Things you love...and things you hate...in the cigar world right now.

[El Presidente]

This was a cigar deck discussion last Friday. Great discussion and each of the 12 on the day came from different angles and to be honest, different demographics. It is what I love about the deck, difference. To me it was enlightening and I don't feel comfortable amalgamating differing responses from beautiful but very different friends.  I am happy to list my responses however. 

 

What I love right now. 

• the embracing/exploration of the NC world by previous habanos purists. God I love it. At the same time a middle finger to the powers that be at HSA and a reinvigoration of a journey in the world of cigars and a step forward in personal self growth within our hobby. 
• The sheer quality/flavour of what is coming out of Cuba at the moment. It is undeniable.   
• The questioning of value by the market. The term value is not an absolute, however there is a "Bullshit" factor that is being called out both in the NC and CC world. 

What I hate right now 

• AI on cigar youtube vids. Someone make it stop. 
• CC Price increases. There appears to be no stopping this momentum. For the love of God, let it plateau for 2 years. I can't complain as I have enough CC cigars for the rest of my life and I am doing OK, but how in hell can you attract a 25 year old not working as an investment banker/VC/property mogul/scion in New York, Texas, London, HK, Beirut, Shanghai. 
• NC and CC cigar releases  at $100/$150/$200+ a pop. I know why they do it. We are getting further and further away from the surgeon, the lawyer, the plumber, the sparky, the construction worker, the painter being able to smoke a cigar at the same table, let alone go to a new launch at your B&M. It irks me. 
• The Habanos Festival. I simply have a hard time reconciling the inhouse pomp and what is going on in the street/finca. 

 

Over to you 

 

 

 

 

[jazzboypro]

What I love right now:

• I was able to acquire the cigars I wanted on my last trip to Cuba a few months ago
• The discussions on this forum

What I hate right now:

• CC prices
• NC's priced like CC's but not nearly as good (Padron and Davidoff comes to mind)
• Being priced out of most CC's
• Poor selection of cigars from my online vendor
• Not seeing the end of all the nonsense going on in the CC world
• The misery the Cuban people are living in and keeps getting worse. 

 

[Li Bai]

What I love right now:

       • regular production Cuban cigars

       • having been able to grab most of the boxes I wanted before the price hike

       • exploring the New World cigars although few of them convince me I put my hands on some nudies I'm really eager to smoke, they smell soooo good

       • being able to speak here with real aficionados from all over the world

What I hate right now:

        • HSA price policy of course

        • CCs becoming a sign of wealth means more and more band smokers (it's an expression used in France to name those who smoke only uber premium cigars only to show they can afford them but know close to nothing to cigars), it's ok to be wealthy but not to disrespect such a divine product

        • how hard it is in France to find most NCs

        • the situation in Cuba

        • everything around the Habanos festival in recent years, especially the Hombre Habano, so far away from all the genuine aficionados I've met...

[VeguerosMAN]

What I love right now. 

- Going back to old time favorites like Fuente and Padron

- Exploring new boutique NC brands

- Smoking Vegueros and thinking to myself they blow Cohibas out of the water

What I hate right now:

-CC prices

-Cuban government

-Struggle of Cuban people

 

 

 

[SCgarman]

6 hours ago, jazzboypro said:

What I love right now:

• I was able to acquire the cigars I wanted on my last trip to Cuba a few months ago
• The discussions on this forum

What I hate right now:

• CC prices
• NC's priced like CC's but not nearly as good (Padron and Davidoff comes to mind)
• Being priced out of most CC's
• Poor selection of cigars from my online vendor
• Not seeing the end of all the nonsense going on in the CC world
• The misery the Cuban people are living in and keeps getting worse. 

Here in the USA higher end Padrons, 1964, 1926, are considered a bargain now compared to current CC box prices. These are 4 and 5 year aged tobaccos respectively, and construction has always been superior to CC's. I also realize you are in Canada, and prices there are obviously a different ball game. BTW, when the Habanos 10-15% price hike kicks in, a box of Monte 4 will hit the $400usd/box mark! Ouch!!   (Sorry for the threadjack.)

