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How about a little distraction from current Habanos woes?? 😁 Set aside all the issues Habanos has with price hikes, tobacco crop and overall product shortages, etc. Pretend things are somewhat normal in Habanos world. If you could add one cigar to a specific marca; what would it be? Why would you want it? What about it appeals to you? Why does the marca need this cigar? I'll go first. This has been on my mind for a while. I think the cigar the must be made is a Cohiba Perfecto. As the flagship brand it should have the most classic of cigar shapes in its' lineup. The leaf set aside for Cohiba would surely be an improvement over anything in the Cuaba lineup which IMO is just silly with all the different sized perfectos. Outside of Cuaba, there aren't really many perfectos left. Since the vitola requires expert rollers, the appeal of one in the Cohiba lineup makes sense. And, perhaps it could lead to the axing of Cuaba. Which I would personally not miss. I do enjoy a few cigars in the lineup but the marca has very little mindshare with me overall. The Cohiba Perfecto, should have a strong/bold blend and come in 10 counts if longer than a Churchill or cabinets of 25/50 if the RG were ~ 40/42 and the length shy of 5 inches. Here's a mockup I did a while back for fun. So, what is your candidate for a cigar Habanos must make?

All long-term cigar smokers have this feeling that the speed of buying cigars will gradually exceed the speed of smoking cigars after smoking cigars for a long time.😄 Some people collect cigars as they love it, some are for the added value. No matter you are collecting cigars for loving or value added, a common topic is proper storage environment. 18-21°C is recognized as the ideal storage temperature for cigars. If the temperature is lower than 16°C, the expected cigar aging process will be weakened. If the temperature is too high, higher than 24°C, it will cause the cigar beetles hatched and may also cause mildew of the cigar. The temperature and humidity for aging must achieve long-term balance and stability, severe and frequent temperature and humidity fluctuations are extremely unfavorable for cigar aging and collection.

The internal reason of cigar producing ammonia Ammonia is actually a form of nitrogen transfer in cigar tobacco. The degradation of nitrogen nutrients in tobacco leaves during the aging process leads to the accumulation of NH4+ in the leaves, which reduces the activity of enzymes involved in nitrogen assimilation, such as glutamine synthetase (GS). , So that ammonium ions volatilize into the atmosphere in the form of ammonia through the apoplast. Therefore, if the residual amount of nitrogen in the tobacco soil is high, the excess nitrogen in the tobacco leaves will affect the quality of the tobacco leaves, and the release of ammonia gas will be more permanent. Knowing the internal causes of ammonia in cigars, we can know: Ammonia is present in all cigars, no matter where the cigar is produced or what tobacco is made, there will be ammonia. This is why the tobacco leaves are subjected to more than twice manualed aging operations during the production process. Through the process of dividing the tobacco leaves into shade and drying, accumulating storage, dividing and drying in shade, and accumulating again, the purpose is to dry out as much "ammonia" as possible and make the tobacco leaves better aging. This makes it clear that all tobacco leaves will produce ammonia during the aging process, no matter it is Cuba or Dominica. As long as the cigar is still aging, the production of ammonia will not stop, just as the long-term multiple aging can weaken the production of ammonia to a state that is not easy for us to detect. Therefore, to ensure those cigars we smoked be more mellow and fragrant. It requires to remove ammonia from the cigars for the following three situations. 1) The first is fresh cigars. With the increasing number of smoking cigar customers, under the conditions of market economy efficiency priority, factories are not allowed to use tobacco to roll cigars after aging two or three years after the tobacco leaves are harvested. In fact, almost all Cuban cigars currently on the market are fresh. Therefore, most hand-rolled cigars only complete the initial fermentation when they leave the factory, and the tobacco quality is very tender, and the rest of the process needs to be carried out by consumers themselves; these cigars will produce a lot of "ammonia" during the aging process. 2) Those cigars have been placed in a closed / sealed container for a long time and are not frequently turned. In Cuba, the tobacco used for rolling cigars or newly rolled cigars are stored in well-ventilated warehouses rather than in airtight rooms or sealed cabinets. The natural temperature and humidity suitable for cigar aging, coupled with good ventilation conditions, can speed up the dissipation of ammonia. 3) Finally, for people who travel frequently, the cigar cabinet does not open for a long time to ventilate. Many cigar lovers have this experience: the moment when the cigar cabinet is opened, a slightly irritating sulky suffocates. This is the ammonia produced when the cigar is alcoholized. If the cabinet is not opened for ventilation for a long time , the ammonia gas will be deeply rooted in the cigar. Over time, the cigars in the whole cabinet are all problematic cigars with "ammonia smell". That's why Ammonia Removal for those cigars stored in cigar cabinet is so important! Expanding knowledge: Since 1999, according to the aging potential of different types of Cuban cigar tobacco leaves, Habanos has selected and retained some high-quality tobacco leaves from the tobacco leaves harvested each year and stored them in Havana aging warehouse, here is the cradle of the Premium Collector's Edition Cigars. All the wrappers, binders and fillers of the RR cellar-storing series are made of tobacco leaves that have been aging for three years or more. The limited edition cigars are made of tobacco leaves that have been aging for at least three years, which can reduce the influence of ammonia on the flavor of cigars.. More limited edition cigar leaf knowledge: How do those Cuban cigars with "GR" or "RR" ring labels exist In Cuba, even ordinary conventional cigars will be placed in a professional cigar aging warehouse for 6-12 months after rolling, or even longer before they are put on the market. The purpose is to reduce the influence of cigar ammonia gas on cigar flavor.

