email of the week: A few Questions

[El Presidente]

Rob

A few questions:

• How important is vintage versus marca / factory / vitola? 
• How much of a difference does factory make between cigars of same vintage and vitola?
• Would it be better to age a stick in an Ellie Bleu humidor, tupperdor w/ cedar trays, or tupperdor in cedar cab / dress box?

 

I will respond seperately but this is a great example of "the more opinions the better".  

[MrBirdman]

Goodness, each of those question could sustain a heated discussion!

I’ll just approach the first one. Many here have longer experience, but in my own vintage does matter. That said, asking whether it matters more than marca or vitola is difficult to even address: I buy cigars in the marcas and vitolas I like. Some vintages may be better than others, but it won’t really change the fundamental DNA of any given cigar. 

Vintage quality is usually a reflection of consistently and frequency of quality production. You’ll get good cigars in bad years and crap cigars in good years. The same goes for a “good factory” vs a “not good” factory.

The one major vintage shift over the past few years seems to be a consensus on cigars smoking well earlier, but this too will vary based on taste. YMMV.

Bottom line: I buy marca and vitola first - other considerations are usually distant seconds. 

Now if you want to address HQ/PSP vs Clearance on FOH, there are definitely cigars where I always look for HQ or PSP, notably Montecristo. I couldn’t care less what factory they came from - I trust the FOH team’s judgement. 

Edit: I will defer to @NSXCIGAR below - El Laguito is an exception to the factory rule. 

 

[NSXCIGAR]

I'm assuming by "vintage" the OP is referring to date, not an aged cigar per se. That said,

1) Factory is irrelevant without date. Since 2000, quality varies by date, not factory. Exception is El Laguito.

2) See above.

3) You can store cigars anywhere that's clean and environmentally consistent. Cedar is only used because it is cheap, light and non-reactive to tobacco. 

[RDB]

The least controversial thing here is (c): it’s technically better to store in a tupperdor because the seal and therefore stability is almost invariably better than any nice wooden humidor.

I’d say the biggest variability issue for CCs is within factories and dates: from box to box. Whilst you can raise your odds of a good box by picking a good date and hot code, you can still get a dud. That’s why we love the Rob inspection system.

[BrightonCorgi]

It's not so much "marca / factory / vitola" but rather the actual box of cigars in front of you.

[Enduin]

The way I see it: year vintage > brief visual/olfactory inspection by the average smoker > factory code > marca/vitola

And with marca/vitola I see it as not the flavor or size which is personal preference but rather that in not spectacular years, being force to buy blind (so no inspection and no choice of box code) there are some marcas/vitolas that can be a slightly safer bet

P.S. if you are The Prez and not the average smoker the above becomes: expert's visual/olfactory inspection >>>>>>>>>>> everything else 😂

[Corylax18]

29 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

It's not so much "marca / factory / vitola" but rather the actual box of cigars in front of you.

This. With the variability in everything else involved, there is just no reason to bother with it much. 

Also, there are no "Vintage" Cuban Cigars. All CC's (and NCs from what I know) are "Non Vintage" aka Blended with leaves from a variety of farms, grown in a variety of years. Blended to maintain a consistent profile, across multiple years.

The best place to age your cigars is the place that you can best maintain environmental stability. Where the humidor or Tupperdor is placed is more imporant than which one is used. 

[BrightonCorgi]

3 hours ago, Corylax18 said:

This. With the variability in everything else involved, there is just no reason to bother with it much. 

Also, there are no "Vintage" Cuban Cigars. All CC's (and NCs from what I know) are "Non Vintage" aka Blended with leaves from a variety of farms, grown in a variety of years. Blended to maintain a consistent profile, across multiple years.

A couple of vendors I use, I often ask them "what's your best smoking (fill in vitola name)" you have currently?  I'll take one of those. 

Whatever they say is good right now is an improved shot at good box vs me picking off their site. 

[Chas.Alpha]

16 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Rob

A few questions:

• How important is vintage versus marca / factory / vitola? 
• How much of a difference does factory make between cigars of same vintage and vitola?
• Would it be better to age a stick in an Ellie Bleu humidor, tupperdor w/ cedar trays, or tupperdor in cedar cab / dress box?

 

I will respond seperately but this is a great example of "the more opinions the better".  

1: I think there have been good years and less-than good years. The 1999/2000 are notoriously bad years, from a quality standpoint. The 14's were superior to the 15 thru 17's. Mid 18's thru current production have been the best I've seen in two decades.

2: Not sure if there was a big difference in box codes, with some better than others from all factories. The '19 MSU for example were generally the best factory code for that year. IMHO

3: Leave 'em in their natural habitat...

[LordAnubis]

"Do you liek tea or coffee?" "Ohh you liek tea?... well you're wrong". That is pretty much the vibe of questions 1 and 3 above.

For question 2 i'd be suprised if overall there really was a difference between factories. I mean sure we all think El Laguito is the ducks nuts but is it? Really? How does anyone know anyway, all the boxes are flipped, so i don't know whos smoking them 😂

[targa88]

1 hour ago, Chas.Alpha said:

1: I think there have been good years and less-than good years. The 1999/2000 are notoriously bad years, from a quality standpoint. The 14's were superior to the 15 thru 17's. Mid 18's thru current production have been the best I've seen in two decades.

2: Not sure if there was a big difference in box codes, with some better than others from all factories. The '19 MSU for example were generally the best factory code for that year. IMHO

3: Leave 'em in their natural habitat...

I would tend to agree with 1. & 2.

However with some caveats. Some Marcas have been more consistent over the years. Just as an example Upmann.

That being said - there have been some duds within in the marcas -  as it applies to vitola. Petit coronas never had a misstep(Mag 46, Sir Winnie, Connie #1 - for that matter too). Half coronas - not so much.

Understanding of course that these are all man made products - production quality is entirely dependent on the particular box that you may have at hand.

3. In terms of storage - that is also a personal preference. Particularly as it applies to consistent RH levels