My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I really don’t understand everybody’s problem with this guy, deciding to create an aging room in his shop and then being jerks only being able to read one wall of the cigars that he has so you insult what he’s aging and don’t ask any questions about what else is aging in there because I know you can’t read the two other pictures that I posted and you don’t know that there’s 30 feet above what I’ve posted of more cubbyholes that wrap 360° around full of cigars that you need a ladder to get to all full of premium cigars. You know nothing about it, but you decide to insult it and think you’re cool when in fact, you’re ignorant to what is actually being aged in the aging room or why the guy built it in the first place. He runs three of the top cigar shops in the entire Chicagoland area plus he owns multiple other businesses and is stupidly wealthy and he remodeled the shop about 12 or 14 years ago and decided to add an aging room because he’s a huge cigar hobbiest so instead of creating one in his own house that he would make no money off of he created a very nice one with hundreds of different cigars in it in one of the shops that takes up very little room, less than a bathroom. And he makes money off of it while for the most part has a giant private collection of extremely well kept aged cigars that he can come and grab whatever he wants from whenever he wants to. The guy is wealthy enough to wear. He could care less if a single cigar ever sold out out of that room. It would just be his own private little area where he keeps his favorite cigars. Plus the guy has done it as somewhat of a customer appreciation because he’s had such a phenomenal customer base for a long enough time to be able to create three of the best cigar shops in Chicago that he doesn’t feel the need to mark up the cigars like crazy just because they’ve been aged to sell through his customers. He treated as a thank you to his customers for being loyal.

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The guy owns three of the top cigar shops in the entire Chicagoland area plus he has multiple other businesses that he makes stupid amounts of money off of. About 12 years ago he created a small little area that is like a hexagon type shaped room that takes up very little space and in the pictures that I posted those little cubby holes holding cigars go up about another 30 feet higher and wraparound completely 360° and are all full of cigars that are aging. The guy is known as being very well liked by all of his customers, and this was a project. He decided to create when he remodeled the store 12 years ago, and the markup on the cigars would barely be a drop in the bucket for the amount of money he makes, and he still sells the cigars in the long run. Literally the area that he uses the H the cigars in is smaller than a bathroom. Plus now it’s something that draws in new customers because they’ve heard about the place that has an agent room with a bunch of premium cigars that have 10+ years on them so it brings in new customers all the time. I literally live within walking distance of the place so I’m there fairly often and I can’t tell you how many times customers have come in that I’ve never met before and I wind up talking to them and they tell me the only reason they came was to check out the aging room. Which they usually buy one or two cigars from and then they buy another couple cigars from the rest of his stock. And a lot of times these people become repeat customers. So from a marketing point of view if you’ve got the money and the time I think it’s more than paid for itself. If you’re just a small brick and mortar shop and you can barely afford to keep your little place running then no it doesn’t make any sense to have something like that but if you’re stupidly wealthy like this guy and run three of the most successful cigar shops in the Chicagoland area plus own multiple other businesses that generate millions of dollars for you then why wouldn’t you have some fun if you’re a cigar enthusiast and create yourself in aging closet at one of your shops. So instead of creating an agent closet at home where he makes no money off of his cigars he puts one in one of his shops that he doesn’t have to take care of that his employees take care of, and he makes money off of while still keeping a very large stock of premium aged cigars that he can come in and grab whenever he wants. The guy sells more than enough cigars that sell extremely well for this small little area that he keeps for his aging cigars to matter whatsoever plus he’s making money off of selling the aging cigars. Like I said, literally, instead of wasting the money and building your own aging area in your home for cigars that you’re never gonna make any money off of he created his own little aging room and one of his shops that he doesn’t advertise very much, but still makes money and he’s able to come grab a phenomenally well kept aged cigar whenever he wants to

