The Longjing Rule and Pinar del Río Finas

[Corylax18]

Gotcha. Those arent Farmies or Customs though. Maybe "special regular production"? 

I was referencing the "KSA" banded cigars that you see photos of on social media and occasionally here. They are rolled outside of the HSA umbrella in non RP sizes and only carry the KSA bands. 

 

[Nino]

19 hours ago, Indy8080 said:

I daresay few if any of us have ever tasted a first-quality Cuban, and although we live, smoke and converse on this forum, we’ve never had the real thing.

Not sure about your claim for some of the people I personally know and have met from this forum.

As for me, I am happy to have come close enough to the "real thing" to know where it is and where more can be found ...

Not many words here, skip/ignore my dancing, enjoy the scenery and the rolling - this is from 2015, Miguel is no longer there.

 

 

 

[Indy8080]

Nino's film clip: bucolic, timeless, illuminating, fascinating. Thank you. I see that my original post ruffled some peacock feathers, but that was not my intention. I've learned a lot from you people, but I don't belong here. It's time to go. I wish you all well. Live your lives. Adiós.

[mprach024]

10 hours ago, Nino said:

skip/ignore my dancing

*Ignored everything else, only watched the dancing*

 

1 hour ago, Indy8080 said:

Nino's film clip: bucolic, timeless, illuminating, fascinating. Thank you. I see that my original post ruffled some peacock feathers, but that was not my intention. I've learned a lot from you people, but I don't belong here. It's time to go. I wish you all well. Live your lives. Adiós.

 

Hey hey, no feathers ruffled.  People disagree here all the time and that’s ok as long as it’s respectful.  If you need proof just search for @Ken Gargett and read most of his posts.  

[Ken Gargett]

1 minute ago, mprach024 said:

Hey hey, no feathers ruffled.  People disagree here all the time and that’s ok as long as it’s respectful.  If you need proof just search for @Ken Gargett and read most of his posts.  

needless to say, i completely disagree. 

[mprach024]

Just now, Ken Gargett said:

needless to say, i completely disagree. 

Perfect

[RDB]

10 hours ago, Indy8080 said:

Nino's film clip: bucolic, timeless, illuminating, fascinating. Thank you. I see that my original post ruffled some peacock feathers, but that was not my intention. I've learned a lot from you people, but I don't belong here. It's time to go. I wish you all well. Live your lives. Adiós.

 

Peacock feathers? If you turn up and tell everyone: "you've probably never had The Real Thing" you have to expect some disagreement.

I'm one of the touchy Brits, among the bunch of reprobate savages on this forum, and they generally seem ok to me. I'll take a bit of rough with the genuine smooth any day, rather than fake politeness.

As to the original question, sure there may be some excellent stuff that doesn't get widely marketed. It must be easier to create very small batch production in cigars than in many other luxury goods like wine. But it's not like this is some totally different experience, and the innate variability of cigars means that we can find amazingly good quality in regular production, and big disappointments in the specialties. HSA is clearly trying its utmost to differentiate levels of exclusivity within the cigar market in order to capture more value, and there's a big market for ultra-premium cigars. But the most experienced smokers don't seem to fixate on these, compared to say well-aged examples of classic lines.

[Chibearsv]

11 minutes ago, RDB said:

I'm one of the touchy Brits, among the bunch of reprobate savages on this forum, and they generally seem ok to me. I'll take a bit of rough with the genuine smooth any day, rather than fake politeness.

How dare you call me a reprobate savage, you touchy Brit!  Step outside! 🤣

[TobaccoRoad]

10 hours ago, Indy8080 said:

Nino's film clip: bucolic, timeless, illuminating, fascinating. Thank you. I see that my original post ruffled some peacock feathers, but that was not my intention. I've learned a lot from you people, but I don't belong here. It's time to go. I wish you all well. Live your lives. Adiós.

 

Well that was probably the most literate troll I've ever encountered...

[looseleaf]

[rcarlson]

17 hours ago, Indy8080 said:

 I've learned a lot from you people, but I don't belong here. It's time to go. I wish you all well. Live your lives. Adiós.

 

Does this mean we're breaking up?  

[dobbs]

6 hours ago, TobaccoRoad said:

Well that was probably the most literate troll I've ever encountered...

couldn't have said it better.

-dobbs

[Fezztone]

 I've received some fantastic tea from the Friend's of Longjing site during their 24:24

[Jimmy_jack]

So I can’t speak to the degree that many of you can. I have a lot of CC to be sure but my sources are limited to three or four retail spots and various forum members. 
 

I will say this though regarding flavor or exclusivity. I think we are all “chasing the dragon” to a degree, so to speak. 
 

there is always that one cigar that we recall and try to find again. Perfect flavor and just hits all the boxes. 
 

Mine was my first CC and was in the mid 90s. A montecristo. I’ll never have one like that again though. If I’m not mistaken the tobacco in Cuba is a completely different strain now. I recall clearly though how it had a deep sweet funky barnyard mushroom thick smoke amazing flavor. 
 

I'm sure there are exclusive sticks rolled for Sultans or kings or whatever. Then again I don’t trust social media any further than a politician so…ymmv.