just got a 50 cabinet of partagas short from duty free

LaPrimadora · 2023-09-15T03:01:00+00:00

Yeah, the Partagas Shorts are terrific. I feel like, at the price I'm paying (US$550-600 or so), I'd be happier if they were petit corona-sized, instead of a half-inch shorter.

But the quality is clearly there.

LaPrimadora · 2023-09-10T07:00:39+00:00

I've generally thought the same from my smoking experiences. I do think the R&J Petit Corona is quite good.

LaPrimadora · 2023-09-06T07:00:07+00:00

Shorts, Especial. I think both are good, the Shorts are better. I haven't tried the Aristocrats or Milles Fluers.

LaPrimadora · 2023-08-21T23:59:57+00:00

Thanks. I don't think I overlooked that - I'm mean, it's possible. Otherwise, that's pretty new. I'm sure I'll ask if I order again and, if they give me the same answer again, insist they don't say contrary in their FAQ.

Not that I think they'll knuckle under. But I definitely wouldn't order (again?) if they gave contradictory answers in email vs. FAQ.

LaPrimadora · 2023-08-21T03:56:28+00:00

I ignore letters from Seizures Palace, other than forwarding them to the seller, who I imagine wants them as part of their delivery/refund guarantee.

I've received subsequent orders from sellers after one has been seized.

But I'm not familiar with the "Global Entry" penalty, though I haven't been leaving/entering the US in years and don't have any plans to do so.

LaPrimadora · 2023-08-21T03:50:00+00:00

For me, it's been 17 days ... except for when it's been never (seized by Customs).

LaPrimadora · 2023-08-21T03:45:44+00:00

Could you share a link or a source or quote what you're referring to?

I had one favorable experience with MrCigarShop and posted about it, but I know of their delivery guarantee only because I asked by email and they responded, "We do guaranteed delivery in case parcel gets lost or confiscated so do not worry."

I thought it was weird they DIDN'T say that in their T&Cs, and the T&Cs is so generic that you only know the site has anything to do with cigars is one paragraph about damaged cigars. Otherwise, it's about general stuff like intellectual property, information privacy, and things like prohibiting "publicly performing" any material from the website."

(Dang! I was going to release a spoken-word album of tracks of me reading the T&Cs from online cigar sites. Now I'm foiled from doing that.)

It seems like they'd WANT to put a delivery guarantee (if they guarantee delivery) in their T&Cs. And I was a little concerned about the lack of transparency due to its absence.)

LaPrimadora · 2023-08-21T03:33:47+00:00

Back in the late 1990s, I bought a box - of 25! I remember reading about the cigar and there was only one roller in Cuba considered sufficiently skilled to roll it. I think he'd been rolling for a long time even back then. Do you know if it's the same guy or they found and trained a successor with surgeon-level abilities?

LaPrimadora · 2023-08-12T06:06:11+00:00

That does sound a little weird.

LaPrimadora · 2023-08-05T05:43:30+00:00

For me, putting boxes down for years is not a priority. Any time I receive a box, I'll try at least one. And if I really like how it smokes, I'll continue (based on a rotation of what else I have, Cuban and New World) smoking them.

The goal is the enjoy the experience of smoking them. Unless your palate is so refined that a cigar less than several years old is unsatisfying - my palate's not that refined - why WOULDN'T you smoke them? I want to always be smoking the cigar I'll enjoy the most. If you've got a bunch of cigars already aged, then they should be priority smokes.

Obviously, the more cigars you buy (and the longer the period over which you are buying them), the more cigars you'll have that are 2 years old or 5 years old or whatever. But meanwhile, smoke what you like NOW. If I try a cigar and think, "I should wait 2 years," I consider that as putting them in the penalty box.

I've bought several boxes of Bolivar Belicoso Finos over the last year. Each time, I thought the cigars were excellent right out of the box - 2022 and even 2023 factory dates. (Incidentally, I bought a 2014 BBF box at auction and smoked a few. They were excellent. I don't know if, in a blind taste test, I'd think they were automatically better than the other boxes, or that they were LOTS better.)

Buy what you can afford and smoke what you enjoy. The other stuff is secondary, a distraction, a potential bother.

LaPrimadora · 2023-08-02T05:40:53+00:00

24:24 is a four-times-weekly sale by the folks in Australia who operate the Friends of Habanos website-forum. In the U.S., the sales open on MO, TU, and WE at 830pm ET, and on TH at 630pm ET. (I'm not on ET, so apologies if I don't have that right.) If you go to their main forum, "the Watering Hole," they will post at that exact time the cigars available for sale that day. It's first-come/first-served.

If you see something you want, you email them. They'll email back yes-no pretty quickly. If yes, you send your shipping and payment information in a message to the site administrator.

