Markspring1978

Beautiful. Thank you Sir!

+1

On the same vein- a local cigar shop owner told me that he could get me Cohiba Talismans. I asked how much and what was his source. He didn’t know price but “guaranteed” that they were authentic, said he would text me a price. About a week later he texts me that he can get them for me for $320 a box. I told him, that’s strange, that is $10 cheaper than they are in Cuba. He gives me some line about his buying power, etc. I laugh and tell him to feel free to bring them in but I’m 99% sure they will be fakes. A couple days ago he triumphantly sends me these pics via text. Of course there is a lot wrong with this. Also the box code was LMS MAR 17, about 6 months prior to any Talismans that I am aware of were rolled. The real bad news is this: His response? “Thanks for the lesson. I guess I’ll just sell them as fakes”. Wow.

OTS SEP 09- haven’t smoked one yet. Heck, they haven’t even arrived yet.

Okay @PigFish...make me drool.

Black coffee or Scotch.

Another I’d like to see is a 50 cab of Party Lonsdales.

Beauties! You’re the man. Thank you. I actually found a cab of these earlier this week after looking for a long while. May I ask what year those are?

I agree with this 100%. I have a PSP box en route, looking forward to sampling one.

Great article. Although I wish this were written after my humidor was well stocked. Too bad that your RyJ Churchill experience was so poor. While mine was not out-of-this-world, it was very good, not sure that they are worth $750 a box, but still quite good. Is it possible that there is some Añejados prejudice here? If so, I don’t fault you for that, the release deserves all the criticism it has gotten. This seemed to be an exception for me. Of course, it is more credible that the vitola existed before the release and wasn’t some sort of new invention from the “creative” minds at Tabacuba.

This site encompasses some of the most dedicated connoisseurs of Cuban Cigars and less than 20% of the people who are participating in this contest answered correctly for the H Upmann. If multiple robustos are the same but have different bands, that doesn't necessarily make them a joke. Personally, I greatly prefer Cuban tobacco to others, regardless if the band is white or red. I am not making any sort of allegation that all CCs are the same. Clearly there are some big differences and we all have our favorites. A Sir Winston isn't a RyJ Churchill. My point is that there are some vitolas that are mass produced, most notably the robusto. Many are rolled in the same factory, with the same rollers. I just find the "blending" voodoo to be a bit suspect. And the fact that the guesses for cigar #2 in this competition are going to be all over the map, with a majority of dedicated smokers on this site getting the guess incorrect, I think it proves my point.

I want to believe. Experience has dictated otherwise. I will concede that I don't think that I am on the upper end of the population that is endowed with an abundance of taste buds. For me, the roller and quality of the leaves to begin with seems to make a bigger impact on my experience.

Lol. Quote of the day.

I seriously doubt that poor quality samples are being sent for this tasting. I doubt even more that even the most experienced smoker on this forum could go 5/5. If a very experienced smoker could go 3/5, I would be very impressed. Let’s be realistic. All these leaves are coming from the same island with suspect quality control, and they are all rolled by the same company. This isn’t like comparing a Whopper and a Big Mac. I know I’ll take some fire for this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a factory rolls 10k robustos, half get Epi2 bands, half get D4. Same cigar, different marketing, one white band, one red. Tobacco leaves are tobacco leaves, all the “blending” narrative is, IMO, BS for the mass produced sticks. And if you think that “PSP” eliminates duds, you are in for a rude awakening.

Being the eternal optimist that I am, here’s how I hope this plays out... Lots of newish smokers out there who are buying shiny QdO54, Punch Dukes, and Talismans buy these Dalias in a box of 10, love them, 24 months from now a regular production Punch 898 box of 25 appears and we all regain trust in a broken system. That being said, the more realistic pessimist on my other shoulder realizes that more likely, these won’t sell well, and it will be the catalyst for Tabacuba to discontinue the Party 898. For me, I will buy 5 boxes of these. Arrange them into two empty MdO2 boxes and have a ball 5 years from now, all the while remembering that these are just fermented leaves rolled into tubes.