Are Cuban Cigars the Best?
At some point this was bound to come up. “Are Cuban cigars the best of the best?” Certainly their reputation puts them on the top of cigar connoisseurs lists – even if they are illegal in this country. You have probably heard cigars toting the phrase “Made from Cuban seed”. Although this certainly sounds attractive, at this point, most cigar tobacco has come from that origin. Cuban tobacco seeds left Cuba nearly a century ago.
A good portion of Cuban cigar’s reputation has been handed down over time. One thing is for sure; a lot of growers have improved and created great cigars in the interim.
Are they worth it? In order to address this, let me at least bring you up to speed on a few things that make Cuban cigars unique.
No Blender Here
As we have mentioned before, most cigars blend several different tobaccos. This is an art in itself (similar to blending grapes to create a good wine). In the hands of an artist you can end up with some incredible cigars. It can also help if some of the tobacco is, shall we say “less than perfect”. Cuban cigars, however ONLY contain Cuban tobacco – always have and probably always will. It is not to say that Cuban cigars could not benefit from “blending” with other cigars – in some cases it would certainly help them in the lean years when weather conditions work against the grower.
Full bodied AND Smooth?
A good Cuban will accomplish something that is very difficult – a very full-bodied cigar that is still smooth. Not all cigars coming out of Cuba are full-bodied cigars. However, chances are, if you are new to the world of cigars, you may not like a Cuban.
As your cigar tastes change, envision how you may have changed your taste in wine. Most people start with a sweeter wine such as a Zinfandel or even (gulp) wine “coolers”. Then you may move into sweeter chardonnays and then dry chardonnays then something light from the red family (merlots, pinots, etc). Eventually after much “research” your taste buds may have you drinking mostly Cabernet and Bordeaux. Cigars work much in the same way. You may start out with a mild cigar and some time later work you way up to a full-bodied smoke. That may be the point that you introduce Cuban cigars.
Fun Fact: You can try Cuban cigars almost anywhere outside the US. Be sure to look for a reputable dealer, as they are lots of fakes out there. I have heard stories of people bringing them into the US by simply taking off the rings and throwing away the boxes (just no way to verify that the cigar is from Cuba). The legal route would be to talk to your local tobacconist and ask him about “Pre-Embargo” Cubans. These are cigars where the tobacco was brought into the US BEFORE the embargo (1962). This also gives you a great chance to try and aged cigar – expect to pay about $30.
But are they worth the price?
In the end, and I can only speak from a personal standpoint, Cuban cigars can be great (if you get a good one). However, I don’t know that they are always worth the price. You can spend anywhere from $30 – $50 for a Cuban cigar. Special occasion, yes. But if you are looking for a better use of your money, you may want to invest in 5-6 great cigars that are not from Cuba.
Ready to try one? Too many to list here but I would go with a Trinidad Extra Robusto or a Cohiba Esplendido. Both are Flagship smokes for Cuba and seem to have the best quality of tobacco the country has to offer.
Pairing a Good Smoke
OK, hopefully by now you have some idea of how to pick out, light and blow smoke rings with the best of them. Picking out the right drink to go with a cigar can be challenging in its own right and is also a double edge sword. If you have the wrong combination, the best cigar may taste horrible (or no taste at all) and your fine after dinner drink may taste like you wished you spent .25 a ounce instead of $25.
Although I can certainly write an entire site on this subject (trust me, I am doing the research as we speak), I do want you to have a good reference to get you started. I have divided the “with drinks” category into three. Ports, Single Malts, and “other”.
Also, I have to admit, I am not really one that gravitates towards “flavored” cigars. I have no problem with those that do, just not my choice typically. I will say however, this can be a great time to bring them out. The pairings are almost limitless and although you will find some atrocious combinations –there are some real gems in some of those pairings.
Ports
Brandy fortified wine. A complex flavor in its own right does offer opportunity for a good cigar combination. Ports are easily divided into two main areas. Ruby and Tawny. Tawnies are usually kept in newer oak barrels and are paler in color. Ruby ports are usually kept in barrels that were once used for red wine.
There is no right or wrong on whether you drink Tawny or Ruby ports. The Ruby Ports will be noticeably sweeter than their Tawny counterparts.
