How Long does it take one to be knowledgeable in Cuban cigars.

[Ethernut]

30 minutes ago, Colt45 said:

I did read, and some interesting concepts. One can read all the texts they care to, and surely knowledge is power. But there is no substitute for for personal experience.

For me 4 days with the right people in Havana was worth 10 years of a speculatin' on the ole interwebs..

[clutch5150]

On 4/25/2018 at 3:28 AM, Ken Gargett said:

in which case it was a silly question by whomsoever posed it. the piece of string thing is spot on. ditto wine. 

how interested are they? how much time can they put into it? how much money? are they tasting/smoking every day? do they read everything they can find? do they talk to others? join things like FOH? are they collecting and regularly looking at what they have? do they spend time with like-minded folk, preferably who have been around longer and can assist? how good is their palate? are they an idiot (which could be more politely put as are they someone who learns quickly or not)? 

all of which impacts on the answer. especially that last one. 

A lot of truth in this and I think the biggest aspect for me was my palate. I've been smoking cigars for over 30 years, with Cubans for over 15 years now. For a long time it was hard for me to describe what my palate was tasting and putting it in words. This took a LOT of reading, learning (here) with reviews and visiting Cuba 5 different times. Not saying visiting Cuba is a prerequisite, but it sure helped me knowing from the ground up why CC's taste as good as they do. This by visiting several farms, factories and talking to these experienced cigar makers and learning about "blending" allowed me to at least have some knowledge what I am tasting and the why's of what I'm experiencing in these wonderful CC's.

P.S. ... I am still learning and that will never end during my journey of cigars. This may stop when I'm popping up daisies, but I sure as heck hope I'm constantly smoking a Partagas GR up in the heavens!

[Fugu]

In this regard, siding with Socrates....

[RijkdeGooier]

Hahaha ‘Panta Rei’ in the world of cigars, just as in any ‘world’...

Experience yes, knowledge of the past yes, insight going forward limited...

To paraphrase Epimenides “All Experts are Liars”. 

[Habana Mike]

11 hours ago, madandana said:

I guess this proves it's subjective. To me H Mike is a cigar god and mentor. If I have a question, I usually call on him.

Thanks Mike.

I have some knowledge from my time and experience with Habanos and other cigars but do not consider myself an expert on the subject by any means....

[joeypots]

It took me a while. 

[hedgeybaby]

What equates knowledge? 

[dgixxer252525]

My aunt is retired from a factory in Cuba where she did everything over the span of 30 years. She swears the Tabasco(tabacco) is all the same and is only separated based on shade. A lot that she says goes against most of what a lot of experts say here...

[99call]

2 hours ago, dgixxer252525 said:

She swears the Tabasco is all the same

Sorry to be a dick, but this got me giggling

 

[Akela3rd]

Sorry to be a ****, but this got me giggling
 

I was mature and ignored it, but was sorely tempted...

[NSXCIGAR]

2 hours ago, dgixxer252525 said:

She swears the Tabasco is all the same

Not true:

[99call]

11 minutes ago, Akela3rd said:

14 minutes ago, 99call said:

I was mature and ignored it, but was sorely tempted...

I am too childish to resist

[Akela3rd]

I am too childish to resist

Fair play, good man

[99call]

12 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Not true:

nice oily sheen on these bad boys, loving the candela option, and the maduro.  labels need to be gold though!......big mistake

[dgixxer252525]

25 minutes ago, 99call said:

nice oily sheen on these bad boys, loving the candela option, and the maduro.  labels need to be gold though!......big mistake

Pretty funny guys...got a good chuckle out of me!

[99call]

Just now, dgixxer252525 said:

Pretty funny guys...got a good chuckle out of me!

in all seriousness, very interesting to hear your Aunt had just an account of the workings of HSA, did she work in a particular factory?. would be very interesting if you could talk to her, get a few tales, and get them on the forum 

[dgixxer252525]

Of course i can ask her...its not a topic that comes up often in our talks but she is very knowledgeable when it comes to cigars. She has always lived in San Antonio de los Banos so maybe a factory around there?

[99call]

2 minutes ago, dgixxer252525 said:

Of course i can ask her...its not a topic that comes up often in our talks but she is very knowledgeable when it comes to cigars. She has always lived in San Antonio de los Banos so maybe a factory around there?

I guarantee everyone on this site, would love to hear her stories of the industry. what i would recommend is that you start your own thread, and say "what question would you ask someone who's worked in the HSA for 30yrs??".  once you have a good list of questions you could do a little interview. It would be brilliant!

[NSXCIGAR]

1 hour ago, 99call said:

I am too childish to resist

Guilty as well.

4 hours ago, dgixxer252525 said:

She swears the Tabasco(tabacco) is all the same and is only separated based on shade.

It could certainly appear that way at the point the raw tobacco arrives at the factories. The truth is no one but the few master blenders know what tobacco is what and it's sorted into bales before it enters the factory. It's labeled with code for the factory managers to execute the recipe and rolling but all anyone in the factory would know is that this tobacco is wrapper, ligero, seco or volado (or medio tiempo) from which bale and how many leaves are to go into each cigar. It would appear to the common worker or observer that all the bales are the same and all the leaves appear similar and the only sorting that takes place is by shape and wrapper color after rolling. There are only a handful of people in Tabacuba that know what tobacco is what and what goes into particular cigars. Knowing the recipe is not knowing much. 

Generally only the managers know what cigar is being rolled by a roller. Exceptions are obviously unique vitolas like Laguito Especial, Distinguidos or Gran Coronas but there is quite a lot that the average worker in a factory wouldn't know about the tobacco and the cigars made with it. 

[Habana Mike]

3 hours ago, dgixxer252525 said:

Of course i can ask her...its not a topic that comes up often in our talks but she is very knowledgeable when it comes to cigars. She has always lived in San Antonio de los Banos so maybe a factory around there?

There are two factories in Artemisa so definitely possible.