Masters of Havana Cigars

[benfica_77]

I didn't know this was a course... Anyone do the course? 

H and F have a 200 question quiz if you get a 75% you pass and gain your masters of havana cigars. 

https://cigars.co.uk/the-masters/

 

[Puros Y Vino]

IIRC, several distributors run courses and possible a few LDCH's around the world.  Back in 2015 I emailed Habanos about their Habanos Academy and Cigar Sommelier courses.  It lead back to Havana House.  Any of these credentials are all but useless in Canada. 

 

[NSXCIGAR]

So I took this quiz and would have got 75% but one of their answers may be incorrect.

I tried to pull up the quiz to see it again exact but the questions change. The question I got was basically "maduro wrappers come from the top of sun-grown plants, true or false?"

As far as I know all Cuban wrapper, including maduro, comes from shade-grown. I've never seen Habanos claim maduro wrappers comes from sun-grown. So I answered false. It said incorrect! 

I looked into it and every source I see states maduro is upper tapado from shade-grown, not sun grown just as I believed. I can't find anything that suggests any Cuban wrapper--including maduro--is or has ever been sun-grown. 

Did H & F blow this one?

[BrightonCorgi]

Who cares how much they know when the shelves are bare, the boxes are devoid of distinction (Canada), and the prices are a slap in the face? 

[Fugu]

On 6/26/2023 at 6:38 AM, NSXCIGAR said:

Did H & F blow this one?

Yup.

[NSXCIGAR]

9 hours ago, Fugu said:

Yup.

Well then, as one who has bested the master, I confer upon myself the title of Supreme Commander of the Habanos! 

[Ford2112]

I got a 50% . I suck.

[havanaclub]

62.5 percent


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[helix]

75% 12 0f 16 . Fluke LOL.

[joeypots]

 

17 hours ago, Ford2112 said:

I got a 50% . I suck.

I got 50%. I’m great.

[BrightonCorgi]

Need to find time for their 200 question quiz I am sure to fail if the members above are around ~50%

[ATGroom]

I've seen the study materials and practice exams for this course.

It's geared towards Cigar retail workers and sommeliers and getting them to a point where they can give an answer to any reasonable question that the average consumer would ask.

It's not for crazy collectors who are interested in the precise nuances of long discontinued stuff and different batches of factory codes and the little details in the history etc etc ie: us.

Half of it is on production, the information for which all comes straight from The World of Habano.

There is stuff in there that is a bit questionable, ie, they will ask "When does the harvest begin", expecting the answer "December", but the answer really is "sometime between November and March, it depends on the season, it depends on the farmer, it depends where the farm is located, it depends how much fuel for generators they were able to get and how much labour for picking is available."

Can't really fault H&F for that. Every book gives different details on this stuff, and the World of Habano is the officially sanctioned version. They have to evaluate people somehow.

The other half is about memorising the dimensions of the factory sizes, years of different limited editions, that kind of thing. There is a section on the UK market specifically and how they do their taxes and what the smoking laws are and so on. 

There is a bit of stuff in there on strengths of different cigars and how long different sizes take to smoke which veteran smokers might struggle with, but again, it all comes straight from HSA. "I want a strong cigar that takes 40 minutes to smoke" seems like a common request a cigar retailer might get. Replying "well, this cigar, some people can smoke it in 30 minutes, others might take 90, HSA says it is full, but I would classify it as medium" is not really going to satisfy them.