Vintage vs. a Bad Box

[steelcitysmoker]

Greetings all!

I've had the pleasure of purchasing two (2) "vintage", unopened, 5yr old boxes of H.Upmann Sir Winstons in my short smoking career. My strategy at the time was to lay them down for a month, and let them stabilize in their new home.

When I did finely open the box and enjoy....HOLY SMOKES :hearteyes love at first puff! The wrapper, binder, and filler burnt evenly and the ash was a crisp white.

However, I recently purchased a box of Rafael Gonzalez Tres Petit Lonsdales, PEL EP00 and I don't know if I'm all tht imprseed with these guys.

They've most certainly stabilized by now, but the ash isn't all what I thought it would be. The wrapper and binder ash are still blackish? The filler tobacco burns with a whitish/faint tan at the core? I've tried 3 smokes so far out of this box randomly...same thing.

So guys, was it a poor fermenting process? Why so many different ash colors? I trust the vendor an the freakin' smokes are 8yrs old!!!

Any thoughts?



Thanks,

 

[jmatkins]

I have never had a RG but I do know that sometimes you get a bad box. They are not CC but I got a box of CAO Brazila over the summer and I loves these cigars alot. The box I got the 3 I have smoked so far have been bad I am just going to sit on them a while longer and try them again. Also have you had many RG as a whole, if not maybe it is just not your cigar. .02

 

[Matthew]

Now you know why Sir Winnies are about two to three times the price of the RGs. RGs are typically mediocre cigars and 7-8 years isn't enough to change the flavor profile that much. A classic vintage cigar has to start out as a good/great smoke to begin with. Ash color isn't that relevant and 8 years isn't that long. Not to sound snobby, but I wouldn't smoke a 20 year old Guantanamera.

And if you like 5 year old SWs, just wait until you've tried one with 10+ years!

 

[tubaman]

Now you know why Sir Winnies are about two to three times the price of the RGs. RGs are typically mediocre cigars and 7-8 years isn't enough to change the flavor profile that much. A classic vintage cigar has to start out as a good/great smoke to begin with. Ash color isn't that relevant and 8 years isn't that long. Not to sound snobby, but I wouldn't smoke a 20 year old Guantanamera.

And if you like 5 year old SWs, just wait until you've tried one with 10+ years!

You KNOW I love me some Sir Winnies!!!!!!:awholelot

I've always thought RG is an underrated line. I love the Lonsdales.

But Mathew is absolutely right, aging a bad cigar just means you have an old, bad cigar. My dad had a saying that I always use. "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit"

 

[CWS]

Not sure I care as much about how they look or what color the ash is as to how they taste. That being said, comparing a Sir Winston to an RG is like comparing the performance of a Hyundai to a Porsche. IMO.

 

[jmatkins]

:yes:

Not sure I care as much about how they look or what color the ash is as to how they taste. That being said, comparing a Sir Winston to an RG is like comparing the performance of a Hyundai to a Porsche. IMO.

 

[Fox]

Not sure I care as much about how they look or what color the ash is as to how they taste. That being said, comparing a Sir Winston to an RG is like comparing the performance of a Hyundai to a Porsche. IMO.

Normally, Chuck, I would agree with you. However, I had some 1985 RG Lonsdales that were at least in the Porsche 911 class. . .Maybe even up to Targa grade. . .:smokingco

 

[CWS]

Normally, Chuck, I would agree with you. However, I had some 1985 RG Lonsdales that were at least in the Porsche 911 class. . .Maybe even up to Targa grade. . .:smokingco

1985? 1985? Apples and Oranges my friend.

 

[Fox]

1985? 1985? Apples and Oranges my friend.

Yeah, but I could not resist. . .:stretchgr

 

[gonz]

Now you know why Sir Winnies are about two to three times the price of the RGs. RGs are typically mediocre cigars and 7-8 years isn't enough to change the flavor profile that much. A classic vintage cigar has to start out as a good/great smoke to begin with. Ash color isn't that relevant and 8 years isn't that long. Not to sound snobby, but I wouldn't smoke a 20 year old Guantanamera.

And if you like 5 year old SWs, just wait until you've tried one with 10+ years!

Couldn't have put it better myself.
Cigars just ain't all equal. Enjoy what you have for what they are.


I don't know if its even worth mentioning, but 2000/2001 saw some pretty mixed, sometimes just bad results for cigars. Rough time period, and some of the stuff is still kicking around because people are wary of it.

 

[indyrob]

Greetings all!



However, I recently purchased a box of Rafael Gonzalez Tres Petit Lonsdales, PEL EP00 and I don't know if I'm all tht imprseed with these guys.

They've most certainly stabilized by now, but the ash isn't all what I thought it would be. The wrapper and binder ash are still blackish? The filler tobacco burns with a whitish/faint tan at the core? I've tried 3 smokes so far out of this box randomly...same thing.

So guys, was it a poor fermenting process? Why so many different ash colors? I trust the vendor an the freakin' smokes are 8yrs old!!!

Any thoughts?

Depends on what region the tobacco is from.
The color of the ash depends a lot on what the plant took in while it was growing. Different minerals in the soil are going to show up in the ash in varying ways. I'm not exactly sure what mineral trace exibits what color, but if you poke around long enough online you can find out.

 

[avid toker]

Oh another nit picky point, 5ys old would hardly be considered "vintage"

 

[cvm4]

Not sure I care as much about how they look or what color the ash is as to how they taste. That being said, comparing a Sir Winston to an RG is like comparing the performance of a Hyundai to a Porsche. IMO.

Just what I was thinking. I could care less what the ash looks like as long as the taste is on par.

 

[steelcitysmoker]

Thanks guys!

You all certainly gave me some things to consider. Hee hee...avid toker:

"Oh another nit picky point, 5ys old would hardly be considered "vintage""

Well, if I'm in ecstasies now, I don't know what I'll think at the ten-year mark!?!?!

SCS