Fábrica Madre (Mother Factory)

[bbguardsp]

I'm curious, for those with much more experience than myself - has there been any noticeable flavor/blend difference over the years for cigars rolled at their mother factory vs others? Or is the concept of mother factories outdated today?

Partagas rolled at Partagas (its Mother Factory) vs others?

Montes rolled at Upmann (its Mother Factory) vs others?

Hoyo rolled at La Corona (its Mother Factory) vs others?

Cohiba rolled at El Laguito, etc.

Hoping this isn't too esoteric of a question but with the more popular cigars being rolled at several places it got me genuinely curious when looking at the history of the brands.

[Nino]

I am certain that there is a difference in certain cigars rolled at a Casa Matriz ( not Fabrica Madre ) - the mother house of a certain Marca.

But honestly, I'd only see that in Cohiba rolled at EL or in La Corona cigars.

Seeing EL rolling Partagas for a year or more and anything being rolled at LC, or H.Upmann being transfered and renamed to the former RyJ factory etc I give up on the whole Casa Matriz BS as propagated by HSA.

The last joke HSA did was naming the Marianao Carlos Baliño factory as RyJ Casa Matriz for the Marca ....

Drove there to see it, waste of time - the Colon cemetery has more life in it than Marianao will ever have ....

[Fugu]

Not really qualified to comment on this since my preferred vitolas are either 90% made at their respective mother factory already (Bolívar, LGC, RA --> FPG), or from mother factories that are seen as producing the shittiest crap anyway (Francisco Donatien - hi there Rob... ). For H. Upmann e.g., I don't see any noticeable difference between La Corona (MFR) and Upmann (JM) over the years and boxes.

Funny thing with Cohiba for me - and seems quite the opposite of what Nino states above and also a lot of others usually do - I can't say I firmly prefer EL today (well for the Lanceros, you'll hardly get any different). Had been searching for it in the past, but not today anymore. Cohiba I almost never buy blind, and having boxes in hand, it hasn't been too uncommon that I willingly put the EL-stamped boxes aside and went for a different one (in particular holding for Siglo III). Often even without bothering too much about what factory it actually was. As for the Espléndido, there is only a minute fraction that is actually being rolled at EL anyway. If I may speculate, I'd go so far and say El Laguito is not the specified "mother factory" for the Espy (anymore), and if you find a EL-stamped one it's only happening by accident .

[MPS]

Yes

[nKostyan]

I think it's like in sports: the best plays not the champion, but the team who aspires to become a champion.

I think the morning in such factory could begin like this: so guys, today we're going to roll someone else's vitola. Let's show these bums from mother’s factory how to work!