What cigar (or pipe) did you smoke today?

[rkwilker]

5 vegas relic...really like these.

 

[Blackadder]

Ramon Allones Specially Selected

 

[jamespowers]

When I bought the 1983 Monte, they were already aged for over 15 years. I still have three left. One of my younger friends was born in 1983 and I've been putting off giving him one for his birthday. Think I'll reconsider on his 30th birthday, ha. The new San Cristobal is a great improvement but I doubt I will buy a whole box. Another one of my best buy was the Habano Festival 2000 petite corona. It is a bargain since it cost around the same as a Cohiba siglo 2 when it first came out in 2000. Too bad I only bought one box. Really should have bought more.

Even if I bought the Montes when they were that old, I wouldn't have any left by now. That would be a nice gift if he appreciated good cigars.
I had a whole box---nothing left now. They were pretty good.
The Festival series sounds like a good choice.
The Siglo 1 is the only one I have experience with. If they are closely related, I would say the 2 would be a great cigar. I would like to try the Behike but man those are expensive! :eeek::eusa_doh:

 

[rkwilker]

CAO Brazilia

 

[Blackadder]

One 1998 Montecristo Tubos today. My friend told me not to bother with BHK52 and 54. He tried all of the behikes and said 56 is the best. As for me, I haven't tried it yet because they don't sell singles and I don't want to buy a whole box before trying one.

 

[SteveAS]

I smoked skinny Cohibas this past weekend: an '03 Exquisitos and an '06 CCE. Both were tasty, but both had somewhat overly firm draws.

 

[jamespowers]

One 1998 Montecristo Tubos today. My friend told me not to bother with BHK52 and 54. He tried all of the behikes and said 56 is the best. As for me, I haven't tried it yet because they don't sell singles and I don't want to buy a whole box before trying one.

A whole box would be way too expensive for me to think about. Just a box of ten roughly translates to about $525 and that's just for ten 56s. $52 apiece? If they come with a twenty dollar gold piece then I might buy a box. I know of a few places that sell them apiece but they are even more money as singles. :eusa_doh:
The 56 is the ring gauge isn't it?

 

[jamespowers]

I smoked skinny Cohibas this past weekend: an '03 Exquisitos and an '06 CCE. Both were tasty, but both had somewhat overly firm draws.

It is a problem at times. I love the Por Larranga Montecarlos but they have a firm draw as well. It makes smoking a cigar a chore. For the money, it isn't worth it. The Culebras are cheaper and draw amazingly well.
Try letting them dry out a bit(below 65%). Some have opened up for me that way.[huh]

 

[Blackadder]

56 is the ring gauge. There is a place in HK that sells them without the box at a cheaper price which means even if you buy ten, you don't get the box. I do not trust them so never tried. Another cigar which is quite expensive and have yet tried is the Edmundo Dantes regional edition. In fact most of those regional editions are over-priced and not worth trying. The few different Ramon Allones regional edition I have tried so far lack the flavour of the normal Ramon, so I'd rather find a good box of Specialy Selected or Gigantes.
Heheee, I have three boxes of Montecarlos being aged. But I'm not sure the Culebras are cheaper than the Montecarlos, at least not in HK. The cheapest Montecarlos I bought cost me a bit less than USD100 for a box of 25s. Of course the official dealer sells them at a much higher price and I was duped by them until I see their price list. When I first came back to HK and started smoking cubans in around 1998, the Por Larranaga brand has disappeared in the HK market totally. Then in 2001 or 2002, they brought back the petite corona and another few years later, the montecarlos and the panetelas. So I had no idea what the price of a montecarlos was before they disappeared. I bought the first box for around USD150 at which time I thought they were quite cheap given most other cigars cost more than that so I bought another one and told them to keep a third box for me but then I found out that the last listed price before they disappeared was less than USD100. I went to a parallel importer and asked them to find some for me and I told them what the price should be and they came through for me. I ended up buying another 3 boxes of Montecarlos from the parallel importers. It is however quite difficult to find in HK. I think the price is too low and there is not much profit margin after the high tobacco taxes (which is based on weight).

 

[SteveAS]

Try letting them dry out a bit(below 65%). Some have opened up for me that way.[huh]

Yeah, I know the tricks, but I'd just grabbed these cigars and took them with me for the weekend. I didn't have convenient access to other cigars, so I smoked them despite the tight draws. Now I gripe about their draws to make myself feel better.

 

[jamespowers]

Yeah, I know the tricks, but I'd just grabbed these cigars and took them with me for the weekend. I didn't have convenient access to other cigars, so I smoked them despite the tight draws. Now I gripe about their draws to make myself feel better.

lol lol lol I figured you would know about that.