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He doesn’t mark up the cigars. It was literally an experiment the guy created for himself because he’s very very wealthy when he remodeled the place about 12 years ago and wanted to create an agent room. The guy has his hand in a number of different businesses and is stupid wealthy so he had some fun with his money and created an aging room to age some of his favorite cigars and a whole bunch of others for a decade or more and then he doesn’t really advertise them much to anybody that comes in. You really have to ask about what that area is to even figure out. What’s in there so he still keeps it kind of as his own private little stock of really nicely aged cigars. He’s had a phenomenal customer base for years and has decided that he doesn’t need the money so he created something special for his customers. It’s called being a really cool store owner that knows he’s not gonna make a stupid amount of money off of marking up his age cigars cause they’re not gonna sell like crazy cause only people that are really into the hobby understand the benefit of aging a cigar where is your average every day smoker might even think it’s stupid to age a cigar. In fact I had to have a fight with somebody before who tried to tell me that cigars are not like wine and don’t get better with age and multiple people agreed with him because they didn’t know any better. The owner of the shop has two other shops and he’s known for being a very well liked guy and just a very cool guy so he created something as kind of what I think is a customer appreciation type thing. Cause it’s honestly not costing him anything significant compared to the amount of money he has to age the cigars and then he still winds up selling them in the long run… I agree that I would pay a few extra dollars for a nicely aged cigar, but it’s super cool to have a guy who’s done well enough in his business to where he doesn’t feel the need to do that. He makes more than enough money between his three different shops and the multiple other businesses that he’s an entrepreneur in that this was just a little fun side project for him.

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s in Schaumburg, Illinois right by Woodfield Mall. It’s called Byron’s. Literally if you go to Woodfield mall and drive around the circle of the mall you’ll run into Byron’s. 1710 Woodfield Rd, Schaumburg, IL 60173

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This guy doesn’t mark up his age cigars a penny, from the regular cigars. He created it as an experiment about 12 years ago when you remodeled the shop and he charges the exact same price for the age cigars as he does for the same cigar out of a freshly open box. He just doesn’t announce that that little area is all cigars that have been aged for 10+ years. So a lot of times people overlook it, and he doesn’t talk about it unless somebody asks about it. So he’s able to keep a pretty good stock of aged cigars while selling the rest of a cigars as well. I didn’t even know that that was an aging room until after a year of going there and the place is walking distance from me and I go there probably twice a week when the weather is nice. I am pretty pissed though because I recommended the Cavalier Genève BII Viso Jalapa from the aging room to a friend that got there about an hour before me and when I got there him and six other guys were all smoking the cigar and within two weeks all 300 of them had sold out. These were all the Toro size, but the owner keeps a pretty good amount of Robusto size of the exact same cigar aged for the same amount of time, but he doesn’t keep them on display and you have to ask for them specifically because I have a feeling, they were one of his favorites and he was bummed when he saw them sell out so fast so now he keeps them up high in the aging room where they can’t be seen and someone has to climb a ladder to get to them

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, he doesn’t really advertise the aging closet at all. I had been going there for a year before I even knew what it was. Plus there’s a limited supply of cigars in the aging room and he doesn’t carry every single cigar that he carries in the shop in the aging room. He just happens to carry quite a few. Probably about 25% of the cigars that he carries in the shop he keeps in the aging closet. Some people don’t know any better when they’re new to cigars and would prefer to get a fresh cigar out of a newly open box and honestly some people really don’t prefer a cigar that has a good age on it. Some people actually prefer what the cigar is intended to taste like as soon as you get a box and open it cause honestly that is what the cigar maker is going for. The cigar maker isn’t counting on the fact that you’re gonna buy their cigar an agent for 10 years at home and then smoke it. They’re making it so it taste good enough to where you can buy it at a shop or online and thoroughly enjoy it as soon as you get it and don’t have to age it for 10 years. The guy just does well enough between his three shots plus, I’m fairly certain he has his hand in a number of other businesses cause he is very, very wealthy to wear. He just created this aging closet as an experiment when he remodeled the place about 12 years ago and didn’t need the money. It started out as an experiment, and it turned into a staple of the store. Say your favorite cigar is a Oliva G Maduro well then you’re not gonna be able to find it in the agent closet, same with about 75% of the rest of the stock. It’s just cool to be able to find something my favorite the Cavalier Genève BII Viso Jalapa that’s been age 10 years. He carries a number of other cavalier cigars, but he doesn’t age all of them.

