The PSP difference


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I'm wondering what your experience is with PSP grade cigars.  Specifically, which marcas/vitolas make the biggest difference between PSP and "regular" grade cigars?  For me, there is a noticeable difference between PSP Bolivar Royal Coronas and "regular" BRCs.  Also, the RASS.  How about you?

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Hard to say. I’ve bought seconds from FOH and they ended up with a psp sticker on them. I’ve bought clearance cigars and they were psp quality. The luck I’ve had buying clearance is where I park my money almost of the time. If I do buy psp, it’s usually a box to put away. I love a good looking Wrapper like anyone else, but I haven’t noticed a difference between a good looking wrapper and a bad looking wrapper as far as flavor is concerned. I guess construction is most important for me which is one of the factors of PSP. L All said, can’t say I’ve had a bad box from FOH. Cubans are Cubans no matter how much inspecting you do. 

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1 hour ago, SigSauer516 said:

I'm wondering what your experience is with PSP grade cigars.  Specifically, which marcas/vitolas make the biggest difference between PSP and "regular" grade cigars?  For me, there is a noticeable difference between PSP Bolivar Royal Coronas and "regular" BRCs.  Also, the RASS.  How about you?

I think you need to put HQ & PSP together 

For me it makes a significant difference in Boli/Monte/R&J/RA

Keep in mind, PSP/HQ are only the boxes that you (the average punter) would likely select if you walked into a B&M and selected from 10 boxes. 

Nothing more. Nothing less :cigar:

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Unless the price makes my backside tingle in funny places (my wallet, you bunch of degenerates) then from a beginner's mindset, I'll buy some quarter boxes of PSP as a benchmark that I'll grade other cigars from that line against. Buy a box then compare side by side visually. And as El Pres constantly reminds - a PSP wrapper, mastercase, box code doesn't mean it will be the greatest smoking experience of your life, it's about giving you a visual and trends to have a headstart towards a "cracker". I adore having the opportunity to know date and box code at the time of order (via 24:24). I take it as such and find myself sometimes buying PSP, sometimes not, but I've never received a box that was below my expectations. 

As my experience builds, any of the major brands that are mass produced, I've sworn off buying blind. (Monte, RyJ, Partagas)

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I have a higher level of certainty. They dont always pan out, but the success rate is far far far higher than buying blind. There are some cigars I adore, but they are victims to big inconsistency, i use psp to better have a higher chance of quality (looking at you monte 4s) Or some of my more expensive purchases. It provides a level of comfort whem buying a brand like cohiba that they have looked at first.

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I think there are particular cigars at particular times where spending the extra coin for PSP could be advisable. I would certainly put cigars like Monte 1/2/3/4, DE, RyJ Churchills, Trini Coloniales, Party PSP2, D4/D5 in that category. 

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12 hours ago, El Presidente said:

I think you need to put HQ & PSP together 

For me it makes a significant difference in Boli/Monte/R&J/RA

Keep in mind, PSP/HQ are only the boxes that you (the average punter) would likely select if you walked into a B&M and selected from 10 boxes. 

Nothing more. Nothing less :cigar:

I’ve noticed that I cannot remember the last time I’ve seen boxes labeled as “PE” (premium economy).  Is that no longer in use? It seems like the categories are now PSP, HQ, hand picked, clearance or seconds. I think I have one PE cab of PLPC somewhere.  

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14 hours ago, El Presidente said:

I think you need to put HQ & PSP together 

For me it makes a significant difference in Boli/Monte/R&J/RA

Keep in mind, PSP/HQ are only the boxes that you (the average punter) would likely select if you walked into a B&M and selected from 10 boxes. 

Nothing more. Nothing less :cigar:

I can attest to Boli and RyJ PSP making a definite difference.  I'm not good enough to pinpoint the exact flavor or body differences but there is an extra lusciousness to the PSP vs HQ in those marcas.

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On 6/2/2020 at 9:32 PM, El Presidente said:

I think you need to put HQ & PSP together 

For me it makes a significant difference in Boli/Monte/R&J/RA

Keep in mind, PSP/HQ are only the boxes that you (the average punter) would likely select if you walked into a B&M and selected from 10 boxes. 

