How lucky are you with isoms?

[Jan Primus]

I really love the taste of cuban cigars..but the other day, I smoked 4 cigars from reputable cigar shops and 2 where bad (ie tight draw, little flavour, physically hard sticks) the day before I smoked 2, one of which the wrapper completely split and unravelled as I smoked. Right now I'm smoking a few years old isom and am contempalting pitching it out. Not that I have kept track, but it seems half the isoms I've smoked lately have been a waste of time and money.
All of these had some age on them, though I wonder if at some point they may have sat somewhere not humidified?

Any brands better consistancy than others? I won't give up on Cubans, they taste the best by far to me.

 

[cigardawg]

I have had better construction with Habanos that with NCs. The only issue that I have had lately were a couple of tight draws. Tight, not plugged. Took a little work, but the flavors were outstanding.

I'd have to say my luck with Habanos has been outstanding.

 

[marcsheldon]

just as poll goes...id say i have a bad one for every 20 that are perfect.

 

[mrjinglesusa]

just as poll goes...id say i have a bad one for every 20 that are perfect.

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That's about my rate as well. I keep mine at about 62-65% and haven't had much trouble.

 

[lucasbuck]

Stick to Cohiba

 

[DocRKS]

Partagas Lusi, SD4 and P2
H. Upmann No. 2 and Sir Winston
Sancho Panza Belicoso
Montecristo No. 2 and Edmundo
Cohiba Lanceros ('01 Revisado '05) and Piramide
RyJ EL Robusto
Punch Churchill

I've had the above in this last week or so and have not had to pitch 1 because of poor construction or any of the problems you listed.... Best Value and bang for the buck IMO was the Sancho Beli followed by the Cohiba Lancero and Sir Winnie!

 

[alexgtp]

So far so good. Guess I am lucky that my vendors have good sticks.!

I think i only smoked 1 bad RASS a while back..i tihnk it hit its sick phase.. because i smoked one from the same batch a few months later and it was great.

 

[ree ree robusto]

Stick to Cohiba

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I second that! Cohiba rocks! :sign:

 

[moki]

I really love the taste of cuban cigars..

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That's funny... there's a huge array of tastes in cigars from Cuba... you're saying you like them all?

 

[cvmfour]

Plugs or tight draws will happen. If you smoke cuban cigar regularly I guess you just get used to it. I've noticed some really tight draws/plugs and I either set them back in the humi and come back to them in a couple months and toss them after that if they are still too tight to draw.

 

[Jan Primus]

I really love the taste of cuban cigars..

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That's funny... there's a huge array of tastes in cigars from Cuba... you're saying you like them all?

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Almost all the ones I've tried...atleast the ones that weren't off.

 

[Jan Primus]

Stick to Cohiba

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I second that! Cohiba rocks! :sign:

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I have a bunch of robustos from may 05...think they'll be good to go for next summer?

 

[dcbancroft]

I like my P..sy tight.

 

[elvergun]

I only have one problem with my Cubans - they are too bitter. But that’s my fault…I just have not had the patience to let them rest for a couple of months after I got my shipments in.

 

[The Master]

I have had plenty of bad luck construction wise for years when it comes to Cuban cigars. Most of the bad boxes were replaced by the vendor, if you smoke enough Cubans you will bound to run into some really crappy cigars.

The worst sizes are the lonsdale’s and grand panatelas, my two favorite sizes. Unfortunately Cuba's quality control completely sucks. I have seen with my own eyes how they go about their version of quality control.

They finally started to look at this issue and are now making cigars that are much better construction wise. Their reputation as the world’s best cigars took a serious beating and now that Altadis owns 50 percent of Habanos SA they are trying to get that reputation back. If it wasn't for Altadis I think they would still have serious quality control issues.

 

[lucasbuck]

I have a bunch of robustos from may 05...think they'll be good to go for next summer?

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Yes. Though if you can put some aside for a few more years you won't regret it.

 

[hudsonvalley]

The worst Cubans I have ever had came through....Canada.
They had the same problems you described, little flavor (no 'u' in that by the way ), hard, tight draw. Storage at low humidity may be the culprit.

You may be having a problem with the wrong country, eh?
j/k, of course.

 

[golfgar]

Partagas Lusi, SD4 and P2
H. Upmann No. 2 and Sir Winston
Sancho Panza Belicoso
Montecristo No. 2 and Edmundo
Cohiba Lanceros ('01 Revisado '05) and Piramide
RyJ EL Robusto
Punch Churchill

I've had the above in this last week or so and have not had to pitch 1 because of poor construction or any of the problems you listed.... Best Value and bang for the buck IMO was the Sancho Beli followed by the Cohiba Lancero and Sir Winnie!

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I have had a couple of boxes of the SPBeli, 4 years in between buys because the first box was about 1/2 plugged and the other half was an extremely tight draw. You could taste the wonderful tabacky, but had to toss most of the box 1/2 way through the cigar or less. The newer box is not nearly as bad, most have been smokable, but again not all. Just my $.02.

 

[Strayvector]

About the only cigars I smoke. Haven't had too much luck with the NCs I've tried. Some have been good smokes, but at any price point or size, I've found Cuban cigars whose flavors I prefer. A couple of years ago, I experienced tight draws on a few BBFs and others, but lately, I've had nothing but good luck.

 

[hdlr97]

Most of the draw problems I've experienced with cubans were with smaller ring gauge cigars, especially box pressed. Mostly I've had good luck with them. As with all cigars you're gonna get a bad one here and there but I haven't found cubans to be any worse than NC's.