Box Number in Relation to Quality of the Cigars

[Lant63]

The question comes from the President's recent thread on PL Encantos starting to run dry, but also out of my general curiosity. Do numbered releases tend be of a higher quality if they are a lower number in the production? For example are the 0001 Cohiba Grand Reservas or any regional release better than box 4000 or 10,000? My line of thinking is that at the beginning of production there is a lot of tobacco to choose from, and at the end there is not as much.

I look forward to hearing your responses.

[Colt45]

I can only add questions to your question......

Are REs typically produced in one run, or is production split up as suitable tobacco runs out / becomes available (is tobacco set aside before hand to cover production).

After rolling, if / when cigars are placed in escaparate, are the cigars bundled / kept track of according to when they were rolled.

Do the cigars still get color graded and boxed accordingly.

In a nutshell, does being boxed last equate to being rolled last / boxed first to rolled first.

[FLB03TT]

It's also unknown if the cigars in box #2000 were actually boxed after box #200.

An awful lot of unanswered questions. If the RE was rolled over an extended period, say 1+ years then the cigars rolled and boxed 1st, regardless of box #, would have considerably more age on them. All things being equal, I'd take the early box over one of the later ones.

[Knopper]

I take allso mostly from the first numbers,while mostly they are rolled in the same period.Its allso may be a rumor,but I heard it special by Re s.There is a quantity rolled and when the stock is finished by the distributor ,the next charge will be produced.So to find it out if its true I have to buy min 3 boxes with following nr till 500 ,till 1500 and over 2000.So there are a lot of questions and only cuba knows the answer

[Jeremy Festa]

Wow, yeah, tricky question.

I would think your original line of thinking would apply if there were only 1 to 2000 boxes produced. Any more than that there would be too many variables as mentioned by Colt, FLB and Knopper.

In my case, I get what is hand picked for me by Rob. Other than that, if I am overseas or friends are traveling and picking me up something I ask, if possible, for a significant, round or consecutive number. E.G 420, 3000 or 1234 etc

From my mobile phone

[Guest rob]

i would think not. It makes no difference in my opinion.

If you go to the factories, you'll see that there are piles and piles of empty boxes waiting to be filled. They could be starting from box 4000 and working back to number 1... Or no logical sequence whatsoever.

Rolling rooms will have tens of rollers, sorting / colour grading rooms then sort, then bands get applied in another room..... There are way to many stages before a cigar get boxed and sealed, for it to be a relation to when it the production cycle the 'best' tobacco actually came in and was used.

[El Presidente]

I have always found a significant amount of variability in the quality of wrapper between a single RE release. I can't recall seeing a pure bad wrapper on a box of cigars but you will find everything from Claro through to Colorado Maduro with the majority somewhere in between.

Personally, I haven't seen any correlation between box numbers and quality. It comes down to colour matching of the cigars on the sorting table.

Keep in mind that often the cigars are rolled well before the packaging (boxes/bands) is ready (sometimes 6-8 months before).

The last cigars rolled in March may go into Box 1 come September.

[FLB03TT]

I have always found a significant amount of variability in the quality of wrapper between a single RE release. I can't recall seeing a pure bad wrapper on a box of cigars but you will find everything from Claro through to Colorado Maduro with the majority somewhere in between.

Personally, I haven't seen any correlation between box numbers and quality. It comes down to colour matching of the cigars on the sorting table.

Keep in mind that often the cigars are rolled well before the packaging (boxes/bands) is ready (sometimes 6-8 months before).

The last cigars rolled in March may go into Box 1 come September.

So some REs are aged, just in a rather haphazard fashion....