Blakes

100% pre Probably around 40% Cuban last year when I was exploring NC alternatives. However the biggest change is in volume. Pre around 20 boxes a year give or take.. all Cuban. Last year, 1 box and a dozen singles, this year zero boxes, zero singles - The last CC I smoked was on NYE.

The Divinos used to be in my semi-regular rotation - when I still could afford CCs! 🙃 The best of them used have this lovely red liquorice note in there that I've never found in any other CC.

If you're lucky only 10%, 5 cigars out of the 50 cab, $250 worth! 😁

At $50 each ($2500 a box) not a chance! 😳 🙄 🤡

Many times. Usually due to cigars that are like tent pegs. I remember once when my mate gave me a third of a box of unvarnished 898's that were rock hard, he had had enough of them.. nothing worked until I cut them in half and we got a dozen or so okay smoking minutos. 😏 A few Monte especial, Hoyo Du Gourmet and Cohiba Lancero have had the same treatment too....

Wow! That's a lot of cigars. Maybe once upon a time, but given the new 2022 price regime, for any one person to try enough '22 examples of each of those cigars to give a half decent picture you'd need to be burning through £££££'s - and this is only group 1. 😳

I went with Hoyo and QDO. Cohiba, PL and QDO are the Marcas that stick out, but I find Hoyo really begin to shine as they age. There aren't many cigars that beat a well aged Des Dieux.

My neck of the woods, our parliamentary constituency still bears the name, Westmorland and Lonsdale.

Market research guy: You know those cigars we've spent the last two decades making extinct - the Corona and the Lonsdale. Habanos: Yeah..? MRG: Well, polling shows they're actually quite highly regarded. Habanos: Leave it with us.....

I remember 2014 Bolivar PC's been unreal, I couldn't get enough of them. I think the code was ULA.

I have very fond memories of this cigar. Thank you for the review and for reminding me of them.

It would be great to see more of these popping up on 24/24 🧐

Totally changed. Gone from buying an average of 2 boxes a month for the last decade to buying 1 box in all of 2022. Smoked and bought more NC's in 2022 than in all of the previous decade.. Now also starting to look at revisiting pipe smoking. I've got that 'dug in' attitude now... Habanos said FU to us, so FU Habanos for the foreseeable... The sad thing is I had no plans to change my smoking/buying habits whatsoever, a CC purist and loyal customer, I would have happily continued to buy 2-3 boxes of CC's a month for the next 30 - 40 years, or until I dropped.

I'm surprised how much easier it is than I thought too...

+1 I haven't been able to bring myself to buy any PC's since they broke the $200 mark, and 90% of what I smoke is PC/Minuto.