[99call]

Things I love:

-  Finding some NC cigars that are very pleasant. Nudies, Hemingways, Epernays etc. Can't compete with Cubans, but 'very pleasant'

-  Cuban Cigars are very tasty and sweet out the gate. Whomever is in charge of the horticultural science is playing an absolute blinder. Hats off to them

-  I love it when we see charitable fundraisers on the forum for Cuba. People can slag Cuba relentlessly all they want for their own political ends (and I get their reasons). But sometimes it's nice to bypass all that bollocks and...just help. 

 

Things I hate:

- Brexit's effect on my love for Cuban Cigars...or cigars in general. I'll leave it there. 

- Cigar influencers!! The shop face of cigars, is strangely what it's always been. A mix of ridiculous dandies and toxic pricks like the Tate Brothers. Real cigar lovers are generally down to earth people that are involved in the passion, not because they are showy idiots, but they just love the flavour, and meditative quality of cigars Why should I care? I live in a part of the UK, where people associate cigars with solely these to character types...hence if you want to go for a walk with a cigar. You will get heckled with the following "check out billy big bollocks smoking his la-di-dass!". In the UK people in general associate cigars largely with people who are w****ers.     

Anyway. I wish face of cigars was a lot more like Rob & Ken arguing on the deck, being chased by possums. etc etc. In conclusion, I feel largely feel let down and misrepresented by the shopfront of the cigar community. 

- The lord giveth, the lord taketh away. For all the sweet enjoyable flavours oozing out of current CC tobacco, I would love to see more savoury/difficult blends out there. We love Partagas Presidentes & 898s, Hoyo Des Dieux, LGC med 4s & 2's, Boli BBFs and Sancho Panza Beli's. Done correctly, these blends are not 'easy'. They make you think, they are challenging. I want to see less sweetness and light, and more savoury bold blending. 

 

 

[Chibearsv]

4 hours ago, 99call said:

Anyway. I wish face of cigars was a lot more like Rob & Ken arguing on the deck, being chased by possums. etc etc.

I’m with you. The only reason I’m part of this forum is because of a search for cigar reviews that led to videos of the boys doing their thing. It reminded me of me and my boys doing our thing. This is the face of my cigar world. If others promote something fancier and more pretentious, no skin off my nose. Truth is, in my experience, there’s very few image seekers that don’t let their guard down to roll around in the dirt with the rest of us. The ones that don’t aren’t a part of my world. Cheers brother!

[loose_axle]

What I love:

Sheer wealth of information and the variety of cigars available.

What I hate:

The prices. The taxes. The prices. The taxes. The prices. The taxes. 

[BlueWS]

What I love right now

Getting Cuban cigars delivered to my door. I've smoked 25+ years off an on. I had no idea we could get these in the US and I didn't used to have the means to buy several hundred dollars worth of cigars per shipment. Mission accomplished. I've tried 20 of 20, all different Cubans in the last 5 months. Thanks mainly to FOH.

What I hate right now

"Look at me" Instagramers. Can't stand it. GTFO with your fake watches, Behike 52s, and fake fame whoring. No one cares. That crowds came over to Reddit. I hate it. No one reads on Reddit anymore. The literally DID NOT Reddit. More like LookedAtIt.

[Magnum Dongle]

1 hour ago, BlueWS said:

What I hate right now

"Look at me" Instagramers. Can't stand it. GTFO with your fake watches, Behike 52s, and fake fame whoring. No one cares. That crowds came over to Reddit. I hate it. No one reads on Reddit anymore. The literally DID NOT Reddit. More like LookedAtIt.

I audibly lol'ed at the last couple lines. It's true though. I used to read discussions on NBA and talk cigars with aficionados. And there are a few of them left that share good info or post great reviews. But the Cuban sub especially is largely just "is this an authentic Cuban (usually Cohiba) and "hauls" which is partly like the watch subs that devolve into dick measuring. I would have a problem with haul posts if there was cigar discussion but it's mostly just people asking where they got the box (like any will be left with the supply) or what price they bought it at. I think for a week there were even OnlyFans bots posting with cigars lol. 