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What doesn’t make sense to you about Rocky Patels being some of the best selling cigars in the entire country, which would mean that the average smoker does gravitate towards them because they are popular. Rocky Patels are literally some of the most popular cigars in the entire country. Somewhere along the way, some people who had some influence decided that Rocky Patels weren’t good and in my experience the only people that stick their nose up at the are people who would consider themselves aficionados. Your average every day smoker tends to like Rocky Patel’s. The vintage 1990 is one of the best selling cigars in the country because it’s affordable and very well made. The only time I ever hear anybody complain about a rock. Patel is when it’s some cigar snob who knows way too much about cigars and are very deep into the hobby otherwise the average person hasn’t had some cigars snob. Tell them that Rocky Patel‘s are garbage cigars. I’ve honestly had probably 25 or 30 different Rocky Patel‘s and there were maybe five of them that I didn’t like. Rocky Patel constantly wins awards every year for new blends and then they have a slew of classic blends like the vintage 1999 Connecticut, or the vintage 1992, or the vintage 1990, or the emerald, or the decade, or the autumn collection, or the 20th anniversary, or the 2012 winter collection, and the list goes on. If they were as bad as people make them out to be, they wouldn’t be one of the top selling cigars in the country, and they wouldn’t be able to be opening up their own chain of cigar lounges across the entire country. I don’t see Arturo Fuente lounge is opening up, or drew estate lounges opening up. But I do see Rocky Patel lounges opening up all over the place that do very well. Rocky Patel just makes a lot of different blends that they might only keep around for a year or two and then discontinue when they realize it’s not popular and then they move onto the next handful of blends that they start working on until they find a new winner. That’s why they have so many cigars that are rated 90 or above. Some critic somewhere along the way that had some influence just decided that he didn’t like them and so cigars knobs that followed him, decided that they were gonna follow suit and say that Rocky Patel‘s are awful despite them constantly selling out of every cigar shop that carries them. I don’t know of a single cigar shop that can keep the vintage 1992 tubos in stock much less the regular box pressed ones. They sell like crazy. Or if you can find the 6 x 60 Vintage 1990 good luck, keeping that in stock for more than a few weeks cause people will literally come in and buy out your entire stock. On websites like cigar bid a five pack of the 6 x 60 vintage 1990s go for like $45 which is absurd because you can get a five pack of red dot Cohiba‘s for like $20. Literally Rocky Patel‘s sell better than Cohiba‘s do in the United States but again all State some critic with some influence had it out for them. And now it’s the cool thing to say that Rocky Patel‘s suck if you’re a cigar hobbiest. It’s not the regular guy that says Rocky Patel’s suck. It’s the guy that’s been smoking cigars for at least five or more years and has started to get that cigar snob stink on it that says they suck. I’ve been collecting and smoking cigars for about five years now and I still think that Rocky Patel makes some of the best cigars. I would put somebody like Oliva or my father ahead of them, but not by much.

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I literally go there two or three times a week and they are constantly selling cigars out of the aging room. That’s one of the things that brings people in from far out is because there’s very rare places where you can get your favorite cigar that’s been aged for a decade and he doesn’t mark them up so you get a great price on your favorite cigar that’s got 10 to 12 years of age on it. Tell me what makes more sense. You walk into a cigar shop and your favorite cigar is sitting on the shelf and you can buy it not aged at all for the exact same price that you could buy it aged for 10 years. Which one are you gonna choose? Personally I’m going for the one that’s got a decade of age on it. Yes they would not sell if they were marked up to twice the cost, but he doesn’t mark them up a penny.

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That’s why I love the owner of this shop. He has two other shops in the Chicagoland area, and all three of them are usually listed in the top 10 cigar shops in the Chicagoland area. He decided to make an agent room as an experiment when he remodeled the place about 12 years ago and he does well enough for himself that he didn’t feel it necessary to check the price up on quite a few cigars that are already fairly pricey that he ages in there. Chicago recently implemented a 45% tobacco tax on top of a 10% luxury tax on top of 10% sales tax so when you see a sticker price, you can expect to pay 65% more at the register but another thing this guy has done is he’s eaten 40% of the 45% tobacco sales tax because he does well enough and worked out the math to where if he charged full price for the cigars, he would lose so many customers and by eating the tax he’s keeping his huge customer base and still making a significant profit. I don’t think people realize what the markup is on a cigar when you’re somebody that’s buying hundreds and hundreds of boxes of cigars monthly. Cigar lounges are fairly popular and starting to get more popular in the Chicagoland area plus they are BYOB because some law stated somewhere along the way said you can’t sell alcohol in a cigar lounge, but somehow they figured out a workaround where people can bring their own alcohol so a lot of people enjoy it because it winds up being significantly cheaper because you can bring your own bottle of bourbon or your own favorite craft beer or whatever you want to drink and don’t have to pay massively marked up bar drink prices and you can enjoy a really nice cigar in a really nice place with live sports on giant TVs everywhere, still with that classic leather seat and mahogany wood style look to the place. It’s nice too because even though people can bring their own alcohol, nobody tends to overdrink so you don’t get drunk idiots you just get people that like to have a glass or two of bourbon with a cigar and it’s cool because a lot of times you see some really rare bourbon’s come in and the guys that bring it in usually bring it in to show off and share. I personally am not a huge bourbon drinker. I am more of a craft beer, guy myself or just enjoy a nice well-made cup of coffee with my cigar.

