Cuban Cigars Seem Over-Rated

[Gavroche]

Hard question, what do you mean by "ripening like the cuban" ? Are you talking about the time you let the leaves on the plants (before harvesting) or are you talking about fermentation ?

Question difficile, qu'entends-tu par "mûrissement à la cubaine" ? Veux tu parler de la durée pendant laquelle les feuilles vont rester sur le pied (avant récolte) ou bien de la fermentation ?

I speak about the fermentation in heap when leaves are dry. It is necessary to check(control) the humidity, the temperature, to turn(return) piles it is a constant surveillance(supervision) t it is necessary to make him(it) at least twice..



Je parle de la fermentation en tas quand les feuilles sont sèches. il faut controler l’humidité, la température, retourner les piles... c'est une surveillance de tous les instants t il faut le faire au moins deux fois...

 

[deluxestogie]

Do you have tasting notes for any of these varieties?

Sorry. Although I collect extensive notes on planting, growing and curing, the only tasting notes that exist from my hand are sprinkled throughout my many years of grow logs, as well as comments on one-off cigars.

Among the varieties I mentioned, all of them are "Spanish" type leaf, with vaguely similar traits. The nuance expected in tasting notes for commercial cigars is based on large (multi-year) supplies of the blend ingredients, each of which has been carefully sorted for making a gazillion nearly identical cigars. Tasting notes for home-rolled cigars made from home-grown leaf would pretty much end up being on a per cigar basis, because of the variability in a small crop. The consistency of commercial cigars is a matter of scale and selectivity.

Even a single plant may have spectacular leaf along with some crummy ones. Just how a particular crop for a particular variety comes out entails a lot of variables, aside from the specific variety itself: the weather of the growing season, soil conditions, differences in fertilizer, seasonal pest pressures, specific anti-pest measures, timing of the harvest, method of harvest (primed vs. stalk-harvested), the weather during color-curing, how long it ages in the shed prior to kilning, how long it was kilned, and how long it was aged after kilning.

It's all a great adventure, but doesn't lend itself to producing subtle tasting notes--at least for me.

Bob

 

[Charly]

I speak about the fermentation in heap when leaves are dry. It is necessary to check(control) the humidity, the temperature, to turn(return) piles it is a constant surveillance(supervision) t it is necessary to make him(it) at least twice..

Je parle de la fermentation en tas quand les feuilles sont sèches. il faut controler l’humidité, la température, retourner les piles... c'est une surveillance de tous les instants t il faut le faire au moins deux fois...

Fermentation in "pilones" is just one method of fermentation, I think you can achieve the same kind of taste using another method (like kilning per example).

La fermentation en "pilones" (en feuilles entassées) n'est qu'une méthode de fermentation parmi d'autres, je pense que l'on peut arriver à obtenir des aromes similaires en utilisant une autre méthode (comme celle du kiln à 50°C par exemple).

 

[waikikigun]

I don't think they're overrated. In the last few years a few Nicaraguan-leaf-using brands have been producing equally as enjoyable tobacco, IMHO. I think "Is Cuban tobacco overrated" is also a good question, because anyone can construct a perfect cigar, but the bottom line is always the tobacco. Cuban tobacco seems to be, in general, incredibly good. After 25 years of daily cigar smoking I would say that I'd have more faith grabbing some random Cuban from the shelf than some random Dominican, Honduran, or Nicaraguan (or etc.), just because that Cuban leaf is generally great and hard to mess up.

Just as a side note, Cuban cigars can now be had by we North Americans (ordered from reliable shops in Switzerland or HK, for example) for around the same price as high-quality Central American sticks, depending on your state's taxes. E.g. $7-15 each, delivered.