Interesting Take On Cuban Cigars

[Tennessee Dave]

No blender huh? Well most of these blends have been around for decades, at least the global production ones. I've been cooking fired chicken for nearly 55 years now and I don't need a recipe. My guess is a blender is not required at this point either. Those rollers KNOW the recipe.

 

[SeaGarr]

No blender huh? Well most of these blends have been around for decades, at least the global production ones. I've been cooking fired chicken for nearly 55 years now and I don't need a recipe. My guess is a blender is not required at this point either. Those rollers KNOW the recipe.

According the the story - all the rollers were young. I don't know lol? Just stirring up trouble lol.

 

[herfdog]

Cuban cigars are not blended. I have been repeating this for the longest time. They operate like a third world country.

It is very conceivable that his description is true. It does reflect what I heard all my life about how cigars are made in cuba, and how I imagined them.
With only the exception that I was under the impression that specific field were used for specific brands.

You guys might want to go to cuba and see for yourself before stating he has an agenda.

Now... the main question is ... who cares?
Do you like them cigars? They are NOT blended. They are NOT aged. If you like them, good. I personally prefer NC to regular production unaged CC.
And I don't like to wait for years after purchasing a cigar to smoke it.

So... that's me. What do YOU do with the CCs you get at your B&M?

 

[pbibby]

^I like them. And I know what my taste buds tell me.......... That each brand has its own distinct blend.

 

[JuzCallMeDee]

Cuban cigars are not blended. I have been repeating this for the longest time. They operate like a third world country.

It is very conceivable that his description is true. It does reflect what I heard all my life about how cigars are made in cuba, and how I imagined them.
With only the exception that I was under the impression that specific field were used for specific brands.

You guys might want to go to cuba and see for yourself before stating he has an agenda.

Now... the main question is ... who cares?
Do you like them cigars? They are NOT blended. They are NOT aged. If you like them, good. I personally prefer NC to regular production unaged CC.
And I don't like to wait for years after purchasing a cigar to smoke it.

So... that's me. What do YOU do with the CCs you get at your B&M?

ever been there?

 

[icehog3]

Cuban cigars are not blended. I have been repeating this for the longest time. They operate like a third world country.

It is very conceivable that his description is true. It does reflect what I heard all my life about how cigars are made in cuba, and how I imagined them.

Emphasis on "imagined"?

 

[teamrandr]

Whats funny is this guy questioning how the cubans blend. Seems pretty obvious to me that Cuban tradition has made for centuries, what many consider the finest cigars/tobacco in the world. I think that the way he presented this is not objective which is what journalism is supposed to be all about.

 

[BenvolioMustDie]

I actually just tried to read this blog and I hate to admit I got as far as "I did see lots of old people" before having a good chuckle and closing the window. The guy is a moron.

 

[oside]

Pete mentioned something that supports one of the points...
http://www.botl.org/threads/a-brief-truth-in-cigars.22185/#post-388709

edited to include quote:

Many Cuban cigars today (not old old ones) are the same just different shades and/or box pressed. I know I will hear shit for this one but Believe It! It's True!

Interesting (but not shocked) to hear Pete say this.

 

[BenvolioMustDie]

Cuban cigars are not blended. I have been repeating this for the longest time. They operate like a third world country.

It is very conceivable that his description is true. It does reflect what I heard all my life about how cigars are made in cuba, and how I imagined them.
With only the exception that I was under the impression that specific field were used for specific brands.

You guys might want to go to cuba and see for yourself before stating he has an agenda.

Now... the main question is ... who cares?
Do you like them cigars? They are NOT blended. They are NOT aged. If you like them, good. I personally prefer NC to regular production unaged CC.
And I don't like to wait for years after purchasing a cigar to smoke it.

So... that's me. What do YOU do with the CCs you get at your B&M?

So what you're saying is a roller in Cuba will take a big pile of tobacco, roll 100 cigars sized 4.8" x 50 then split them down in 25s by colour and then put them into a Boli Royals box, a PSD4 box, a RASS box and a CoRo box?

