Lets Talk Cohiba

[godpheonix]

I'm a fan! i know some aren't. no they are not always at the top of their game but when they are they are something special ( for those in the know, you know what i'm talking about).

i would love to know if you do like them, whats your favorites? you can talk about more then one. for those who don't why? and which ones have you tried that brought you to this conclusion.

For me its either the siglo IV or the siglo V. To me they add all of the dimensions of what cohiba can offer when you have a good example of these. a special mention to the Lancero as well, but it lacks the intensity of the other 2 i find. one thing i noticed, they don't see siglo V's on 24:24, i wonder if Rob can comment on that. plus the cigar is almost never mentioned on the forum. i find that odd.

anyway, i'm interested to see what will come up. by the way, please leave out any LE's or other special edition Cohiba. regular production only please!

Thanks,

Steve

 

[LLC]

Long time fan of most of them but especially the III's and IV's.

I'm sure you get lots about them being over rated, not worth the money, etc and I agree they may not be the best value but that doesn't mean they can't be a great cigar.


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[wade1979]

I am also a fan. 

1. Lancero

2. Coro/Sig VI

3. Sig III

Great examples ,from great sources , will yield great results. This is true 90% of the time, but hey they're Cuban Cigars. 

[Ken Gargett]

great robustos and esplendido's. whacko.

and the early sig VIs. and all sig VIs since then. and pretty much all the rest.

[JohnS]

Another long-time fan here, and more so of Cohiba when aged (at least 3 - 5 years at minimum). I favour pretty much all the vitolas, depending on my mood/preference I make choices accordingly. For example, for the Siglo line I favour the III the most and the V just behind, because I have a soft spot for these vitolas (the III is a Coronas Grandes at 42 rg x 155 mm, the V is a Dalias at 43 rg x 170 mm). When I want a more intense Siglo experience I go for the I, when I want a more nuanced buttery texture and medium-bodied experience I opt for the Siglo VI or Cohiba Robustos.

However, when I opt for a longer, fuller-bodied grass/honey and citrus combination, well I just love the Cohiba Piramides Extra for this. I don't do it often, but I savour it when I do!

As for the Siglo V...we need to firstly acknowledge the wrapper shortage last year which affected Cohiba production. As Rob has mentioned on a number of occasions, Cohiba doesn't work if it is made with the wrong wrapper shade/type. Secondly, the Siglo V is a Dalias, a vitola that Habanos S.A just doesn't manufacture that much anymore. We haven't seen the La Gloria Cubana Medaille d'Or No. 2 for awhile now, and the Partagas 8-9-8 is only coming up now on 24:24 more often. My theory is that H.S.A. has utilised what wrapper they have for other vitolas in the Cohiba line last year. I'm confident the Siglo V will come through again once Cohiba stock is distributed in more quantity to vendors. I'm sure Rob can comment on this further.

Finally, don't forget the Maduro 5 line, that is, the Secretos, Magicos and Genios. I like these too, and more so aged. Recently, Ken, Jeremy and Smithy did an aged Cohiba Maduro review when Rob was away...it was great to see them enjoy those cigars. This line has the core Cohiba DNA, but the wrapper adds a lovely coffee/espresso and cocoa edge. When I want a change-of-pace,  I favour these.

 

[planetary]

26 minutes ago, JohnS said:

However, when I opt for a longer, fuller-bodied grass/honey and citrus combination, well I just love the Cohiba Piramides Extra for this. I don't do it often, but I savour it when I do!

John knows Cohiba much more thoroughly than I, but I can confirm that the single Piramides Extra I've had was one of the most memorable cigars of my life.  The setting certainly didn't hurt, either!

Cohiba is the most enchanting of marcas, from my (limited) experience.

[dominattorney]

I gravitate toward siglo iii and v as well as lanceros and coronas especial. I don't see the value in the siglo ii with all the other excellent pc alternatives. I am likewise not a fan of the siglo iv or vi, mostly because I don't believe the price premium reflects the quality of the Cigar. I know what I'm saying is sacrilege to many, but that is my job after all, to be controversial. 

I have a true love hate relationship with cohiba. I don't believe the siglo iii is overpriced, and love the vitola, so it is a must for my humidor. As far as coronas especial, lanceros, and siglo v go, they are expensive, but to my palate they are truly phenomenal smokes worth the price premium. The siglo v is my favorite dahlia/ Lonsdale cigar, and while I like the Monte 1 and the partagas 898, they don't hold a candle to the richness of a well aged siglo v.

