The non-cuban domestic counterparts

[Joebiech]

First off, I don't post very often but I do read almost every post and refresh the site for new posts 2-3 times daily. I know that there are tons of brands out there to try (I do very much enjoy the Padrons and the pepins and numerous other cigars recommended by all the members of the board. I personally find the review section to be of amazing value to a newbie like me who hasn't tried too many). With that being said I do have a newbie question if you will bear with me.

Q: Most Monties, R&J, Hupmann, Cohibas, etc all have their origins in Cuba. However as Americans, we do not have the luxury of legally purchasing the originals. Instead we seem to be surrounded by their counterparts by the same name but owned/produced by others. Most reviews about smokes which receive the :love: from members seem to be over the ISOM versions. With that in mind would you recommend any of these larger brands? I only ask because I see so little about them here.

Thanks in advance.

 

[grateful1]

First off, I don't post very often but I do read almost every post and refresh the site for new posts 2-3 times daily. I know that there are tons of brands out there to try (I do very much enjoy the Padrons and the pepins and numerous other cigars recommended by all the members of the board. I personally find the review section to be of amazing value to a newbie like me who hasn't tried too many). With that being said I do have a newbie question if you will bear with me.

Q: Most Monties, R&J, Hupmann, Cohibas, etc all have their origins in Cuba. However as Americans, we do not have the luxury of legally purchasing the originals. Instead we seem to be surrounded by their counterparts by the same name but owned/produced by others. Most reviews about smokes which receive the :love: from members seem to be over the ISOM versions. With that in mind would you recommend any of these larger brands? I only ask because I see so little about them here.

Thanks in advance.

Recommend for what?


The Monte and RyJ both have nice cigars in their line.

The Monte 'White' line and the RyJ 1875 are tasty.

The Cohiba's and Upmann...not so much, for me.
Except maybe the XV line.

 

[Joebiech]

Thanks for the answer

 

[Martin2D]

San Cristobal has by far the only GREAT counterpart line. The others....meh...

 

[JHolmes763]

Had a lot of RyJ when I was starting to smoke that were really good. A little too mild for me now.

The other night I had a Montecristo Series C (I think that's right), with a cameroon wrapper, that was really good. I love those cameroon wrappers!

The others? meh...

 

[beaucredo]

I think some of the La Gloria's arnt too bad, but other than that, and San Cristobal I ant think of any non-cuban counterparts that I really like.

 

[bpj87]

There are just so many top brands that do not have a Cuban counterpart's name to rely on. It seems that without the crutch on which to fall back, the smokes are required to be even more outstanding for equivalent success.