Nothing more. Nothing less :cigar:

On that note, If I walked into a LCDH retail store, would it be considered rude or a "faux pas" if I asked to have them open boxes for inspection?  Or would they expect that?

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3 hours ago, inter4alia said:

If they won't let you inspect the sticks by opening the box with their supervision, don't buy there. 

I’ve been to about four LCDH and they would open boxes for me before I had a chance to ask.  If I picked up or pointed to a box, it was opened immediately.

As for whether PSP/HQ is worth the premium, I’ll put it this way: there are marques that I’ll ONLY buy PSP/HQ.  They include Monte, JL, Diplomaticos, and RyJ.  Life’s too short to roll the dice ... pay the premium and enjoy!

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Do you guys really have time to really check the grading and box code etc before deciding to send the email? All I manage to see is the name/marca and I need to go to my email immediately. I once tried to pull the trigger for a box of Sir Davids without checking the price first and lucky for my wallet, I was saved by the "sorry"

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Do you guys really have time to really check the grading and box code etc before deciding to send the email? All I manage to see is the name/marca and I need to go to my email immediately. I once tried to pull the trigger for a box of Sir Davids without checking the price first and lucky for my wallet, I was saved by the "sorry"
The grading is literally right by the name. Do you really buy not knowing the grade or the cost? Thats the entire point of buying here lol.

I remember a year or 2 ago the price of something was listed incorrectly. I was like, I want that really bad, but not for $200 more than its worth! It sold out in seconds, and turned out to be a typo. So there must be a large number of people who don't look at the price before buying.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

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36 minutes ago, prodigy said:

Thats the entire point of buying here

Actually, I buy here because I trust the prices! I trust that PSP grade will be listed at PSP price, and clearance grade will be listed at clearance price.

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8 hours ago, prodigy said:

The grading is literally right by the name. Do you really buy not knowing the grade or the cost? Thats the entire point of buying here lol.

I remember a year or 2 ago the price of something was listed incorrectly. I was like, I want that really bad, but not for $200 more than its worth! It sold out in seconds, and turned out to be a typo. So there must be a large number of people who don't look at the price before buying.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 

that's scary, but not surprising.

many, if not most, of the cigar smokers here are on the higher end of the economic scale. Prez could up his prices by 50%, and he'll keep selling out. The overall number of buyers would shrink, but it just means certain buyers with economic means would just buy more.

I know he knows this, so I truly appreciate him keeping prices at a level that is mainly accessible to many.

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20 hours ago, Meklown said:

Do you guys really have time to really check the grading and box code etc before deciding to send the email? All I manage to see is the name/marca and I need to go to my email immediately. I once tried to pull the trigger for a box of Sir Davids without checking the price first and lucky for my wallet, I was saved by the "sorry"

Took some speed reading courses at University...paying off now...?

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I can’t say I notice that much. Half the time I forget what I buy here was graded at, though I do know what a really well kept cigar looks like and feels like. I guess I expect most of what I get on 24:24 to be great and usually it is. Only a few times, clearance graded stuff came with a few bumped up feet which isn’t an issue since it gets lit up immediately. 
 

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Good discussion. I was just trying to see if there was a noticable flavor difference between the same cigar when graded as PSP/HQ vs. Regular. Appreciate everyone's input

 

On 6/5/2020 at 8:58 AM, cmbarton said:

I’ve been to about four LCDH and they would open boxes for me before I had a chance to ask.  If I picked up or pointed to a box, it was opened immediately.

As for whether PSP/HQ is worth the premium, I’ll put it this way: there are marques that I’ll ONLY buy PSP/HQ.  They include Monte, JL, Diplomaticos, and RyJ.  Life’s too short to roll the dice ... pay the premium and enjoy!

Good to know about the inspection.  

I don't mind paying the premium if I notice a difference. For me, I found the BRCs to have a noticable difference between PSP/HQ vs. Regular. 

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