$50+ Cigars

[TMS36]

So I just picked up a couple BHK 52's and have smoked some other ~$30 range sticks. Today on a trading board I see a box of sublimes posted for $1600 or $80 / stick. This got me wondering can one really tell the difference between say a $30 and $50-100 stick? Meaning could one pick up two "blind" sticks smoke them and say this is the 30 and this is the 80? I think the difference between a $5 and $30 would be obvious. On a wine tour in Tuscany I had asked a similar question of the sommelier and her response was basically don't waste your money on a bottle over $50 retail, because unless you have an advanced palate and have been trained you will not be able to tell the difference...

[Mel]

Expensive cigars are just that. Cost is no indicator of quality or flavor. I bought and smoked a $100 45y/o Don Candido and did it just to experience it and do a tasting with some friends. I liked it and do not regret doing it once but I do not need to again. I have had six dollar smokes that I enjoyed more.

Last night I smoked a Taboada Super Rodolpho a Santos Cananazo and a Mons Robusto Extra Lijero. I am not proud of the cost of those cigars but a fellow that offered to give me a Behike cancelled us out so I thought I'll be damned if I don't have some great cigars tonight. I took those sticks and went dove hunting with a buddy and had a great time smoking and shooting.

Oh more to the question, the answer is NO you can not taste money in a cigar.

[cigcars]

True true

[El Presidente]

You can taste quality but not money.

In wine, once you get past a certain stage of $ Value the "taste improvement" come at smaller and smaller increments. Of course then there is exclusivity (limited yield/harvest) which influences price via exclusivity. HSA have struggled with this later concept

[PigFish]

Expensive cigars are just that. Cost is no indicator of quality or flavor. I bought and smoked a $100 45y/o Don Candido and did it just to experience it and do a tasting with some friends. I liked it and do not regret doing it once but I do not need to again. I have had six dollar smokes that I enjoyed more.

Last night I smoked a Taboada Super Rodolpho a Santos Cananazo and a Mons Robusto Extra Lijero. I am not proud of the cost of those cigars but a fellow that offered to give me a Behike cancelled us out so I thought I'll be damned if I don't have some great cigars tonight. I took those sticks and went dove hunting with a buddy and had a great time smoking and shooting.

Oh more to the question, the answer is NO you can not taste money in a cigar.

Right-on brotha'!

How simple it would be to select a quality smoking experience if all you had to do was pony up!

I missed opening day today (doves). Lady Piggy was having some surgery yesterday and I am on nurse duty for the next few days. Damn... I would love to dove hunt with you my friend. On a side note I found a new place that is ripe with quail. I might just have to try it out this year! -R

[Mel]

"Taste Quality" oh do explain please.LOL

Where on the tongue are the recepticles for that?? Sour, salt, bitter, sweet, spicy, earthy ect. I do understand these but WTF does quality taste like???LOL

The original question was about money or cost and quality is many times independant of the first.

Come on lets play.

[El Presidente]

"Taste Quality" oh do explain please.LOL

Where on the tongue are the recepticles for that?? Sour, salt, bitter, sweet, spicy, earthy ect. I do understand these but WTF does quality taste like???LOL

The original question was about money or cost and quality is many times independant of the first.

Come on lets play.

Guantanamera V Anything half decent.

Game over

[TMS36]

Quality can be subjective but seems to usually be tied to $, with the exception of women, which most times leads back to $

[El Presidente]

Quality can be subjective but seems to usually be tied to $, with the exception of women, which most times leads back to $

Mel is right in that quality is not tied to dollars in the world of cigars. You can have some expensive dogs.

My point is that you can taste quality tobacco. Is a Behike worth the $? Up to the individual. Does it have Quality tobacco. Absolutely. Better tobacco than say a SLR Regio? Yes in terms of consistent quality and grade of leaf. Do you like it more? No a SLR Regio at its best is wonderful. I appreciate them both. Is it worth it? Up to the individual.

[laficion]

Meaning could one pick up two "blind" sticks smoke them and say this is the 30 and this is the 80? I think the difference between a $5 and $30 would be obvious.

I would see it more like this; A cigar is not made up of "worth", It's tobacco.

A BHK will cost you 30 or 50 or 70 Dollars because there's a demand for it in OUR culture,

This is what we think of as wealth, well being and possession value. What is a BHK worth to a farmer in Africa , how many cows ?

I would say that "Worth" is all very relative.

On another note, I don't see it as that obvious, in a blind tasting, between a $5 and a $30 cigar

A $30 cigar will maybe use more expensive tobacco to make his cigars then the $5 cigar, but, maybe the $5 cigar will have a

better and more experienced blender who will know how to search out a unique taste with the tobacco he has

at hand. We all know that in cigar making, the blender is just as, OR, even more important then the tobacco used.

[TMS36]

On another note, I don't see it as that obvious, in a blind tasting, between a $5 and a $30 cigar

Take a naked BHK 52 which is around ~30 put up against a $5 NC of the same size, obv you can't find a 52 CC for $5, I think 100 out of 100 times i'll pick out the BHK. Same goes for say a Padron 1926 80 years, I think I would pick it every time. Now put that BHK against something that is twice the cost I think it would be a flip of the coin

[El Presidente]

Take a naked BHK 52 which is around ~30 put up against a $5 NC of the same size, obv you can't find a 52 CC for $5, I think 100 out of 100 times i'll pick out the BHK. Same goes for say a Padron 1926 80 years, I think I would pick it every time. Now put that BHK against something that is twice the cost I think it would be a flip of the coin

Ok...lets play with this a little further.

You love the BHK. You smoke them regularly enough to know intricately the flavour profile much of which comes about from some superb fincas in San Juan y Martinez. Unique.

You would pick a BHK against $30 NC (and there are plenty of those) because of the unique taste which you know intricately.

Pol NV v Vintage Pol. Different yes, but worth the 40% price difference. To the eye of the beholder.

40% better? no.

[CanuckSARTech]

Guantanamera V Anything half decent.

Game over

Game. Set. Match.

[Colt45]

Ok...lets play with this a little further.

You would pick a BHK against $30 NC (and there are plenty of those) because of the unique taste which you know intricately.

Why drag NCs into it - pit apples against apples. Blind taste a Cohiba Gran Reserva against a Siglo VI, and let's see where the value lays.

As usual, I find the wine analogies interesting, though I've stated a few times I don't feel a direct comparison is completely fair. I understand that a

$50+ bottle of wine may, for lack of a better term, be a "waste", and perhaps marketing, etc - I also believe that when you factor in small plots of

land that produce relatively small amounts of prime grapes, conscientious producers, weather, overhead, etc - sometimes it's a simple matter of

economics and getting what we pay for.