So you're considering taking the leap/have been exploring the CC realm for a brief time. Congrats and welcome to a whole new ballgame! I've seen some posts with misnomers/bad information so I wanted to take the time to clear some things up on a few various topics.
Box quality: This is where everything begins. Do you have a nice box or a crappy one? This starts with how the box looks. A nice sheen is a great sign that there are plenty of oils and that you have good quality tobacco. How do they feel? Ideally, you want some sponginess but no soft spots which would signify underfilling.
Aging: In the most general and basic sense, aging improves cigars. This is simply because strength is removed over time and underlying flavors develop and blossom. A lot of this starts with box quality though. If you have an underfilled box or a box filled with tent pegs, age won't do anything to improve the quality. If you have a box that looks flat with matte wrappers, this is a sign that your cigars won't have the legs to improve past a few years time.
Vintage year: Like wine, there are good years and bad years. This depends mostly on the varying quality of crops from year to year in Cuba. You can get good boxes even in down years, and even some great/legendary boxes, but generally speaking, quality is highest across the board in good vintage years which gives you the highest chance possible to get a great box. Good vintage years include 07-09 and 13-14. It appears as though we should be heading into another great vintage year here soon, possibly as soon as this year, but most likely in 2019.
Box code: This could be paragraphs unto itself. There are 4 factories in Cuba which stand above the rest. These are: El Laguito, La Corona, H Upmann and Partagas. These factories generally have the highest quality rollers and get some of the best tobacco available. It stands to reason that the best raw materials and the best rollers will turn into the best cigars available. So a little extra work box code hunting can help you get better quality cigars as well.
Mother factory concept: This is a concept that suggests that for the best boxes in a given marca, you want the factory known for producing that marca's cigars. For Cohiba, that factory is El Laguito. Partagas and Bolivar are best from the Partagas factory; H. Upmann, Montecristo and Vegas Robaina from the H. Upmann factory; Hoyo de Monterrey, Diplomatico, Por Larranaga and San Cristobal from La Corona.
Edicion Limitadas and Regionals: These represent some of the most expensive cigars being produced. The concept is great: limited runs of cigars from varying marcas produced in unique vitolas. ELs are mostly crap with a few gems scattered here and there. I'd generally suggest to avoid most of these. The regional program has far more hits, though far more are produced. The price point is generally high and getting higher every year it seems. Its worth mentioning that regionals are no longer produced at the major factories, most of these come from various derp derp factories across Cuba. YMMV.
Box quality: This is where everything begins. Do you have a nice box or a crappy one? This starts with how the box looks. A nice sheen is a great sign that there are plenty of oils and that you have good quality tobacco. How do they feel? Ideally, you want some sponginess but no soft spots which would signify underfilling.
Aging: In the most general and basic sense, aging improves cigars. This is simply because strength is removed over time and underlying flavors develop and blossom. A lot of this starts with box quality though. If you have an underfilled box or a box filled with tent pegs, age won't do anything to improve the quality. If you have a box that looks flat with matte wrappers, this is a sign that your cigars won't have the legs to improve past a few years time.
Vintage year: Like wine, there are good years and bad years. This depends mostly on the varying quality of crops from year to year in Cuba. You can get good boxes even in down years, and even some great/legendary boxes, but generally speaking, quality is highest across the board in good vintage years which gives you the highest chance possible to get a great box. Good vintage years include 07-09 and 13-14. It appears as though we should be heading into another great vintage year here soon, possibly as soon as this year, but most likely in 2019.
Box code: This could be paragraphs unto itself. There are 4 factories in Cuba which stand above the rest. These are: El Laguito, La Corona, H Upmann and Partagas. These factories generally have the highest quality rollers and get some of the best tobacco available. It stands to reason that the best raw materials and the best rollers will turn into the best cigars available. So a little extra work box code hunting can help you get better quality cigars as well.
Mother factory concept: This is a concept that suggests that for the best boxes in a given marca, you want the factory known for producing that marca's cigars. For Cohiba, that factory is El Laguito. Partagas and Bolivar are best from the Partagas factory; H. Upmann, Montecristo and Vegas Robaina from the H. Upmann factory; Hoyo de Monterrey, Diplomatico, Por Larranaga and San Cristobal from La Corona.
Edicion Limitadas and Regionals: These represent some of the most expensive cigars being produced. The concept is great: limited runs of cigars from varying marcas produced in unique vitolas. ELs are mostly crap with a few gems scattered here and there. I'd generally suggest to avoid most of these. The regional program has far more hits, though far more are produced. The price point is generally high and getting higher every year it seems. Its worth mentioning that regionals are no longer produced at the major factories, most of these come from various derp derp factories across Cuba. YMMV.
