[La Gloria Cubana RE/LCDH/Regular/Discontinued production insights and evaluations...]

Medaille d’Or No.4 : Fantastic smokes.  Very smooth and sweet. I'm smoking from 2001 and 2012 boxes so I can't speak to recent releases.

Inmensos (2010) - Smoking from 2010 & 2011 boxes. Love these. I'm very surprised these didn't take off among the larger RG crowd.  Very complex, very much LGC.

Deliciosos Cuba (2009) - smoked several around the 2010.  Excellent stick from a gorgeous jar.  Had one last year.  It is even better than I remember.

Serie D No. 5 España (2018) - A lot of what I heard about these were 50/50.  Finally tried one.  Definitely worth chasing down.

Invictos Italia (2019) - Fantastic smoke.  Very complex and smooth.  I was lucky enough to be in Italy July 2019. So I went deep on these before I returned home.

Medaille d’Or No.2 (2014) - Criminal that these are gone(or are they?).  Absolutely love them.

Tainos (2012) - The few I've had did not impress.  Never chased a box as a result. Somewhat putrid.

Medaille d’Or No.1 (2010) - Only had 1. It was great. Very sad I couldn't track down others.

Medaille d’Or No.3 (2010) - Another gem. I'm smoking from a 2002 box.  Loaded with honey, hay and baking spice.

[Monday Morning Emails]

Do a search on "Knollenberg's Cigar Factory Tables". It breaks out only the wrappers and binders though.  Filler would require more leaf.

[FOH'ers Daily Smoke]

A lovely Toronto afternoon for some down time Cuba style. 2017 Espy 1

 

[FOH'ers Daily Smoke]

JLP Petit Caballero. Very sweet and bready from the start

[Advice needed on purchasing laptop]

22 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Microsoft Surface line of laptops are hard to beat.

My 3 co-workers would disagree. :D.  We did a refresh about two years ago. They went with the Surface Pro, I went Thinkpad.  They constantly bitch about overheating, lockups, reboots and wiped boot sectors.  My Thinkpad just keeps going. :D.  As for the OP's request. Look into the new Ryzen series of laptops with integrated GPU( video card chip built into the CPU core package).  Unbeatable performance on them and well priced.

[What would you pair a Behike with?]

1 hour ago, ZigZauer said:

Seriously, I think it would be best to pair just with water if it will be your first behike
 

I second this.  If it's your one and only BHK, just drink water.

[What would you pair a Behike with?]

I'd recommend some kind of bubbly (Champagne, Prosecco, Cava, etc).  Chardonnay or White Port works well too.  Especially if you're aiming to smoke a BHK56.  Since you're smoking a BHK52, that one can pair well with a good, aged rum or Cognac/Armagnac too.

[FOH'ers Daily Smoke]

Easter turkey in the oven. LESF out in the sun

A Mantua and some espresso

[Wrong sticker on Ramon Allones Celestiales Finos]

I have one too.   

[Habanos World Day]

^^ That ladies and gentleman is the Habanos Fest experience for much dinero. The cigars they hand out are the only edible items presented throughout the whole event.

[From the hip. Weekend take away: The 4 cigars you would take away right now.]

Mantua / Invinctos / Unicos / BGM

[Habanos World Day]

Just now, Ryan said:

I hope they don't mail out the dinners.

Maybe flying them out and exposing them to freezing temps and higher UV exposure would make them less lethal and add some flavour?

[Another day in the books]

Congratulations Hans!  Wishing you both a great day!  🥂

[Habanos World Day]

Registered.  I heard they're mailing out BHK58's...

[Box Check. - BHK56]

I probably should know better but I couldn't pass up this prototype BHK56 box from 2009.  A year before the BHK lines official release.

Very excited!

Smoke or put up on BR??

[Por Larrañaga Galanes]

I'll stick to PL Picadores which go for 6CUC/stick.  If these aren't priced in the single digit range, I'll pass.

[Have you hit your limit yet? Regarding CC inventory.]

For the past few years whether it's due to the Pandemic or my general mood, I have drastically reduced my CC purchases.  In particular, I've been blase' about the new offerings from Habanos.  It could be the rising prices, the NC style boxes they're pushing, the reduction in stick count per box in some cases.  I've found myself chasing a few samples here and there of packing. For instance, the new RyJ / Partagas / HU tins.  Otherwise, I've grabbed some old favourites to stockpile on when I could.  RyJ Cazadores, Monte Petite Edmundos, HUHC amongst others.

