Hello from the Big Smoke 💨💨

[Simon Bolivar]

Screenshot_20220106_212709.jpg Took delivery of this sample today, taking on board some of the recommendations made in this thread so thank you all for those.

Excellent selection. Can't comment on the NC, never tried that one but I'd recommend starting with the lightest - the NC or Hoyo. Epi No2 is a true Havana classic I I have several boxes aging, it perhaps improves more with aging than most Habanos lines. I enjoy these as late morning of post luncheon smokes. Can be smoked any time of course but better choices after a heavy meal. I always start my cigars with a coffee, as the start is the lightest & you will appreciate more of the subtle flav's with coffee over beer or a spirit. When official tasting only water is allowed but we are hear to enjoy them! I find a Belgian lager goes well with the second half or of course another cup of coffee!

The R&J or Party next. I'd say R&J are middle of the road flav wise, not too light & not too strong, the WC has a larger delivery than the smaller R&J's so does maximise the brand flav profile.
Party's are good to go & nice afternoon smokes, large vitola will round of dinner nicely. Beware of the short early morning, especially if you have had a full English! One of the few cigars to catch me out in my earlier days, left me a little green. Coffee then a Stella or IPA would match these nicely.

Then I'd go RASCC, you have already read how many members recommend this wee stick, it's a delight & my advice best post heavy lunch or full dinner if you haven't time for a larger smoke. Take your time, you should aim for 45mins. Coffee then stronger beer like Leffe Bruin or a claret.

Boli' PC, this I would save for last as you will probably find it the strongest, again this one caught me out once, smoking it before lunch because I was with the family & it was then or never. These are as close to the old style strength of Cuban's as you'll find today so eat well & after coffee, decent claret or a dark beer with time to enjoy slowly.

Just my thoughts of course but like wine best not having a stronger smoke & then following it with a lighter smoke on the same day. Let us know how you get on.

[ShaazK]

Excellent selection. Can't comment on the NC, never tried that one but I'd recommend starting with the lightest - the NC or Hoyo. Epi No2 is a true Havana classic I I have several boxes aging, it perhaps improves more with aging than most Habanos lines. I enjoy these as late morning of post luncheon smokes. Can be smoked any time of course but better choices after a heavy meal. I always start my cigars with a coffee, as the start is the lightest & you will appreciate more of the subtle flav's with coffee over beer or a spirit. When official tasting only water is allowed but we are hear to enjoy them! I find a Belgian lager goes well with the second half or of course another cup of coffee!

The R&J or Party next. I'd say R&J are middle of the road flav wise, not too light & not too strong, the WC has a larger delivery than the smaller R&J's so does maximise the brand flav profile.
Party's are good to go & nice afternoon smokes, large vitola will round of dinner nicely. Beware of the short early morning, especially if you have had a full English! One of the few cigars to catch me out in my earlier days, left me a little green. Coffee then a Stella or IPA would match these nicely.

Then I'd go RASCC, you have already read how many members recommend this wee stick, it's a delight & my advice best post heavy lunch or full dinner if you haven't time for a larger smoke. Take your time, you should aim for 45mins. Coffee then stronger beer like Leffe Bruin or a claret.

Boli' PC, this I would save for last as you will probably find it the strongest, again this one caught me out once, smoking it before lunch because I was with the family & it was then or never. These are as close to the old style strength of Cuban's as you'll find today so eat well & after coffee, decent claret or a dark beer with time to enjoy slowly.

Just my thoughts of course but like wine best not having a stronger smoke & then following it with a lighter smoke on the same day. Let us know how you get on.

Sage advice here. You should do a “Simon Says” post with your learnings that can be pinned


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[Thebigsmoke]

Really appreciate your comprehensive advice there Simon Bolivar. Pre-empting, in fact, the very question I was going to ask in terms of whether there is a recommended order in which I ought to sample these, but going a step further by suggesting, very helpfully, times of day when these ought to be smoked. Can't thank you enough.