 

[jamespowers]

56 is the ring gauge. There is a place in HK that sells them without the box at a cheaper price which means even if you buy ten, you don't get the box. I do not trust them so never tried. Another cigar which is quite expensive and have yet tried is the Edmundo Dantes regional edition. In fact most of those regional editions are over-priced and not worth trying. The few different Ramon Allones regional edition I have tried so far lack the flavour of the normal Ramon, so I'd rather find a good box of Specialy Selected or Gigantes.
Heheee, I have three boxes of Montecarlos being aged. But I'm not sure the Culebras are cheaper than the Montecarlos, at least not in HK. The cheapest Montecarlos I bought cost me a bit less than USD100 for a box of 25s. Of course the official dealer sells them at a much higher price and I was duped by them until I see their price list. When I first came back to HK and started smoking cubans in around 1998, the Por Larranaga brand has disappeared in the HK market totally. Then in 2001 or 2002, they brought back the petite corona and another few years later, the montecarlos and the panetelas. So I had no idea what the price of a montecarlos was before they disappeared. I bought the first box for around USD150 at which time I thought they were quite cheap given most other cigars cost more than that so I bought another one and told them to keep a third box for me but then I found out that the last listed price before they disappeared was less than USD100. I went to a parallel importer and asked them to find some for me and I told them what the price should be and they came through for me. I ended up buying another 3 boxes of Montecarlos from the parallel importers. It is however quite difficult to find in HK. I think the price is too low and there is not much profit margin after the high tobacco taxes (which is based on weight).

I would probably balk at getting the Behikes without the box. It just leaves too much to chance.
The regionals I tend to leave alone as well. It is usually more gimmick than difference.
The Culebras aren't cheaper now that you mention it. I did the price comparison and the Culebra is $50 more per 25. The strange boxing they do with 9 per box kind of throws one off. :eusa_doh:
The Montecarlos are about right at $100 per 25. I like them but have had problems with bad draws that I mentioned earlier. When they are open they really deliver for their size though. You are lucky the tax is based on weight. Ours are based on each cigar!:eusa_doh: There is no way around it with weight.
There was a person from Hong Kong featured a while back in Cigar Aficiando. He had one heck of a collection with his father. Do you happen to know this guy? He sounded like a collector on a HUGE scale. :eeek:

 

[Blackadder]

You mean the guy who wrote this book?
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Encyclopedia-Revolution-HAVANA-Cigars/dp/B0013YO4KY
This is the definitive cigar book for all cubans cigars launched before year 2002.
The book itself is also a collectors' item.
I do not know him personally but have seen him around at the Habanos shop. Heard the staff there said he has an apartment just for storing cigars.
I have a friend who is not as crazy as he is but does have a huge collection. The Habanos store his cigars at their warehouse. When they sold him the cigars, they told him not to worry as they have places to store the cigars if and when he runs out of locker space. It turns out only the first year was free and unless he keeps up his purchase, they are going to charge him per square footage storage costs. It is like playing catch-up. You get sucked into it and the more you purchase, the more space you need and you'll never finish your cigars in your lifetime. Of course you don't need to purchase a lot ands you don't need a lot of storage space if you simply buy 1 or 2 of those special humidor edition which costs over USD10,000 per 100 or so sticks but those are not for normal people. They said think of it as an investment but except his few boxes of Cuban Davidoffs Dom Perignon, I don't see a major jump in value for his huge collection of rather new and not outrageously expensive limited, regional edition and normal cigars. Even though his cigars may increase in value eventually after 10-15 years, where will he find the market for them, selling the whole lot at auction? In the meantime, his storage costs are adding up. The funniest thing is if he did not purchase all those cigars, they will probably be sitting in the same warehouse but they will be stored at Habanos costs.

 

[Blackadder]

Oh they did similar thing to me only they gave me two free lockers. When they try to charge me a year or so later, I simply took all my cigars and left.

 

[Blackadder]

I've never checked the tax on tobacco when I was living in the States. Per cigar, do you mean it is based on the before tax price of the cigar or simply a flat rate for each cigar no matter the weight and price? If that's the case, the bigger and heavier the cigar, the better the bargain.

 

[rkwilker]

Gurka shaggy...another good smoke.

 

[Beacon Rusty]

Pembroke in a Dunhill Shell Cherrywood.

 

[Blackadder]

Partagas Serial P #1.

 

[jamespowers]

Oh they did similar thing to me only they gave me two free lockers. When they try to charge me a year or so later, I simply took all my cigars and left.

That is probably a good idea. You don't want to get trapped in it like your friend.
The guy who wrote the book is not the right one. He is younger if I remember right. I'll see if I can find his name.

 

[jamespowers]

I've never checked the tax on tobacco when I was living in the States. Per cigar, do you mean it is based on the before tax price of the cigar or simply a flat rate for each cigar no matter the weight and price? If that's the case, the bigger and heavier the cigar, the better the bargain.

Yes, per cigar no matter what the weight. I never thought of the bigger the better bargain. I'll have to get some Puros Indios Chief size.