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memphsdad

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Elitist smokers....
Icehog
Jfire
Chef
Aloha
MVP
TommyZ
Fairly certain these guys lost the NC love as well....
Wintosh
JP8
Kingkill Doug
DQ
(And that's just off memory....
Hmmmm what do all these long term BOTL FoG know some with 10 years or more here???
Well.
A)
CCs age better and certainly much longer. This is coming from a former PJ fanboy. (I mean I do still own a 1 of a kind Frank 4 ft oil on canvas painting....)
Ncs good luck past 3-4 years of aging, at most. Enjoy that fresh hot air.
B) Ashtray mouth the next morning (or later that same night.)
It sucks, I can't stand it. And It's only with NCs.
Edited:
C) THE INVESTMENT FACTOR. Every single box of CUBAN CIGARS I've decided to sell a few years later has returned more than I paid.
I sold a Full RASS cab after 5 years for 550 in Nov 16. I paid 279 for it. I did not intend on selling it but 550 bought a lot of new CCs.....
Elitist. Lol


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Thanks for leaving me off your list

#triggered
 

AlohaStyle

BoM Sept '12 & Aug '13
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I've been to Cuba several times. I love the Cuban people. The people are not backwards or stuck in time.....they're POOR. That's why they use oxen. That's why they work in run down buildings. But being poor does not make them stupid. They are a highly educated people. They have an almost 100% literacy rate. They have high quality universities and twice as many physicians per capita than the U.S. According to an article in the Harvard Review, the current principal source of revenue in Cuba is not sugar cane or rum or even tourism. It is the export of healthcare services by means of sending physicians, nurses, and healthcare technicians to other countries. They describe Cuba as "an ideal location for healthcare organizations, but also for those in applied sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals." These are the high level skills that they apply to their cigar industry. They may use oxen to plow their fields but they have Phd's doing their tobacco plant genetics.
Does the Harvard Review also say how many doctors and professionals in the medical industry have flat out quit their jobs to drive taxi and do other tourist related jobs? That, is where the money is at for the people... sadly.
 

Jfire

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This is wrong. Or better said, a massive overgeneralization.
Name them Mike. I once witnessed a man put down a 30 dollar NC after a inch.... ring a bell.?
Also I'll add your Opus and MF (including Tats are less than 1% of the NC market.)
I never said NCs don't age well. I said after about 4 years. Good luck, they decline rapidly. And while there may be a few examples. Le Verite comes to mind. MF Blue labels also. Even Opus and Illusione are done by the 5 year mark. They start to become shells of their former NC strength. At least at the 5 year mark Litto's fire proof wrapper becomes combustible.

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Name them Mike. I once witnessed a man put down a 30 dollar NC after a inch.... ring a bell.?
Also I'll add your Opus and MF (including Tats are less than 1% of the NC market.)
I never said NCs don't age well. I said after about 4 years. Good luck, they decline rapidly. And while there may be a few examples. Le Verite comes to mind. MF Blue labels also. Even Opus and Illusione are done by the 5 year mark. They start to become shells of their former NC strength. At least at the 5 year mark Litto's fire proof wrapper becomes combustible.
Quite a bit to respond to and pick apart! But I won't.

I'll just say this: it's ok to like cuban cigars (I do). It's ok to like non-cuban cigars (I do). It's not ok to be douchey about someone else's preference either way. You're tip-toe'ing that line. Don't be that guy, bro.
 
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sofc

I hate E and Chef
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I'm always douchey about someone else's preferences. :)

MF tobacco ages great, even after 4 or 5 years.
Been smoking 2009-2010 Liga since 2010 and they've still held up great.
Had an 09 Verite the other day that was absolutely fantastic but I do agree that some of the monsters are less than stellar after a few years.
 

memphsdad

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I'm always douchey about someone else's preferences. :)

MF tobacco ages great, even after 4 or 5 years.
Been smoking 2009-2010 Liga since 2010 and they've still held up great.
Had an 09 Verite the other day that was absolutely fantastic but I do agree that some of the monsters are less than stellar after a few years.
Cmac sent me an LFD from 09 that was phenomenal, and I can't stand LFD.
 
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In his defense, he was eating cupcakes, plus it's not like the cigar went to waste after that.... ;)
Thanks Craig! I didn't want to go there, but.....let's just say I've never seen someone pick up another man's cigar out of a dirty ashtray and relight it. (I've never seen it because it happened after I left.)
 

ChefBoyRG54

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Im confused by @Jfire list. Am I on there as an "elitist" smoker because i transitioned away from NCs to CCs only? If that's the case then i get what your list means because i know and interact with pretty much everyone on there and know what they tend to smoke.

My transition was gradual, but inevitable in hindsight. The last NC i tried to smoke was a Padron 1964 and it was disgusting. about 12 puffs and i flung it. Only smoked it becuase i ran out of sticks up north. It was so bad i would rather smoke nothing.

Doesnt mean a lot of people dont enjoy them. I used to at one point. Fuente, Tats, Roma, Warped, CH, etc.

But my palette chased a more flavorful balance of strength and taste that I could only find in CCs. I think a large driver in this was doing blind reviews. Blind reviews removed all of the expectations and pre-judgements and allowed me to focus solely on flavor and experience. For me, this pushed me towards chasing the flavor spectrum differently and as a result of trying some key CCs while traveling abroad, it threw me off the cliff. Add to that, the chase for limited NCs and some of the prices went overboard well before the CC regional lunacy of late.

Ive removed myself from the regional/limited CC chasing lately and have been focusing on building a stockpile for years to come. Why? Because to me, CCs with 3, 5, 10, or 20 years cant be competed with. I smoked a 1998 Partagas 898V with 3 other gents on a cruise last month. They spent the week smoking Olivas and other dogshit cigars(my opinion i guess, even though its true) and the 98 898 blew their friggin minds. We all sat around marveling at the semi-mildness, but overwhelming amount of flavor. So much so that 2 of them said they were saving the bands for some display of sorts LOL.

I havent seen too many guys excited about smoking any 1998 NCs, so maybe theres some credence to @Jfire claims of the downhill aging of NCs. I havent had too much impress me from the NC realm thats been more than a couple years old in my experience. Its all personal preference so people can smoke whatever, but Im pretty damn confident I will never smoke another NC. And I sure as hell am not buying NCs to smoke in 2025 as I am now with CCs.
 

ChefBoyRG54

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Thanks Craig! I didn't want to go there, but.....let's just say I've never seen someone pick up another man's cigar out of a dirty ashtray and relight it. (I've never seen it because it happened after I left.)
I haven't seen him take one from an ashtray, but I have seen him pick one up out of his grass and keep it going. 02 Monte A iirc
 
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But as far as the oscuros I picked up one of each size and they were just terrible smokes. The only notes I could pick up was dirt. It tasted as if I feel and landed face first into dirt.
Sounds like your palette needs some work. A good exercise I often recommend to people to work on developing their palettes is to go through your spice cabinet. Try some different spices and try to recall those flavors and essences as you smoke your cigars. It takes some practice but you should be able to start picking up more than dirt. Also, maybe brush your teeth.


Sorry Chuck, couldnt help myself. <3 u
 

sofc

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Sounds like your palette needs some work. A good exercise I often recommend to people to work on developing their palettes is to go through your spice cabinet. Try some different spices and try to recall those flavors and essences as you smoke your cigars. It takes some practice but you should be able to start picking up more than dirt. Also, maybe brush your teeth.


Sorry Chuck, couldnt help myself. <3 u
He has been smoking for less than a year so you might be right.
 
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