There are many factors that could play into this. Delta touched on this a little the other night. Curious if anyone else has noticed this.

For all you comedians, I know, internet cigars, smoke better stuff etc. but I have noticed this across the board with most brands.

Lefty

So... Does that make me a FOG???

I must know.

Even with the best of cigars, there is always a possibility of a cigar having a difficult draw. With a plugged cigar, it is possibly the roller's issue, packing too tightly or inconsistently, or using ends/stems that should have been removed prior to rolling. There is no third-party real quality control measure to employ short of snipping off the end and lighting one up. The better quality and aged cigars usually smoke better, but no absolute guarantees.

After all - they are still hand made products by people like us - imperfect humans.If you want a perfect draw each and every time, go back to a machine rolled and pre-punched model.

I agree with what has been said. I think the quality of cigars is the best it's ever been across the board. The smaller companies (ie.Kristoff, Tat, AB, Illusione) are really insisting on it from their manufacturers and I think that's keeping the standards up. Even the bigger companies have looked at the landscape and are righting the course of their ships. Like madspackler said, in the '90's they could get away with lowering the quality because the demand was so high and the supplies were so low. General Cigars, imo, has in the past put quantity over quality during the booms but they seem to be avoiding that during this boom. Back in 1993,4,5 they threw quality to the wind, again imo, and went full-bore to meet the demand.

In 1990, prior to the first boom, Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey, and Partagás (all General Cigars) ruled the day and were truly amazing smokes. I don't know if I'm just nostalgic about those days or what, but I don't think any of those brands have ever been as good as they were back then. At that time we couldn't get much more than those three plus Cohiba, AF and Macanudo. Romeo and Juliet blew our minds when we could finally get a hold of them. We all fried a gasket the first La Gloria we had, it was an amazing smoke and there was a tremendous amount of excitement around that cigar in particular. Except for the La Gloria, I don’t think any of those early cigars are what they used to be.

I love all of the boutiques out these days… they are putting out some great blends with a lot of attention to the quality of construction. I agree with you lefty,when some of the smaller guys get bought up by the big guys, the quality has noticeably gone down… CAO is an example of that imo and it’s sad.

Your a fog and I've started grooming you for the way of the mooch. So anything is possible my creaky jointed friend.

These days, I just pick the cigars I enjoy, and quality hasn't changed much. Occasionally, you pick one with a hard draw, or the band glued to the wrapper, but that is just tough luck, as I find it happens with all brands.

Just because someone has been smoking cigars a long time doesnt mean that they can get advice from this forum. I to was haveing these types of issues. I asked OP because i lowered my Humidity level to 65-67 from 70-72 and all my smoking issues have dissapeared. I havent had to relight, touch-up. no canoeing, no tunneling since Ive made this change. I also rest my new smokes a minimum of 6 weeks before lighting them up. My smokes are smoking perfect and have been for hte past 5 months. I did recently have a humidity spike but that doenst have anything to do with the original question. There is never any harm to ask and listen, listen and learn from others, this is what makes this place so fun.

Jp

Camp, I served with FOG, I knew FOG. FOG was a friend of mine. Camp, you're no FOG.

But... but... everywhere online says to keep it at 70!? 🤔

Sorry, but CAO was sliding down Idontgiveafuck Mountain a L-O-N-G time before they were bought out.

If anything it might've enabled some cigar n00bs to their brand, but the damage was already done.

I'd NEVER buy another box of their stuff much less a single cigar they make. The quality slid that far down.

Where's their rep that logged on here last year? That was a funny thread...wanted feedback and when it was all negative never came back!

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