Habanos Vintage Chart (James Suckling, updated)

[El Presidente]

2006 Cab RASS (and others) are a standout. 2006 in general was a benchmark year as it was a turning point to my mind. 

[stogieluver]

I'm glad this thread was revived.  Lots of good info.

[eswary]

I've had a lot of success from 2005-2007 personally.

2005 old band Mag 46's
2006 Diplo #4's
2006 Party SDC #3's
2007 Party SDC #1's & #2's

All boxes were/are exceptional and smoking beautifully today.
I read a above statement from a member that that is still smoking only vintage stick and hasn't dabbled into stock from the last say 4-5 yrs. My advice is to buy it up, cause I honestly believe some of the best and most consistent cigars we've seen in decades is being produced right now. Time will tell how they hold up over the test of time, but my experience with aging is when you start with great tobacco only greater things can come from it.


Eric



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[joeypots]

17 hours ago, El Presidente said:

2006 Cab RASS (and others) are a standout. 2006 in general was a benchmark year as it was a turning point to my mind. 

if I remember correctly '06 was when all of the chatter about cooked tobacco started.

[NSXCIGAR]

I'd have to vehemently disagree with Suckling's ranking of 05 and 04 ahead of 06. IMO they should be ranked 11)(or higher) 2006; 12) 2004; 13) 2005. 

I recall some real turds floating through around 06 in general, but I do agree that there were some standouts in 06 unlike 2004 and 2005 which IMO was just turd city with very little to be happy about. As Rob mentioned, 2006 RASS and RASCC were indeed smoking quite well. I also recall some Partagas and Cohiba being pretty solid around that time as well. But 04-05 was pretty much a total disappointment for all marcas in my book. 2003 was the lone good year in that period of 2000-2005, so Suckling got that very right.

I think Suckling is ranking 06 so low on the list due to consistency. I'd have to say that on the whole, 06 has more in common with the 99-02 dark ages than the 07-08 renaissance. To my mind, 07-08 was the big rebirth of Cuban cigars. I agree with Rob that it really probably began to emerge in 06 production. But 07 was a banner year, with so many marcas just finally showing up, and 08 and 09 just continued that trend.

[Puros Y Vino]

I love the clarity, candidness and knowledge many of our members here are able to bring forward in regards to this "list".  Keep it coming folks! 

[Chef]

I know this is an old thread, but I’m interested to know how the connoisseurs would rate and rank the most recent years against this list.  How’s the trend of the improving quality in the newest vintages continued?

[Guest Nekhyludov]

11 minutes ago, Chef said:

I know this is an old thread, but I’m interested to know how the connoisseurs would rate and rank the most recent years against this list.  How’s the trend of the improving quality in the newest vintages continued?

I would put 2016 in the middle of the pack and 2017 near the bottom. I haven't smoked enough 2018s to have a feel for those yet, but I expect that it'll be above average.

Just my two cents.

[RDB]

Presumably we are talking box code dates, rather than harvest dates? I’d be interested to see people’s ratings too - a rising tide lifts all boats.

[Puros Y Vino]

3 hours ago, RDB said:

Presumably we are talking box code dates, rather than harvest dates? I’d be interested to see people’s ratings too - a rising tide lifts all boats.

The source article refers to the "best" box code dates, not harvests. 

 

[MPS]

Funny, I would put his top two years dead last. 

[WineAcrobat]

I thought I posted a thread about this on the main page but either it wasn't approved (do posts on "the water hole" have to be approved by admin?) or it didn't save. Either way, I was wondering what people think of 2015-2020. I haven't seen anyone talk about anything past 2017 in context to the other vintages of the past 10-20 years. 

(looks like someone posted about this last year too. lol)

On 5/9/2019 at 5:26 PM, RDB said:

Presumably we are talking box code dates, rather than harvest dates? I’d be interested to see people’s ratings too - a rising tide lifts all boats.

Yeah, I'm talking box codes. It would be annoying to try and remember (or find out) the age of the tobacco in all of the cigars you smoke and then compare them to the box codes to try and pinpoint the actual grow vintage. 

[NSXCIGAR]

On 5/9/2019 at 12:26 AM, RDB said:

Presumably we are talking box code dates, rather than harvest dates? I’d be interested to see people’s ratings too - a rising tide lifts all boats.

Impossible. Multiple years' harvests are in a single cigar and not necessarily the three prior to the box code.

On 5/9/2019 at 4:29 AM, miamipadronsmoker said:

Funny, I would put his top two years dead last. 

14 was a pretty good year. Not sure if I'd call it the best but it's top 5 by any objective measure. 15 however, I don't recall a lot of great production.

On 5/8/2019 at 9:51 PM, Destro said:

I would put 2016 in the middle of the pack and 2017 near the bottom. I haven't smoked enough 2018s to have a feel for those yet, but I expect that it'll be above average.

I'd put 16 just above the middle but 17 wasn't that bad. Certainly would never put it down with 02 or 05. I'd put it dead middle.

18-19 has certainly been a big step up and top third of the list for sure. And I've been a bit happier with 19 than 18 overall. 

[brutusthebuckeye]

Whatever happened to Suckling? ...and his phoney bologna accent   Got to be one of the more cheesiest characters in the cigar biz. 

[Habana Mike]

23 hours ago, brutusthebuckeye said:

Whatever happened to Suckling? ...and his phoney bologna accent   Got to be one of the more cheesiest characters in the cigar biz. 

He's still got his web presence. Posted this week...

https://www.jamessuckling.com/

[NSXCIGAR]

On 6/6/2020 at 5:15 PM, brutusthebuckeye said:

Whatever happened to Suckling? ...and his phoney bologna accent   Got to be one of the more cheesiest characters in the cigar biz. 

Ha. I think his hairdo might be as bad as that accent.

He seems to be about 99% wine the last few years. And every cigar he does comment on scores 98 points.