Intel on new codes

[CigarZen]

Wondering if any fellow code hound dogs have detected what all these new codes are?  I saw MAR is EL; TAU is Partagas.  I was wondering if anyone has sniffed out what SOU is?

Hit some July 20 CoRos.  I trust Rob’s eyes and sniffer, never steered me wrong.  Just wondering 

TIA gents

 

[FireDigger]

Great thread. I'm not that dependent on factory codes; this is more of a "good to know" type of thing for me. I've been curious what factory RAT is. I have some Diplo2s and PLPCs from there.

[Bijan]

According to this:

"[...] La Corona moves from LGR to RAT

El Laguito UAO>MAR

Partagas MSU>TUA

No word on Upmann yet"

 

[FireDigger]

Thanks for the link to that thread. I tried searching "RAT" but did not yield any results. Not sure if there's a minimum number of characters for the FOH search?

[Tstew75]

57 minutes ago, Bijan said:

According to this:

"[...] La Corona moves from LGR to RAT

El Laguito UAO>MAR

Partagas MSU>TUA

No word on Upmann yet"

 

Upmann has now been confirmed as GEM

[Bijan]

7 hours ago, FireDigger said:

Thanks for the link to that thread. I tried searching "RAT" but did not yield any results. Not sure if there's a minimum number of characters for the FOH search?

I think there is a minimum, I've given up on the FOH search and just search google and add friends of habanos at the end of my searches.

 

7 hours ago, Tstew75 said:

Upmann has now been confirmed as GEM

So that's BRE->GEM?

[Tstew75]

2 minutes ago, Bijan said:

So that's BRE->GEM?

Correct.

[cleelv]

Helpful to know, thanks everyone!

[NSXCIGAR]

ARS ----> BSM. 

 

[El Presidente]

Well done columbos 

[Tstew75]

2 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

ARS ----> BSM. 

 

I hope this factory (which some think is Pinar del Rio) continues to crank...the 19 Trinis from there were absolute FIRE. Made MUP offerings look dumb in comparison, IMO

[NSXCIGAR]

27 minutes ago, Tstew75 said:

I hope this factory (which some think is Pinar del Rio) continues to crank...the 19 Trinis from there were absolute FIRE. Made MUP offerings look dumb in comparison, IMO

So far so good. BSM Famosos have been great and seems like BSM Trinis have been steady. I've only seen a few BSM Mag 46 and RyJ WC otherwise. The GLE Trini Coloniales I had recently were good but not great.

I believe MUP ---> GLE, so the two Pinar factories are now BSM & GLE.

[captaincaveman]

I have some TLU La Trova and BST Esmeralda.  Any guesses on those factories?

[Tstew75]

4 hours ago, captaincaveman said:

I have some TLU La Trova and BST Esmeralda.  Any guesses on those factories?

Definitely provincial. Trini is known to be rolled at outlying spots, for me that's one of the more mystifying things about the Marca.

[chuckpnoy]

Great info!  Always blown away about the level of knowledge here.  Please forgive my naivete, but can someone explain provincial factories vs “mother”?  Also, it seems there are codes that are desirable, which ones are not?

[Tstew75]

4 hours ago, chuckpnoy said:

Great info!  Always blown away about the level of knowledge here.  Please forgive my naivete, but can someone explain provincial factories vs “mother”?  Also, it seems there are codes that are desirable, which ones are not?

The 4 mother factories are El Laguito, Partagas, La Corona & U Upmann. All others are considered provincial. The main 4 tend to specialize in one Marca or a small handful, and history has shown that these examples tend to be reasonably consistent, and are trackable via code every year (even when the codes switch).

A few compelling examples of cigars from their 'mother factory' are Hoyo from La Corona, Cohiba from El Laguito, Partagas from Partagas & Upmann from Upmann.

CC codes are a pretty complex, imperfect subject. Some think factory matters, some don't. Rob releases his top 10 hot codes of the year sometime in Dec of every month, you can see which factory codes performed best (in Rob's sole opinion). You can also open lots of boxes on your own and form your own opinions...a really fun exercise.

I'd venture to say the mother factory codes are most desirable- they have history and pride on their side, plus employ some of the best rollers. But other hot codes pop up from time to time...UEB, ARS & BOP all come to mind. More specifically, there aren't really 'undesirable codes', just ones that are more desirable than others in a certain time period.

It's complicated.