Spanish cedar wood or Canada cedar wood ? Both of the Spanish cedar wood and Canada cedar wood are quality options to consider for a humidor. Spanish cedar is considered the best wood for a cigar humidor, as this wood is very good at withstanding humidity and maintaining temperature. Here we would like to introduce them in below 2 aspects: 1) Benefit for cigars Advantages of Spanish cedar: Protection from Tobacco beetles: This type of wood can help prevent the tobacco beetles from building up in the humidor. Positive effect on cigar flavor: Spanish cedar wood is well-known for preserving cigar flavor for extented periods of time. Regulation of humidity/temperature: Spanish cedar is the most effective wood type for helping regulate the temperature and humidity levels within your cigar humidor by far. In view of the most important factor for the cigar storage environment ---- the stability of the temperature and humidity, using Spanish cedar will be better. Because there're many wood fiber ducts and pores on the surface of the Spanish cedar, which is more conducive to the retention of the moisture and absorb and adjust the extra moisture in the cabinet, to help the humidity keep stable in cigar cabinet. Image of Spanish cedar wood Canada cedar is not as effective as Spanish cedar, but it is still a reliable wood for the construction of cigar humidors. And it's more affordable than Spanish cedar. 2) Appearance Their colors are different. Spanish cedar wood is slightly reddish in color, and the color and texture are very uniform. While Canada cedar is grayish white, with larger texture, it has larger color differences and parti-color.

Long time Habanos smoker. Charter Member 20 year plus mod at Cigar Weekly. Greetings from Mississippi.

Brand new fresh as 50 cab ..and I know these are gonna be WAY to young to smoke,..but hey you have to try them to see whats going down!… FIRST IMPRESSIONS - well first off, the smell from the box is ..well hmm NEW as expected .very light barnyard smell and a touch of ammonia mixed with a woody (probably the box) scent. Light Claro wrapper with a slight oily sheen. DRY DRAW - pretty much what is coming from the box in the above comment. FIRST THIRD - very creamy from the kick off. Light cedar hit definitely has some ammonia in the cigar as expected, the last third will batter me I can tell with nicotine. SECOND THIRD - pretty much the same as above…nothing really to write home about. But there is a lot of oil in this cigar that I can see bubble when I have re lit…so a good sign there. Lots of smoke ..and the ash is very flakey with an un even burn line due to youth. FINAL THIRD - woodiness with a light tea character …and bosh ……BIG NICOTINE HIT..I NEED A LIE DOWN. SUMMARY - way too young as expected!…they will go to the back of my cellar for another 3-4 years before I go back for another taste - 85 points might get to 93-4 by then.

