What’s the most Cuban Cuban?

[ayepatz]

For your palate, what’s the most Cuban of Cuban cigars?

In my humidor it’s the Alex customs which transport me back to Cuba more than any other cigar, but then I wondered, which REGULAR PRODUCTION cigars elicit the same response?

I love a Boli Royal Corona, a Party Short, an SLRDC, amongst many others, but none of them say “Cuba” more than my ever-dwindling box of Sancho Panza Coronas Gigantes.

Every time I fire one up, I find myself drawn back to my time in Havana, which is weird, because I never smoked a single SP the whole time I was there. Yet...

For me there’s just something uniquely Cuban about Sancho Panza. It’s not a flavour profile I could associate with anywhere else.

I would say it’s my most Cuban of Cuban cigars. What’s yours?

Cheers,

Iain

[luckme10]

I don't know what it is. But there's something about the smell of an HUPC that gives me a sense of deja vu back on the island. It's a real shame they decided to discontinue them. 

[99call]

Anything with power, twang, or salt. Ultimately something thats evocative of where they come from. I've never been but......

Sancho Panza Belicosos, Partagas 898, my all time favourite for imagining the island is JLP Cazadores. Salt, twang and raw unbridled power. I would love to find a bundle from 1998 when I was smitten with them.

Great thread

[Jimmy_jack]

Sir Winston’s. Done.

[...]

Smoking a RAG as I type this and as far as my opinion is asked for, it brings me back to Havana without thinking too hard about it

[earthson]

Partagas. Probably the Presidentes, though 898, Salomones or Shorts as a close-second.

[NSXCIGAR]

Party Presidentes or 898 is pretty uniquely Cuban. Throw in the Chicos as well. 

HUSW, Punch DC and RAG all are in the conversation as well. 

[HDGSN]

I find the question easier to answer when thinking of it as, "What's the Cuban cigar most unlike Dominican, Nicaraguan, Honduran, etc?"  

To me, that is the Partagas Presidente.  Power, flavors unique to Cuba, look, feel, and not something I would give to someone who has not gotten his or her feet wet with Cubans.  I say that not having tried Sancho Panza, Fundadores, Sir Winstons, older dalias, customs, or farmies.  

[JohnS]

The most Cuban Cuban is the cigar or marca that can't be replicated anywhere else, and there's already been a number of choices mentioned which I agree with in this thread.

I'd add Cohiba. There's nothing quite like it in Non-Cuban Cigar culture is there?

[shlomo]

Whatever the most over-humidified cigar in my humidor is.

[Fugu]

La Gloria Cubana - what an absurd question! 

[...]

I was discussing the uniqueness of Cuban cigars with an American colleague last week and what I came up with was that Cuban tobacco is the best at exhibiting fruitiness.

Many NCs possess cocoa, coffee, cream, various spices, leather or sweetness in their profile but fruitiness (to various extent and understanding some NCs are fruity) is widely represented in the CC current portfolio.

My experience only, ymmv

[zeedubbya]

Partagas. Be it Lusitania, D4, D5, 898, E2, Shorts, Presidentes. Partagas is it. Partagas is Cuba to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[retrofail]

One more for Partagas anything. 

Though I don't know if I'd say most "Cuban".  Not sure how to qualify that. Just most unique marca DNA for me. That smoked paprika and savory spice hits me every time.  Party whore?? Most definitely. But my 2 cents. 

[Bill Hayes]

I smoked quite a few different marcas in Cuba and customs too. I have good memories from Cohiba and Montecristo but strangely the two cigars that make me feel like I'm in Cuba are the BBF and the Partagas D4.

[LLC]

For me it is whatever Cuban cigar I am enjoying on the back of The National in Havana with my morning Americano.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fitzy]

13 hours ago, JohnS said:

I'd add Cohiba. There's nothing quite like it in Non-Cuban Cigar culture is there?

Sure there are overpriced non cuban cigars that you pay a premium for the name. Gurkha makes a few. 

 

My vote would be something like the Partagas Lusitania. 

[BrightonCorgi]

Quintero

[joeypots]

A Monte Cristo #2 is about as exemplary a Cuban cigar as I can think of. Then again, a CORO is as well. 

[Smallclub]

14 hours ago, Jeanff said:

I was discussing the uniqueness of Cuban cigars with an American colleague last week and what I came up with was that Cuban tobacco is the best at exhibiting fruitiness.

I agree, and on this basis we could say the "most cuban" are cigars like SLR DC, Punch DC, RASS, etc.

But on the other hand the cleaness of tobacco flavors from a Sir Winston, Connoisseur No1, etc is equally typically cuban…

[avaldes]

To me there are a few cigars that exemplify Cuban taste.

- Sir Winston

- Partagas 898V

- Bolivar CE (yes I know it's discontinued)

- Cohiba Robusto

- HdM DC

 

Each of these kind of represent the different ends of the spectrum. Sir Winston is just pure, possibly the perfect cigar. 898 is earthy leather Partagas goodness. Bolivar CE was just everything that a Bolivar should be. Cohiba Robusto has a nice happy spectrum of flavors. Makes me think about orange blossoms, even though I don't taste them. And the Hoyo DC is a mild beauty.

There are lots of other cigars that I really like, but I think those five cover a lot of territory of the Cuban taste. I would include M2's but that is a hit or miss proposition.

[Colt45]

A great question, but not one I could ever answer with any certainty. For me personally, the line between Cuban marques is well blurred... Generally, I find that Cuban cigars share many more similar than different traits. There is one Cuban cigar company.

I'd agree with Avaldes regarding the purity of the Sir Winston - I don't think there is a finer way to describe it.

As usual for me, I find myself very slightly dismayed at the continual comparisons to cigars produced outside of Cuba - I for one have not been able to try all that there is to offer, so I try not to lump them all together. 

I am a hypocrite though, as I lump together many people as NAs - non-Americans.......  

[JohnS]

6 hours ago, fitzy said:

Sure there are overpriced non cuban cigars that you pay a premium for the name. Gurkha makes a few. 

I was thinking more the flavour profile.

[cfc1016]

21 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Party Presidentes or 898 is pretty uniquely Cuban. Throw in the Chicos as well. 

HUSW, Punch DC and RAG all are in the conversation as well. 

+1 to partagas 898 and chicos. Along with the qdoc, those are most reminiscent, to my palate, of what cubans ‘used to’ taste like, pre 2000. 

[fitzy]

48 minutes ago, JohnS said:

I was thinking more the flavour profile.

I know. I’m just joking around.