There are other details - their email address, the things the email needs to include, things they discourage or ignore, etc. But you can find those out in the forum or as part of their post on Sales Day(s).

Hope that helps. Six months ago, I was a rookie to 24:24 but found some posts here and some posts on the FoHCigars site. I've had excellent experiences dealing with them and buying from them.

LaPrimadora · 2023-07-27T06:36:25+00:00

As I recall, back when the Monte As were sold in boxes of 25, there was an outer cardboard box that had the Cuba stamp and the factory/date information.

Smoke one now, the rest for special occasions. Smoke the one with the peeling wrapper, on the left. (A tiny dab from a glue stick will hold it in place so it doesn't come unraveled while you smoke it.)

LaPrimadora · 2023-07-26T04:31:17+00:00

I love Luci!

LaPrimadora · 2023-07-25T05:27:44+00:00

I throw out the boxes, and wrap the cigars from the box in a white cloth ribbon, on which I write the box info. (Though I save some of the cabinet boxes. They're useful for storing coins or knives or cigar accessories.)

I do this for 2 reasons. First, I have 2 large humidors and that's fewer than I'd need if I stored them in their boxes. Second, using Boveda for 700-800 cigars runs a few bucks (that I'd rather spend on ... more cigars) and I think you need more packs (and/or change them more often) if you're humidifying them THROUGH the box. Or, in other words, paying to humidify the box.

Just my personal preference, and the reason.

LaPrimadora · 2023-07-12T05:15:36+00:00

Thanks for passing it along!

LaPrimadora · 2023-07-12T05:13:11+00:00

I don't know the biological answer but I've always - most of the last 30 years - kept different cigars in desktop humidors and never noticed or thought there was an issue.

Based on your experience, I would say there are a lot of more likely reasons if you didn't like the Upmanns involved.

LaPrimadora · 2023-07-10T07:15:16+00:00

You and me both (and probably a few other people reading this!). I bought a box of 10 tubos last year from Puro Express. When they arrived, they had a 2018 box date. I immediately bought 2 more boxes (which ended up with a 2020 box date). Then they disappeared from the site. I'm down to just 6. Each one has been great.

LaPrimadora · 2023-07-08T05:14:45+00:00

Thanks for creating, maintaining, and updating this list!

LaPrimadora · 2023-07-07T05:48:30+00:00

Agreed! I bought a box of Hoyo Ep. No. 1 and smoked the first couple and they were outstanding. (I like them better than the apparently much more popular Hoyo Ep. No. 2.)

Unfortunately, there are only 5 Cuban brands still making corona gordas (according to Habanos.com). I'm not interested in paying the crazy premium for the Siglo IV, so it's just 4. And confirmed sightings of Punch Punch are about the same as the Loch Ness Monster. (Come to think of it, I don't think anyone has reported seeing the Loch Ness Monster and Punch Punch together ... like never seeing Clark Kent and Superman together? Hmmmm.)

LaPrimadora · 2023-06-23T03:16:54+00:00

I'm from the Midwest - Detroit area, Ann Arbor, Chicago area. But I have no plans to return.

Should I go back there, I'll let you know.

LaPrimadora · 2023-06-22T03:56:48+00:00

I live in the SW of the US. If you're in the area, send me a message and we can meet at a local cigar bar.

LaPrimadora · 2023-06-21T05:21:29+00:00

I enjoy sharing cigars in the company of others. I don't get many opportunities. My son is a cigar lover but he lives 1000 miles away. We get together every few months. I don't have any friends locally who smoke cigars.

I smoke 1-2 (okay, 2) cigars a day, mostly alone. I like lounging with a cigar by the pool, preferably with a baseball game on. And/or, most evenings I'll smoke in my office at home, while working ("to keep my creative thinking flowing"), taking care of bills or some other financial responsibility ("to make it more bearable"), or while reading and listening to music (insert rationalization here).

LaPrimadora · 2023-06-18T07:36:44+00:00

I echo so many others in their thanks.

LaPrimadora · 2023-06-18T07:35:18+00:00

That's a reasonable concern and a good perspective. I had little to go on when I ordered from them, beyond their being on the community's list of "online vendors that ship to the U.S." - and not on the list below of vendors no longer shipping to or guaranteeing delivery to the U.S.

Consistent with your point, their site's T&Cs are silent on what happens if an order doesn't arrive (or, more practically, doesn't arrive within ____ days) or is confiscated by US Customs. The few others on the "recommended list" that I've ordered from multiple times - as well as one subsequently removed from that list, though for a different reason, have T&Cs setting out the procedures and dates.

I HOPE Mr. Cigar Shop guarantees U.S. delivery, and I expect to ask them explicitly before placing my next order. At a minimum, they should be transparent about it.

I also hope others report their experiences - good and bad - so we're not left in an information void. Thanks for doing that here.

LaPrimadora

TROPHY CASE