Edicion Regional - Punch Superfinos

[upmann]

Dear Sirs,
I would like to introduce you a great small cigar. It's a new piece create for italian market only. It's shape is called minuto (just like Partagas Short) and 300 boxes (50's) are available. Since the first puff you understand tha main qualities of this smoke: round sweet taste, toasted aromas, good strengh. Yes I know It's young and hasn't the rich flavour of on old Havana: but we could smoke it between five/seven years. It was made with first quality raw material and it has great capacity to age.
Please try it and let me know.

[iammatt]

Upmann-

I have a soft spot for Partagas Shorts. Unfortunately, since I am unable to do my cigar shopping in a real store and must rely on trusted overseas vendors, I often forget to buy them and go without. Which other cigars in that size do you recommend. I tend to prefer smaller cigars as they work better with my schedule?

[alden]

Upmann

Thanks for the news. I am going to look for them right away. The Partagas Short is a great small cigar. The Punch is probably a great one as well. Punch is heady stuff so the 5-7 years aging seems right.

Have you seen any good boxes of Unicos in Italy recently? They used to come with rich, oily, maduro wrappers and for awhile now all the boxes I see have been very green.

Cheers

Michael

[iammatt]

Michael-

My experience has been the same with the entire Robaina brand. I think they really pushed it the first couple of years as a truly high range Havana, but now the wrappers do not seem to be nearly as good. I still have a half box left from the original Robaina release, and they are better than any I have seen since.

[upmann]

Upmann-

I have a soft spot for Partagas Shorts. Unfortunately, since I am unable to do my cigar shopping in a real store and must rely on trusted overseas vendors, I often forget to buy them and go without. Which other cigars in that size do you recommend. I tend to prefer smaller cigars as they work better with my schedule?

In this period I'm very fond of two little sweeties: San Cristobal de la Habana El Principe (minuto) and Hoyo de Monterrey Petit Robustos (short robusto).

[alden]

Upmann,

What are your thoughts on the Hoyo de Monterrey line? Its always been a favorite of mine.

[TVD]

An Hoyo Double Corona can be divine. I used to bus some cabinet selection ones at Davidoff in London.

[upmann]

Mr. Alden,
as you know in our cigar club we're tasting the Havana Classics: the greatest Havana of all the time still available. One of this kings is HdM Double Coronas. It's available in cabinet selection (50's) and in PB (25's). They are made with a different "ligada". This terrific cigar own an essential quality: you can smoke it young and the PB model after five years or so loose its fantastic aromas. I like very much this brand too.
Regards.

[alden]

Dear Upmann

What are your favorites amongst the torpedos, bellicosos, campana, piramides etc?

M Alden

[upmann]

Dear Mr. Alden,
as you know I'm omnivorous but in this answer I desire to advise you on the very best (for my taste).
An outstanding classic is Monte 2, let it in your humidor four years and ... realize how great it's.
Another plus is Upmann No.2: this strong cigar need seven/ eight years to become terrific.
I like very much Sancho Panza Belicosos: let it sleep four years and let me know (look for cabinet selection 50's).
A fantastic Havana is Romeo Y Julieta Pyramides. Very rare. Only for happy few.
Vegas Robaina Unicos and San Cristobal de la Habana La Punta: best buy new generation.
Bolivar Belicoso Finos (cabinet selection 50's); always in my humidor.

An EL of great hope is Cohiba Pyramides (I have four boxes in my humidor and I smoked two): but this is another story.
Regards.

[TVD]

I thought the Cohiba torpedo came out as a 2000 limited edition only. Has it now been included in the normal range?

By the way, what is your view of Trinidad robustos?

[upmann]

Dear Mr. TVD,
Cohiba Pyramides came out as a 2001 Edicion Limitada (EL) but (this is a preview) I know for sure that during this period in Havana, rollers are working on Cohiba Pyramides.
Right know I don't know whether they will be included in the normal range but I think they don't. I think they will come out as a specialty. The answer between 10 days when I'll see myself in Havana.

Trinidad. I would like to introduce this brand with the necessary attention it deserves.
Did you remember what happened when Habanos moved Trinidad factory from El Laguito to Pinar del Rio?
Well, three years later we are able to say Habanos did a great choice. Trinidad brand nowadays has a fantastic range of superior quality. The tobacco is first class, construction is perfect and the range larger.
The best in my opinion is Fundadadore (50's c.s.) but Robusto Extra is excellent. It's a fortune that people don't buy Trinidad: so we have always great cigars on our lips!
Regards.

[TVD]

Dear Upmann

That is good news indeed, I look forward to see some new Pyramides reach the market. They were one of my Cohiba favourites, together with the Esplendidos amd Sublimes (although the latter are somewhat large and I rarely smoke the whole cigar - but I adore the flavour and smoothness).

As far as Trinidad is concerned, the Robusto Extras are probaly the one cigar I smoke most often. I know little about the factory and production, but it is reliably one of the most pleasant cigars for me. Rather luckily, the manager of the Blue Bar in London shares my partiality for them, so I can indulge at a whim.

Best regards

Thomas Drastik

[upmann]

Dear Mr. Alden,
finally I saw what you're looking for: Vegas Robaina Unicos with smart oily maduro wrappers.
They were made in september 2004 in H. Upmann factory (one of my favourite) and cost € 272,50 per box (PB 25's). I saw three boxes.

In Italy my supplier is:
Tabaccheria Rizzi
Via Trento, 27
25128 Brescia
tel. +39 030 300627
tabaccheriarizzi@hotmail.com
You can contact Mr. Rizzi for details.

This is one of the best Tabaccheria (tobacconist)in Italy: you can find it in every serious cigar guide (i.e. Havanoscope). All the cigars here are stored in the best conditions.

Regards.

[Aristide]

Hello, gentlemen. This is my first post to LL. By way of brief introduction, I live in the States and have been smoking and enjoying cigars for almost 20 years. Over the last 5 years, I have been exposed to the joy of Cuban cigars. Although there are many excellent Dominican, Honduran and Nicaraguan cigars readily available here, 95 percent of my consumption is either a Punch-Punch or Partagas Short. Unfortunately, these are not legal in the States. Interestingly, under new laws, it is illegal for a US citizen to even smoke these outside of the US where they would otherwise be legal (which, putting it mildly, presents numerous enforcement issues). Nevertheless, one can readily find Habanos online and I have been fortunate to establish a good relationship with an online vendor in Hong Kong. I was in London on business early last month and again made the obligatory pilgrimage to Davidoff, JJ Fox and Dunhill, purchasing singles for daily consumption while there. Given my usual rate of consumption, the UK prices are prohibitive. Do any of the LL members order online from non-EU/UK sources? I would be more than happy to share my sources, if that is the case. My deliverd prices from online vendors are less than one-half of the price of my London purchses. To close, I just want to mention that I had two great evenings in the Library Bar at the Lanesborough Hotel in London. Scotch wiskey and cigars in grand surroundings...something beyond reach here, as smoking indoors (and increasingly, outdoors!) is illegal. Can't wait to go back.