The NC I was recommended to try was in fact the darker maduro version of the DE Undercrown but when ordering the member of staff with whom I was speaking, and who was aware that this was my first foray into smoking cigars generally and particularly with this vitola, suggested I go for the lighter version as the darker maduro may have proved to be too strong for me and I was convinced (sorry, Romeo Allones 😉)

Not sure if this would change your advice in any way but the RJ is a SC as opposed to an WC and both the RA and Boli are Robustos as opposed to the shorter versions. The heavily recommended RASCC is currently sitting in an online basket together with a D6 and a few other shorter smokes I'm looking at for my next order

[Romeo Allones]

Really appreciate your comprehensive advice there Simon Bolivar. Pre-empting, in fact, the very question I was going to ask in terms of whether there is a recommended order in which I ought to sample these, but going a step further by suggesting, very helpfully, times of day when these ought to be smoked. Can't thank you enough.

The Nc I was recommended to try was in fact the darker maduro version of the DE Undercrown but when ordering the member of staff with whom I was speaking, and who was aware that this was my first forray into smoking cigars generally and particularly with this vitola, suggested I go for the lighter version as the darker maduro may have proved to be too strong for me and I was convinced (sorry, Romeo Allones 😉)

Not sure if this would change your advice in any way but the RJ is a SC as opposed to an WC and both the RA and Boli are Robustos as opposed to the shorter versions. The heavily recommended RASCC is currently sitting in an online basket together with a D6 and a few other shorter smokes I'm looking at for my next order

No worries, I like Connecticut wrappers, they are lighter and creamier than maduros, which if good are chocolately but if not then they are dark and earthy - which I don't like and the UC 10 is the former, but the Shade is the beginner smoke for sure, it is quite Cubanesque in that way and is similar to Hoyo or Upmann or Quai D.

Ideally I would wait on smoking the Cubans, 3 weeks if you can esp as they are Robustos, but if you can't wait and you find them a bit bitter or flat after an inch down, then I'd stop smoking and cut a half inch off the bottom of the cigar foot till the foot is clear of any char, and then save the rest to smoke after a few weeks rest.

[Thebigsmoke]

No worries, I like Connecticut wrappers, they are lighter and creamier than maduros, which if good are chocolately but if not then they are dark and earthy - which I don't like and the UC 10 is the former, but the Shade is the beginner smoke for sure, it is quite Cubanesque in that way and is similar to Hoyo or Upmann or Quai D.

Ideally I would wait on smoking the Cubans, 3 weeks if you can esp as they are Robustos, but if you can't wait and you find them a bit bitter or flat after an inch down, then I'd stop smoking and cut a half inch off the bottom of the cigar foot till the foot is clear of any char, and then save the rest to smoke after a few weeks rest.

I like the sound of 'chocolatey'. Will pick it up once I've tried the lighter shade.

As for resting the Cubans, I will try my best. No promises. Out of curiosity, does the time they've been sitting with the vendor not count as 'resting'? Also, more generally, do we know how long it takes the cigars from the being rolled to landing in the shops here and is that time also disregarded? I seem to recall reading somewhere that the cigars were initially held for about three years but that in recent years the process has been sped up but can't anything authoritative on it.

[ha_banos]

I like the sound of 'chocolatey'. Will pick it up once I've tried the lighter shade.

As for resting the Cubans, I will try my best. No promises. Out of curiosity, does the time they've been sitting with the vendor not count as 'resting'? Also, more generally, do we know how long it takes the cigars from the being rolled to landing in the shops here and is that time also disregarded? I seem to recall reading somewhere that the cigars were initially held for about three years but that in recent years the process has been sped up but can't anything authoritative on it.

Cuban cigars are pretty much rushed straight from being rolled into stores these days. There's no rest once rolled. There are examples of Sep 21 boxes on retailers shelves. The limitadas, LCDH, revisado and regional programs are where the manufacturer ages tobacco/cigars. The importers like Hunters & Frankau or other regional importers often have their own ageing programs too, for a further premium of course.

With NC brands they have the pipelines to age tobacco and cigars for many years. And so they are much more ready to smoke on the shelves.

