La Palina/Cigar Page Questions

[Argus17]

I've won/bought La Palina cigars from CA/Famous and have found them to be very enjoyable. A few weeks ago, I found a post here about Cigar Page having a La Palina sale. Classics, Blacks and Reds at dirt cheap prices. I picked up a 10 pack of Classics and Blacks to give them a try.

The first thing I noticed about the Classics, is that compared to the ones I received from Famous, these where soft and under filled. Flavor seemed about right, but burn was not that great.

The blacks really surprised me. Instead of 50 ring gauge like they are suppose to be, the ones from Cigar Page where 54. Again, flavor seems to be about right, but the size is way, way off.

I also picked up some PDR 1878 capa maduro, a cigar I've enjoyed in the past. These where a little "off" flavor wise, and the cap and pre-draw had strong "musty" notes, as if the cigars where not properly stored.

Anyone else experience Cigar Page cigars being a little "off" or "odd", or did I just happen to run into some bad luck?

 

[Boudie]

Maybe they where way over humidified. Never had a problem with CP but I rest everything!

 

[Glassman]

I got some mx2s from them that were a bit dry, but no worse than some stuff from CI/cbid/cigars.com..
I think the other stuff I've gotten from them has been fine.
Don't the the la palina blacks come in at least 2 different sizes?

It does seem like they are the big lots /odd lots of cigar dealers, they seem to be selling excess or unsold inventory of others.

 

[Argus17]

Don't the the la palina blacks come in at least 2 different sizes?

The sizes on La Palina's web site show 6x40, 5x52, 6x50 and 6x60. CP's description also shows them as 6x50, but these are definitely 6x54. Maybe someone was using the wrong molds, and La Palina sold them to CP as an odd lot. Strange thing is they still have the 2 factory bands, and most companies sell off their mistakes as 2nds without bands. Oh, and these things put off way more smoke then any other black label I've ever smoked. I had to keep looking at it to make sure I hadn't picked up a Nica Rustica by mistake, lol.

It does seem like they are the big lots /odd lots of cigar dealers, they seem to be selling excess or unsold inventory of others.

That does make a lot of sense, especially considering the price, but again, odd lots/2nds don't usually have bands.

 

[Glassman]

Probably stuff that shouldn't be off bad enough to have to try to sell unbranded.

 

[MC808]

La Palina Classic and Black Label lines were once made by PDR but La Palina has since changed factories. Possible explanation?

 

[bostoneo]

@Argus17 , From what I recall cigarpage doesn't buy direct from manufacturer, they buy stores old/overstock or if a shop is going out of business they buy their inventory up at pennies on the dollar and pass along some savings. So by the time you get them they've already been stored elsewhere twice in the retail realm.

 

[Boudie]

Just received a "cheap" deal on these, the words Capa Oscura where written on the plastic wrap of the 5ers. I can't find a picture of this cigar without the 2nd band or a picture showing the curly tail. I paid $18.91 for a 10 pack with shipping on the Scorcher. Guess this further supports the idea that they buy factory test runs and whatever else the can find people are trying to get rid of.