spiro j e

hi guys and gals,

just your local aussie here and for those who know me Hi,

I have a theory I want to air, we have heard many stories on how the cigars
of previous years were fantastic and the same ones of today lack the same
punch.

such as the infamous Monte 2 (Cuban) and many of the Bolivar line seem to
have become less potent, I recently tried a Montecristo edmundo and found it
young but fantastic, similar to some of the other new cigars such as siglo 6
and the limited double corona, all brilliant smokes.

anyhoo my theory is

do the Cubans place special efforts in choosing very high quality tobacco
for the release of a new line of smokes to get people interested , then
reduce the quality over time, because I have often tried new lines lately,
edmundo, siglo 6 , and many of the limited ranges.

your valued opinions please

Spiro

marc j. schneiderman

I honestly don't think so. The Cuaba still tickles me and I've found
quite a consistent flavor profile now compared to when the line was
first released. I do expect however that tobacco flavors differ
somewhat from year to year. The non Havana lines I do believe put out
"fuertes" initially and then change the flavors in time. From what I've
been told by putting cheaper tobaccos in the line. There are numerous
examples: Saint Luis Rey, VSG, El Rico Havana, etc. etc. etc.
CigarBaron

skyhawkxp

On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 06:10:15 GMT, "spiro J E" <spizz1@bigpond.com>
opined:


It seems to me a lot of manufacturers (in different countries) release
a different product on the roll-out than what ends up in normal
production.
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SkyhawkXP
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miss elaine eos

I don't think it's a conscious effort. My theory about what happens is:
when a new line comes out, the line-designer hand-picks the best of the
best leaves, carefully blends each individual cigar, and sees that they
are rolled to the highest standards.

I believe that this process repeats several times, and that several
failed experiments are binned before ever seeing the light of day.

Eventually one is deemed good enough and goes into production. A
handful (relatively -- in actuality 1000s) of boxes are made and handed
at trade shows and initial orders are filled.

Then the cigar becomes popular and the business is faced with a choice:

a) Keep standards high, use expensive, labor intensive practices, and
produce only the best possible cigars, as the designer intended.

b) Keep up with demand, and grow your business to such a size that
you'll be able to purchase additional land to grow even more tobacco,
hire more people, get that new, fancy artwork that you've been wanting
and make a real name for yourself as your new cigar becomes an
international household word.

Unintentionally, choice (b) results in a less-good cigar being made.

--
Please take off your shoes before arriving at my in-box.
Lots of good cigar info, the ASC Birthday page, FAQs, vendors and more at
<http://www.ManyFriends.com/Cigars/>

pagan_ethos

I don't know much about the cigar biz, but I think there might be
another reason this occurs that doesn't include a deception
(delibertly using cheaper tobaccos).

Say Cigar maker X comes across a particularly nice crop of tobacco. He
decides to make a new line of cigars utilizing this tasty, strong
tobacco. He ages them for a while, then markets them as "Fuerte" or
"VSG" or whatever.

These cigars are reviewed well and sell nicely. In short time, there's
a considerable demand for these smokes. Now Cigar Maker X is under
pressure to make more of these smokes, unfortunately, none of the
original premium tobacco is available- at any price. He goes out and
tries to find similar tobacco that matches the original taste profile,
but its not 'quite' right- hence a less potent smoke.

any thoughts? this is speculative, but considering how tempermental
and hit and miss super premium tobacco can be (so many uncontrollable
factors-weater, rain, harvest, aging conditions, etc) I think
immediately concluding that cigar makers are be deceptive and
nefarious isnt entirely fair.

jim

spiro j e

thanks for the response, there is a great cross section of opinions here so
far,

my next question is this,

if ageing and keeping super premium stock is the way some of us go , are we
better buying 2 boxes of first release because they are most likely to be
exceptional, such as wine,

Spiro

bapike

Sounds alot like what they say in the music business, "You have your
whole life to write your first album, but less than a year to write
your second." Thus the sophmore jinx. Sounds reasonable to me. It's
harder to plan for success than failure.

Monty

marc j. schneiderman

You're right. They're just nefarious but not deceptive :-) I still
think cheaper tobaccos might be substituted when they have a "hit."
CigarBaron

marc j. schneiderman

No. Most of the new powershousely-touted smokes tend to be
hp-hummer-unidimentional-crap IMO. You can try a new cigar (a few
singles) and it it's good, buy a couple of boxes. But only after you've
"approved" the test singles.
CigarBaron

skyhawkxp

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 06:37:56 -0400, "Marc J. Schneiderman"
<garbaron@telerama.lm.com> opined:

I think I pulled my nefarious while shaving one day. <g>
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SkyhawkXP
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