• BOTL UPCOMING MAINTENANCE

    Hi Everyone, as mentioned in my introduction post, BOTL needs quite a bit of updating, patching and whatever else I might come across. Over the next few weekends BOTL may be unreachable on occasion as I do migrations or updates, etc. Just be patient - we'll be back! I'll generally try to keep these maintenances until later in the evenings.

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  1. Bruce T.

    cigar quality in Cuba is not great

    So, what is a "fundadores"
  2. Bruce T.

    cigar quality in Cuba is not great

    I've never been impressed with the cost of CC's in Cuba. They are about half the price of what we can get them for here in Canada but that still makes them expensive in my books. Cigar prices are insane in my part of Canada due to taxation. The Punch tubo that I bought in Cuba was about 7 cuc...
  3. Bruce T.

    cigar quality in Cuba is not great

    You may be right but I go there for the sun and a good time. I don't want to spend my time hunting out cigar bargains. I'm too busy drinking scotch and smoking in the bar (yes, you can smoke in the bars!)
  4. Bruce T.

    cigar quality in Cuba is not great

    I just got back from my annual vacation in Cuba. I bought a few cigars while I was there and most of them had either beetle holes (which don't bother me unless they are going into my humidor) or they had mold. I bought from two different locations and was buying mainly R&J and Punch tubos. I...
  5. Bruce T.

    Videos

    There is a mention of some stems. It made me wonder about my practice of removing all the stem in my filler leaf. Maybe I should leave some. It must impact the flavor profile. It is basically wood rather than leaf. I've seen small stems in a number of premium cigars. Opinions???
  6. Bruce T.

    Microwave drying with excellent results

    I've been rolling off and on for several years. I always brought all my leaf up to case and my rolls were always too wet. This often resulted in very hard draws. Now I know to keep my filler leaf much dryer than the wrapper and binder. My cigars are much better now and can be smoked the next...
  7. Bruce T.

    Padron Rolling/Capping

    I've never seen a roll like that and I've watched hundreds of videos of different cigar factories. It does seem ugly.... but I do like the Padron brand, even the cheap ones.
  8. Bruce T.

    Box Freezing

    Freezing provides 100% piece of mind. There is no down side.
  9. Bruce T.

    cigar shrinkage

    Holy Crap! It's the 85th episode of Seinfeld... and it's got a Wikipedia entry! The internet is so weird.
  10. Bruce T.

    cigar shrinkage

    I have no idea what the hell this means ^^^^ but using filler that was too moist was a real problem for me until I learned that it had to be almost dry. Live and learn. I love this hobby.
  11. Bruce T.

    Dude, plume doesn't grow through the cello!

    It's hard to determine sarcasm in a post but please note that I said that I don't "believe" that plume exists. Just stating what I believe. What I do know for sure is that I have never seen a cigar with anything that could be described as plume. I've seen lots of different molds and other...
  12. Bruce T.

    Dude, plume doesn't grow through the cello!

    Does plume exist? When I roll cigars I get a lot of the oils on my hands. Maybe I'll wipe some off and put it on the surface of a piece of leaf. This would create an excess of oils on the surface of the leaf. Then I'll put it in my humidor for a few month or years. My bet is that there...
  13. Bruce T.

    Dude, plume doesn't grow through the cello!

    I'm no expert on pipe tobacco but as I understand it pipe tobacco has additives for flavor. Many of the additives have sugars in them. Therefore sometimes crystals can be seen forming on pipe tobacco. Unflavored cigar tobacco is different. The white stuff on cigars is simply various types of...
  14. Bruce T.

    My lounge planning thread

    You mentioned bathroom fans. There have been a lot of good suggestions for other options but just remember that if you go with something like a bathroom fan make sure it is installed outside the room so that you don't hear it.
  15. Bruce T.

    Curious what you favorite Inexpensive Cigar.

    Padron 2000 and Illusion Rothchild were already mentioned. Punch Rothchild Joya de Nicaragua Red PDR 1878 Blue
  16. Bruce T.

    CC brand names in the US

    Yeah this ^^^^^ Carry on with the discussion of trademarks and embargoes but that is not really what I want to know. I just figured that if General Cigar (for example) is making a Cohiba Red Dot and can ONLY sell it in the USA because the rest of the world still respects Cuban trademarks (not a...
  17. Bruce T.

    CC brand names in the US

    I'm a Canadian so we have lots of CC's in our shops. I always assumed that our shops didn't carry the Nicaraguan and Dominican made cigars that use the CC names so that there would't be any confusion but I just read the those cigars are made exclusively for the US market. That makes sense but...
  18. Bruce T.

    Anyone else lighter cursed?

    I have owned several lighters. They work for a few months and then they fail. They all have different problems. I just got a beautiful Calibri soft flame lighter for Christmas. It lights once and then won't relight unless I let it rest for 5 minutes. There is spark and gas flow but it just...
  19. Bruce T.

    How to keep your stash from drying out

    Thanks for the quick reply Webmost. I think I'll bring what I have up to case and stick it in a cooler. If nothing else it will stop me from having to plan my rolling a week in advance. I like your comment about distilled water. I use that on my KL in my humidor but I agree about the leaves...
  20. Bruce T.

    How to keep your stash from drying out

    I am an infrequent roller. I will sometime go months between sessions. I found it takes too much work to keep my leaf stash in case so I let it dry out and then a few days before rolling I spray it and bring it back to a workable level. I always thought that this was somehow detrimental to...
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