If you lean towards a milder cigar (light wrapper and filler) you will find that they work in both categories but are often better with the Tawnies. Both Macanudo’s and Montecristo’s are excellent in this category. With Tawny ports, it is best to avoid Maduro cigars. Most likely you will not do justice to the cigar or the port. You can experiment with the “flavored” cigars with the ports but they are better served going with a Ruby port.
Ruby ports on the other hand are a big Catch 22 and will require some research to match your individual tastes. Unlike the other categories, Ruby ports are the most volatile (often dependent on what you ate within the hour). One person will love a cigar with a ruby port while the other, having the exact same thing will have a less than desirable experience. You can experiment with any of the basic flavor cigars (with the exception of Vanilla). Your Acid and Natural cigar lines can be tough in this area as well (although a “Juicy Lucy” from Acid can squeak in from time to time in favorable fashion). Mild cigars work well and a smooth Maduro can go a long way (if you are a “slow smoker”).
Single Malts
Aaah, my favorite pairing. If any category of after dinner drink completely goes with a cigar, this may be it. Let me first mention one disclaimer. Single Malts are not for everyone. They are often stronger than the other two categories. Drink what you enjoy – not what other people tell you what you should be drinking. With that said, you may want to give single Malts a chance. They are an acquired taste and much like cigars themselves come in many different styles and varieties.
To understand the pairings, lets first understand the basics of single malts themselves. They may have characteristics that can be described as “Salty”, “Peaty” (as in Peat Moss), and with “Iodine”.
Looking for a quick choice? Avoid Maduro’s and Flavored cigars. Any mild to medium cigar will work great. Anything from Arturo Fuente (Hemingway) will be enjoyable as well as anything from Punch, Partagas, and Cohiba.
Best choices for Single Malt? In no particular order: Oban, Macallan 18 year (the 25 is also very good but just as well to drink it without a cigar at that point), Talisker 10 year, Glenfiddich 18, and Bunnahabhain.
Other
This category is really up to you. Perhaps you already have a favorite after dinner drink and are wondering if adding a cigar will help (or hurt) the experience. Well, you just won’t know until you try.
A mild cigar is always a good start. The trick here is to not introduce competing flavors but complimentary ones. A lot of drinks in this category have a flavor of their own (Ameretto, Frangelico, etc). In this case, the cigar should come along for the ride.
Note: I always get asked about Remy Martin Louis XIII and a cigar pairing. Louis XIII is a popular drink that can be found at the top (and most secure) part of a finer bar. Currently selling from $100-$250 for single glass ($1,300 for the bottle). I think some people order it to look impressive and others simply think it is the best money can buy. In either case, keep the cigar in your travel humidor. Enjoy the glass if that is what you wish then light up a cigar.
Cigar (Urban) Legends
Authors Note: These stories have been shared many times in the Cigar world. Now urban legends, a few are true, a few cigar smokers probably created it late one night. But then again, as a friend of mine says, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”.
Cigars and the Cuban Embargo…
The year is now 1962, and before President John F. Kennedy authorized a trade embargo with Cuba, he instructed his press secretary to acquire as many of his favorite Cuban cigars as he could find. Once the embargo was signed, Cuban products were no longer legally available to United States citizens.
Cigar Crime Doesn’t Pay…
In Charlotte, North Carolina, a man with a passion for fine cigars figured out a way to get his smokes for free. He purchased a case of 2 dozen very, rare, very costly cigars. Like many people with objects of great value, he had them insured. Nothing odd in that…except he had them insured against fire!
It took the man less than a month to consume his stockpile, and although he hadn’t even paid a single premium on his new policy, he filed a claim with the insurance company. He stated that his property had been lost “in a series of small fires.”
Obviously, the insurance company balked, saying that the cigars had been consumed in a normal fashion. He called in his lawyers, they called in their lawyers. He sued…and, much to everyone’s surprise, he WON!
In his ruling, the judge stated that the insurance company had issued a valid policy that warranted the cigars as insurable and guaranteed payment in the even of “loss by fire.” The policy didn’t define an “acceptable” fire, so it was considered to be in force and the company was obliged to compensate the man for his “loss.”
Given the time and costs of a lengthy appeal, the insurance company felt it was more cost-effective to accept the judge’s ruling and paid $15,000 to their client for his “loss.”
But wait. After our “hero” cashed his check, he was arrested – on 24 counts of arson! The prosecution used the man’s own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case to prove that he had intentionally destroyed valuable property. He was sentenced to 2 decades in prison – 24 consecutive l-year terms.
