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Last post 20 years ago by funjohnny19. 12 replies replies.
Vintages?
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TurboFC3S Offline
#1 Posted: Mon, Aug 18 2003, 9:09 AM EST
Joined: 05-06-2003
Posts: 131
How does one go searching out particular cigar vintages? And how do you find out which vintages are better than others? Now that my list of smokes I need to try is dwindling, I was thinking I could turn some attention toward searching out vintages.

How about sharing some info to get me started?

Thanks all,
Ryan
TurboFC3S Offline
#2 Posted: Tue, Aug 19 2003, 4:20 AM EST
Joined: 05-06-2003
Posts: 131
Is there an echo in here?
godfather1453406 Offline
#3 Posted: Tue, Aug 19 2003, 6:38 AM EST
Joined: 06-11-2003
Posts: 426
Well to me every vintage I had was a good one even though i haven't had that many. RyJ is good Fonseca is pretty good. Te amo is good.
TurboFC3S Offline
#4 Posted: Tue, Aug 19 2003, 7:05 AM EST
Joined: 05-06-2003
Posts: 131
For instance, I've heard here and there that the '94 Dominicans were very good. That's one example. Anybody know of others? And how do you go about shopping for a particular vintage?
Robby Offline
#5 Posted: Tue, Aug 19 2003, 7:12 AM EST
Joined: 10-30-2002
Posts: 5,067
I don't think it works like wine... There may be better years for some blends, but it's not necessarily marketed that way on a broad scale.
Robby Offline
#6 Posted: Tue, Aug 19 2003, 7:15 AM EST
Joined: 10-30-2002
Posts: 5,067
Main Entry: 1vin·tage
Pronunciation: 'vin-tij
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, alteration of vendage, from Middle French vendenge, from Latin vindemia grape-gathering, vintage, from vinum wine, grapes + demere to take off, from de- + emere to take -- more at WINE, REDEEM
Date: 15th century
1 a (1) : a season's yield of grapes or wine from a vineyard (2) : WINE; especially : a usually superior wine all or most of which comes from a single year b : a collection of contemporaneous and similar persons or things : CROP
2 : the act or time of harvesting grapes or making wine
3 a : a period of origin or manufacture (a piano of 1845 vintage) b : length of existence : AGE

While the term does imply other meanings, the primary meaning is grapes. Have you ever heard people talking about a vintage for Scotch for instance? It too is an alcoholic beverage, but you don't hear about vintage, only how long it's been aged... I think Cigars are similar.
TurboFC3S Offline
#7 Posted: Tue, Aug 19 2003, 11:34 AM EST
Joined: 05-06-2003
Posts: 131
Of course it works that way. The final flavor of the grown tobacco is very dependant on climate conditions for the months during growing. I think the biggest problem is that most cigars don't have a production date on them, so there's no way to know. But I've noticed differences in the same cigar from year to year.
cwilhelmi Offline
#8 Posted: Tue, Aug 19 2003, 4:31 PM EST
Joined: 07-24-2001
Posts: 2,739
Robby - If you go to Macallan's website they have vintage scotch...
Robby Offline
#9 Posted: Tue, Aug 19 2003, 4:59 PM EST
Joined: 10-30-2002
Posts: 5,067
I saw a bottle in the shop for 335 bux!! but it didn't say it was from a specific "year" just that it was aged for a specific number of years...
TurboFC3S Offline
#10 Posted: Wed, Aug 20 2003, 5:27 AM EST
Joined: 05-06-2003
Posts: 131
Scotch would be different. That's not going to vary year to year because it's not dependant on climate conditions. Wine and cigars are ...
Robby Offline
#11 Posted: Wed, Aug 20 2003, 5:30 AM EST
Joined: 10-30-2002
Posts: 5,067
I understand, it's just that very few cigars include information about the year they were grown. For some reason they're just not marketed like wine.
wer Offline
#12 Posted: Wed, Aug 20 2003, 6:56 AM EST
Joined: 02-13-2003
Posts: 1,633
Turbo, go for the box of Padron millennium (all vintage 1994 Nic tobacco). I'll take/buy one when you get the box :)
funjohnny19 Offline
#13 Posted: Thu, Aug 21 2003, 8:57 AM EST
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 74
I think wer hits it on the head with his comment about the Pardon Millenium. Very few cigars are touted as having all the tobacco from one single year. It would be hard to 'vintage' every cigar because in many situations, the wrapper may be from a different year than the filler, etc (like a vintage 1998 corojo wrapper - doesn't mean the filler is 98).

Wine is different. For example, a California wine with a vintage date must be made from at least 95 percent of grapes harvested in the designated year. I guess it helps the consumer know what they are getting (anyone who's ever seen a wine vintage chart knows what I'm talking about)

It's obvious that most domestic winemakers follow this standard because almost every bottle of wine I've ever seen has a vintage date on it. (thus the 'vintage' defintion and it's basis on wine/grapes)

But you guys are right - climate and conditions totally factor in to both products, and the 'vintage' is very important for both. I just think cigar makers don't use it as openly as wine makers.

Just my 2 pennies....

funjohnny
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