Then there's the rest period after purchase/delivery. Cigars can be stored at a higher humidity than people like.

[Romeo Allones]

I like the sound of 'chocolatey'. Will pick it up once I've tried the lighter shade.

As for resting the Cubans, I will try my best. No promises. Out of curiosity, does the time they've been sitting with the vendor not count as 'resting'? Also, more generally, do we know how long it takes the cigars from the being rolled to landing in the shops here and is that time also disregarded? I seem to recall reading somewhere that the cigars were initially held for about three years but that in recent years the process has been sped up but can't anything authoritative on it.

As Habanos says, you can smoke them straight away if you trust the vendor and the travel time is short, altho I think most store at 69% RH but I prefer 65% or lower so they need a bit of time for me. Generally NCs are good to go as they are aged longer after they are made, but its still best to let them settle for a couple of weeks in my experience, while the Castro mobs want the money asap, so CCs do better after 3/4 weeks, plus as the Robustos aren't cheap, and getting more expensive by the day, I would give them every chance to settle and burn and smoke better. Maybe in future buy 2 of everything, or one small and one Robusto, and that way you can smoke one ROTT/right off the truck and one after a month or two, and see the difference.

[Thebigsmoke]

Thank you both for the insight and suggestions, very helpful.

Joking aside, I don't have anywhere to smoke inside so the robustos will have to wait until I get an opportunity to smoke outside which all depends on a number of factors including the weather and how my leg is feeling on any given day. The DE Undercrown is at the front of the line and I'll place an order for some shorter smokes as well. Need to order a 65 Boveda as I've just realised mine is a 69.

[Thebigsmoke]

Just following on from my post above, I lit up the Partagas Short on Saturday evening after a nice meal with the family and was a bit underwhelmed. When it was smoking, it was quite a nice cigar and notably different to the ones I've smoked thus far. I enjoyed the mellow spice that was coming through, together what reminded me of some floral and Woody notes.

The problem was that the draw was quite hard and the cigar required constant touching up due to an uneven burn and even required relighting several times which sort of ruined the experience. Was wondering whether this would be because of the higher rh from the 69% boveda packet I'm using in the small container I'm storing my humble collection in?

[Midas]

My preference is to keep the RH in the low 60’s, definitely no higher than 65%.

Like you I started with packs of 69% and found Cubans to need a lot of touch ups, relights and often the draw was very firm. I now use 65’s in a wooden humidor which holds 60-63%RH generally. Some cigars will always have a mind of their own no matter how you store them but it’s generally accepted Cubans perform better when stored at a lower humidity.

If you don’t want to invest in any more Bovedas at this point you can keep your stash in the tupperdor with the 69’s and take out what you’re planning on smoking a few days in advance to let the humidity come down. Of course this is dependent on ambient room RH but is the cheaper option when starting out and finding what works for you.

My advice for the future would depend on storage. If you’re planning on sticking with airtight containers I’d suggest 62’s as they are very good at holding the RH to what the Boveda advertise. Of course if you find you prefer the taste at 65 then go with those over the 62’s.

If you’re going to invest in a wooden humidor it will be a bit of trial and error to see how leaky it is and what RH Boveda you need to get the RH you desire.


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[ha_banos]

Perfecdraw tool may have been able to help. Tough to say. Try the dryboxing though, few days in a non humidified box. Sometimes thats how the dice roll.

[Thebigsmoke]

Thank you both for your suggestion. Yes, I think I'll go for the 62 as its quite a small container and, as you say, won't have the leakage issues that a normal humidor may have. I've not really seen the 65 ones being sold by any of the vendors I've brought from.

Perfecdraw tool is a good suggestion too, though on this occasion I suspect it was more the moisture level that was the cause of the draw issue.

[ha_banos]

Perhaps it was a tad overfilled. A small blockage. Bloody Cubans

[Midas]

Got to agree with Banos, regardless of storage conditions £25 spent on a perfectdraw is the best investment you’ll make in this hobby.


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[Thebigsmoke]

Will get hold of one for sure, thanks