Or Does Cigar Crime Pay?…
The defendant in a lawsuit involving large sums of money was very concerned about the outcome of his case. ”If I lose, I’ll be ruined,” he said to his lawyer.
“It’s in the judge’s hands now,” his advocate explained.
“Would it help if I sent His Honor a box of cigars?” wondered the defendant.
His attorney was horrified at the suggestion and urgently counseled his client against such behavior. ”This judge is a stickler for ethics. You shouldn’t even smile at him! And sending him a box of cigars would completely prejudice him against your case. He might even find you in contempt of court ”
Two days later, the judge rendered a decision — in favor of the defendant. As the defendant left the courthouse, he said to his lawyer, “Thanks for the tip about the cigars. It certainly worked.”
“I’m sure we would have lost the case if you’d sent those cigars,” said the lawyer.
“But I did send them!” said the defendant. ”That’s how we won the case. I sent the cheapest cigars that I could find and enclosed the plaintiff’s business card.”
Cigar Glossary
Every art, science, game and hobby has its vocabulary. You know – the cool words that make you sound in the know and part of the scene.
But there’s more to talking the talk than trying to sound impressive. If you’re serious about cigars and cigar culture, you need to be able to communicate clearly in order to make sure you get what you want.
So here are some important terms and terminology for you to master.
• Amatista—A glass jar usually containing 50 cigars (sometimes 25), sealed and sold “factory fresh
• Band– A ring of paper wrapped around the closed head of most cigars, often bearing the name of the brand, country of origin, and/or indication that the cigar is hand-rolled.
• Barrel – The body of a cigar.
• Binder leaves – the intermediate leaves that hold the leaves of the filler tobacco together.
• Blend– The mixture of different types of tobacco in a cigar, including up to five types of filler leaves, a binder leaf and an outer wrapper.
• Bloom – A harmless white film caused by tobacco oils rising to the surface of the cigar wrapper. Usually indicates a strong taste.
• Bouquet—Used to describe the smell of a fine cigar and, of course fine wine, but strangely not the smell of a fine bunch of flowers.
• Bunch – The intermediate cluster of filler tobacco in a cigar.
• Cap – The small flag of wrapper leaf and vegetable gum-based glue that a cigar roller uses to seal the head of a cigar.
• Chaveta – The knife used in a cigar factory for cutting the wrapper leaf.
• Cigarillos – Thin, three-inch cigars, popular in Europe, generally machine-made, and often with homogenized wrappers.
• Credo – A humidification device that CHEMCIALLY regulates the environment of a humidor. Now a generic term, Credo was the brand name of a manufacturer of PG-based humidification devices for humidors.
• Draw – The amount of air that gets pulled through a lit cigar.
• Flag Leaves – Used instead of a cap. Flags are sometimes tied off in a pigtail or a curly head.
• Hot – A cigar draw that is too easy, often because it has been under-filled during rolling.
• Inhale – The big No-No of cigar smoking. Do you inhale? Don’t’!
• Long Filler – The bunch of tobacco found at the center of the cigar, which contains the whole leaf running from head to foot. (See also Short Filler)
• Foot – The end of the cigar that you light.
• Head – The end of the cigar that you put into your mouth. (see Cap)
• Humidor – A cigar storage box with controlled humidity. Humidor is most likely used for wooden boxes with unfinished interiors. (See also Igloodor and Tupperdor)
• Hygrometer – A device to measure relative humidity (no good humidor should be without one).
• Igloodor – An insulated storage container for cigars, usually somewhat large.
• Long Filler – Tobacco leaf that is long enough to run the entire length of a cigar’s bunch.
• Piercer – Used to cut/pierce a small hole in the end of a cigar (also called a ‘lance’)
• Plugged – A cigar draw that is too tight, (A little massaging of the cigar may relieve a plugged draw)
• Propylene Glycol (PG) – Employed in the humidification of tobacco products.
• Ring Gauge – The diameter of a cigar’s barrel, expressed in 64ths of an inch. A half-inch cigar would be a 32 ring. (32/64)
• S.A (Sociedad Anonyma). – The Spanish-language equivalent of Incorporated – Inc. that is likely to appear on any box of cigars
• Short Filler – The bunch of tobacco found at the center of the cigar comprised of scraps of tobacco sometimes the trimmings of long filler. (See Long Filler)
• Shoulder – Where the head of the cigar meets the barrel.