 

[chuckpnoy]

20 minutes ago, Tstew75 said:

The 4 mother factories are El Laguito, Partagas, La Corona & U Upmann. All others are considered provincial. The main 4 tend to specialize in one Marca or a small handful, and history has shown that these examples tend to be reasonably consistent, and are trackable via code every year (even when the codes switch).

A few compelling examples of cigars from their 'mother factory' are Hoyo from La Corona, Cohiba from El Laguito, Partagas from Partagas & Upmann from Upmann.

CC codes are a pretty complex, imperfect subject. Some think factory matters, some don't. Rob releases his top 10 hot codes of the year sometime in Dec of every month, you can see which factory codes performed best (in Rob's sole opinion). You can also open lots of boxes on your own and form your own opinions...a really fun exercise.

I'd venture to say the mother factory codes are most desirable- they have history and pride on their side, plus employ some of the best rollers. But other hot codes pop up from time to time...UEB, ARS & BOP all come to mind. More specifically, there aren't really 'undesirable codes', just ones that are more desirable than others in a certain time period.

It's complicated.

 

Thank you for the detailed response.  It certainly does sound complicated.  

I wonder what determines which marca comes out of which factory (ie.  Partagas and Upmann vitolas coming from other “mother” factories)?

It’s even funnier that they pull the old “switcheroo” regarding changing the codes.  Guess it adds to the enjoyment of the hobby.  All fun and games?

[Tstew75]

22 minutes ago, chuckpnoy said:

Thank you for the detailed response.  It certainly does sound complicated.  

I wonder what determines which marca comes out of which factory (ie.  Partagas and Upmann vitolas coming from other “mother” factories)?

It’s even funnier that they pull the old “switcheroo” regarding changing the codes.  Guess it adds to the enjoyment of the hobby.  All fun and games?

I'd simply guess tradition. Very early on Partagas was focused on Partagas, Upmann on Upmann, etc. El Laguito is the birthplace of Cohiba, so no mystery why examples from there are sought after.

[PigFish]

I think SOS has turned into BFD... At least for me!

Oh... and LOL has definitely changed to WTF!

Cheers! -Piggy

[JohnS]

So a quick summary on those current mother factory codes:

El Laguito (Cohiba) - MAR

La Corona (Hoyo de Monterrey, San Cristobal, Diplomaticos, Cuaba et al) - RAT

Upmann - (H.Upmann) - GEM

Partagas - (Partagas) - TUA

[LLC]

I think SOS has turned into BFD... At least for me!
Oh... and LOL has definitely changed to WTF!
Cheers! -Piggy

LMAO


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bijan]

On 12/11/2020 at 8:12 AM, CigarZen said:

I was wondering if anyone has sniffed out what SOU is?

I'm still looking but my guess is UEB, which I believe was a hot code.

[NSXCIGAR]

On 12/12/2020 at 10:09 AM, chuckpnoy said:

I wonder what determines which marca comes out of which factory (ie.  Partagas and Upmann vitolas coming from other “mother” factories)?

Some tradition, some practical.

The old Partagas factory had always been the home of Cifuentes, Boli, RA and LGC. Still is for the most part. La Corona had always been home to PL, Punch and Hoyo but has apparently absorbed a lot of old RyJ factory production (Cuaba, SC) and Hoyo and Punch have become widely dispersed.

Monte and Dip used to come primarily out of the HU factory when it was Jose Marti, but now Monte is pretty widely dispersed across all factories. In fact very little Monte comes from HU anymore. Same with most Cohiba which was mostly El Laguito until the early 2000s. Now it's made everywhere except Lanceros and most BHK. EL also seems to do a lot of PSE2 but not most. 

The only brands with majority production in one factory today are Boli, Cuaba, Dip, LGC, HU (premium), PL, RA, SC and VR. The only global brand that still is mainly one factory is HU but barely. 

[CigarZen]

8 hours ago, Bijan said:

I'm still looking but my guess is UEB, which I believe was a hot code.

Fingers crossed!

[Tstew75]

12 hours ago, Bijan said:

I'm still looking but my guess is UEB, which I believe was a hot code.

It will be really hard to confirm this, as all provincial codes are. Some lists mention UEB as a secondary Partagas factory code, but until it's proven otherwise I'm sticking to the old notion that there's only one mother factory code at a time.

I will say in your favor that I've opened about 10 blind boxes of 2020 PSD4s, and 80% of them have been SOU. They've been nice, but not gorgeous.  UEB was used for a bunch of D4s in the past, and they always looked really, really good. I also had magical MCPEs from UEB in 17/18.