From your 20/21 boxes......post the code of your top 3 standouts.

[gustavehenne]

RAT MAR 20 - SCDH La Fuerza

TUA ABR 21 - Partagas Lusitania

TUE FEB 21 - Punch Punch

All smoking superbly

[patrickamory]

For us neophytes, and forgive me if there is an obvious place to go, but what are the main factories that regularly produce the familiar marcas?

From this thread and elsewhere, in 2020-2021, I've gleaned:

MAR - El Laguito
RAT - La Corona
TUA - Partagas
GEM - H. Upmann
BSM - Donatien

But Partagas, for example, may be manufactured at factories other than the Partagas factory, correct? And El Laguito generally only makes the top-line Cohibas?

I'd love to be schooled on this... are there 12 factories total, for example? (I recall reading that somewhere.) Etcetera. Thanks for any info that can be provided.

 

Please to drop the knowledge... 🙌🙏

[saltbox]

1 hour ago, patrickamory said:

Please to drop the knowledge... 🙌🙏

CCW has a lot of info and is great reading. Check out the homepage and just start clicking links!

Some relevant quotes from https://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/cigar/production#Factories:

Quote

Historically, Cuban cigar factories only made a single brand or small group of brands depending on the factory ownership. This continued more-or-less unchanged until 1980, when Cubatabaco conducted a general overhaul of the industry, standardising many processes across factories and allowing all factories to manufacture any cigar from any brand.

Under this system, maintaining consistent blends and quality proved inefficient and difficult. In 2002, a new policy was implemented: all cigars can still be made at all factories, but now each brand has a "mother" factory that is responsible for the selection of tobacco and blend no matter where their cigars are rolled. The mother factory will generally handle the bulk of production for their brand.

La Corona is the mother factory of Hoyo de Monterrey, Punch, San Cristóbal de la Habana, La Flor de Cano, Cuaba, and Por Larrañaga.

In addition to the Partagás brand, the [Partagas] factory is the mother house of Bolivar, La Gloria Cubana, Ramón Allones and Quai D’Orsay.

[El Laguito] is the mother factory for the Cohiba brand, and is generally regarded as having a higher standard of rollers and quality control than other factories.

In addition to H. Upmann, the [H. Upmann] factory is the mother factory for the Montecristo and Diplomaticos brands.

[Francisco Donatien] was formally a domestic cigar factory, but was upgraded in the late-1990s to produce the Vegueros brand. It is also the mother factory of Trinidad (which was transferred there from El Laguito in the early 2000s) and the Vegas Robania brand.

In addition to Romeo y Julieta, [Romeo y Julieta] is the mother factory for El Rey del Mundo and Saint Luis Rey.

In addition to the factories named above, there are a few dozen other facilities in both Havana city and in the provinces around the island. These factories produce whatever cigars are needed, under the supervision of the mother factories. Primarily, this will consist of high-volume cigars like the Montecristo No.4, Partagás Serie D. No 4, and so on.

Most cigar factories have moved multiple times over the centuries of the tobacco industry, and there are many grand historic buildings that formerly house factories in Havana and across the island.

 

[patrickamory]

Thank you!

[Silverstix]

From my very limited sampling of 20/21 cigars:

SOP

BSM

OER

[FatPete]

RAT

GLE

MTS

[patrickamory]

So... anyone else want to contribute codes?

@Bijan are you going to do a spreadsheet? 😬😁

[Boxer31]

BBF TUA AGO 20

Trini coloniales GLE ENE 20

VR Famosos BSM FEB 20

 

[coug28]

I didn’t do any fancy spreadsheet…but from first glance, seems there’s a clear front runner of those who posted. 
 

 

[FireDigger]

Here's a rundown of the tally marks. I wonder if some are typos though? For example, GEL, GEM, GRM, GLE could easily been mistyped for each other.

RAT    15
TUA    11
BSM    11
SOU    9
MAR    5
TUE    4
LTO    3
OER    3
MTS    3
SOR    2
TLU    2
SOP    2
GLE    2
REG    1
GLU    1
AMP    1
TAO    1
EBO    1
GEL    1
GEM    1
GRM    1
 

[tjkoala]

MGL JUL 21 Partagas Serie P No 2

LTO JUN 21 Punch 8-9-8 Edición Regional Asia Pacifico 2018

RAT JUL 21 HdM Le Hoyo de Rio Seco

[FireDigger]

Mine are:

RAT (Diplo #2 ABR 20, PLPC MAY 20)

TUA (BBF dress JUN 21)

SOU (QdO50 10-box DIC 20)

[Bijan]

On 1/21/2022 at 4:05 AM, FireDigger said:

, GEL, GEM, GRM, GLE could easily been mistyped for each other.

I think they all exist. I have GEL, GEM and GLE boxes. I also remember GRM as a code.

 

On 1/21/2022 at 4:05 AM, FireDigger said:

Here's a rundown of the tally marks. I wonder if some are typos though? For example, GEL, GEM, GRM, GLE could easily been mistyped for each other.
...

I have a pretty random assortment of box codes. I didn't seek out anything other than maybe MAR. So here are my 20/21 box codes from that list vs that list, I have 17 out of the 21 listed.

RAT    15 (4)
TUA    11 (4)
BSM    11 (1)
SOU    9 (1)
MAR    5 (3)
TUE    4 (2)
LTO    3 (2)
OER    3 (4)
MTS    3 (3)
SOR    2 (3)
TLU    2 (1)
SOP    2 (3)
GLE    2 (1)
REG    1 (0, but this is an older code and I have 10 2018-2019 boxes of it, it's my most common code considering all years)
GLU    1 (0)
AMP    1 (1)
TAO    1 (0)
EBO    1 (2)
GEL    1 (2)
GEM    1 (2)
GRM    1 (0)

2020/2021 codes I have that haven't shown up:

      3 OMU
      2 UMR
      1 TLE
      1 RUP
      1 GOB
      1 GEN
      1 EBS
      1 BLT
      1 BEL
      1 ART

[NSXCIGAR]

1 hour ago, Bijan said:

1 RUP

 I have a ROP ABR 21 box of Monte 1. Haven't seen that one either. 

Smoking wonderfully as well. 

[GoodStix]

Now that there's been more experience with '21 codes, what are good Trini codes please?

[NSXCIGAR]

On 1/21/2022 at 5:08 PM, Bijan said:

GEL, GEM and GLE boxes. I also remember GRM as a code.

Yes, unusual to see such similar codes running concurrently, especially as two are major factories GLE = HU and GLE = Donatien. 

11 hours ago, GoodStix said:

Now that there's been more experience with '21 codes, what are good Trini codes please?

The vast majority of Trini is going to be GLE and BSM (the two Pinar factories). 

 

On 11/23/2021 at 1:52 PM, coug28 said:

I didn’t do any fancy spreadsheet…but from first glance, seems there’s a clear front runner of those who posted. 

RAT (La Corona) is always near the top. Been a reliable factory for years, and they roll everything there with staples like all San Cristobal, Cuaba and most PL and lots of Punch. 

I will generally always pick a La Corona code over an unknown provincial. 

[DaBoot]

I mean the top 4 factories should be at the top of the list, they are the ones pumping out the pure volume of cigars that we are buying. 

[GaryK 54]

SOU ‘21

TUA ‘21

GEM ‘20