@Blatalian said:
Ok. I am still very new to cigars and one thing I keep hearing about is the amount of veins in a cigar. But it seems that everyone has a different opinion about them. So I guess my question is what is the real story behind the veins, do they even mean anything at all? I would really appreciate some clarity on this subject.
I have all issues of the first few years of Cigar Aficionado (I think I'm missing the very first issue but not sure); my wife would love it if someone would claim these however I would like a reasonable offer for them because as someone on this thread stated they weren't cheap (I would have figured The Shankster had made enough off the Wine Spectator but...guess not). Any offers?
@Blatalian said:
Ok. I am still very new to cigars and one thing I keep hearing about is the amount of veins in a cigar. But it seems that everyone has a different opinion about them. So I guess my question is what is the real story behind the veins, do they even mean anything at all? I would really appreciate some clarity on this subject.
I always thought veins tend to create harshness but what brought me to this thread d was googling whether veins are good or bad. That aside, I also know toothy to mean bumpy. As another aside...I have all issues of the first few years of Cigar Aficionado (I think I'm missing the very first issue but not sure); my wife would love it if someone would claim these however I would like a reasonable offer for them because as someone on this thread stated they weren't cheap (I would have figured The Shankster had made enough off the Wine Spectator but...guess not). Any offers?
Ok you had me until "I would like a reasonable offer for them..."
To your credit, this thread does come up third in a Google search for "veiny cigars," second among forums.
Me flagging your àss is a close call, but the tie goes to the runner and you get a pass (from me).
As for your vein question, the mahogany and leather guys who smoke Connies and compare their tag watches all hate veins because they detract from what ol' Marv has portrayed as a great cigar in his mag. However, veins provide body and strength, as nicotine tends to be more concentrated in veins and stems, so the one percenters enjoy the richness from them and don't put as much stock in how photogenic the cigar is.
As for your collection sale, you'll have more success unloading your skin mags, provided that the pages aren't stuck together, than a pile of CAs. We generally don't believe the bùllshit in that publication.
The whole “they weren’t cheap” got me lol. They used to give away free one year subscriptions in every catalog that would let them put an insert inside them.
Some wrapper leaf varieties are inherently much less veiny than others. Hence, they add a smoother, more finished appearance. Take Connecticut shade, for instance. Smooth as a baby's butt. Take CT broadleaf, as another instance. Similar seed, similar taste, similar source, but three or four times the thickness and rife with veins.
On the other hand, a smoother wrapper starts as a thinner leaf. That means it will be less flavorful; if nothing else, simply because there's so much less of it in your gar. You might enhance its flavor by using a strong binder, or by petuning the wrapper (which means you squirt some fruit mojo on it and let it ferment), or by darkening the wrapper with one or another maduro process.
You can get leaves almost as delicate using, for example, criollo 98. But those leaves will be much smaller. If you are wrapping the perfect sized parejo (which is clearly a corona, hence it's name), that's fine. But the modern market says: "So long as I am paying extravagant prices, I want extravagant size", and so demands a Mandingoe jaw-breaker... or at the very least, a robusto. It's tough to find a leaf large enough, yet still without veins, other than CT shade. There's the Indonesian wrapper. That's thin. But the flavor imparted from Indo soil just does not play well with a whole lot of leaf varieties. That's why that wrap has not caught on. Even the Ecuadorian CT seed yields a leaf much thicker and funny tasting.
Meanwhile, the flavor of your wrapper is what's right under your tongue and beneath your nose. So it's a huge contributor to your enjoyment.
So far, at this point, which is "better" comes down to this: is a certain target flavor better, or is smooth appearance paramount?
Of course, much of the veiny texture comes from the binder beneath. If you apply a diaphonous wrap over a veiny binder, you are looking at binder veins bulging thru the wrap. This much you can control by using only the outer margin of a reasonably smooth wrapper as your binder.
For figurados, you are further limited to leaf varieties flexible enough to stretch round the curvy bits.
A CT shade wrapper:
A Pelo de Oro wrapper over a Pelo de Oro wrapper used as binder:
“It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)
Comments
I'll bid a Victor Sinclair.
You’re over bidding
Ok you had me until "I would like a reasonable offer for them..."
To your credit, this thread does come up third in a Google search for "veiny cigars," second among forums.
Me flagging your àss is a close call, but the tie goes to the runner and you get a pass (from me).
As for your vein question, the mahogany and leather guys who smoke Connies and compare their tag watches all hate veins because they detract from what ol' Marv has portrayed as a great cigar in his mag. However, veins provide body and strength, as nicotine tends to be more concentrated in veins and stems, so the one percenters enjoy the richness from them and don't put as much stock in how photogenic the cigar is.
As for your collection sale, you'll have more success unloading your skin mags, provided that the pages aren't stuck together, than a pile of CAs. We generally don't believe the bùllshit in that publication.
The whole “they weren’t cheap” got me lol. They used to give away free one year subscriptions in every catalog that would let them put an insert inside them.
Some wrapper leaf varieties are inherently much less veiny than others. Hence, they add a smoother, more finished appearance. Take Connecticut shade, for instance. Smooth as a baby's butt. Take CT broadleaf, as another instance. Similar seed, similar taste, similar source, but three or four times the thickness and rife with veins.
On the other hand, a smoother wrapper starts as a thinner leaf. That means it will be less flavorful; if nothing else, simply because there's so much less of it in your gar. You might enhance its flavor by using a strong binder, or by petuning the wrapper (which means you squirt some fruit mojo on it and let it ferment), or by darkening the wrapper with one or another maduro process.
You can get leaves almost as delicate using, for example, criollo 98. But those leaves will be much smaller. If you are wrapping the perfect sized parejo (which is clearly a corona, hence it's name), that's fine. But the modern market says: "So long as I am paying extravagant prices, I want extravagant size", and so demands a Mandingoe jaw-breaker... or at the very least, a robusto. It's tough to find a leaf large enough, yet still without veins, other than CT shade. There's the Indonesian wrapper. That's thin. But the flavor imparted from Indo soil just does not play well with a whole lot of leaf varieties. That's why that wrap has not caught on. Even the Ecuadorian CT seed yields a leaf much thicker and funny tasting.
Meanwhile, the flavor of your wrapper is what's right under your tongue and beneath your nose. So it's a huge contributor to your enjoyment.
So far, at this point, which is "better" comes down to this: is a certain target flavor better, or is smooth appearance paramount?
Of course, much of the veiny texture comes from the binder beneath. If you apply a diaphonous wrap over a veiny binder, you are looking at binder veins bulging thru the wrap. This much you can control by using only the outer margin of a reasonably smooth wrapper as your binder.
For figurados, you are further limited to leaf varieties flexible enough to stretch round the curvy bits.
A CT shade wrapper:
A Pelo de Oro wrapper over a Pelo de Oro wrapper used as binder:
