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Couple of quick questions

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Correct - the first 3 letters are known as the Factory Code, as in, which Factory made the cigars. There is a method to decoding which factory code leads to which Factory but I am not familiar with that. I know there are many on BOTL who can help with this though.

The next 3 letters with 2 numbers is your date. The date is using the Spanish alphabet so you have the following:

English Month = Spanish Month = Month Code
January = Enero = ENE
February = Febrero = FEB
March = Marzo = MAR
April = Abril = ABR
May = Mayo = MAY
June = Junio = JUN
July = Julio = JUL
August = Agosto = AGO
September = Septiembre = SEP
October = Octubre = OCT
November = Noviembre = NOV
December = Diciembre = DIC
Any help with box codes and which factories would be great! I had found some resources that were helpful but then found out that they change/recycle or switch codes between factories for some reason (forget what it was). Anyone know about this or have any input would be really appreciated
 

Glassman

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I also have a box of Por Larange Montecarlos coming in that everyone says 5 to 10 to be special
I had one that was only a year or two old and it was fantastic. It really depends on batch with many of these. Hence Chucks advice.
Personally I'd give them a few weeks to acclimate then try one. If it's amazing, I'd want to try to grab another box of the same code if possible.
Buuuut, if you do want to try to smoke through your NC's, instead of potentially selling, donating, or bombing some of the excess, then it might be wise not to touch these. When you have better stuff, sometimes it's hard to smoke your lesser stuff...
That said, life is short and tomorrow isn't promised, I'm not going to save all my best stuff for "someday".
 
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There’s really no need to freeze them UNLESS they were purchased directly from Cuba. That being said, I agree with Chuck. It’s good to see how they progress as some cigars might peak and then the flavors tend to go down. I would also suggest letting them acclimatize for 3-4 weeks and then trying one to see how they are so far. Those marcas do really well with 3-5 years on them. Happy smoking!
 

Nacho Daddy

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Any help with box codes and which factories would be great! I had found some resources that were helpful but then found out that they change/recycle or switch codes between factories for some reason (forget what it was). Anyone know about this or have any input would be really appreciated
Factory codes are changed at random.
Habanos found that buyers were seeking out mother factories and passing by the smaller ones searching for quality.
It is possible as well that the prime leaf was sent to the mother factories,another reason to pick and choose.
A box code will last a year or so, I do not recall one lasting 2 years ,but I do not see ALL of them.
Cuba is not like Nica, Honduras etc ,where you can produce the same cigar for thousands of boxes,season after season.
the infrastructure is just not there.
Also,the available leaf is limited to what is produced in Cuba.
The abundance of leaf outside of Cuba allows better quality control as well.
 
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Factory codes are changed at random.
Habanos found that buyers were seeking out mother factories and passing by the smaller ones searching for quality.
It is possible as well that the prime leaf was sent to the mother factories,another reason to pick and choose.
A box code will last a year or so, I do not recall one lasting 2 years ,but I do not see ALL of them.
Cuba is not like Nica, Honduras etc ,where you can produce the same cigar for thousands of boxes,season after season.
the infrastructure is just not there.
Also,the available leaf is limited to what is produced in Cuba.
The abundance of leaf outside of Cuba allows better quality control as well.
Didn't LUB last from '13-'15?
 
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