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Hi! My name is Mike and am very new to all cigars and am looking to explore and learn about them, especially CC!! I picked up a few CC in Manila and Hong Kong recently to get myself started on this hobby. Also I just very recently placed an order with our host here for a better sampling of CC to find what I like to smoke. For the most part I am selecting smaller RG and shorter lengths to smoke. Am definitely looking at the mild to medium to get started. I'm sure I'll have many questions here and so far I have been able to find my answers via searches altho some of the answers can be confusing. Hope to get to know more about this hobby and the people here. Thank you!!

My name is Saxman(Victor) and this is my first post on this topic. I am adding this introduction as I failed to do so when I first wrote the post. My apologies. I'm a Cuban born cigar lover and look forward to many discussions with you all. My very well intended Cuban cousin just came back from Cuba, and being the nice guy that he is, he brought me back some "Cohiba Robustos." Of course I won't say a thing to him, but he got them from free from a pal in Pina Del Rio and was kind enough to give them to me. As you can see from the pictures, they are real fake CCs "Cohiba Robustos". I mean take your pick of the flaws... Box is in terrible condition The bottom of the box had no factory or date stamp at all, and the font is shabby at best The logo on the Habanos is not even close in color etc The government seal is just poor in every way. The serial number is of course not good. The hologram is not even a close attempt just some glitter tape. The bar code did nothing when I scanned. Of course there was no micro writing on the label with matching serial numbers. The cedar lid had no cutout to lift The cigars themselves are are really bad No consistent color Labels are not matched or even a little bit good Font on cable, squares on labels are not even The labels were so inconsistent none of the 25 matched all and only two were even close See the picture with the four cigars The foot on all of them were nicely cut The caps looked just ok but very inconsistent from cigar to cigar When I tore one down I did find them to be whole leaf for wrapper, binder and filler. There was no loose tabaco so my suspicion is that they were hand rolled properly I smoke one and although it may be CC tabaco it's no Cohiba I'll assure you. It's not going to be any news to everyone here that CCs are faked an awful lot in Cuba and the only two solutions in my opinions are to trust Rob, buy from the Havano official stores when you're there, or get customs. Thanks

Greetings all. Haven't posted much lately. Thought I'd try to stir things up a bit. As I sit here enjoying a 2009 P2, I've been thinking about what cigars I've enjoyed these past few years and from what year they came from with less concern on the specific box codes. If we treat Cuban tobacco crops the way vintners do with their grape harvests; which years in the last 10 years stand out for you? Don't dwell on the marcas but the overall sampling of cigars you've had from specific years that make you think. "This was a good year for Cuban tobacco." I've broken down the poll into two questions to cover two five year spans. As we are in 2015 now, I'll cite 2014 as the cutoff year for recent vintages going back to 2010. The second period covers 2005 - 2009. From each question, please select only two years that stood out for you. If you've been smoking for at least 10 years or have access to older boxes or singles in a fair quantity and have smoked your share, please chime in on Question 1 & 2. Question 2 is meant to cover the "newbs" with 1 - 5 years of CC smoking. If you're a new smoker but have had a good share of pre-2009 CC's then feel free to answer Question 1. Cast your votes, feel free to post follow up comments & questions in this thread too. I hope everyone is doing well.