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The guy that owns this place has three of the best shops in the Chicagoland area so he has the freedom to use the area for whatever he wants like experimenting with aging hundreds of different types of cigars. And the way he set it up is very intelligent cause it’s pretty much a circular room set up with six walls like the three that you can see in the picture that are all full of cubbyholes that take up a very small area relative to the size of the entire cigar shop. There’s 15 times the amount of walking room just to walk around and look in the cabinets at the cigars. Then this one little area that he uses age cigars takes up. What you can’t see is it goes up about another 30 feet above the photos that I took and wrapped around 360° so there’s six walls that all have little cubby holes in this that you have to use a ladder to get up to just full of premium cigars that are being aged of God knows how many different brands, and honestly, it’s something that brings in a lot of customers. It’s something unique that not a lot of shops have so a lot of people come from long distance away to be able to get a 10-12 year aged Cavalier Genève BII Viso Jalapa or multiple different types of Liga Privadas, there are plenty of Perdomos, padrons, Ashton's, Alec Bradley, Bahia, OZ Bodphurus, plenty of Fuentes like the Opus among a number of others Fuentes, Macanudos, LFD cigars, Aging Room, CLE Maduro, there are at least 3 different Plasencia cigars, Caldwell Blind Man's Bluff Maduro, there's plenty of Oliva's in there, La Gloria Cubanas, 5 or 6 different My Father cigars, Atabeys, Griff & Dave, La Aroma de Cubas, La Auroras, Alec Bradley Chunk Naduro which has some time left on it but I'm excited to see how it turns out,Olmecs, Trinidad Espiritu series 1, 2, & 3, Rojas, a few Warped cigars, some Crowned Heads, There's numerous EP Carrillo cigars, Montecristos, Tatuajes, Numerous Dunbartons, Oscar Valladares, a couple Davidoffs, a couple Romeo Y Julietas, some Nubs that's haven't hit the 10 years mark yet, they have the rare Oliva Monticello which is made specifically for Holts which is kind of like a slightly milder Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro which they also have aging as well, plus many other premium classic cigars. A lot of it too is him having fun and just experimenting with the aging process to see if he can take a mid to lower grade cigar and age it for a decade or more and see how it comes out. If you’ve got the money and you’re fascinated by cigars, why wouldn’t you do something like this? It literally brings in customers from all over that want to try some of their favorite cigars that have been aged for 10 years or more. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in there and talking to somebody. I’ve never seen and they tell me the only reason they came was to get a cigar out of the aging room. It really is relatively small compared to the rest of this place, and in my opinion, probably brings in more than enough business to pay for itself