• Tobacco Beetle – Hopefully not found in your humidor. Unfortunately, the Tobacco Beetle does not discern between your expensive and inexpensive cigars – it will go after anything – often destroying your humidors entire contents.
• Tunneling—The uneven burning of a cigar
• Tupperdor – An airtight plastic container used for storing cigars.
- Vuelta Abajo– A valley in Cuba that arguably produces the best cigar tobacco in the world.
• Wrapper – A leaf of (usually) high quality tobacco wound around the center of the cigar. The wrapper leaf is chosen for its texture, veining, elasticity and complexion.
Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona
Cuban Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona a cigar before it`s time…
The early 1990s were wonderful years for Cuban cigars. Production was relatively small, not rushed, and the cigars coming out of Havana at that time were particularly fine smokes.
The Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona was the greatest cigar made in the world at that time. It is the only cigar to ever score a 99 rating right out of the box – “Pretty impressive” without any aging.
I still wonder to this day what was the one percent flaw that stopped it from getting a hundred? I think the magizine was afraid to give a perfect score to a freshly rolled cigar.
2008 Top Ten Cuban Cigars
Looking for the Top Ten Cuban Cigars? Well look no further.
If you are lucky enough to get your hands on any of these, find a nice quiet area – or a loud one with friends – and enjoy!
The 2008 List!
1 H Uphmann Magnum 50
2 Trinidad Ingenos Limited 2007
3 Trinidad Fundaros
4 Juan Lopez Obus France
5 Cohiba 35th Anniversity
6 Cohiba Maduro 5 Magicos
7 H Uphmann #2
8 Romeo and Julieta Short Churchill
9 Trinidad Extra Robusto
10 Cohiba Esplendidos
Rating Cigars
There are a variety of characteristics you can use to rate cigars. The only thing that is important is that you are consistent in what you are looking for. I recommend that you keep a diary of the different cigars that you smoke. Some purveyors carry great diaries that have a place for you to glue the band, rate the cigar, and write comments.
Once you get enough different ratings, you can refer back to your diary for what cigars you may likely enjoy that you have not yet tried (based on your previous taste ratings).
You can base your rating system from 1-10 or 1-100. When I started rating cigars I quickly discovered that a 1-10 system, although convenient for rating the cigar, proved too limiting as I rated more and more cigars.
I prefer a 100-point rating system as follows:
- Appearance and Presentation of Cigar (20 points max)
- Wrapper color. Packaging. Ease of cutting, etc.
- Lighting and Burning Properties (15 points max)
- Even initial light? Even burn? Burn fast or slow, etc
- Construction (25 points max)
- Draw. Stay intact?, etc
- Taste (40 points max)
- Mild? Full bodied? Aroma? Flavor, etc.
You may find that you want more or less emphasis on a particular category than I have chosen. Just remember that more items make up a great smoke than you may think. Certainly your first inclination may be to make 80% of your rating associated with taste, but in the end, it is the whole package that makes the cigar.
Make sure that you use plenty of comments to describe each of the categories as well as jot down items like size and shape. Lastly, I like to give the cigar a letter grade such as A+, or B-. Although this is very general, I have found this helpful when I am in a hurry.
Buyer Beware of Ratings
Buyer Beware when buying cigars and buying them because the cigar got a 95 or a 93 etc. rating.
First you need to look through all that advertising and see what cigars have ads (and how many ads). The reason being is when it comes to cigar ratings, advertising has a lot to do with the point system.
The more ads, sometimes higher the rating.
For example, Cuban cigars do no advertising and a cigar you really don’t see or never heard of deserves their ratings – so do your homework on the advertising (especially in Cigar Aficionado and other popular, revenue based magazines).
Cigar Talk: Zino Davidoff
Rumor is…Zino Davidoff was best friends with Rothschild family, they both traded wine for cigars every year. Zino named his cigars after the 5 best first growth wines and later named a cigar after Dom Perignon champagne. Davidoff was allowed to raid Rothschilds personnel cellar for cigars, which after 1992 were never made in Cuban again.
The Cuban Davidoff is the most sought after Cuban(the holy grail) and most expensive cigar. As they say the cigars were made from 1969-1992 and Zino`s blend was never duplicated.
Cigar Talk: Rising X Opus
The Rising X is the one Opus X that is not aged . It was made for Hurricane Katrina and was called the Katrina Cigar that’s why it is shaped as a perfecto and a pigtail to give it that rising look.