Habanos is late this year in announcing dates for next February's festival. Usually there is news out in August. Still nothing public yet for next year. Be careful of Cuba travel/tour websites, they usually put out offers early and, as often as not, get the dates wrong, as some have this year. I was just talking with a Habanos distributor and the dates they have are 24-28 February, 2020. I know, in some parts of the world, it's useful to start booking travel arrangements about now.

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I spoke with Prez this morning and he agrees that it would be a great idea to have a gathering for any FoH members who will be in Havana for the Habanos Festival next month. The Habanos Festival is from Monday Feb 27 - Friday March 3. The event will be in the restaurant VIPHavana in Vedado from 4pm to 7pm on Wednesday March 1st. A fairly new restaurant, it's a really nice space and great tapas. Not stuffy at all, it'll be relaxing, fun, a few drinks and cigars, absolutely in the spirit of FoH. A time to share stories of our week so far.. http://en.viphavana454.com/index.php/about-us Finishing at 7 pm as some members will be going on to the mid-week Festival event, in which case at least you'll have had some food before the "dinner". For those not going to the mid-week event, we'll be in the middle of Vedado so there'll be plenty to do afterwards. I am hoping to get final numbers before February 14th so I can give the restaurant some idea of how many we'll be. For anyone going to the festival, please PM me if you can come. Hope to see you there, it'll be a laugh! VIPHavana

Might not be for the living room (my study maybe) or when "guests" are over but if you have a man cave or are a garage smoker... Anyone done anything like this?

No information I'm afraid, just a question. I am hearing a lot of rumours that it is to be Feb 27 - Mar 3, 2017, those dates are on a few blog sites etc. Has anybody heard any actual confirmation of the dates yet? Nothing that I can find on the Habanos site and the festival dates are usually out by this time of year.

Hello Chaps, A dear friend of mine is going to Havana later on this month and has offered to bring back some cigars.. Having been there myself, last year, I know how sometimes poor the selection is in the local tiendas. Has anyone been there recently and seen what is widely available in stock that is worth bringing back? Thanks in advance!

Hello, I tried the Habanos S A verification site but I am getting a server error, are you getting the same error? After entering the code and the captcha a database error is shown. http://verificacion.habanos.com/

Hey all, Just got back from Havana with my lady for a week. We had an amazing time there, It was my second time going and my girl's first time. Basically, All the stores I visited had all regular production cigars from mostly 2015, few boxes here and there from 2014. didn't see anything older than that. Habana Libre was the best stocked store by far, had about 10 boxes of Club Allones when I was there. Melia Habana, Melia Cohiba and Conde de la villanueva was worth the trip for the custom rolls, but all had just regular stock on the shelves. No LE's to speak of. Did not have time to go to Partagas or Club Habana unfortunately. The Varadero airport little cigar shop had two boxes of RG CE, the only note worthy cigar in there There is a full write up on my new blog, the link is in my signature. Hope you guys enjoy the write up, I deceided to give this blogging thing a try!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE........ CAPTURED.....

