HUPC Regalia vs Mareva

[chuckpnoy]

Sorry, probably answered somewhere....Is the difference between the 2 just the blend?

[NSXCIGAR]

PC is discontinued, but IMO, the PC used better quality leaf in general. I find the Regalias are a bit darker with a little of that espresso and licorice of the Mag 46 vs. the PC which always reminded me of a mini No. 2. 

I'm personally not a big fan of the Regalias, Majestics, Epicures or any of the tubos. I find them all lacking in the quality department.

I'm not sure what they're going to do with the Linea Retro Regalias. Might be run of the mill standard production or a new blend for the line using higher quality leaf. Based on the other two releases, however, I wouldn't expect them to be better than the originals in 25s.

[chuckpnoy]

12 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

PC is discontinued, but IMO, the PC used better quality leaf in general. I find the Regalias are a bit darker with a little of that espresso and licorice of the Mag 46 vs. the PC which always reminded me of a mini No. 2. 

I'm personally not a big fan of the Regalias, Majestics, Epicures or any of the tubos. I find them all lacking in the quality department.

I'm not sure what they're going to do with the Linea Retro Regalias. Might be run of the mill standard production or a new blend for the line using higher quality leaf. Based on the other two releases, however, I wouldn't expect them to be better than the originals in 25s.

Thx for the response.  I know it was discontinued.  Was curious why its the same size.  If the same size, why not just keep the Mareva in reg production?

Do you like the Mareva?  What No. 2 were you referring to?  How would you describe it?

[JohnS]

41 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

PC is discontinued, but IMO, the PC used better quality leaf in general. I find the Regalias are a bit darker with a little of that espresso and licorice of the Mag 46 vs. the PC which always reminded me of a mini No. 2. 

I'm personally not a big fan of the Regalias, Majestics, Epicures or any of the tubos. I find them all lacking in the quality department.

I concur, this about sums it up for me.

41 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I'm not sure what they're going to do with the Linea Retro Regalias. Might be run of the mill standard production or a new blend for the line using higher quality leaf. Based on the other two releases, however, I wouldn't expect them to be better than the originals in 25s.

Yes, I think you are right. I don't envisage that they'll be better than the original; however, I would opine that judging by the Romeo y Julieta Club Kings and Partagas Capitols releases that the H.Upmann Regalias Retro release would be a 'step up' from the stock-standard current HU Epicures, Majestic, Regalias, Coronas Major and Coronas Junior.

24 minutes ago, chuckpnoy said:

Thx for the response.  I know it was discontinued.  Was curious why its the same size.  If the same size, why not just keep the Mareva in reg production?

Do you like the Mareva?  What No. 2 were you referring to?  How would you describe it?

The H.Upmann Petit Coronas never sold in quantities approaching other premium similarly-sized cigars such as the Montecristo No.4, for example. The reason for this is possibly because, like other deleted Habanos S.A. catalogue stock in the last 10 to 15years, it required significant time to peak. When young it had some 'bite' to it.

@NSXCIGAR made a comparison of the H.Upmann Petit Coronas to a H.Upmann No.2 when describing it as a 'mini No.2', I'd say.

[NSXCIGAR]

36 minutes ago, chuckpnoy said:

Was curious why its the same size.

You do know Romeo y Julieta has 5 Marevas, right? 

Most Cuban marcas pre-2002 had multiple models with identical vitolas. It was even more confusing when mainly handmade brands offered machine made cigars. For example, if a Marevas (42 x 129) is machine made, it is not a Marevas, but a Petit Coronas vitola

It's all been streamlined since then but Partagas and RyJ still have catalogs large enough to have some duplicates even today.

[SCgarman]

16 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

You do know Romeo y Julieta has 5 Marevas, right? 

Most Cuban marcas pre-2002 had multiple models with identical vitolas. It was even more confusing when mainly handmade brands offered machine made cigars. For example, if a Marevas (42 x 129) is machine made, it is not a Marevas, but a Petit Coronas vitola

It's all been streamlined since then but Partagas and RyJ still have catalogs large enough to have some duplicates even today.

Just curious in your opinion what the difference is in blend between the Monte #3 and Monte #4? I have boxes of #4, but have not pulled the trigger on a box of #3 due to the much higher price. Is the #3 worth the extra coin?

