Diplomaticos No.2 BRM NOV 23 (FSRFEB25)

[TacoSauce]

With the first wam-ish day in what seems like forever, I looked forward to the opportunity to smoke something on the larger side. At first, I decided on a Partagas P2 Pyramides. However, after clipping that stick, I found it to be completely plugged. It was *solid* from top to bottom. I set this aside and went for a Diplomaticos No.2 (BRM NOV 23) as a fallback option. This was also a solid-feeling stick, but it had more give than the P2 so I proceeded. After cutting, the draw was tight -- but there was at least some airflow. After lighting, I could only get tiny wisps of smoke. I gave it an initial treatment with the PerfectDraw and the wrapper near the head immediately cracked in multiple places just from inserting the tool. PerfectDraw treatment had zero effect on draw improvement. By the time I got to the second half, there was no intact wrapper to restrict the leaves inside, and the stick had ballooned to a 60 ring gauge size. I could get a little more smoke through at this point. The main flavor note was ass.

Rating: -

[Habanoschris]

*ass isn't on my cigar tasting notes flavor wheel? 🤣

I'm not sure if this has any relevance at all but here in Northeast USA I have increased "construction" issues during these months were humidity & temps dip even though I try to adjust my humidors to compensate.

[TacoSauce]

8 hours ago, Habanoschris said:

*ass isn't on my cigar tasting notes flavor wheel? 🤣

There is a special flavor wheel for use with figurados coming from Cuba:

[TacoSauce]

Now that I think of it, I've tried a range of figurados from Cuba and only two of them (the BBF & the HdM Epi No.3) had reasonable construction. ALL of the rest were plugged even across multiple samplings. This whole range of sticks is on my shit-list for this reason:

• Montecristo No.2
• H.Upmann No.2
• Diplomaticos No.2
• Partagas P2
• Cuaba Distinguidos
• SCdlH Prado
• R&J Belicosos

Given that Cuba is always trying to stuff too much tobacco in each stick, I guess it makes sense that if they try to additionally restrict the ring gauge at the head, most of the sticks are going to end up uber-plugged. You pay extra for that too!  Based on this, it seems like a good strategy to save $$ and headaches is to stick to parejos.

Chance your CC is going to be plugged:

• Parejo: 60%
• Figurado: 90%

[Habanoschris]

7 hours ago, TacoSauce said:

There is a special flavor wheel for use with figurados coming from Cuba:

Beautiful 🔥

[SCgarman]

Totally insulting to the consumer to pay $600-800 usd for a box of these currently when construction is still utter sh*t. Great job upping the QC to keep up with these ridiculous prices. Not. 

[Bagman]

As much as I like to rip Cuba for the qc, your rate of failure clearly points more to storage conditions and smoking conditions. 60-90% failure rate, as you indicate, is not a Cuba qc reality.

[TacoSauce]

5 hours ago, Bagman said:

As much as I like to rip Cuba for the qc, your rate of failure clearly points more to storage conditions and smoking conditions. 60-90% failure rate, as you indicate, is not a Cuba qc reality.

You caught me. I exaggerated the rate. The real rates (for storage at 62%) are:

• Parejo: 60% restricted draw (20% completely plugged)
• Figurado: 90% completely plugged

[Bagman]

5 hours ago, TacoSauce said:

You caught me. I exaggerated the rate. The real rates (for storage at 62%) are:

• Parejo: 60% restricted draw (20% completely plugged)
• Figurado: 90% completely plugged

Yet I average 2 a box. So that is 8%. Again, you might want to review your situation. Why would anybody buy boxes when their personal situation leads to a 90% failure rate? 

[TacoSauce]

4 hours ago, Bagman said:

Yet I average 2 a box. So that is 8%. Again, you might want to review your situation. Why would anybody buy boxes when their personal situation leads to a 90% failure rate?

Indeed. I have reviewed my situation, and I no longer buy boxes of Cuban figurados.

[riderpride]

5 hours ago, TacoSauce said:

You caught me. I exaggerated the rate. The real rates (for storage at 62%) are:

• Parejo: 60% restricted draw (20% completely plugged)
• Figurado: 90% completely plugged

Pretty significant portion lol. What's your failure rate with NC/NW?

Cheers

[TacoSauce]

3 hours ago, riderpride said:

Pretty significant portion lol. What's your failure rate with NC/NW?

For NCs (stored side-by-side with CCs): <1% completely plugged (effectively zero) & ~2-4% with draw issues necessitating the PerfectDraw. There really is no comparison.

Of note, the NCs with the highest rate of draw issues are from brands like Fuente that make a big deal about rolling in the Cuban style ("Entubado"). 

[djrey]

Damn.That sucks.I have a box of Dips that have very tight draws. Luckily nothing this bad yet.

