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Nicaragua…the new Cuba? (or why Cuban cigar smokers hate non-Cuban cigars)
9 Responses to “Nicaragua…the new Cuba? (or why Cuban cigar smokers hate non-Cuban cigars)”
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Beautifully said my friend. I agree with you whole heartily. After smoking for so many years I find that the latest creations from select families have sparked new interest in cigar smoking and made cigar collecting a lot of fun. The problem I have now is trying to decide what I want to smoke. Because there all that good! And though I enjoy a good Cuban, I don’t feel I’m missing out. Manny thanks to all the cigar families for there dedication to the art of cigar making.Best regards, Marco Lebron.
Living in a place where it is easy to get and legal to buy cuban cigars, i still find myself buy more and more non-cubans. While i love Cuban cigars, i got sick of dropping my hard earned cash on smokes that either:
A: have to left to rest for at least a year because they are under cured
B: are to tightly rolled or are plugged so badly they dont draw
C: start to unravel as soon as you cut or punch the cap
Nothing is better to me than a good Monte #2 or Cohiba, its just lately there havent been many good Montes or Cohibas.
Brands like Fuente, Drew Estate, Padron, My Father and Tatuaje are doing a great job of flying the flag for NC cigar makers. Look in my cabnet and you’ll find many boxes of NC cigars but only a handful of cubans. The reason for that is, when i open a box of Ligas, Opus, Tats ect, i know that everyone of those sticks is going to be perfect. When i open a box of Cubans i find myself hoping that there will be atleast a few decent cigars in that box of 25. I once bought a box of Monte #5’s and 18 of the 24 were plugged.
The golden age of the Cuban Tobacco Industry is long gone. Hopefully they’ll make a comeback to the levels of quality we all know they are capeable of (god help us all if the embargo is ever lifted though) if not, at least there are more and more new quality brands and sizes coming out every week that you know will more often or not be perfect
Two important changes have occurred since this article was written. One is that Cuban cigars have greatly improved in quality control since 2006. The other is that prices for premium Nicaraguan and Honduran cigars has skyrocketed, for the best cigars as much as $9-$13 a stick, making many premium Cuban cigars now LESS expensive than their non-Cuban counterparts. I don’t know why U.S. consumers put up with those prices. If the taste and aroma of a handmade Cuban cigar is still the benchmark, one might as well smoke Cuban cigars if you can get them.
yeah , if you can get them, But the main problem is that people in United States like myself who love good quality cigars, when we try to get some good authentic Cubans from overseas, we tend to get scammed 90 percent of the time, I have ordered from a few places in Canada, and over in Switzerland and a few other countries, and have gotten fake Cubans way to many times, so I have given up on even trying to order authentic Cubans, the retailers over seas who are passing fake Cubans to United States citizens are only hurting them selves because the word spreads quickly and then they get a bad rap, I know the don’t care because they still make millions off of people who don’t know the real Cuban from fake so they continue to give these crooks there hard earned money, I myself like a full bodied cigar and tend to smoke only NIC. Yes I would love to find a legit online retailer who would sell legit 100 percent authentic Cubans but it just don’t happen in this cruel world we live in, I have gotten Cubans where the box was legit, all the seals were correct and labels were correct but the put in fake cigars, I have been smoking cigars for over 30 years and I have smoked thousands of real authentic Cubans so I know what to look for and I can spot the real from fake, I just wish there were some honest retailers over seas so United States can purchase authentic cigars without having to worry about getting burned by fakes. So in the meantime I will continue to smoke the NICs. and enjoy it…….
I agree with Glen. It’s stupid the way these boutique manufacturers think that their cigars are so fricking great that they can charge what they do for them. I refuse to buy them anymore since I’ve gotten several suppliers that are more than reliable in getting me both regular production and limited edition Cuban cigars. I just don’t see the sense in spending more for a product that, in reality, is aiming to imitate a cuban in the first place! If that is not the case, then why is Pepin Garcia have a “Cuban Classic Black Label” ??? Why does Tatuaje have several lines that mimic cubans, oh and Pepin’s blue label, it goes on and on with this “cubanesque” crap that I just really don’t see why experienced smokers buy them and instead just invest your money in real cubans that actually age gracefully and not taste like tasteless cardboard after 5~7 years?!?!???
Having spent years smoking both Cuban and non-Cuban cigars, I appreciate how great cigars can be, regardless of where they are made. But I think the word “Cubanesque” is not only overused, but inaccurate. In my article Traditional Cigar Flavor, I discuss how far non-Cuban cigars have drifted from their Cuban roots. The first use of the word Cubanesque, as far as I can remember, was when Tatuaje cigars came on the scene. I think these cigars taste nothing like CCs, but becuase they were originally modeled after CCs, the word Cubanesque was applied as a marketing tool. I think it’s a mistake to ever say a NC tastes like a CC becuase of the unique differences in the taste of the tobaccos. But there are some NC cigars that have what I call traditional flavor profiles, and they pay homage to the best cigars made in Cuba. Lastly, with regard to cigar prices, there are many great NC cigars in the $4-6 range, and I smoke them regularly. In the NC world,cigar prices simply don’t indicate quality.
For many years now, I’ve been a cigar enthusiast; just an enthusiast though, not a daily or weekly smoker. I’ve had African, Nicaraguan(Cuban seed), South American, Caribbean, Floridian, and supposedly, one rolled fresh in New Orleans, during a days visit to the Quarter. I knew a cat in Columbus Ms. that could, on occasion, get Cubans and was very hard pressed to let them go. However, one day I talked him in to selling me one, for a whopping $35. It was a smoking experience like no other. I could taste the rain and very soil the tobacco was grown in, so earthy and pleasant, absolutely amazing. I’ll tell u the truth about my thoughts on Cubans b4 that evening at the Elbow Room. I figured peoples interest in Cubans was fueled from their being so rare; then I finally got a chance to enjoy 1. It was well worth the $35 spent. It would be nice if they were not so expensive, but if u ever have the chance, and know it’s a Cuban, don’t hesitate to spend the extra money.
I’d take aged nicaraguan tobacco over a Cuban any day. But I also roll my own cigars so really I can blend whatever I want exactly how I want it. the spice of a nicaraguan ligero leaf is something that makes my mouth water. I’ve had Cuban cigars. 4 out of the 5 I had were pretty decent. But if you really want something good, do it yourself. It cost me about 50 cents per stogie and I could throw them in a box and nobody would even know. you can buy molds or just hand roll old world style.
Cuban cigars? Vastly overrated