[NSXCIGAR]

Just now, NYgarman said:

Just curious in your opinion what the difference is in blend between the Monte #3 and Monte #4? I have boxes of #4, but have not pulled the trigger on a box of #3 due to the much higher price. Is the #3 worth the extra coin?

You might be joking...but in case you're not, not much of a difference. Size preference is about all. I generally prefer a Coronas over a Marevas. Also in theory, there are less No. 3s made than No. 4s, so maybe marginally more consistent?

[SCgarman]

1 minute ago, NSXCIGAR said:

You might be joking...but in case you're not, not much of a difference. Size preference is about all. I generally prefer a Coronas over a Marevas. Also in theory, there are less No. 3s made than No. 4s, so maybe marginally more consistent?

Cheers! No joke. Some here have said a different blend, but obviously just a tad bit more length with the #3 eh? 

[Bijan]

3 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

You might be joking...but in case you're not, not much of a difference. Size preference is about all. I generally prefer a Coronas over a Marevas. Also in theory, there are less No. 3s made than No. 4s, so maybe marginally more consistent?

It's confusing if you come from the NC world. There it seems a corona of the same blend or quality is 5% more expensive than the Petit Corona. And the Lonsdale is 10% more expensive than that. Then you look at Monte 1, 3, 4 and the prices differences are way bigger.

[NSXCIGAR]

2 hours ago, NYgarman said:

Cheers! No joke. Some here have said a different blend, but obviously just a tad bit more length with the #3 eh? 

Ok, just checking... thought you got me. 

Maybe there's a difference in blend but I can't tell. I'd also include the No. 1, so the 1, 3 & 4 seem to have fundamentally the same blend to me.

The No. 2 is weird from year to year. The No. 5 is definitely a different blend. Punchier and more intense bean flavors.

 

2 hours ago, Bijan said:

It's confusing if you come from the NC world. There it seems a corona of the same blend or quality is 5% more expensive than the Petit Corona. And the Lonsdale is 10% more expensive than that. Then you look at Monte 1, 3, 4 and the prices differences are way bigger.

I haven't broken down the price per gram comparison but I believe they are consistent between the 1, 3, 4 and 5. The No. 2 is an outlier I believe.

[Bijan]

8 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I haven't broken down the price per gram comparison but I believe they are consistent between the 1, 3, 4 and 5. The No. 2 is an outlier I believe.

I'd be surprised based on official weight I believe a marevas is 8.46g and a Cervantes is maybe 10.80g so the no. 1 should only be 28% more expensive than a no. 4 but it is often closer to 50%.

[NSXCIGAR]

6 minutes ago, Bijan said:

I'd be surprised based on official weight I believe a marevas is 8.46g and a Cervantes is maybe 10.86g so the no. 1 should only be 28% more expensive but it is often closer to 50%.

Eh, I think it's a little closer. If we use $170 for Monte 4 and $220 for Monte 1 (pretty close to the last seen prices here) that's about 32% more for the 1.

Might be a tad more due to lower demand for the No. 1.

[Bijan]

3 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Eh, I think it's a little closer. If we use $170 for Monte 4 and $220 for Monte 1 (pretty close to the last seen prices here) that's about 32% more for the 1.

Check the int store. I think that Monte 1 price is more outdated than the Monte 4 price. I think I've seen $180 and $270+.

Edit: I'll check my records when I get back to my laptop.

[NSXCIGAR]

4 minutes ago, Bijan said:

Check the int store. I think that Monte 1 price is more outdated than the Monte 4 price. I think I've seen $180 and $270+.

Yikes. Yeah, I wouldn't use the int store as a baseline. I've noticed prices are a little out of order there for years. I'm not sure there's a lot of science behind the store prices since whatever sales he has from there is gravy.

It also may depend on what grading Rob has available at the time. Rob doesn't ship crap and sometimes he's got crap or PSP, so that's what the price reflects.

[Bijan]

5 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Yeah, I wouldn't use the int store as a baseline.

I'm just using it for relative pricing between the two since I don't have latest clearance 24:24 prices at hand.

