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re talking about taste preferences for food that might be similar to a taste preference in cigars. I think that’s true of all things enjoyed on the palate. When the tongue is accustomed to sweet flavors, it may enjoy a sweeter profile in whisky, wine, chocolate, food, and maybe even cigars. People who enjoy spicy foods may also enjoy spicy, peppery tobacco. Then again, a lot of people have tastes that specifically enjoy variety and don’t have a preference. Also, as you said, even people who preferentially prefer sweets still have enjoyment of savory flavors and other flavor groups as well.

Thanks NSX. I've been smoking cigars for 20 years and have been off and on with cuban cigars for just as long so I'm certainly not a beginner. I've tried most of the brands. I have a pretty wide appreciation for different style cigars so I rarely hesitate to buy a box of something when I've heard many good things from others. Although, you bring up many good points. Lesson learned. I'll put them down and try them again in a few years.

Newbie here. Not new to cigars or habanos (20 years experience with both); I'm just new to the forum. I've seen a lot of hype about the Ramon Allones Specially Selected cigars. It inspired me to buy a couple of boxes. I don't have them in front of me but I believe they are OCT 18. I've smoked 3 of them so far. All three were literally the three worst tasting cigars I've ever had. I wasn't able to even finish the first half. They all tasted like mud; one-dimensional mud, at that. What am I missing here? Granted, I only let them rest for a couple of weeks but I've done that many times with other brands and they've been fine (not peak but still tasty). In fact, I bet we've all done that before and gotten away with it. Do these just need to go down for several years or something? They are just so bad now, even at 1.5 years old, I have a hard time believing a few years will create a miraculous turnaround. What am I missing? UPDATE: I went home and looked at the boxes. They are MSU OCT 18