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Old 09-16-2017, 01:36 PM   #1
xrundog
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Why Not Cuban cigars with Cuban names...

...oftentimes suck. I was discussing this with my smoking partner the other day. I have smoked Not Cuban cigars with Cuban names and found them to be generally not good. As a rule I stay away from them.
The black label cohiba I smoked some years ago I actually tossed after not very much smoking. It was terrible. It defined the term dog rocket.
Earlier this week I smoked a (Honduran?) Bolivar and while it wasn't bad, it wasn't really good either. Kind of just dead strong with no nuance. I like a little nuance. That said, I smoked it. A mediocre cigar is a helluva lot better than no cigar!
My buddy says it's because of my expectations. I have smoked the Cuban versions and the Not Cuban versions suffer by comparison. When I draw on the Not Cuban, my brain expects the Cuban flavor. When there is a different flavor my brain is sadly disappointed. If the cigar is very bad, my brain may even be angry.
So in closing I will say: If you haven't smoked a Cuban cigar, don't. You will be happier in the long run.
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Old 09-16-2017, 02:21 PM   #2
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So agree. Non Cuban Bolivars: acceptable but not comparable.
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Old 09-16-2017, 02:56 PM   #3
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Those knock offs are just living off of the name. Never had a domestic prtahas, monte, bolivar, cohiba, etc that wasn't bland and/or awful.
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Old 09-16-2017, 03:10 PM   #4
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Quote:
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Those knock offs are just living off of the name. Never had a domestic prtahas, monte, bolivar, cohiba, etc that wasn't bland and/or awful.
Put yourself in context
The last CUBAN bolivar you smoked - how old was it? The 'domestic' was probably 6 months to a year depending on down time in the shop...

Most of my cuban cigars are >5 yrs old, some 10. The few 'new' bolivars I've had (and I don't have the 'box code' or anything like that) were not as spectacular as I would have liked.

Cuba is grinding their tobacco fields. Decades of little to no crop rotation and use of chemical fertilizer will change the character of the tobacco. At least the nicaraguan, dominican, equidorian, honduran farmers can do crop rotation on the plots.

Oscar, from GTO cigars, says he gets 2 yields from a field in a year, out of 3 'seasons'. The third season they grow corn and soybeans. Pick what they need to feed the family, and the rest is just tilled into the soil along with a healthy portion of manure and compost...

it's been working for his family for better than 50 years...

FYI I love GTO cigars. Very nice nuance and complexity!

John
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Old 09-16-2017, 03:10 PM   #5
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they are different, I see it as calling a California cab Petrus. You can call something but it doesn't make it the thing
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Old 09-16-2017, 03:25 PM   #6
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they are different, I see it as calling a California cab Petrus. You can call something but it doesn't make it the thing
Absolutely true.
Does not subtract from the fact that there are quite many fine 'non cuban cigars'. The macanudo cru royal, and the new inspirado series are quite good imho. Monticristo's - the white series - very good. H.Upmann media noche. Montecristo media noche also.

But to the point - the non-cuban is not always a representation of the cuban version. it's not like chevy and cadillac where they start with the same frame and drive train and slap on different covers...
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Old 09-16-2017, 03:43 PM   #7
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Ain't saying there aren't good non-Cuban cigars. I am not current on what's good and what isn't, but I smoked a Coronado by La Flor last weekend and it was pretty spectacular. I have heard that Nicaragua and Honduras have gotten better at replicating a brand's year to year experience.

It's not a conscious reaction I'm talking about. I know when a cigar isn't Cuban it isn't going to taste like one. But my lizard brain knows what a Punch should taste like and expects it. Then the lizard brain is disappointed.
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