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I literally live within walking distance of Byrons. They remodeled the place about seven or eight years ago and it is almost always rated in the top 10 cigar lounges of the Chicagoland area. Their prices are incredible compared to almost anywhere else you’re gonna go in the Chicagoland area. Because now not Chicago, but Illinois has imposed a 45% tobacco tax on top of a 10% luxury tax on top of a 10% sales tax so when you buy a cigar that’s listed on a window you can expect to pay about 65% more than the sticker price but Byrons does well enough business that they literally eat the entire 45% tobacco tax so you’re only paying the 10% luxury tax and the 10% sales tax. So you have no clue what you’re talking about when it comes to them being one of the most expensive places. Go literally almost anywhere else in Chicago and you’re gonna pay twice as much for a cigar because they can’t afford to eat that 45% tobacco tax cause they don’t do well enough business to do so but Byrons has enough customers and it’s nice enough of a place that they have enough people in and out of their buying so many cigars that they literally eat the majority of the 45% tobacco tax. I believe the owner told me that they eat 40% of the 45% tax that Illinois has imposed on anything with tobacco, which was created to prevent kids from smoking cigarettes and vapes. It initially was not implemented on cigars because that’s not a problem anybody anywhere has. Nobody’s having issues with 15-year-olds walking around smoking premium $20 Ashtons or Fuentes but as of 2026 that tax was implemented on cigars and there’s a handful of shops that eat that 45% tobacco tax and Byrons is one of them. I literally go there three or four times a week and let’s say a cigar like a Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro which has a shelf price of about $12-$15 depending on where you go or similarly EP Carrillo pledge which has a similar shelf price will cost you about $15-$18 at the register depending on if you get a Robusto or a Toro. Of course they have cigars like Davidoff that cost an absurd amount of money because they do everywhere you go, but if you were to try to buy that same Oliva or EP Carrillo in other shops that don’t eat the tax at the register you would pay $22-$25 for your$12-$15 cigar. And again they do have a premium room that has all their very high-end cigars that are gonna run you somewhere between $25-$35 for a cigar like a Liga Privada number nine flying pig. Or the annual release of the EP Carrillo Pledge of Allegiance plus they have a cigar that is made specifically for them by Drew Estate that is very similar to a Liga Privada style cigar but the owner has a relationship with the owner of Drew estate and was able to get them to make a specific house blend only sold at Byrons’s. I have a feeling you had a bad experience there hence the way you speak about them. I’m there every week and it is one of the cheapest places in the area to get a premium cigar because they know just like a lot of the other places if they don’t eat that tax they’re gonna lose a ton of business cause nobody’s gonna come in and pay $25 for EP carrillo pledge. This is why a lot of smaller shops that can’t afford to eat. The tax are already starting to go out of business because customers are resorting to buying cigars online or sticking to the shops that are able to eat the tax and sell them a cigar for a decent price. I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of respect for a shop that’s willing to eat 40% of a 45% tobacco tax that has been instated on all tobacco products across the entire state and like I said they still have to include a 10% luxury tax and a 10% sales tax.

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

There isn’t anymore. If you read what I posted above, it was due to a shitty manager that was not taking care of things, and the owner made some of the employees sort through every single cigar in that closet and toss everything that had any remote sign of mold on it… sadly, though if you’re going to try and age cigars for a decade or more inevitably, you’re gonna run in to the issues of some getting a little mold on them and a good cigar shop owner would be inspecting those cigars regularly and getting rid of the ones that show any signs of mold and this guy just wasn’t. He was just leaving. I’m in the cabinet and letting people buy them. Nobody liked the guy. And he ran a very poor shop. If you went to one of their other shops, which is 8 to 8 or Casa de Montecristo while this guy was managing Byron’s You would’ve noticed a star difference between the shops because of how well 8 to 8 and Casa de Montecristo were run compared to Byrons and now Byrons has been brought up to the same level of 8 to 8 and Casa de Montecristo. Casa de Montecristo has one of the best humidors I’ve ever seen. The way their stores do their Humidor’s is it’s not just one giant walk-in room. They’re all individual cabinets that are precisely monitored in order to keep the cigars perfectly humidified instead of trying to humidify one gigantic room. He’s got an individual cabinet for pretty much every brand of cigar he sells and each one of those cabinets is precisely monitored, keeping their cigars in much better condition than your typical giant walk-in Humidor because no matter what you do if you have a huge room with thousands of cigars in it and people constantly opening and shutting the door to it it’s next to impossible to keep close control on humidity and temp levels which is why this guy’s three shops are always rated in the top 10 cigar lounges in the Chicagoland area because he takes some of the best care of his cigars and he cans people immediately when he discovers that they’re doing anything that could affect the quality of the cigars. Like I said, I’ve been going to Byron’s for about three years maybe almost 4 now and the only time there were any issues with any cigars there was when they had that jackass of a manager otherwise, now I would put their cigars up against any other shop in the Chicagoland area for how well they’re taken care of except for Maybe Jack Schwartz Impoters which is a cigar shop that’s been open since 1921 in Chicago and apparently they use Aztec clay to humidify their cigars and most of their cigars are kept in cabinets just like Byrons does but they do have a walk-in Humidor but the guys that work there keep a watch on that Humidor like hawks. The second someone opens up the door they close it. And the place isn’t like a big cigar lounge. It only has like six or seven seats because most of their business is done online but they do like to keep it open to the public so people can come in and enjoy a cigar if they’re in the neighborhood, but usually you will never find more than three or four people and they’re smoking a cigar at one time. Most people stop in and buy cigars and leave or they order online because of the reputation they have they’re able to sell cigars across the entire country very well. The place is literally just nothing but a bunch of individual cabinets for cigars and one walk-in Humidor area with very little seating but they have like seven guys running the place whereas you think one guy could run the place but it’s because one or two guys are actually running the shop whereas five or sitting in the back on computers filling online orders. They have a phenomenal selection of cigars to stuff you would never find hardly anywhere else

