Some controversial points he makes...
He said he smoked over 50 cigars and felt they were all the same basic blend. They just roll cigars and later sort them by color not by blend as all blends are the same. All were under filled and over humidified. Factories were not clean.
"What about the Cuban “Master Blenders?” What about “not” the Master Blender but just the “regular” cigar blender? I looked everywhere for him… I asked. I met the farmers, the rollers, the folks that dry the tobacco in the barns, I met the tobacco sorters, the tasters and the people in packaging. I saw every part of production in the 6 days I spent in Cuba but I never met a blender… I never heard of one. Is it possible that there are no blends? Every single cigar brand is the same, using tobacco from any farm as long as tobacco used in the cigar has tobacco equally from all three priming’s. By doing so, every cigar will burn acceptable, have an acceptable aroma and some acceptable strength. I believe that is exactly what is happening."
"After the cigars are rolled they are color sorted by size and color. After a box full of matching size and color are together they are brought to the room where many brands are packaged at the same time. Banded, boxed and sealed. By the way, these finished cigars are not placed in aging rooms to rest for 9 months or even 9 minutes, they are ready, or so they say. The tobacco was bailed just 9 months ago and it’s on a cigar that is ready to be sold today. This is way too fast in my opinion."
"I smokes about 50 cigars in 6 days folks (don’t try this at home, I’m a professional). I smoked every brand I could find, different sizes and different colors, on different days and at different times. I took this journey very seriously. The cigars, and I am speaking for all of them, were young, meaning not aged long enough, they were under-filled, they were over humidified, too wet, I could hardly keep them lit and had to re-light over and over again. It was a disappointment because I was expecting much more. These were not the first Cuban cigars I’ve ever smoked and I’ve honestly never been a big fan but I did have some belief that they were better than I detected. I believed I was missing something, maybe they just weren’t up my alley but were great cigars for people who like that flavor. Today I don’t believe that at all. I don’t believe they are great or even very good, they are what was on my tasting notes in the factory which was “sufficiente” of “sufficient”…”regular” or “acceptable” at best."