Vitola Corleone

but it does. Almost every time. Easily the best performers in my humidor, holding age and marca constant, are PSP. Being in the US, I rarely get the chance to appraise a range of boxes before purchase. Maybe I would be able to identify the same things that lead to a PSP or HQ designation. But I doubt it: When I get new boxes I rarely see or smell major differences. But when I smoke a PSP cigar, it almost always delivers an exceptional performance. Am cognizant of the placebo effect but I don't think that's it. I usually don't notice the colored circle stickers before I pull a stick from the box. Usually only after I smoke an amazing stick I look at the box to see the sticker. Whatever is in the secret sauce, it works for me.

Speaking of King James and tobacco the man himself hated the “Filthy weed” and wrote this missive to discourage its use: A Counterblaste to Tobacco, 1604 https://www.laits.utexas.edu/poltheory/james/blaste/blaste.html but he wasn’t above making a lot of money from it in customs revenue when Virginia discovered how to plant it 10 years later, and prohibited its growth in England to raise prices and make more money from the colonial product.

OK that makes more sense. If the NC number 300 million is roughly accurate that means the US is more like ~7-8% CC's. Which is much more consistent with my experience of casual US smokers. It is not uncommon to find one who asks, "Have you ever smoked a cuban?" To which I reply, "Well there's this outfit in Australia..."

Interesting, thanks. Is there a known connection between scraps from premium marcas and particular short fillers? Does any specific short filler get the Partagas trimmings, or the Montecristo trimmings etc? Or do they put it all in a big pile?

Interesting. So that is about 75 million cigars, give or take? I vaguely remember once reading that the US imports (offically) about 300 million premium cigars every year. Which obviously does not count the Cubans. So that would mean something like 1/5 of the US cigar market is Cuban. I wonder what Cuban imports in the US would be without the embargo.

When the torceadores roll cigars, they make lots of little cuts to make the irregular wrapper into a regular shape, cut the cigar to the proper vitola, etc. What happens with those trimmings? They don't seem suitable for premium long filler cigars. Do they chop them up for short fillers? Is that how we get things like the LFC elegidos? They can't be throwing it away.

Interesting. Anybody have a rough guess what share of the internet supply for these things is real? Assume we're talking about the average "reputable" internet retailer for this -- not trying to swindle you, but not trying to protect you either.

Related to a comment by @Habana Mike in another thread... How often do you think you get one, and how does that compare to any hard knowledge of how common they are? Especially interested in opinions of experienced smokers. I've smoked only about 1000 CCs, but I legitimately believe none of them have been fake. Maybe that means I'm careful, maybe it means I'm naive and have a terrible palate. For most marcas I just can't see the economics of counterfeiting paying off. If you have convincing tobacco, rolls, wrappers, and packaging, why not just start your own cigar line?

Good point, but I'd be interested in numbers on both. Rough, of course. I'd settle for an error of +/- 10 million.

Apologies if this is a rehash, I couldn't find it easily in a forum search (or online). But someone here must know. Approximately how many long filler CC's make it to the US each year? Or, what percentage of output? And how does that stack up with official destinations for HSA cigars?

R&J Churchills for me. But I keep buying them because they're real good for me when they're on, I love the vitola, and can be found for decent prices.

True enough but no less than Adam Smith put it thusly: "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest." They don't have to care about the customer, just money. Habanos does work in a competitive international market and I am still naive enough not to have a good story for why this does not discipline them more. Halfwheel is clear enough about their review philosophy, but since smoking fresh is not usually how I want to enjoy cigars, I don't find their philosophy all that informative. Still, even when I smoke CC's within a month of receipt, and < 6 months box age, I almost always like them better than the halfwheel guys. Conversely, I don't smoke many NCs but I rarely like any as much as these guys like a ton of them. So, I put it down to different tastes, most of all. "I don't know what they're smoking," in a manner of speaking.

Throwing another data point out there - Been fully vaxxed for over a month. Pfizer-BioNTech. No side effects from 1st shot besides sore arm. Felt fatigued, run down for ~24 hours after 2nd shot. Feeling great since then, especially about the vacation my wife (also fully vaxxed, same story) and I booked.

Re. LFDC magicos -- I'm already through most of a box. I think it's a 2019 code though a 2020 release. Very nice. Has a strong mixed nuts flavor, intensified on retrohale. Don't have enough experience with the LFDC profile to say whether the magicos capture it, but it's not quite like anything I've had before. Re. LGC D5 -- just had one of these, 2017 box. Also unique, and good. Cream and grapefruit, of all things. Not something I'd want everyday, but interesting. The magicos flavor profile is something I'd reach for more often, but both are worth smoking.

I'd hit PC's, easily the best $/hour ratio available from quality smokes. With $1k and some hunting you could get 50 PLPC, 50 MC#4, and 50 BPC, plus 25 PLMCs. A bit shy of 2 hours per day, suitable for evening work.