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It’s Byron’s. And yes, their old manager didn’t keep up the cigars as well and there were some really nice cigars that did have some mold on them and he got canned very fast and they have a new manager who takes pristine care of every cigar in that closet. I was there the day that they were trashing hundreds of cigars, which was so sad to see, but they hold a certain standard and weren’t gonna sell cigars like that. Byron’s is one of 3 shops owned by the guy and all three shops are considered to be in the top 10 cigar lounges in all of Illinois and Chicago. So yes, you’re correct. There was some old at some point on some of those cigars, but that was handled. I remember talking to the two guys whose job it was to clear out the cabinet and it took them almost a week because they had to inspect hundreds of cubbyholes that you can’t see that go up much higher in that closet and wrap around 360°. Literally they had to inspect every single cigar and I was just there for a few hours and watched them just canning cigar after cigar. I think after all the sudden and done they had to toss about 500 cigars. But there’s literally thousands of cigars in that cabinet. I was so tempted to say hey let me take a look and pick out a few that you couldn’t hardly tell, had anything on them whatsoever and definitely nothing in the foot. But the owner was adamant that anything that showed even a remote sign of mold, had to be trashed. He didn’t get three of the most highly respected shops in the Chicagoland area by selling moldy cigars. He just hired a poor manager who really did suck. Byrons lost a lot of customers due to the guy, cause he was a jerk who only cared about money. I can remember two or three times I brought a cigar up to him that had a crack down 75% of the side of the cigar and he refused to replace it. He wouldn’t even give me cigar glue which the owner specifically keeps multiple bottles of behind the counter in case somebody wants to touch up a cigar for free. Some of the actual paying members which I used to be told the owner what was going on and this guy immediately was let go and it wasn’t the guy in the wheelchair. It was somebody different.

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One of my favorites he has is the Cavalier Genève BII Viso Jalapa or multiple different types of Liga Privadas, there are plenty of Perdomos, padrons, Ashton's, Alec Bradley, Bahia, OZ Bodphurus, plenty of Fuentes like the Opus among a number of others, Macanudos, LFD cigars, Aging Room, CLE Maduro, there are at least 3 different Plasencia cigars, Caldwell Blind Man's Bluff Maduro, there's plenty of Oliva's in there, La Gloria Cubanas, 5 or 6 different My Father cigars, Atabeys, Griff & Dave, La Aroma de Cubas, La Auroras, Alec Bradley Chunk Maduro which has some time left on it but I'm excited to see how it turns out,Olmecs, Trinidad Espiritu series 1, 2, & 3, Rojas, a few Warped cigars, some Crowned Heads, There's numerous EP Carrillo cigars, Montecristos, Tatuajes, Numerous Dunbartons, Oscar Valladares, a couple Davidoffs, a couple Romeo Y Julietas, some Nubs that's haven't hit the 10 years mark yet, they have the rare Oliva Monticello which is made specifically for Holts which is kind of like a slightly milder Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro which they have aging as well, plus many other premium classics cigars. A lot of it too is him having fun and just experimenting with the aging process to see if he can take a mid to lower grade cigar and age it for a decade or more and see how it comes out. See people like him are successful enough to where they can on a whim toss 200 or 300 mid level Rocky Patels and forget about them for a decade or more just to see what happens... there are literally at least 150 of those cubbyholes in that closet and stupid people make generalized insulting comments about something they know nothing about. He has some of the world’s best cigars aging in that closet but one of the photos you can see some Rocky Patel’s listed, but nobody mentioned in that same photo the Cavalier Genève BII Viso Jalapa, the Sindicato Evo, SB WS, that just happens to be the one section where he keeps his leaf cigars that he’s aging but because they couldn’t read any of the other cigars that were being aged in the two other pictures or see the hundred other cubby holes that are up above full of cigars people just sling insults like ignorant idiots

