El Presidente Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 As requested I have put together my Cuban Top 25 of 2013 I have tried to put the list in order. While I have left off a myriad of great cigars throughout the year, this list is based upon wrapper, construction, flavour consistency throughout the year. There have been some brilliant cigars outside of this list. The recent POU Magnum 50 (10's) come to mind but they were let down by some of the rubbish I saw in the first 6 months of 2013. Same for the Monte Petit Edmundo/Edmundo. Some spectacular recent offerings, some absolute duds in the first half of 2013. To make the list you needed to be consistent 10 out of 12 shipments (or 80% of shipments received). Anything less and you were dropped. Hence no D4 or RASS in 25's. No BBF, no 898. We didn't see too many Winstons this year and so they were dropped. Otherwise they would have been here on what I have seen. I have not included any regionals. if I had then the La Flor De Cano Grandiosos would be in the top 5. I have included my most disappointing 25 of 2013. Don't get me wrong, we have picked some cracker boxes of almost all from the list over the year. However, they made the list simply because consistency is well below what is expected with serious "fail" rates during different times of the year. Top 25 Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Number 2 Juan Lopez Seleccion Number 2 Montecristo Number 2 Punch Double Corona H. Upmann Royal Robusto Cohiba Robusto Ramon Allones Specially Select (50 Cabs) Behike 52 H. Upmann Magnum 46 Montecristo Number 4 Romeo y julieta Exhibicion Number 4 Vegas Robaina Unicos Bolivar Petit Corona Behike 54 Por Larranaga Petit Corona Vegas Robaina Don Alejandro Quai D'orsay Corona San Cristobal Principe Cohiba Siglo IV Cohiba Piramide Extra Partagas Short (50 Cab) Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill Hoyo De Monterrey Epicure Number 1 Quai D'Orsay Imperiales Kudos to: * Punch Punch * Juan Lopez Seleccion Number 1 Most Disappointing 25 Vegas Robaina Famoso Partagas P2. Montecristo Number 1 Trinidad Reyes Romeo y Julieta Serie E Trinidad Robusto T Partagas 898 V Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill Montecristo Number 3 Trinidad Fundadores Cohiba Lancero Sancho Panza Belicoso Cohiba Esplendido Partagas D4 (25's) Cohiba Siglo 1 Partagas Serie D 5 Ramon Allones specially Selected (25's) Montecristo Especial Bolivar Royal Corona El Rey Del Mundo Choix Supreme Juan Lopez Petit Corona Partagas Salomones. Cohiba Siglo VI (10's) Montecristo Especial No 2 Hoyo De Monterrey Petit Robusto. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hiroshiro Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 Great list there. I would agree with most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cohiba Stevie Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Hoyo grabbing both the top and bottom spots... Interesting. Man the epicure no.2 can't be stopped! How many years going now has this cigar ranked in the top 5 on this forum? I would say it's the most consistent coming out of havana at present. Great list though, another few observations are: Cohiba robusto starting to make a comeback? Shame about the 898v. When on they can be a mind blower. Well done prez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stukibuilt Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Awesome! I really appreciate the perspective of being able to evaluate so many cases over the entire year. Much more valuable than rating based on smoking a couple inches of one cigar IMO. Definitely a few on the list I'll be planning to pick up next month. Sent from my mind using telekinesis and Tapatalk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Random Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Thank you Rob! Very helpful info for preparing the list for mules. Less risk to get garbage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brutusthebuckeye Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Great list Pres....RyJ Serie E at #5 most disappointing is interesting!...lol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CUBANO Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Thanks for the information Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Presidente Posted December 23, 2013 Author Share Posted December 23, 2013 Hoyo grabbing both the top and bottom spots... Interesting. Man the epicure no.2 can't be stopped! How many years going now has this cigar ranked in the top 5 on this forum? I would say it's the most consistent coming out of havana at present. Great list though, another few observations are: Cohiba robusto starting to make a comeback? Shame about the 898v. When on they can be a mind blower. Well done prez. Shipment to Shipment I really can't fault the Epicure 2. The Juan lopez 2 is just behind. Having said that, the Epi 2 smokes better young than the JLS2. Still, that wasn't the purpose of this list. The Cohiba Robusto has indeed made an excellent comeback from what I have seen. So nice to be able to pick great CORO again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habana Mike Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 I guess some of us are luckier than not or vice versa as I found a couple of the loser boxes pretty good and some of the winners not so stellar. Imagine it comes down to luck of the draw and the source. Regardless I agree with many of those on either side of the line. Here's to more winners and less losers in 2014! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramon_cojones Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Best thread in awhile thanks Rob, sounds spot on mate. I need to pick up some epi2, jl2, principe and imperiales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbibby Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Just picked up a cab of epi 2, so can't wait to break into them. This is an awesome thread. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZCUBAN Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Great List Thanks Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sengjc Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 How does the "disappointing list" read? Is "no. 1" on the disappointing list meaning the most disappointing or is "no. 25" the one that takes top honours for being the crappiest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimC Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 What... no NC's on the list? Lol j/k... I am on a quest for #7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brickhouse Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Nice...looks I picked a good year to grab some boxes of HDM Epi #2's and JL #2's! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkofStark Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Very interesting. Thanks for putting a list like this together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b4z00k4 Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Thanks for the list. I may just have to but a box of Epi2s Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faire Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 thanks! following the list I ordered a box of JL #2 and Monte #4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laxman Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 I have not seen a good box of VR Famoso in quite sometime. I have a few boxes from 08 and 09 that were complete firecrackers! Dark and oily and pure bliss. Quality has gone down the crapper. Love Epi 2's and JL 2's by far my top two cigars of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Presidente Posted December 23, 2013 Author Share Posted December 23, 2013 How does the "disappointing list" read? Is "no. 1" on the disappointing list meaning the most disappointing or is "no. 25" the one that takes top honours for being the crappiest? No 1 = Crap Cigar of the Year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smallclub Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Rob, the RASS in cab 50 is 7th favorite and the same cigar in 25 ct box is 17th "most disapointing"… How would you explain this situation? With such a differential this might reopen the debate on whether or not they're doing a selection for the cabs… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Presidente Posted December 24, 2013 Author Share Posted December 24, 2013 Rob, the RASS in cab 50 is 7th favorite and the same cigar in 25 ct box is 17th "most disapointing"… How would you explain this situation? With such a differential this might reopen the debate on whether or not they're doing a selection for the cabs… Absolutely no doubt that the cigars for the RASS cabs this year were cherry picked either by best cigars of a production run (cabs and 25's ) or a specialist production run (just 50 cabs of RASS) using some excellent tobacco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smallclub Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Absolutely no doubt that the cigars for the RASS cabs this year were cherry picked either by best cigars of a production run (cabs and 25's ) or a specialist production run (just 50 cabs of RASS) using some excellent tobacco. Thanks, that's first class info, since it's not based on preferences or personnal taste but on objective facts… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeafLover Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 You are the man Rob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookite Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Glad I saw this, was debating grabbing a 10 box of P2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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