[TacoSauce]

2 hours ago, djrey said:

Damn.That sucks.I have a box of Dips that have very tight draws. Luckily nothing this bad yet.

Is your box code similar to mine (BRM NOV 23)? We might have sister boxes! 

[djrey]

Just now, TacoSauce said:

Is your box code similar to mine (BRM NOV 23)? We might have sister boxes! 

Haha, no. I cant recall exactly but I want to say mine is 2020.

[CaptainQuintero]

It might be worth dryboxing some to see if it changes anything, but even with that I've always struggled with anything other than a parejo from Cuba.

[MagicalBikeRide]

Shame @TacoSauce. I love these and wish I had more. I have the odd explosion / nightmare type stick you describe, but nowhere near the same frequency you note. Lots of variance built into the sample size all the same. Fingers crossed you have better luck in the future. 

[unaslob]

Yikes, that just won't do. I had a Sancho Panza Gran Quixote explode on me after several great sticks and was just beside myself. Similarly, try as I may, it was just unsmokable sad deal for a 65$ stick.

[TacoSauce]

11 hours ago, CaptainQuintero said:

It might be worth dryboxing some to see if it changes anything, but even with that I've always struggled with anything other than a parejo from Cuba.

I had a similar thought and so have recently setup a separate tupperdor for ready-to-smoke-in-the-near-future sticks. This box is kept around 56%, but I might go lower. Too early to see how this affects things. I'm not holding my breath that this will help tent-peg figurados, but maybe it will be useful for other sticks.

10 hours ago, MagicalBikeRide said:

Lots of variance built into the sample size all the same

You hit the nail on the head here. Having such an absolutely HUGE between-stick variance and a mean value that is centered around "too tight" allows seemingly impossible outcomes like "90% of my figurados are uber-plugged" to become statistically probable.

[SCgarman]

11 hours ago, CaptainQuintero said:

 It might be worth dryboxing some to see if it changes anything, but even with that I've always struggled with anything other than a parejo from Cuba. 

When they are simply bunched with too much (too moist) tobacco, you are S.O.L. even drying them out or using the Perfecdraw. I have a box of Sancho Belicosos 2020 box, and literally 50% have been either tight draws or completely plugged and unsmokable. The smokable sticks are off the charts fantastic. But a 50% fail rate at 2025 prices? I'm not throwing my money away. 

[TacoSauce]

9 hours ago, SCgarman said:

When they are simply bunched with too much (too moist) tobacco, you are S.O.L. even drying them out or using the Perfecdraw.

Yes, this is my experience across the range of figurados. They are packed so tightly that the cigar can't be "squished" -- most of the stick length is entirely incompressible. There is so much tension on the wrapper leaf, that the moment you insert even the tip of the PerfectDraw, everything explodes.

We always hear about leaf being scare in Cuba, however, if they just used an appropriate, smaller amount to begin with, I bet they would suddenly have enough extra leaf to increase production by 50%! 

[SCgarman]

1 minute ago, TacoSauce said:

Yes, this is my experience across the range of figurados. They are packed so tightly that the cigar can't be "squished" -- most of the stick length is entirely incompressible. There is so much tension on the wrapper leaf, that the moment you insert even the tip of the PerfectDraw, everything explodes.

We always hear about leaf being scare in Cuba, however, if they just used an appropriate, smaller amount to begin with, I bet they would suddenly have enough extra leaf to increase production by 50%! 

Hamlet says what causes this is the leaf is too moist. This allows the buncher to use more leaf and squeeze it together in the bunch because it has been wetted too much. Then when the bunch is rolled into the wrapper, you have an unsmokable tent peg that feels like petrified wood. And your $40 plugged cigar gets tossed in the trash, and you go grab a properly rolled Padron 1964!🤣

[TacoSauce]

6 minutes ago, SCgarman said:

Hamlet says what causes this is the leaf is too moist. This allows the buncher to use more leaf and squeeze it together in the bunch because it has been wetted too much. Then when the bunch is rolled into the wrapper, you have an unsmokable tent peg that feels like petrified wood.

Interesting! I didn't know that. I'm guessing that sometimes they mess up further, and instead of wetting the leaf with water, they use the pectin solution. Another great way to get a rock-solid stick. I have a 12-pack of MC Media Corona that lends credence to that idea. 

[BlueWS]

That's too bad. I just smoked a 2021 for the first time (never had a Diplomaticos No.2 before) and I had no issues. The cigar had nice transitions and developed into something I enjoyed in the final 3rd. The draw was fine, not lose and not too tight. I had to perfect draw the first Coro out of a 2023 box I had my wife buy me for my b'day. At least it burned perfectly.