Interesting Take On Cuban Cigars

[Craig Mac]

I want to start by saying I am not posting this to create a discussion on which is better between CC vs. NC, we all have our own personal preferences. Smoke what you like.

I came across this article this morning and there are some pretty bold claims being made by a guy with over 30 years experience in the Cigar industry on the retail side. He was recently in Cuba for 6 days and published this article. Some of them seem pretty crazy, but given his experience in the business I found it interesting.

Some of the claims in the article are:

1. Care isn't given to the fields or plants grown in the fields
2. Cuba only uses 3 primings where other countries use 6
3. There are no blends
4. There are no master blenders
5. Every single cigar brand is the same, using tobacco from any farm as long as tobacco used in the cigar has tobacco equally from all three priming’s
6. Cigars are not aged at all once rolled
7. Rollers have dull chaveta's, broken and cracked Cigar molds

All of which he claims effects the quality and consistency to him only being a able to describe the 50+ Cigars he smoked on his trip as "“sufficiente” of “sufficient”…”regular” or “acceptable” at best".

Take a look for yourself. Curious to see what others think.

http://thecigarauthority.com/editorial-daves-trip-to-cuba-legally-the-conclusion/

 

[teamrandr]

Saw this on a CC forum. Those guys were heated! So Im new to the habanos world. Is this guy just talking out his ass or is he even partly correct? The feeling Im gettting is that this guy is attempting to slander habanos cigar. Maybe due to fear of the NC market taking a big hit when the embargo is lifted.

 

[Craig Mac]

I wonder that too, he also does have an awful lot of house brands in his stores.

 

[ChefBoyRG54]

Well, he clearly didn't like Cubans before so he went in a bit biased. However, if all the extracurricular info is accurate then they are still doing something right imo

 

[danmdevries]

I dunno that I buy all of that. Though I'm a noob to cigars, and even more so to Habanos, I've done a lot of reading before I started buying.

Its possible that its true, and I'm sure there's at least a grain or two of truth in that, but the source isn't exactly impartial.

I think there's probably a lot more effort going into blending and rolling NCs primarily due to the massive palate of cigar leaf to choose from. CCs are entirely Cuban tobacco grown from x number of farms in a communist nation that doesn't have companies coming in to optimize the soils and production like we do with NC.

And the factory codes on different boxes vary, I'm assuming the various blends are rolled in different factories.

Im sure there's some truth but exaggerated for effect

 

[pbibby]

First off, if the smokes are good, then who cares. Secondly, these guys have no clue what they are talking about.

Hopefully they convince everyone that CCs are terrible. Because that means more for me.

 

[StogieNinja]

First, if I smoked over NINE cigars a day, my taste buds would tell me everything I smoked was dull as well. And as a "cigar expert" he oughta know smoking nine cigars a day will kill your palate. Not only is that smoking almost constantly, it's also rushing most of the smokes.

Secondly, the man is not exactly impartial.

Third, just because you don't see something doesn't mean it's not happening.

 

[brandoncpm]

He's mad they couldn't produce tootsie roll CCs.

 

[MoJo]

If this guy has over 30 years exp "in" the cigar industry he should know better. I'm sure he was able to do an accurate assessment on the care given to all the fields and plants on his 6 day trip...or any of his other claims as well. I think he's trying to just get publicity for himself and his site/businesses

 

[hot grits]

sounds like he has an agenda. I like the fact that they are using old antiquated tools and what not. Technology and new fertilizers and so forth does not always produce better products. Perfect analogy is tomatoes. For the past 50 or so years, people in labs have been trying to create the perfect hybrid tomato. But whenever i give someone an heirloom tomato from my garden from an old strain that hasnt been touched in who knows how many years..... People go crazy telling me its the best tomato they ever had.
Newer doesnt always mean better.

 

[dscl]

I believe one of those (and only to an extent)

1. Care isn't given to the fields or plants grown in the fields​

I don't know firsthand, but have been told by more than one industry person that when not growing tobacco the fields are used to grow produce. This itself may not be a big deal, although less than ideal as the produce would eat up nutrients, but the government also rations fertilizer. From what I hear there isn't enough fertilizer to do one correctly let alone both so al crops end up suffering and not getting the nutrients they need.

 

[JuzCallMeDee]

the pod cast is a joke. ignorance! lol

 

[BenvolioMustDie]

the pod cast is a joke. ignorance! lol

 

[Tennessee Dave]

Well now. I am in the camp that says who cares. What I know is that there is a very distinctive flavor in some of these CC's that I do not get in NC's. Oregon Pinot Noir is excellent but it ain't Cote d Or Burgundy. California has been making some good Cabernet Sauvignon for years but it's not classified Bordeaux. It's all about the raw product and the soil. Try as they will they can not duplicate those two fundamental differences that are inherent to CC's. If the embargo does end I guess we will find out what the general public prefers. I don't need an "expert" to tell me what tastes best. I'll decide that for myself.

 

[Sirspanksalot]

The question is...if the embargo ends, and everyone is going crazy to try a habano, will this guy not try to stock em in his shop?

I'm assuming he has a shop, j didn't read the actual link just the OP

 

[Craig Mac]

The question is...if the embargo ends, and everyone is going crazy to try a habano, will this guy not try to stock em in his shop?

I'm assuming he has a shop, j didn't read the actual link just the OP

The blog where I l inked to is for his shop. He says in the video that if the embargo is lifted that he will sell them and he will make a lot of money doing so.

 

[icehog3]

The man makes his living selling NC cigars, it is directly to his perceived benefit to disparage Cuban cigars. The credibility he hopes to have because of 30 years in the industry is watered down greatly by his obvious conflict of interest. Just my opinion....smoke what you like, like what you smoke.

 

[AlohaStyle]

3. There are no blends

5. Every single cigar brand is the same, using tobacco from any farm as long as tobacco used in the cigar has tobacco equally from all three priming’s

I will read more of his days posts as I like to read trip reports and other people's experiences in Cuba. I read the post you linked Craig. I sure hope for his sake he purposely wrote a terrible article to bash cuban cigars because it is such a joke. I won't even bother to touch on other topics, but the ones I quoted above are laughable. There are no blends, they just take same size/color cigars and box them up together? lol! Yep, I can taste a Partagas SD #4 in a Cohiba Robusto box. I can taste a Bolivar PC in a Juan Lopez PC box. Sure. What a fkn tool.

 

[SeaGarr]

The cigar industry is just that - an industry. American's excel at industry and generally speaking, laugh at all the inefficiencies of socialist industry... and downright scoff at communist endeavours at industry. And yet for so many American's, somehow 56 years of communist rule has left Cuba's cigar industry not only unscathed... but left it the industry leader. Even with so much American investment into Central America's Cigar industry.

Were this conversation about anything other than cigars, something we are all passionate about, ask yourself if this conversation would not be going another way lol. Of course it would lol.

I don't know if what this guy is saying is true or not, but it certainly is very possible. That said, organic food does taste better LOL!!!

 

[HIM*]

The only part of that list I could believe is that the fields could be cared for better. Im not saying the farmers are slacking or leaf is bad but more funding could only be a good thing in the end.