Islandboy

Wow, that is an amazing man cave, with all the trimmings! Congratulations on the accomplishment.

Not so much of a re-stocking strategy, but my main strategy over the last 4-5 years has been to buy 2-3 times my consumption rate to have my collection naturally pick up some age. I like variety, so the spread is large, with a max of 3-4 boxes of the handful of sticks I really like. A year ago I was going after regionals a fair bit along with regular production. Recently it’s been vintage stuff, the sudden surge of which seems to be an unexpected result of the regular production shortage.

Recent price increases are definitely a hard pill to swallow, and I don’t think blame for this can be squarely placed on any one thing or another - there’s a unique combination of forces at play right now. Still, it’s my understanding that any of us in the US complaining about pricing have no idea how good we’ve had it for years, and still do, compared to nearly anywhere else in the world.

We’re not really talking about what something costs though, but rather what it’s worth to someone - which are also two entirely different things, the latter being profoundly subjective.

Judging by the constant Behike chatter on other forums, I’m guessing there’s most definitely a market for this. And FWIW, the lone BHK54 I smoked about 4 years ago remains the finest tasting cigar I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing. Current boxes are sparse and easily fetching up to $1500, so I’m guessing with yours, being nearly an original release stick, some fool out there (I include myself in this category occasionally) would pay upwards of $200. You should enjoy the hell out of that fine specimen.

Ah yes, the Midwest Housewife Standard System...all you have to do is multiply by 10 to convert to toaster ovens.

I guess they smoked 5 before concluding they sucked.

Thanks for the intel...I’ll probably re-think waiting a few months 🥳

Thanks. It was quite the plunge, but I’ve absolutely gone head over heels for the bright, delicate flavors I’m finding in the Marquez and a box of 2014 Serie A’s I received recently. Hoping for the same experience in a 2+ hr format. It’ll probably be a few months before I light one up though, but I’ll share my thoughts.

Something old, something new...

Yeah, that’s what I picked up, but I agree it may very well be the lighting.

Ehh, maybe I don’t have the photographic memory I’d like to....here’s a photo of mine from the archives, looks pretty similar I guess.

I have 2 boxes of these at home, so can’t pull one out until later, but something kinda looks off right off the bat, mainly with the colors of the RyJ band. Plus, FWIW, the wrappers on both my boxes have very much the dark, rustic looking EL look to them. These look very clean and rosado, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing.

If I remember from the last batch, these are dispatched from somewhere in Europe, not Oz, correct?

Could there be a link between those who both smoke their cigars quickly and think Cubans are all hype? Cubans are well known for their subtle flavor nuances compared in general to new world cigars, but those nuances not only disappear with overheating, they’re replaced by harsh and unpleasant flavors. This is why I’ll take a tight draw over an underfilled wind-tunnel any day - there’s no way to keep the heat down on the wind-tunnels.