The lanceros are more interesting to me, as they are one of my favorite shapes. I love Monte especial and trinidad fundadores, both of which are less expensive, but there's something special about that CoLa box in the humidity. I consider it a staple. One that Rob recently helped me reinstall after too long a hiatus. 

However, to play Devils advocate, there aren't many marcas that I don't feel this way about to some degree.  My favorites would be partagas and montecristo, but even Monte trod all over my senses with their open line, and partagas has too many names for "mediocre mareva."

[ComancheKeen]

There are a few I have yet to try, but the ones I've had I've enjoyed immensely. Coronas Especiales, Robustos and Siglo VI would be my top 3 in no particular order. I do agree that they need a couple years on them before they really shine.

[stinkhead]

In my experience the people who I have met that do not like Cohiba fall into two camps. 1st they have never smoked a real one. 2nd they have only ever smoked young ones. I have turned several haters into lovers when I gave them one with age on it.

[BellevilleMXZ]

55 minutes ago, planetary said:

John knows Cohiba much more thoroughly than I, but I can confirm that the single Piramides Extra I've had was one of the most memorable cigars of my life.  The setting certainly didn't hurt, either!

Cohiba is the most enchanting of marcas, from my (limited) experience.

Nice.....Cuba?

[BellevilleMXZ]

11 minutes ago, stinkhead said:

In my experience the people who I have met that do not like Cohiba fall into two camps. 1st they have never smoked a real one. 2nd they have only ever smoked young ones. I have turned several haters into lovers when I gave them one with age on it.

VERY good point......I have tried fresh in Cuba, and not a huge fan.

[Colt45]

Aside from one or two fantastic robustos, for me they are the emperor's new clothes.

[BuzzArd]

I have several tubos here.  A 15 Box each of Sig 3,5,6  CORO and PE as well as a very early PE box near the initial release.  Also some Secretos and Medios in the maduro line.  Have only had one so far and it was quite nice; a JAN 13 PE.  Been pretty preoccupied with others so the Cohiba can age, but man, their prices usually have me lookin elsewhere, hence the tubos selections to keep my sampling within budget.

[SignalJoe]

When I started smoking Cubans about 11 years ago I wanted to dislike the brand.  I wanted to believe they were overpriced and that you were paying for reputation and packaging.  I felt that way until I stumbled in to a duty free shop in Shannon Ireland.  I wanted a few more cigars for the haul home and the store had a limited selection.  I overcame my resistance and bought two three packs of CoRo, I have never looked back and my humidor is now never without several boxes of CoRo and a few of the Siglo line.  It took me getting over some biases but the justification is there if you can find good examples.  I will not say that they are absolute best as everyone's palate is different, however I have enjoyed all the ones I tried.  If Rob continues to post prime (PSP, HQ) Cohibas I will continue to buy as there are a number of vitolas I have yet to try.  Namely the III & V.  

[Ken Gargett]

poor timing, this post.

i have had a serious flu (i could go into details about all the green stuff i've been coughing up but i'll spare you) since the 2nd springsteen concert (and yes, it was worth it), so a couple of weeks. had a wine lunch with mates on thursday - the monthly event. over the years, so many spectacular wines. i had cancelled several days earlier as no chance but felt better thursday morning so went (and in 30 years, we've never had a worse line-up of wines - serves me right). and i may have over-estimated my recovery. anyway, feel like i have finally mostly beaten it but i have not had a cigar for a number of weeks. frustrating.

and then this post!

i have to taste the either the Lallier "Ouvrage" or their Rose (and given i'm cooking lamb tagine, that might be the go), a cracking small champagne producer. always said that champers and cigars match (i will thoroughly review the champers first, of course - the Ouvrage is the flagship and i have not seen it before). all this talk of cohiba. i might pull out an old Sig VI. if i am crook all next week, i blame the lot of you!

[planetary]

1 hour ago, BellevilleMXZ said:

Nice.....Cuba?

Kauai, with the family.  But on this particular day, my wife took the kids on a maritime excursion, leaving me to a glorious afternoon of rare solitude.

EDIT: I'm reading Conan Doyle, so you'll excuse the slightly Victorian flourishes with which I might be ensorcelled at present!

[Notsocleaver]

I'm always behind the ball when it comes to Cohibas it seems. I always liked them, but never liked them more than I liked buying two boxes of something or a 50 cab of RASS. Now that I have come to the upper limits of my storage capacity I am much more willing to buy premium priced sticks, but now Cohiba is so thin on the ground prices so jacked up that I find myself again looking elsewhere. Now my problem is that Connie As are so good its hard for me to pay more for CoRos. I did manage to pick up a 2012 box of CoRo that I am waiting patiently to open when they turn five this summer. I kinda hope I hate them, because it will make this all easier.

