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Which should I buy?

A

amateuraficionado

Active Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
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Location
Jersey Shore
So I see this question asked from time to time and I figured instead of starting a new thread every time, maybe we could just have one thread where members can post their indecisiveness and others can offer their opinions and some direction. I'll go first...... :D ..... and I have (errrrr, my friend residing in a foreign country who intends on spending his own money, which is his native country's currency) has 2......

Partagas 898 Varnished '01 or LGC Medaille D' Oro #2 '01
and
Bolivar Corona Extra '00 or SLR Serie A '00

What say you?
 
I would concur with Greg on these, but I would agree with mmburtch some of these smokes are very very different. But I would say you could not go wrong with any of them.

Jim
 
mmburtch said:
I'm with Greg also, but the choices are really apples and oranges on both lines.
Click to expand...

That's right. I do realize that the Boli's and Parti's are fuller bodied and the SLR's and LGC's are more medium, even mild, bodied. I haven't tried any of these except for the A's and not with nearly that much age. I have however tried offerings from each marca and have enjoyed all of them. I've read that fuller bodied smokes tend to age better than mild or medium bodied ones. How true that is I do not know.
 
I wouldn't recommend buying any of those above. Your friend is taking a big risk in buying aged cigars, as he/she doesn't know how they were stored, especially the Bolivar CE.

I would highly recommend your friend to buy more recent productions and age them him/her self, and if they don't know how it matures, try a cigar or two every couple of months. When the cigars reach a really enjoyable stage, just smoke up the whole box and keep in mind how long they were sitting down for future self aging purposes. I find more satisfaction this way as opposed to buying a golden egg only to receive a lemon.

With that being said, someone once told me this and I'll pass it on...

Aging cigars is a personal preference thing, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
 
Dave said:
I wouldn't recommend buying any of those above. Your friend is taking a big risk in buying aged cigars, as he/she doesn't know how they were stored, especially the Bolivar CE.

I would highly recommend your friend to buy more recent productions and age them him/her self, and if they don't know how it matures, try a cigar or two every couple of months. When the cigars reach a really enjoyable stage, just smoke up the whole box and keep in mind how long they were sitting down for future self aging purposes. I find more satisfaction this way as opposed to buying a golden egg only to receive a lemon.

With that being said, someone once told me this and I'll pass it on...

Aging cigars is a personal preference thing, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice Dave. I have two questions:

1) Why especially the Boli's?

2) I have been told that the presence of plume is a sign that a cigar was properly aged. Is this true in your opinion?


edit to add: 3) So are you saying that in your opinion one should never purchase aged cigars?
 
amateuraficionado said:
Dave said:
I wouldn't recommend buying any of those above. Your friend is taking a big risk in buying aged cigars, as he/she doesn't know how they were stored, especially the Bolivar CE.

I would highly recommend your friend to buy more recent productions and age them him/her self, and if they don't know how it matures, try a cigar or two every couple of months. When the cigars reach a really enjoyable stage, just smoke up the whole box and keep in mind how long they were sitting down for future self aging purposes. I find more satisfaction this way as opposed to buying a golden egg only to receive a lemon.

With that being said, someone once told me this and I'll pass it on...

Aging cigars is a personal preference thing, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice Dave. I have two questions:

1) Why especially the Boli's?

2) I have been told that the presence of plume is a sign that a cigar was properly aged. Is this true in your opinion?


edit to add: 3) So are you saying that in your opinion one should never purchase aged cigars?
Click to expand...

1) Bolivars are one of the most flavourful cigars I've smoked, and my favorite is the Bolivar CE. There were many rumors floating about that some retailers would artificially speed up the maturation processes of cigars, and the most common culprit are the Bolivar CE's. This was documented in the MRN book under the Bolivar Coronas Extra entry.

2)That would also mean that the absence of plume is the result of improper aging, and that is not the case at all. Plume either happens or doesn't happen, depends on the cigar, tobacco, and numerous other factors including storage conditions.

3)I'm not saying never buy aged cigars, but be wary of what you are buying and know the possible pitfalls. I've smoked many aged cigars, and almost every aged cigar I got from a vendor tasted lacking. In fact, now that I think about it, I only really enjoyed the aged cigars from friends whom I traded with or was gifted, I can only attribute this to the fact that I know they take care of their stock, of course there is always that psychological perception issue as well.