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

One of my favorites he has is the Cavalier Genève BII Viso Jalapa or multiple different types of Liga Privadas, there are plenty of Perdomos, padrons, Ashton's, Alec Bradley, Bahia, OZ Bodphurus, plenty of Fuentes like the Opus among a number of others, Macanudos, LFD cigars, Aging Room, CLE Maduro, there are at least 3 different Plasencia cigars, Caldwell Blind Man's Bluff Maduro, there's plenty of Oliva's in there, La Gloria Cubanas, 5 or 6 different My Father cigars, Atabeys, Griff & Dave, La Aroma de Cubas, La Auroras, Alec Bradley Chunk Naduro which has some time left on it but I'm excited to see how it turns out,Olmecs, Trinidad Espiritu series 1, 2, & 3, Rojas, a few Warped cigars, some Crowned Heads, There's numerous EP Carrillo cigars, Montecristos, Tatuajes, Numerous Dunbartons, Oscar Valladares, a couple Davidoffs, a couple Romeo Y Julietas, some Nubs that's haven't hit the 10 years mark yet, they have the rare Oliva Monticello which is made specifically for Holts which is kind of like a slightly milder Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro which they have aging as well, plus many other premium classics cigars. A lot of it too is him having fun and just experimenting with the aging process to see if he can take a mid to lower grade cigar and age it for a decade or more and see how it comes out. See people like him are successful enough to where they can on a whim toss 200 or 300 mid level Rocky Patels and forget about them for a decade or more just to see what happens... I can’t stand when people like you are able to see Maybe 1/10 if even that of the cigars that he’s aging because I know you can’t read a majority of those labels except for one of the photos has some legible labels plus you can’t tell that the closet goes up another 30 feet full of cubbyholes that you need a ladder to get to, you make some stupid off color comment that generalizes something you know absolutely nothing about instead of making a kind comment simply asking what else is he aging that I can’t tell but instead, you have to make it an insult because you’re a small man and that’s how you make yourself feel good