[mnmlst]

Ah, Cohiba. The marca I didn't want to like. I liked my Partagas D4s, BBFs, Monte 2s and RASS just fine and didn't think I needed to buy any overpriced sticks with fancy bands (though I do love the bands). Then I had a 2014 Behike 54 in 2015 and it was... just ok. The Trinidad Robusto T I had around the same time totally blew it away. So I thought I was good. Plus, the variation in quality I was seeing in the sticks I was enjoying was disappointing, especially for the prices I was paying (canadian - this was pre-FOH).

Then I found a new vendor and ordered some singles including a Siglo IV. And what a good Siglo IV it was!

Had a few more and I even enjoyed the less than stellar ones more than I wanted to.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago and I had my first CoRo from Rob's Xmas sampler and damn, now I'm hooked. Also had a Piramides Tubos from '12. Cohiba just hit my sweet spot, I guess.

Now I have some FOH boxes aging and I'm looking forward to trying some other vitolas and more aged ones as well. Although, I'm leery about trying the Siglo VI and Lanceros, as that's all I need at this point is more expensive cigars I 'have' to have.

[NSXCIGAR]

When Cohiba is on, the cigars are great. For me, it's a price and aging issue. For some reason Cohibas produced since 2009-2010 seem to need some serious downtime before they even begin to blossom. Like 2 years minimum, particularly the Lanceros and CEs. Under 2 years and sometimes even 3 or 4, they can be on the blander side and a bit muddled leaving many disappointed. I was actually purchasing Exquisitos on a regular basis from around 07-09, and they smoked great fresh. Then, the price went up and they began to need some age.

I would not consider myself a Cohiba smoker, but I would not hesitate to purchase any of the Linea Clasica models from El Laguito and smoke them after 2-5 years on them. I just don't have the patience to age them and again, the price is a bit prohibitive to me. But somewhere in my head I kick myself every year for not having purchased some a few years ago and having them available. 

[UpInSmoak]

Siglo 2, CoRo, Especialies.  The CE have been hard to find as of late.  My white whale is a CE from EL.  

[zeedubbya]

I haven't had the PE, BHK 56, or Panatelas. But in order of favorite to least favorite. 

Siglo 6, Esplendidos, Siglo 2, CCE, Lanceros, Siglo 5, Siglo 3, CORO, Siglo 4, Siglo 1, Behike 54, Behike 52, Genios, Secretos, Cohiba Shorts, Exquisitos, Magicos.  

I am like a lot of other people here--If money were no concern I would smoke 80% Aged Cohiba.  I tried so hard to not be a Cohiba snob and failed.  When on they are the best cigars in the world in my opinion.  

[subport]

 

4 hours ago, stinkhead said:

In my experience the people who I have met that do not like Cohiba fall into two camps. 1st they have never smoked a real one. 2nd they have only ever smoked young ones. I have turned several haters into lovers when I gave them one with age on it.

I do not hate Cohiba but Im no fan at all. Its the least fav marca for me. Period. Why? Flavour profile. Did I try real ones? Absolutely. Did I try aged ones? Absolutely. Have lanceros 05. Coro, espy and so on including bhk years and years on them and maduro 5 original release. Still not my favorite flavour profile. Thats it. But I dont hate it. Just not raving about them. Would smoke a jls 1,2 or a boli pc 99% or almost everything else over any Cohibas. That is just me and my palate. 

[GrouchoMarx]

I'm a big fan!

What I've tried: BhK 52, Bhk56, esplendido, robusto, sig2, sig3, sig4, sig5, sig6, maduro genios, maduro secretos

Favourites: BHK56, Sig6, genios, robusto

What I really need to get my mitts on are some lanceros! C'mon Rob! LOL

[CaptainQuintero]

When they are on they are stunning cigars, the problem is the wild variation. The price point means the risk:reward ratio can sometimes be too much of a gamble. If they sorted out the consistency issues then the price point would be certainly justified for me. 

You have to pick carefully, like good peaches

[canadianbeaver]

10 hours ago, SignalJoe said:

When I started smoking Cubans about 11 years ago I wanted to dislike the brand.  I wanted to believe they were overpriced and that you were paying for reputation and packaging.  

Bingo. We thought, gee, we know how to spend money on incredible stuff without paying for Cohiba.

Then somewhere along the line we started with the popular theme throughout this thread and my fave size, lonsdale: Siglo III. But they have to have at least 3 years on them, maybe more. 

The maduros do not have to wait that long for us. We love them.