When I was starting to sample a lot of stuff, I was on a fanatical aged cigar hunt. Imagine my surprise when I found the ones I purchased from vendors to be less than what the reviews had published on them. Once in a while I might find one that just gives me that "wow" factor, but unfortunately it is far and few in between. There are some good aged cigars out there, don't get me wrong, but personally I don't like taking that gamble, especially for the premium price the aging commands. In the end, it's all really personal preference, how flavourful your friend likes his/her cigars, how smooth, self control, etc.
 
Dave,
Excellent points; many echoing my own concerns, conclusions, experience so far, etc. :thumbs:
 
Dave said:
amateuraficionado said:
Dave said:
I wouldn't recommend buying any of those above. Your friend is taking a big risk in buying aged cigars, as he/she doesn't know how they were stored, especially the Bolivar CE.

I would highly recommend your friend to buy more recent productions and age them him/her self, and if they don't know how it matures, try a cigar or two every couple of months. When the cigars reach a really enjoyable stage, just smoke up the whole box and keep in mind how long they were sitting down for future self aging purposes. I find more satisfaction this way as opposed to buying a golden egg only to receive a lemon.

With that being said, someone once told me this and I'll pass it on...

Aging cigars is a personal preference thing, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice Dave. I have two questions:

1) Why especially the Boli's?

2) I have been told that the presence of plume is a sign that a cigar was properly aged. Is this true in your opinion?


edit to add: 3) So are you saying that in your opinion one should never purchase aged cigars?
Click to expand...

1) Bolivars are one of the most flavourful cigars I've smoked, and my favorite is the Bolivar CE. There were many rumors floating about that some retailers would artificially speed up the maturation processes of cigars, and the most common culprit are the Bolivar CE's. This was documented in the MRN book under the Bolivar Coronas Extra entry.

2)That would also mean that the absence of plume is the result of improper aging, and that is not the case at all. Plume either happens or doesn't happen, depends on the cigar, tobacco, and numerous other factors including storage conditions.

3)I'm not saying never buy aged cigars, but be wary of what you are buying and know the possible pitfalls. I've smoked many aged cigars, and almost every aged cigar I got from a vendor tasted lacking. In fact, now that I think about it, I only really enjoyed the aged cigars from friends whom I traded with or was gifted, I can only attribute this to the fact that I know they take care of their stock, of course there is always that psychological perception issue as well.

When I was starting to sample a lot of stuff, I was on a fanatical aged cigar hunt. Imagine my surprise when I found the ones I purchased from vendors to be less than what the reviews had published on them. Once in a while I might find one that just gives me that "wow" factor, but unfortunately it is far and few in between. There are some good aged cigars out there, don't get me wrong, but personally I don't like taking that gamble, especially for the premium price the aging commands. In the end, it's all really personal preference, how flavourful your friend likes his/her cigars, how smooth, self control, etc.
Click to expand...


Thanks Dave, much appreciated. Being relatively new to this this is all great info. I probably should've phrased it as 'I thought plume is a result of properly aging a cigar' instead of 'the result'. Stated either way, it still doesn't necessarily mean the absence of plume means that the cigars were stored improperly. Like you said, there are several other factors involved. I guess my question is how would you know whether the individuals you are trading with bought their sticks aged or if they aged them themselves?

I think 'my friend' is on that same "fanatical aged cigar hunt" you were on. :laugh: I'd be very interested to see others weigh in on some of the points that you've raised. I guess that's also the benefit of having a palate that either is not so refined yet, or is just burnt out. The aged cigars smoked to date have been kinda of like pizza..... even if they were bad, they were still pretty good!
 
The only thing I can add to what Dave's written (he's spot on on all of it, IMO) is that there's an additional risk in buying cigars from the vintages you asked about in the OP because of the very real potential for construction issues from that time frame.

Personally, of what you've mentioned, I would try to find a box (or Cab if you can swing it) of Boli CEs and a box of Parti 898V's from 2006/2007. Both are cigars I really enjoy, and am inclined to smoke more often than the SLR or the LGC (which are very good in their own right).
 
amateuraficionado said:
I guess my question is how would you know whether the individuals you are trading with bought their sticks aged or if they aged them themselves?
Click to expand...


I won't know for sure unless I ask them. Although when it tastes good (could be a psychological perception working against reality) I don't feel like asking and just accept it for what it is.
 
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