 

[herfdog]

So what you're saying is a roller in Cuba will take a big pile of tobacco, roll 100 cigars sized 4.8" x 50 then split them down in 25s by colour and then put them into a Boli Royals box, a PSD4 box, a RASS box and a CoRo box?

Its not the roller's job to put them in boxes...

 

[BenvolioMustDie]

Its not the roller's job to put them in boxes...

I wasn't trying to be funny, I was asking a genuine question to help clarify your point in my mind

 

[pbibby]

Pete mentioned something that supports one of the points...
http://www.botl.org/threads/a-brief-truth-in-cigars.22185/#post-388709

Sorry. But this is also a conflict of interest..... Haha

 

[herfdog]

I wasn't trying to be funny, I was asking a genuine question to help clarify your point in my mind but if you want be a smartass...

More precisely what I am saying is that rollers roll for many brands, and when given tobacco to roll cigars, they have no clue what they are rolling. They dont 'blend' they just 'make'
Then the higher ups take them rolled cigars and bring them elsewhere for banding and boxing.

The whole concept of 'blend' is something I never heard of when smoking cigars until I started to look at what happenned with NC in the US i.e. with you guys last year. I have been exposed to cuban cigars all my life and had bought them on occasions since the ninetees.

No where was ever the concept of blending.

The concept as I always have understood it is that they take tobacco from certain fields to make certain brands. E.g. the best fields are used for behike.

I would not be surprised if 2-3 different brands happen to be from the same fields, particularly regular productions.

 

[JuzCallMeDee]

I know you weren't asking me but my wife has spent months at a time there. We both study econ (though she's primarily tax law), so we talk a lot about Cuba in different contexts. Anyway, like I said, though she knows nothing about the tobacco industry, trying to compare how Cuba as a whole does business as compared to the rest of the world, is truly futile. Industry "norms" as most of us know it aren't the same lol.

I am not saying you need to believe this guy, but we should have an open mind in spite of our love for the product. If magic happens because they use outdated methodologies - so be it, but calling the author a moron because his observations don't coincide with ours is maybe taking it too far.

"every cigar is the same" he's a moron imo

 

[HIM*]

To be fair you can take different primings off the same plants in the same fields and get a totally different cigar. Such is the case with Undercrown and the LP line. Blending tobacco is an art. Your right its not the torcedors job to blend though, they just roll the blend they're given. But this is how it works in every factory. They don't have to know what they are rolling just the proportions of each leaf they're supposed to be using and the vitola they are supposed to be rolling.

 

[acc05R1]

I think the article is spot on! All you CC lovers need to box up all of those sticks(after all, they're all the same anyways), and send them to me for proper disposal
There may be some validity to some of his points like the use of older/outdated tools and molds, fertilizer being regulated by the government, and even crops being rotated with produce (even if there is a very slight amount of truth to any of it), but I also think that the author has a bit of an agenda as well (again, even if its not an obvious one). What he fails to really go in depth on though, is the fact that he smoked almost all day, every day while on this trip. I'm sure they all did taste alike at that rate, just the same with NCs if he were to do the same thing (at least I'm assuming anyways, as I've never smoked all day long). Not here to debate his point of view though, to each their own. I certainly enjoy the CCs that I've had and can definitely tell differences between the different brands that I've had the pleasure of smoking so far.

 

[pbibby]

To be fair you can take different primings off the same plants in the same fields and get a totally different cigar. Such is the case with Undercrown and the LP line. Blending tobacco is an art. Your right its not the torcedors job to blend though, they just roll the blend they're given. But this is how it works in every factory. They don't have to know what they are rolling just the proportions of each leaf they're supposed to be using and the vitola they are supposed to be rolling.

Right. I wouldn't do that they don't know what they are rolling. But don't tell me that they are the same cigars........ Haha

 

[JuzCallMeDee]

you decide who to believe....

 

[D Quintero]

Great article , to which i'm sure his handlers are pleased....

What a load of horseshit.