Cuba Libre!

[sobx]

Like smoking a cloud.

 

[sobx]

 

[sobx]

 

[daveinlax]

Wow! Nice! What that cost? Last time I shopped Habano’s I was blown away by the “confident” price. They were always expensive but the new co-owners of Habano have expanded the market and doubled the price.

 

[William Ziegler]

Wow! Nice! What that cost? Last time I shopped Habano’s I was blown away by the “confident” price. They were always expensive but the new co-owners of Habano have expanded the market and doubled the price.

Save your money. IMHO, Nicaraguan cigars are as good as any Havana. Cuba has not recovered from the Soviet pull out of financial support, leaving tobacco growers short on fert, cheese cloth, etc. Padron, Davidoff, and others has them beat, hands down.

 

[Singed]

I've enjoyed many Honduran and Nicaraguan cigars. Dominican Republic as well. Thomas Hinds Tobacconists in Canada carries many Nicaraguan and Honduran cigars as house selections.

 

[Swede]

Save your money. IMHO, Nicaraguan cigars are as good as any Havana. Cuba has not recovered from the Soviet pull out of financial support, leaving tobacco growers short on fert, cheese cloth, etc. Padron, Davidoff, and others has them beat, hands down.

According to what I was told by a very experienced guy in the tobacco industry, I'll second this. He advised looking for Nicaraguan cigars made from tobacco grown in some of the valley areas like Estelli. I've never had what I knew to be an authentic cuban cigar, so couldn't compare, but the Estelli ones were excellent. I now mostly just smoke pipe tobacco, but love blends with a bit of cigar leaf.

 

[William Ziegler]

According to what I was told by a very experienced guy in the tobacco industry, I'll second this. He advised looking for Nicaraguan cigars made from tobacco grown in some of the valley areas like Estelli. I've never had what I knew to be an authentic cuban cigar, so couldn't compare, but the Estelli ones were excellent. I now mostly just smoke pipe tobacco, but love blends with a bit of cigar leaf.

I have a box of 25 Cuban Romeo & Juliette Churchill in my humidor - a military friend picked them up in the desert back in 02 or 03 - and they are not very good, nor have they gotten better with age. In 2018 when I was in Victoria, Canada I visited the Cuban Cigar Shop on Fort Street which was very "old world". The owner was German (I figure got out of East Germany) and the burl wood cabinets were gorgeous. One of my favorite cigars is the Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona and he had a case full. I purchased one for $44.00 Canadian. Well, I smoked it at my grandson's first birthday this past summer. I was disappointed - would rate it in the 80s. I have a box of 25 Hoyo de Monterrey Toro Grande in my humidor. Made in Honduras that are wonderful and full bodied. You know the Communists are good at destroying everything they take over.

 

[sobx]

Got the box for $150 euros.

 

[Ranger107]

I have a box of 25 Cuban Romeo & Juliette Churchill in my humidor - a military friend picked them up in the desert back in 02 or 03 - and they are not very good, nor have they gotten better with age. In 2018 when I was in Victoria, Canada I visited the Cuban Cigar Shop on Fort Street which was very "old world". The owner was German (I figure got out of East Germany) and the burl wood cabinets were gorgeous. One of my favorite cigars is the Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona and he had a case full. I purchased one for $44.00 Canadian. Well, I smoked it at my grandson's first birthday this past summer. I was disappointed - would rate it in the 80s. I have a box of 25 Hoyo de Monterrey Toro Grande in my humidor. Made in Honduras that are wonderful and full bodied. You know the Communists are good at destroying everything they take over.

When I first start smoking Hoya Churchills back in the mid 70s I could get a box of 20 for around 18 bucks from the cigar store in Lincoln Ne.. My how things have change, lol.

 

[Blackhorse]

Hmmmm. Nuthin’ wrong with a genuine Cohiba. But I’ve had the proverbial Nicaraguan or Sumatra Sun Grown or whatever that were exceptional. And the stuff coming out of the boys down in Florida has been stellar. Good stuff all over…lots to enjoy.

 

[Cadfael]

Hmmmm. Nuthin’ wrong with a genuine Cohiba. But I’ve had the proverbial Nicaraguan or Sumatra Sun Grown or whatever that were exceptional. And the stuff coming out of the boys down in Florida has been stellar. Good stuff all over…lots to enjoy.

I'll ask - what is the stuff coming out of the boys down in Florida?

 

[Blackhorse]

I'll ask - what is the stuff coming out of the boys down in Florida?

I would point to two that are branded as Don Pepin Garcia and Tatuaje Reserva. I would put a good Tatuaje cigar up against anything else out there.

 

[sobx]

Save your money. IMHO, Nicaraguan cigars are as good as any Havana. Cuba has not recovered from the Soviet pull out of financial support, leaving tobacco growers short on fert, cheese cloth, etc. Padron, Davidoff, and others has them beat, hands down.

Yeah but 90% of the pleasure was the cool feeling of having something "the man" told you you aren't allowed to have.

I have a job where I can come back stateside via MAC and can avoid customs. They weren't bad cigars but like most have said, the Cubans are over-rated. I got a lot of pleasure handing them over to my pals. Probably gave 3/4 of the box away. I kept the box with the Cuban stamp on it for a souvenir though.

 

[ralphmcculley]

My brother brought back a box when he went to Italy. They don't have that trade restriction with Cuba. He gave me one and I wasn't impressed. I actually like El Producto and Garcia Ay Vega green wrapper cigars better lol!!

 

[sobx]

My brother brought back a box when he went to Italy. They don't have that trade restriction with Cuba. He gave me one and I wasn't impressed. I actually like El Producto and Garcia Ay Vega green wrapper cigars better lol!!

Yeah America is the only one who wants to throw their little temper tantrum. The rest of the world trades with Cuba. One would think that after 60 years we'd be over our little hissy fit with Castro.

"I actually like El Producto and Garcia Ay Vega green wrapper cigars better lol!!"
I hope that was poor humor. LOL

 

[ralphmcculley]

Yeah America is the only one who wants to throw their little temper tantrum. The rest of the world trades with Cuba. One would think that after 60 years we'd be over our little hissy fit with Castro.

"I actually like El Producto and Garcia Ay Vega green wrapper cigars better lol!!"
I hope that was poor humor. LOL

Nope not humor at all. I don't like Cuban cigars, at least the one I had. I do like the cheapy sticks better. I'd take a King Edward over a Cuban any day.

 

[sobx]

Nope not humor at all. I don't like Cuban cigars, at least the one I had. I do like the cheapy sticks better. I'd take a King Edward over a Cuban any day.

We smoke what we like.

I found the homogenized wrapper turning into goop in my mouth a but of a turn off when I smoked the drug-store brands. Gramps used to love them, bought them by the box. I swear he smoked ten of them a day.
He just didn't look like himself lying in his coffin at the funeral without the brown homogenized tobacco soup running down his chin.

 

[ralphmcculley]

We smoke what we like.

I found the homogenized wrapper turning into goop in my mouth a but of a turn off when I smoked the drug-store brands. Gramps used to love them, bought them by the box. I swear he smoked ten of them a day.
He just didn't look like himself lying in his coffin at the funeral without the brown homogenized tobacco soup running down his chin.

My brand is Avanti. They are all tobacco, no binders.