[Domsday]

7 hours ago, BlueWS said:

What I hate right now

"Look at me" Instagramers. Can't stand it. GTFO with your fake watches, Behike 52s, and fake fame whoring. No one cares. That crowds came over to Reddit. I hate it. No one reads on Reddit anymore. The literally DID NOT Reddit. More like LookedAtIt.

I got down voted for commenting on your thread over there. Wonder how many of those posts are just googling images and posting them as if it’s theirs…….

[Under Pressure]

What I love right now:

- Kirby Allison

what I hate right now:

- Kirby Allison

[ha_banos]

Seeing more people back/in to cigars recently. Especially on our UK communities.

More local shops here opening up or selling cigars outside of Mayfair and Westminster.

Good selection of reasonable cigar events available over here. Seem to be becoming more numerous.

Our own little group of regular herfs thanks to this community.

Stumbling across NC options that are to my tastes.

And then, keeping it on topic ofc:

The management of Cuba and the cigars.

The hikes in pricing encouraging me to sell rather than smoke some boxes. Let alone forget about those boxes I left until mañana.

The sheer number of limited productions continually appearing out of Habanos.

The volume shift of concentration of CC into the uber premiums at the expense of the remainder.

General tobacco/smoking vilification impacting the tiny world of premium/'proper'/puros/cigars.

The ever increasing volume of 'is it real' posts lol everywhere!

Having to rack up against the rich folk in auctions lol

Feeling less happy nowadays to say Banos, as in Ha-banos.

 

 

[MagicalBikeRide]

Could list a million, but will try two not included above -

 

After some years on my dislike list, I’ve been loving Hoyo since maybe 2020/21. The Epi 2 has been getting praise, but I’ve been enjoying lots more - PR, EE and Rio Seco in particular. Finding far more consistently good smokes than pre 20/21. 
 

Where I live (Ireland) adopted plain packing in 2015. It’s taken some years to fully experience the effects, but it has killed so much of what I used to love about cigars here. More specifically, the key challenges feel two. (1) There are visibly less young people into cigars here vs UK, where cigars managed to avoid the same fate. (2) Whilst we have one very reputable retailer, over the years, I’ve reached a point where I am uncomfortable buying in plain packaging - we can never see the box if buying one and if purchasing singles, you can’t even see the band prior to paying and leaving the shop. I spent years trying to support local stores, but I can’t do that through CC anymore.

[PigFish]

I have always liked and hated the same things. I like a good cigar, priced well that provides plenty of quality smoking time for the money spent. I hate collectors and their influence on this custom.

The limited availability, the luxury, the influence of age, the future value… all the concepts of the collector crowd have ruined cigar smoking for everyone but themselves.

I have been saying the same things for decades and it has come to be proven true. MHO.

[Ford2112]

What I love right now:

The quality. It's been stellar . 

This community.

Nudies.

Smoking with my friends. 

What I don't like:

Prices are crazy.

Smoking where I live is frowned upon by pantywaists and sissies.

Conditions in Cuba. Those poor folks can't catch a break.

Tone deaf cigar " spokespeople". 

[BlueWS]

Ford, how do you like the fact smoking a Cigar in public is GROSS, but smoking weed in public in Monterey (literally outside the Monterey Bay Aquarium) is no big deal. WTF? KIDS GO THERE! It's unbelievable.

[Ford2112]

1 hour ago, BlueWS said:

Ford, how do you like the fact smoking a Cigar in public is GROSS, but smoking weed in public in Monterey (literally outside the Monterey Bay Aquarium) is no big deal. WTF? KIDS GO THERE! It's unbelievable.

Can't do dispersed camping anymore but the homeless can just set up tents and park their trashy rvs anywhere they feel like.