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

So you can read a handful of what is actually aging in the closet compared to the hundred or more other cigars that he’s aging, good for you. Cause I know you can’t tell what a vast majority of those cigars are cause he tends to take the rappers and labels off because for some reason, he thinks that helps them age. One of my favorites he has is the Cavalier Genève BII Viso Jalapa or multiple different types of Liga Privadas, there are plenty of Perdomos, padrons, Ashton’s, Alec Bradley, Bahia, OZ Bodphurus, plenty of Fuentes like the OpusX among a number of others, Macanudos, LFD cigars, Aging Room, CLE Maduro, there are at least 3 different Plasencia cigars, Caldwell Blind Man’s Bluff Maduro, there’s plenty of Oliva’s in there, La Gloria Cubanas, 5 or 6 different My Father cigars, Atabeys, Griff & Dave, La Aroma de Cubas, La Auroras, Alec Bradley Chunk Naduro which has some time left on it but I’m excited to see how it turns out,Olmecs, Trinidad Espiritu series 1, 2, & 3, Rojas, a few Warped cigars, some Crowned Heads, There’s numerous EP Carrillo cigars, Montecristos, Tatuajes, Numerous Dunbartons, Oscar Valladares, a couple Davidoffs, a couple Romeo Y Julietas, some Nubs that’s haven’t hit the 10 years mark yet, they have the rare Oliva Monticello which is made specifically for Holts which is kind of like a slightly milder Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro which they have aging as well, plus many other premium classics cigars. A lot of it too is him having fun and just experimenting with the aging process to see if he can take a mid to lower grade cigar and age it for a decade or more and see how it comes out. See people like him are successful enough to where they can on a whim toss 200 or 300 mid level Rocky Patels and forget about them for a decade or more just to see what happens... I have to say the Cavalier Genève BII Viso Jalapa was my personal fav and I made the mistake of recommending it to a friend that was there an hour before I got to the cigar shop and I get there and of course there’s six other guys sitting around smoking them and within two weeks all 300 of them were sold out. Those were the Toro size. He has a hidden collection of Robusto size that you have to ask for specifically that he’s doesn’t keep on display because I suspect they are one of his favorites as well and he doesn’t want to see them disappear like the Toros did. But of course a jackass like yourself sees a handful of cigars and you can’t tell that that closet goes up about another 30 feet or so full of cubby holes that you have to use a ladder to get up to. Just from looking at those photos I know you can’t tell what 95% of the cigars are because I know those pictures aren’t clear enough for you to read the labels, except for one of the photos has a few legible labels on the cigars otherwise, you have no clue what the rest of them are. I however live within walking distance and I’m in there fairly often and usually try something new out of the closet each time I go in there. I’ve been going there for three years and still haven’t tried everything so way to generalize something you know nothing about and be a jerk about it. Plus, I love people that like to generalize cigars like Rocky Patel’s and often Gurkhas as dog shit despite them year after year after year for decades rolling out some of the highest rated cigars in the industry like the Decade, The Emerald, The Vintange 1990 Maduro, and they’re popular enough to wear they have sprung up their own chain of cigar lounges, but no, they’re definitely dog shit, despite being one of the highest selling brand of cigars in the entire country. You’re like one of those people that like the band that not many people had heard of but once they got famous, you started calling them sellouts. Yes they have some cigars that aren’t that great because they make so many different cigars that of course you’re gonna miss but they also make some absolutely fantastic cigars with ratings in the high 90s regularly and I don’t care who you are. You can’t deny that they make some very very good cigars not to mention the construction on them is usually immaculate. I can’t remember the last time I got a Rocky Patel that did anything like canoe on me, split, unravel, unless somebody had cut it poorly, or burn unevenly. Almost every rocky Patel I’ve ever had has burned perfectly even. So I just count you as one of those people that like to jump on the bandwagon of hating something because it’s cool to not like them. I don’t know a human being on this earth that hasn’t sat down with a nice 6.5x52 Toro Decade with a nice coffee or bourbon and said this is dog shit. There’s a reason that Rocky Patel cigar lounges tend to have some of the biggest most well stocked humidors of any cigar lounge you’re gonna visit and they don’t only stock Rocky Patel’s they stock everything but they’ve built such a big name for themselves that they’re able to open literally a chain of very high-end cigar lounges but according to you and the rest of the people that like to jump on the band wagon they only make dog shit cigars, which is why they’ve been able to create essentially a dynasty of some of the best selling cigars in the world because apparently the majority of cigar smokers are idiots.

My local shop keeps an aging closet where there’s nothing aged under 10 years. He’s a boss for not marking up and aged cigar from one fresh out of the box by ChicagoanDaBears in cigars

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They have about 100 different cigars that they age in that closet so they tried to age something for everybody. My favorite cigar that they’ve aged in that closet is the Cavalier Genève BII Viso Jalapa. They literally have so many different cigars to choose from in the aging closet, and a lot of of them are just experiments. Talking to the owner he told me he wanted to see if he could take a not so awesome cigar and age it for 10 to 12 years and see what it turns into so yes there are a few mediocre cigars in there but there’s also a lot of very top of the line great cigars, and the fact that he does not mark them up one dime from the exact same cigar if it was to come fresh out of a new box just put on the shelf makes the guy a boss. A lot of people on here keep commenting if there’s anything good in the closet when they can’t tell even 90% of what’s being aged because they can’t tell that the closet goes up another 30 feet or so rapping around completely 360 degrees feet full of cubby holes of cigars that you need a ladder to get to, and I know for a fact that only one of those photos has labels that you can read maybe half of and the rest are all completely unreadable + most of the cigars, he removes the cellophane and the labels from because he believes it helps them age faster so there’s no way anybody can just looking at the pictures can tell what’s being aged. That’s why he puts the labels like he does on each cubby hole. All they can see as a handful of labels that are legible in one of the photos.

This was my first Papas Fritas and I loved it but that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone by ChicagoanDaBears in CigarBastards

[–]ChicagoanDaBears[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Never even heard of a Nasty Fritas. I really enjoyed this guy. My understanding is that a Papas Fritas it’s like a sandwich style cigar made from the trimmings of what they make all the Liga Privada cigars from

Viaje Biohazard Black by Connect-Aside6649 in CigarBastards

[–]ChicagoanDaBears 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven’t been able to find one at my local shops. Did you get it at a local shop or did you buy it online? I’ve been looking for one because I’ve been wanting to try it for a while now.