I've done a calculation based on my inventory against my smoke rate.  Given the not so balmy climate of Toronto, smoking season is limited.  I do have a Winter solution now which may increase my smoke rate.  Anyways, I've estimated based on my smoking patterns, that I would have on average 2 or 5 cigars a week, regardless of whether it's Summer or Winter.  The conclusion I've come to is that if I stopped buying today, that at that smoke rate, I'd go through my inventory in 15 to 30'ish years.  Please don't take this as some sort of humble brag. There are many with far more sticks than I have.  My goal is to spur on some discussion and see how others are approaching their acquisitions and the enjoyment of them.  .  I'm finding that at this point, I believe I have all I need to keep enjoying this hobby in terms of variety and vintages.  The allure of new, untried releases doesn't hit me as much as it used to. I'm now experiencing a different paradigm along the lines of "oh one of my Cazadores boxes is now hitting the 10YO mark, time to sample one". Or "I haven't smoked a 2001 CoLa in a while".  Yes, first world problems for sure. I will probably grab a single or fiver of something new over the next few years, but it would have to be something really appealing and based on a lot of good feedback from people who I know that enjoy similar cigars I do. 

So, to the rest of you.  Is there a number in the back of your mind that you're aiming for?  Or do you just buy on an as needed basis? Are you stockpiling based on some particular factor(s)?  Has not being able to go to Cuba due to the Pandemic put a huge dent in your ability to stock up?  Something else?  Lets' hear it!

[New regular production lines for 2020]

Just now, Shrimpchips said:

Since these were discontinued in the 80s, what do they do about blends? Is it basically going to be a new blend with an old name? Either way, will probably try them but if they’re priced/packaged like the current Linea retro, it’ll be a hard sell for me value-wise with other similarly sized offerings currently available.

Yeah. That's the Million dollar question whenever an old cigar is resurrected.  If I were to smoke a new one and compare it to my old ones, it wouldn't be a good comparison given the difference in age even if it was the same blend.  When the German RE Ramon Allones 898 came out I smoked one of my 2002 RA898's and compared it to the new one a few days after.  To my palate, it was 60% similar to the original release.  IMO, that's not too bad.  And maybe it will be closer with age?

[New regular production lines for 2020]

On 2/19/2020 at 9:22 PM, HDGSN said:

CCW says Souvenir de Luxe and Triunfos were machine made. Let’s hope these are handmade!

 

53 minutes ago, Shrimpchips said:

 

If they’re priced like the other Linea Retro offerings, I can’t see them taking off either. Too bad as it’s a great size.  Now if they actually came in 50 cabs (instead of cardboard 10 x 5 tins) at a comparable price point to other PCs, then it might be a different story.

I snagged a tin of Souvenir de Luxe from 1960. Decent smokes.

[Your cigar of March 2021?]

Had an excellent PL Picadores last week. 2017/18.

[Why Cigars are actually very good for you.]

An anecdotal example here.  A few years back I had a health scare and went to the hospital. Answered all the questions the doctor would ask of you.  When it came to "do you smoke?"  I didn't want to lie about it and told him I smoked cigars on average 2-3 week in summer and 1-2/month in colder months(outside of the odd binge at a herf, this is true).  His answer surprised me.  He said as long as it wasn't cigarettes your cigar regimen shouldn't be an issue.  He added they're good for relieving stress.  I've had similar exchanges with doctors and dentists, some of whom admittedly enjoyed cigars as well, so they're not completely unbiased.  Also, in a COVID world, the French and Americans are noticing smokers are not getting hit that hard if they caught it.  Apparently the nicotine inhibits the virus' replication.  So nicotine patches are being used as therapy in France. So, I guess we're doing our part to "stay safe"?  😁

[Have you ever want to slap yourself for not pulling the trigger on some cigars?]

A few times. In the past I bought whenever I could.  The one that sticks out to me is passing up on two 2008 boxes of Esplendidos @500USD each back in 2013.  By the time I decided to go for it, they were gone.   

 

[Canada Eh! Box Pass]

Just a heads up.  Picks and Pulls are ALWAYS a problem in these things. I suggest you have a quorum of people who judge each transaction before the box is packed away and sent off.  Otherwise you'll get stuff like.  "But I put in a  2017 Monte Edmundo for that 2001 Cohiba Piramides EL I pulled!!"   When it comes to valuations of recent stock, yulcigars.blogspot.ca is a good tool. For Aged / Vintage, you'd need some "old eyes" here.  They don't all have to be Canadian either. 

If needed, I will take on that duty. Another guy I'd recommend is Chris @ChanceSchmerr

[When did Bundwallah change his handle?]

2 hours ago, Squarehead said:

Why, but why did you change your handle Frank?

It's just a silly name that I used for various web sites, etc. I've since deleted those accounts and figured I'd continue collapsing all instances up to and including a yahoo email address associated with it. 

[When did Bundwallah change his handle?]

2 hours ago, PigFish said:

FishPig just does not work....

Either one is a scary Chimaera and would make for some interesting "surf n turf".