HabanosNJGuy

I don't believe there is a difference. I do not like to store my cigars in cardboard packs and will leave them loose in my humidor. One of my nicest boxes is a 25 ct dress box of RASS. Quality seems much better than the 50ct cab I have.

I used to share @crking3 frustration with inconsistent construction, burn and flavor issues with CCs. Once I lowered humidity and increased temp (61%/68°), I noticed significant improvement in flavor and burn. I use the Modus cigar tool when I encounter a plug. Excellent advice in this thread/forum. If I ever need a reminder of why I put up with all this, I will smoke one of my ever dwindling supply of NCs.

I am an orthopedic surgeon. I am not not a hand surgeon and do not specialize in carpal tunnel releases. But I think I know enough to help. If you already have muscle atrophy (the muscles, particularly in your palm beneath your thumb, are smaller and weaker because of decreased nerve input), that indicates advanced disease. Have you had a nerve test (EMG/NCS) to objectively document the amount of nerve damage? It may tell you how much recover potential the nerve has. However in many cases, particularly advanced ones, the goal of the surgery is not to relieve all numbness and muscle damage, but simply to keep it from getting worse. The surgery involves cutting the broad ligament in the wrist that is putting pressure on the median nerve. It is this pressure that is causing the nerve damage and your symptoms. The surgery is usually successful. It depends on how you define success and having realistic expectations is important, especially since you've had it for so long. But as in life, nothing is 100%. Complications are uncommon, especially with experienced surgeons that do a lot of them. Sometimes the ligament is not cut all the way, and the portion that is left intact continues to compress the nerve. (This can happen when the surgery is done endoscopically, as apposed to open.) A less common complication may occur if someone has atypical anatomy of the nerve. Nerves are simply electrical wires that usually split and branch out in the same pattern in almost everybody. This is why we dissect cadavers in medical school, to learn this anatomy. However a certain percentage of people have a different branching pattern to nerve. If this is not recognized during surgery, a branch may be cut by mistake. This can be a devastating complication if the cut branch controls the muscles around the bottom of the thumb. This may be what happened to the officer you met. However, it's usually not a good idea to delay a treatment you need based on one other person's experience. You rarely get the whole story from people when they talk about their medical conditions. The people with bad outcomes are usually the most vocal about their experience. (Have you ever read online reviews about, well, anything?) I agree 100% with getting another opinion. If a doctor can't be honest and upfront about your situation and give you realistic expectations as to the outcome of the surgery, you should see someone else. They need to give it to you straight and not sugar coat things and simply just say, "you will be fine". If you do not have confidence that a surgeon will do right by you, run away. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have other questions. Feel free to PM me.

Beautiful room. Do you think smoke/smell is getting through the doors into your furnace? Have you thought of sealing of the doors with weatherstripping, etc. I have a setup similar to @Vitty. The exhaust fan/duct is separate from the rest of the house. My heated make-up air duct is passive (no fan) as it relies on the negative pressure from the exhaust fan to bring in clean air from outside. I also use one Rabbit Air MinusA2 unit set on automatic. It turns on when it detects impurities in the air, turns off when the air is clean. My experience is also similar in that the smell does linger for a day or two. But if I don't smoke for one day, the smell is completely gone. I do burn a scented candle while I'm smoking, and will leave it going, along with the exhaust, for several minutes after I'm finished smoking. The candle helps significantly. I looked into but decided against an ozone generator because of the health concerns. Also curious about cigar storage in your room. Do you use that wine cooler to actually store wine?

BBF Siglo IV Connie A JL 2 RASS RyJ Churchill Lusitanias

Wow. Very well written and a fascinating story. Thanks for posting.

As long as I never see any of these in my hotel room or on any paved surface when I someday visit any of the great cities in Australia. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go change my underwear.

This and the thread about the flogging of RA, have reminded me about a question I've been meaning to ask. If you could demote one of the six long filler global brands out of the group and add another marca (with the appropriate addition of vitolas), which would you choose. I would remove HDM and add Bolivar. Bring back the CG! I do love a good Epi 1 or 2 now and again, but of the six global brands, HDM does the least for me. I was not around for the glory days a few years back that El Prez speaks of. Granted I would never want the HDM range to be slashed like so many other marcas. I've never tried a Des Dieux that people rave about. How great would it be to get a Bolivar churchill, lonsdale, corona gorda... My second choice would be to promote Punch, but alas recent trends have been towards the opposite.

I had the same experience when I switched to CCs. Many of my cigars tasted flat and boring before and they would constantly go out on me. My cabinet is set to 68F and 61%. Amazing how dropping the rH affected my smokes. Get used to your cigars feeling firmer than before. The band being loose enough to roll or slide is a good rough test. There is excellent advice on this forum. Just search for temp and/or humidity settings and read what PigFish has to say. It's all about the percent moisture content that works for you. Most advice in other places online is total nonsense. It was an explosion of flavor for me.

The three that have stood out for me are (in no particular order): 1. LGC Paraiso - Carribean 2. JL Eminentes - Swiss 3. RA Perfectos - Swiss I've been disappointed by many others when compared to favor profile of regular production of same marca. I do have an RA Robustos XXL Belux and JL Don Juan Benelux rolling around that I'm looking forward to.

Beautiful plan. Let us know when it happens.

Awesome thread! Nice reminder about what this is all about. It's easy to get bogged down with questionable quality coming out of Cuba, the irrational decisions of Habanos SA, the intricacies of the 24:24 process, humidor optimization, etc. First time it happened for me was with a Lusi, single bought from another vendor. I didn't understand what complexity was until this smoke. The way the flavors developed and changed throughout the cigar was amazing. More recently a HU Conny A, LAU Aug 16, a clearance box from here and the Lancero from the Christmas sampler have made me say out loud, "God D- this is a great cigar". And I usually smoke alone.

Bump. I have a few. Don't want to throw them away. Some good ideas here. Wondering what others do. Also have the same thoughts about empty tubes. Any interesting ways to display them?

The Lancero from the Christmas sampler

That's a beautiful plan!