The infamous "for sale" cigars.

[tksamtec]

Not getting into the cigar smoking realm until '04 or so, and not really knowing much about CCs until about 2 years ago, I was unaware of a big sale on cigars from the 98 to 01 era.  All of these sale cigars were Cuban sticks, and apprently, the story behind the sale is that a huge warehouse in Switzerland went several months without being properly maintained (no temp or humidity control).  Obvioulsy, some of the cigars in this warehouse took a hit.  These "damaged" or tainted cigars were sold at 60-70% off the typical market pricing at the time, so most boxes could be had for $50 or so.  Some of the problems were flavor related or the typical taste profile was way off.  The bigger problem was that some of these were so plugged and not smokeable due to draw problems.

The reason I took the time to compile the good/so-so/bad sticks list below, is because I have seen many people selling these suspect sticks here for 5x (or more) over what they paid for them.

My only personal experience with any of the cigars on the list has been SLRs from 99, 00, and 01.  The flavor profile seems to match and is consistent within these years, but alot of the sticks are very tight.  You can poke the the churchills, to save them, but alot of people don't like to do that here.

Here is the list based on a bunch of research and reading I have done at another site.  Some are based solely on opinions of others at other forums, but I am including them in the list as well.

I hope this helps a few people here in deciding on which aged CCs to buy or not to buy.

---GOOD---
QdO Corona (some tight), but 01 were the best
Punch RS12, Corona (98 only), Double Corona
Hoyo Du Rois, Du Depute, De Dieux (00, 01 good), Du Prince, Du Maire
RyJ Churchills (99 great)
Vegas Robaina Classicos (98+01 good, other years ?)
Vegueros Marevas, Seoanes
Partagas de Partagas No.1 (99 good)
Monte Especiales (99, 01), A's, #2s

---50/50---
Punch RS11's, Coronas (99-01)
VR Familiars
RG CE, PC, TPL
Hoyo du Dauphin
Partagas Churchill Deluxe
Vegueros Espy #1 & #2
Partagas de Partagas No.1 (00, 01)
Boli CE (some good, some bad)
RyJ Churchills (00, 01 so-so)
Partagas Lusitanias (some good some bad)

---BAD---
Punch Churchills
Hoyo Churchills (99-01),  De Dieux (99 bad)
SLR A's, Churchills, most other SLRs too
Partagas TPCs
Juan Lopez #1

If anyone has any further info to expand the list, please add to the thread.  Hopefully this will help some of you here out if you are trying to decide on whether to purchase any boxes from this era.  Chances are alot of the ones being sold on here, are these same "sale" cigars.

[FV593]

Great info.

Thank you for taking the time to do this.  :bigup:

[DAFU]

I purchased a few boxes from those years in the past; both sale and non-sale ones. Personally couldn't tell much difference, but with that being said I see my money being much better spent on '07 - current stock. I certainly wouldn't pay a premium for anything '99 - '01, but at the right price I suppose your analysis could be of some value.

[flipflarnix]

I'm surprised there aren't some Cohiba turdz on the bad list.

[tksamtec]

[quote author=canadianbeaver link=topic=10472.msg57698#msg57698 date=1313072979]
Last night we had the heartbreak of some Cohiba Maduros... So plugged we went to a third just to try and get some smoke out of it. But we were gifted some singles and do not have the dates on them. Here are some detailed photos. They came from a very reliable source and the vendor is replacing them, no problem. So maybe they just got caught in the food chain?

[IMG]http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w261/partytart/cohibamadurostory.jpg[/img]

But they sure sound like they fit the bill??

CB
[/quote]

I have not had any plugged Cohiba Maduro 5's as of yet.  I have smoked a couple Genios, 1 or 2 Magicos, and 5 or 6 Secretos.  Great smokes, and all from around late 2008.  Glad to hear the vendor is replacing them...

[tksamtec]

[quote author=canadianbeaver link=topic=10472.msg57701#msg57701 date=1313073984]
I am certainly not sure if this is from the same situation... those are old stock and this vendor is Havana House, a Canadian distributor, but only from learning about this did I even understand what the problem was. Thanks as always for the education.

CB
[/quote]
Not the same situation at all...  the sticks related to this thread are from 99-01 with a few 98s thrown in.  The Cohiba Maduro 5 stuff was produced from 2007 on... the Genios, Magicos, and Secretos lines have never been considered "sale" or deeply discounted cigars.  Unfortunate, those are great cigars when they draw properly.

[url=http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/brand.aspx?brand=Cohiba]http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/brand.aspx?brand=Cohiba[/url]

[Fuente Fan]

I have never had a plugged Cohiba since some lanceros in '00.