Edit: current int store prices being $304 and $202

[NSXCIGAR]

2 hours ago, Lrabold89 said:

There’s no comparison ....Regalias taste cheap and the pc is premium

I wasn't going to be that blunt, but that's not off the mark.

 

3 hours ago, JohnS said:

... I would opine that judging by the Romeo y Julieta Club Kings and Partagas Capitols releases that the H.Upmann Regalias Retro release would be a 'step up' from the stock-standard current HU Epicures, Majestic, Regalias, Coronas Major and Coronas Junior.

Possibly, but I'm hearing pretty mixed things about the CKs and Capitols. At best, the Capitols are on par with the Shorts and the CKs aren't really superior to the PC or MF, but that would be better than the HU Regalias as currently made.

[KCCubano]

2 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I wasn't going to be that blunt, but that's not off the mark.

Whats interesting is a box of Regalias I got in 06 were superb. More in line with the PC. A couple other boxes I bought of more recent codes were of poor quality. Wont buy again.

 

I'm going to dig up a Regalia for early morning tee off at Masters and see how they are doing. Think I have 14 and 17 in humi. 

[Meklown]

2 hours ago, NYgarman said:

Just curious in your opinion what the difference is in blend between the Monte #3 and Monte #4? I have boxes of #4, but have not pulled the trigger on a box of #3 due to the much higher price. Is the #3 worth the extra coin?

If we're going off on a tangent here, I'd say the 3 has more wood flavors than the 4. Slightly more balanced too. 4 is frequently a chocolate cream bomb to me (not that it's a bad thing) 

[SCgarman]

14 hours ago, Lrabold89 said:

There’s no comparison ....Regalias taste cheap and the pc is premium


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I love the PC and still have a few boxes, but will not try the Regalias for fear of disappointment. I really enjoy the Connie 1 as a rotation cigar to make my PC boxes last for a few years. 

[PigFish]

I have to align on the tubo comments. For whatever the reason, I won't speculate, but the tube version of a lot of PCs (Marevas) is lacking.

I think the PC has fallen off it saddle! That is a departure coming from me. The PC has always been a staple to me. With fewer and fewer available, and more and more made of what is, PCs have taken what I call Monte 4 syndrome. That is, a potentially good cigar made without much care and relegated to mediocrity.

Just my 2cts!

-the Pig

[NSXCIGAR]

7 hours ago, NYgarman said:

I really enjoy the Connie 1 as a rotation cigar

For my money, it's the ultimate everyday cigar. Perfectly medium so can be smoked morning, noon or night. Excellent construction and burn. Great size. Very consistent. Terrific blend that never gets old. Great price. Might be the best all-around cigar in the world.

 

22 hours ago, KCCubano said:

Whats interesting is a box of Regalias I got in 06 were superb.

06 was a long time ago! I'm sure Regalias could have been much different around then as most CCs were. I also recall the small Partagas offerings smoking much better then than they do now.

[KCCubano]

12 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

06 was a long time ago! I'm sure Regalias could have been much different around then as most CCs were. I also recall the small Partagas offerings smoking much better then than they do now.

I did pull out a LEP 2017 this morning. Interesting in that the first inch showed promise. Upmann flavors with a slight sweetness. Went totally south from there. Just dark expresso and no complexity to the end. Not a profile I seek out. They will be mainly handouts as I won't touch another anytime soon. Worst stick I've had in a long time. Maybe revisit in a few years. 

[NSXCIGAR]

9 minutes ago, KCCubano said:

I did pull out a LEP 2017 this morning. Interesting in that the first inch showed promise. Upmann flavors with a slight sweetness. Went totally south from there. Just dark expresso and no complexity to the end. Not a profile I seek out. They will be mainly handouts as I won't touch another anytime soon. Worst stick I've had in a long time. Maybe revisit in a few years. 

Yeah, sounds about right. I recall putting Majestics and Regalias head to head around 2015 and the Majestics blew it away. And the Majestics aren't great. Haven't seen any improvements in the Regalias I've tried since. And to me, the Epicures also taste like the Regalias. And the HU tubos taste even worse than that. I have a box of TUE NOV 19 Coronas Major for my buddy to pick up and he can't come soon enough to get them out of my sight. They're awful to me, but he loves them.