Fresh Diadema Maduros straight from Conde De Villanueva LCDH NOV 2015/North Pole/my House Hope you Enjoyed......MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Review: Habanos 1994 Release: Special release humidor to commemorate the establishment of Habanos S.A. Vitola: 46RG * 143mm (5.6”) Grand Corona aka Coronas Gordas Production: 502 humidors of 50 cigars made. (25,100 cigars) Box Code: Unknown (rolled circa 1994) http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/brand.aspx?brand=Habanos#16_1994_Humidor Date: Saturday June 14, 2014 Start Time: 9:35PM EST Reviewers Notes: My style of cigar reviewing is “open”. I try to jot down what I’m experiencing with every draw. When you see a “/” consider that a break in between puffs. What I leave out in fancy prose is made up with observation. Consider each segment a play by play. This style works for me. I hope you enjoy it. Background: The Habanos 1994 release is probably third after the 1492 and CT25 releases in terms of lustre. Coming in a beautifully crafted humidor, the Habanos 1994 aims to be the pinnacle of Cuban cigars in its’ time. At least, that what I like to think Habanos had in mind when putting this together. I don’t see many early 1990’s CC’s around here so when this came up via a local private sale, I was interested. Pre-Light Notes: Visuals: smooth wrapper, light veins, firm well stored, ready to smoke Aroma at cold: The wrapper has an aged tobacco aroma to it. There’s hint of pine as well. The foot has that same aroma, but there’s a touch of chocolate on it. Overall, the aroma is more woodsy than floral. I get a nice clean punch on the head, the draw is smooth. Time to smoke! 1st Third: definitely alive lots of flavour to start / the cigar is smooth / toasty / bread like flavours / minty taste / nice tangy notes / lots of smoke production / draw is great / wow..hints of chocolate that Ii smelled I can now taste. didn't last too long, but it’s there.. / dry tannin like finish on the draw / profile thus far is mild / no real strong tobacco hits either / slight nuttiness on the finish / mintiness still dancing in & out on the draws / very nice. i have only tasted mint in aged cigars / but not to the same degree / this one is packed with it. 2nd Third: Serious amount of smoke output on this cigar, it’s aroma is somewhat herbal / tobacco seems to be showing some strength / slight vanilla notes appear / tangy tart notes with a hint of dark chocolate / mint again / burn is askew / no issues though / draw remains smooth / the smoke is aromatic a bit woodsy / wow,nice long draw results in rich beany flavours on the tongue / very dry profile overall / very subtle cigar, have to smoke it slowly and pay attention / sweet bready notes / sharp cedar notes emerge / the finish is slight cocoa like / 3rd Third: very crisp flavours here / a bit of mint / some toasty tobacco / dry nuttiness. medium bodied at this point / the tobacco strenght is coming through / tons of smoke persist / great draw / nice..some milk chocolate / the original owner definitely stored these well over the years / big hit of cedar and earth / mint / flavours are somewhat muted the last 6 draws / still enjoyable / back to mint / toasty tobacco / lots of smoke still / rich earthy notes with a cedary finish / dry almond like taste / big minty hit / slight cocoa on the finish / cedar notes with a beany finish toasty tobacco / lots of cedar notes / a bit stronger at this point / nice beany notes again / a slight hint of fruit cake / the only real sweet flavour to appear / a bit more cocoa on the finish / dry nuttiness / tobacco showing some of it’s strength as i head towards nubbing the cigar / more dry nuttiness / mint is gone / toasty tobacco takes over / the smoke is still pumping out / the aroma of it is quite strong / cocoa / cedary finish / nubbed this good / too hot to handle / calling it. Done @ 10:56PM EST Final Thoughts This was one elegant smoke. Overall it was dominated by minty flavours, it produced lots of smoke and had good range of flavours throughout. From foot to head, I’d say this was a medium bodied smoke with most of the stronger flavours coming out in the last half. It’s a real treat to smoke an aged cigar, even more so when it’s a truly limited item. With only 25,100 cigars made, I’m fortunate to have found a sample to smoke. Having been aged for 20 years, this cigar is definitely an experience. I’ve heard good things about the early to mid 90’s tobacco crops and this was probably a fine example of it when fresh. It’s certainly no slouch 20 years later. The Habanos 1994 was a smooth smoke throughout, it had enough flavour range to keep me interested, the draw was perfect, nothing to complain about really, maybe except the price? To me, this was worth the price of admission. This was a time capsule of Cuban tobacco that you just won’t see come up too often. It’s probably on a lot of people’s wish list and from my observations, it’s worthy of being coveted. Score: 95

Hey there folks, I finally found the time to mount the tubos I've been collecting these years. The last time I posted photos was quite a while ago, back in this thread (http://www.friendsof...showtopic=97233). Here are my Series (top) and Fascination (bottom) shadowbox mountings. Looks a lot nicer in the frame than on the rug. Enjoy!