Don't get me started on Monterey. Our local leaders are too busy schmoozing and glad handing each other for money . The parking situation sucks. Can't park anywhere without dropping 10 bucks down at the waterfront.

There are no smoking signs at the wharf but the cops don't ever stop all the bums smoking weed. I like to park right in front of the no smoking sign. 🚭 My defense is,it's a cigar,not a cigarette. Organic. Legal. So many rules . 

[Glass Half Full]

What's to like? 

There are still people (like those on FoH) who are here for the overflowing enjoyment, the flavors, the education, and the community.

What's not to like?

Cigars used to be about people who just loved wonderfully intense flavors, or at least that's what I had thought. The current-day discussion of prices spoils the fun. (There were always Rolex wearing cigar smokers, but it seems like cigar bands have taken the place of the Rolex label sometimes now.)

It's inevitable, I guess, but I prefer to think about what's tasting great (and discussions of market value severely detract from the fun).  

Once upon a time, French wines were a special thing to taste. Now many are an extravagance. I used to express my love of cigars and cigar people to my wife as the meeting of equals -- people who just loved the sharing of flavors. Less so now.  

...Except for Nudies!! Thank goodness for Rob and Hamlet on those. 

[Magnum Dongle]

Not saying I will judge someone if they keep the band on when they smoke the cigar, but I know I'll be fine with someone smoking a cigar without a band. 😂 Cuz I always take the bands off before lighting up, they just get in the way and I never have trouble removing them before lighting up. I don't need anyone to know what I'm smoking. I know and that's good enough for me. 

[Nico]

On 3/9/2024 at 6:45 AM, 99call said:

Things I love:
-  Finding some NC cigars that are very pleasant. Nudies, Hemingways, Epernays etc. Can't compete with Cubans, but 'very pleasant'
-  Cuban Cigars are very tasty and sweet out the gate. Whomever is in charge of the horticultural science is playing an absolute blinder. Hats off to them
-  I love it when we see charitable fundraisers on the forum for Cuba. People can slag Cuba relentlessly all they want for their own political ends (and I get their reasons). But sometimes it's nice to bypass all that bollocks and...just help. 
 
Things I hate:
- Brexit's effect on my love for Cuban Cigars...or cigars in general. I'll leave it there. 
- Cigar influencers!! The shop face of cigars, is strangely what it's always been. A mix of ridiculous dandies and toxic pricks like the Tate Brothers. Real cigar lovers are generally down to earth people that are involved in the passion, not because they are showy idiots, but they just love the flavour, and meditative quality of cigars Why should I care? I live in a part of the UK, where people associate cigars with solely these to character types...hence if you want to go for a walk with a cigar. You will get heckled with the following "check out billy big bollocks smoking his la-di-dass!". In the UK people in general associate cigars largely with people who are w****ers.     
Anyway. I wish face of cigars was a lot more like Rob & Ken arguing on the deck, being chased by possums. etc etc. In conclusion, I feel largely feel let down and misrepresented by the shopfront of the cigar community. 
- The lord giveth, the lord taketh away. For all the sweet enjoyable flavours oozing out of current CC tobacco, I would love to see more savoury/difficult blends out there. We love Partagas Presidentes & 898s, Hoyo Des Dieux, LGC med 4s & 2's, Boli BBFs and Sancho Panza Beli's. Done correctly, these blends are not 'easy'. They make you think, they are challenging. I want to see less sweetness and light, and more savoury bold blending. 

I’m so glad you mentioned being misrepresented. That’s something I’ve been complaining about for years now. In movies and stuff it’s often the bad guy that smokes. Whether it be the evil business tycoon, the mafia boss or the corrupt politician. And now the Tate brothers shows up. It’s like we can’t catch a break. I would hate for people to think that I have some sort of masculinity problem.

While I’m here ranting: Ecuadorian Connecticut wrappers. Such a boring leaf. EC feels like jeans in the aspect that I feel neither will never go out of style. And I also hate jeans btw.