Late 20th century style cigars
Thanks everyone for great replies to my Cusano Celebrity question.
Here's another "question no one ever seems to address"...
I'm looking for advice on a cigar for me. Easy enough; the innernut is full of that. Problem is that I'm a '90s guy in a '20s world. Actually, it's worse, I'm a '60s guy. I remember when Road & Track was about Ferrari, Lotus, Formula One, and Sterling Moss. You bought the mag and drooled over the wonderful cars you couldn't afford. Flash forward to today and I can at least afford a good cigar, but when I seek advice on what to sink twenty to fifty bucks into I find myself in the age Camaro ZL1, NASCAR, and Sterling Marlin. Oh, Road & Track is still here, but the featured story is, "Top Five Big Block Pickup Trucks!"
YEAH!!
Okay, so you see I don't want a cigar whose claim to fame is that it delivers enough pure nicotine punch to knock out an elephant. I don't want a cigar I have to work my up to being man enough to handle.
I just want a cigar with some sophistication. I want to be amazed, not anesthetized.
As a clue to what I already like, I prefer Grupo de Maestros' version of MONTE to A.J.'s (although I love other Fernández creations) and my absolute favorite cigar right now is Camacho 1962 PE.
HELP ME!
Okay, let the feeding frenzy begin
Oh, and does Camacho (or anyone) make a cigar that tastes similar to the 1962 PE without the Cuban claim? That is, if Cuban tobacco isn't really a factor in that cigar's flavor then is there another cigar that tastes like that? I know, I squeezed that into this topic instead of opening a new one, but they ARE kinda related. I guess the moderator will split them up if necessary.
Comments
Hi. Above my pay grade but glad you asked and curious to see the answers. Have a great day.
OMG the Gary Thompson.
EllenJ you don’t work in anyway with or for Camacho do you? I guess I should start with that.
Do you create video content and or edit videos?
If you can still find them, try the JdN Numero Uno. Medium at most in strength/body, Full in flavor and nuance. Thank me later.
@deadman
"...you don’t work in anyway with or for Camacho do you?"
Not at all. I've only smoked one other Camacho cigar ever, the Connecticut, which I enjoyed, but I’ve smoked others I like better. That was a long time ago, but I remember it being not that different from lots of other shade-wrapper mild-to-mediums. Certainly nothing like the 1962. Actually, my “employer” isn’t into cigars at all, but she’s the most tolerant wife a man could ever want.
@peter4jc
Thanks! I just called my local B&M and they have that cigar. I'll be seeing them this weekend, for sure.
Anyone else have a suggestion for while I'm there? I'd really like to hear from someone who has smoked the Pre-Embargo and knows of one that tastes like it. After all, if no other blend does taste like it - and I mean even remotely - that kinda would give some credulity to the Cuban tobacco claim. Which means, skeptic that I am, there should be several nc blends out there that would match it. I've smoked probably 30 - 40 brands and never encountered anything like it. And yes, I've smoked more than just one of the PEs.
I would have to imagine that Cuban tobacco with that kind of age to it would be mellowed to the point of being “lost” in the blend.
Most of us at one time or another have asked everyone else to help them find that magic cigar. All of us who have are ultimately disappointed because nobody can tell you what you're going to like and that magic cigar doesn't really exist. You might even find it once, but the next time you smoke it, it will be different. The fun is in the quest though. Good luck.
As for those smokes made with real Cuban tobacco, I'm sure that @deadman is right, especially when you consider that they were probably adding Cuban tobacco with a salt shaker.
what about buying some Cuban cigars?
That's what I was thinking.
If you like the old Camacho's, but not necessarily the PEs, you may want to check out the Aladino brand.
You might want to try the Davidoff Nicaragua Diadema. No Cuban in it, but it's a nice cigar. Flavorful but no so strong as The Late Hour.
Side note, I went to the Corvette museum earlier this year, since you're into 60's muscle cars etc., and saw a bunch of Ed Roth "Big Daddy Rat" cars there. Pretty cool. Thought you might remember those, as well.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
funny, I thought that would come out with the text on top and the picture on the bottom. Live and learn.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
@Amos_Umwhat
Ahhh!! Hot Rod, the OTHER fantasy magazine (car-related, that is; the 3rd was kept in the drawer under the T-shirts). Great picture, and I definitely remember Rat Fink!
Do you know if the Nicaragua Robusto is the same as the Diadema, except for the shape? They’re a little cheaper.
@Silvermouse
You’re a lot closer to Canada than I am. Cuban cigars for me are a lot like the fantasies in the ‘zines were… all three of them
@deadman, and anyone else who cares....
About that 50-year-old Cuban tobacco >>>
Coming to this discussion forum from a whiskey background, I can see there are some things about warehouse receipts and bonding and such that whiskey people take for granted but tobacco folks might not be aware of. Bear with me on this; it takes awhile but you might find it enlightening.
At least it’s a good read while you enjoy that evening cigar…
In February of 1962, the United States declared an embargo on Cuban goods, including tobacco, such that, from that point on, none could be imported to America, either in finished product nor in bulk. The embargo didn’t, and doesn’t, prevent Cuba from doing business as usual throughout the rest of the world and indeed, Cuba sells both cigars and bulk tobacco everywhere else. Wholesalers buy and sell Cuban tobacco every day. The embargo was not applicable to product already in their warehouses at the time, hence the concept of “pre-embargo”. It’s important to realize that Cuba supplied nearly all of the cigar-grade tobacco being used in the world at that time, even in machine-made cigars. And despite the fact that pretty much the entire non-Cuban tobacco-growing industry has grown to replace at least the U.S. portion, Cuba still sells a lot of prime cigars and tobacco around the world. A wholesaler in Miami or Ybor with access to stocks of Cuban tobacco didn’t lose that tobacco; they just couldn’t order any more.
Now, many years ago, when I was much younger, I had some good luck in Las Vegas and left the casino with a bag full of silver dollars (you could do that then). After keeping a few out for souvenirs and to give to the nieces & nephews, I deposited about $1,000 in the bank. That doesn’t mean the bank has a box with my name on it and they put my silver dollars in the box; it means I own the rights to $1,000 of the bank’s money. If I write you a check for $100, I’ll have $900 of the bank’s money left. If I decided to withdraw that $900 I could, if I insisted, take it in “silver” dollars. But they wouldn’t be the same silver dollars. They don’t even make real silver dollars anymore. And I doubt that anyone here would expect to get the same coins back. Well, assuming there really is a pre-embargo “deposit” of Cuban tobacco available to Camacho, what they have is the right to “withdraw” from the warehouse’s current inventory, not the actual leaves that were there in 1962.
Anyway, the portion of that Cuban tobacco that represents that wholesaler’s inventory when the embargo went into effect is tracked through meticulous records, or at least it was until, one by one, they all ran out. Well, almost all. Every once in a while, someone finds records with some remaining stash left, and that’s what Camacho claims to have come across. Someone said it was tobacco owned by DWG Cigar Corp. In any case, it was the rights to tobacco, not the actual leaves themselves. Those dealers buy and sell Cuban tobacco every day, and any pre-embargo-designated tobacco withdrawn from their warehouses wouldn’t likely be any older than what Camacho wants to purchase for their blend. My silver dollars don’t exist, and neither does fifty-year-old Cuban tobacco.
Yes.
Intersting read on the Cuban tobacco. Never gave it that much thought, I always figured "50 year old tobacco? No thanks."
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain