During my time as a serious cigar smoker (almost 3 years now) you always have that age old debate regarding which cigars are better, Cubans or Non-Cubans. There are those who will always say that CC's are the absolute epitome of what a good cigar should be: "Cubans are the best hands down". I however have a theory that I would like to get the opinions of the brothers on. Note that when I say CC's I am referencing cuban puros. Now let me preface my theory by saying that I have only ever smoked one CC in my life (a Partagas Serie D no4 and it was pretty darn good) and I by no means have a valid, educated opinion concerning CC's. Hence, my desire to know the opinions of my fellow BOTL's. That being said here we go...
In order to use a metaphor for my theory I draw upon the example of a chef and his available ingredients used to make his dishes. Let's say a chef from Maine was limited to only using ingredients cultivated and gathered from Maine. When someone orders a lobster at his restaurant he is going to have the ability to deliver a world class lobster to his patron because Maine naturally has the some of the best lobster in the world. But..what if a patron wanted a world class steak...what if they wanted world class chocolate for dessert....what if they wanted world class foie gras? He would be limited to cooking up the old milk cow Bessie and serving it to you or melting a snickers bar and putting in a fancy bowl and call it gourmet chocolate pudding...or grab a goose from the local high school football field and serving it with hoisin sauce and call it peking duck. Ok I'm being extreme and getting carried away but its to make a point.
My thought process is that CC's as phenomenal as they are, are very limited in their "ingredients". The non-cuban master cigar blenders have an entire world and plethora of fantastic ingredients at their disposal to make some of the greatest cigars possible. From sumatra, to cameron, to san andreas maduro, to dominican piloto, to connecticut brodadleaf and shade grown, to brazilian mata fina, to Nicaraguan tobaccos the ingredient list is vast. In my mind the non-cuban blenders have the ability to let there imaginations go wild with limitless possibilities of tobacco/flavor combinations. By this logic I would feel that in a macro sense that non cubans should be better then CC's due to the availability of a variety of excellent tobaccos from around the world.
I hope to get feedback from you guys and learn from your experience in regards to CC's and non-cubans alike. THANKS!
In order to use a metaphor for my theory I draw upon the example of a chef and his available ingredients used to make his dishes. Let's say a chef from Maine was limited to only using ingredients cultivated and gathered from Maine. When someone orders a lobster at his restaurant he is going to have the ability to deliver a world class lobster to his patron because Maine naturally has the some of the best lobster in the world. But..what if a patron wanted a world class steak...what if they wanted world class chocolate for dessert....what if they wanted world class foie gras? He would be limited to cooking up the old milk cow Bessie and serving it to you or melting a snickers bar and putting in a fancy bowl and call it gourmet chocolate pudding...or grab a goose from the local high school football field and serving it with hoisin sauce and call it peking duck. Ok I'm being extreme and getting carried away but its to make a point.
My thought process is that CC's as phenomenal as they are, are very limited in their "ingredients". The non-cuban master cigar blenders have an entire world and plethora of fantastic ingredients at their disposal to make some of the greatest cigars possible. From sumatra, to cameron, to san andreas maduro, to dominican piloto, to connecticut brodadleaf and shade grown, to brazilian mata fina, to Nicaraguan tobaccos the ingredient list is vast. In my mind the non-cuban blenders have the ability to let there imaginations go wild with limitless possibilities of tobacco/flavor combinations. By this logic I would feel that in a macro sense that non cubans should be better then CC's due to the availability of a variety of excellent tobaccos from around the world.
I hope to get feedback from you guys and learn from your experience in regards to CC's and non-cubans alike. THANKS!
