The Half Ashed Cigar Forum

Are there any cigar manufacturers/lines for which you all have fallen *out* of love? For me, lately, it's Joya de Nicaragua. I used to love a huge number of their cigars, but lately I've been on a bad streak.

In the early days of the Joya Red I couldn't get enough; I ordered some that Stewmuse brought down for me, and they're terrible. Terrible. Goofed up construction, poor burn, milketoast flavor. They're just bad cigars, or at least this batch is.

The Dark Corojo were a top ten regular favorite for me over a period of years, yet now I find some of the same issues - generally poorer construction and off flavors. In fact, short of the Fuerte Series B bundle sticks, I can't think of a single JdN I'm enjoying right now. I might normally attribute it to palate drift or simple changes in preference, but I'm not sure that's the case here.

I think JdN is in a lull right now. Anybody else, or is this just another crazy notion I have?

Cohiba for me right now is just a "nope".
There are a few NC sticks that I have turned off from lately too, but I haven't had a big enough sampling of the individual cigars to say definitively.

Cigar F^iend

Buuuut, I have heard that there have been issues with others ordering cigars from Cbid. I know how good the Le Bijou's are, and was told how aweful the 5 pack were that a friend ordered from Cbid. That person has had problems like that before though. Possibly a storage issue...

Cigar F^iend

Good point, on the Joya Red. That's exactly where they came from. The Dark Corojo, though, seem to be more systemic from various tobacconists over the past 18 months. Still could be a storage thing, but I'd be doubtful because of the wide variety of places I've gotten them.

...sent by smoke signal from Cigar Country

Kip wrote:Good point, on the Joya Red. That's exactly where they came from. The Dark Corojo, though, seem to be more systemic from various tobacconists over the past 18 months. Still could be a storage thing, but I'd be doubtful because of the wide variety of places I've gotten them.

...sent by smoke signal from Cigar Country

Just posted on the "cigar of the day" topic. I feel the same way about EPC's stuff. I used to LOVE the Cardinal's, but now I shy away from them.

I still the OG New Wave's though. One of my favorite Conny's.


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A really interesting question. I can't quite think of anyone at the moment. I've never been a JdN fan, myself. To your point, I haven't smoked the Sobramesa yet but it came from JdN. Didn't we find someone else recently who had their stuff made there? A newb besides Farkas... Damn. It's illuding me. Anyways, I'm thinking out loud about whether they find better money doing private labels (can we call it that?) for other brand owners. They certainly have a long history of it. Is Melillo's stuff made there, too?

Melillo = Casa Fernandez (TABSA)

I believe Fratello (which I still like) and Bodega (are they still around??) are/were both made by JdN....although these are "secrets." JdN doesn't like to have their name attached to other cigars, so it's generally kept quiet when they're making other folks' stuff.

For me, Camacho has fallen out of favor. When I got back into cigars a few years ago the Camacho corojo and triple maduro were in my regular rotation. I would smoke a few of each of those a week. I tried a triple maduro last night and didn't even smoke the first inch.


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Kip wrote:Melillo = Casa Fernandez (TABSA)

I believe Fratello (which I still like) and Bodega (are they still around??) are/were both made by JdN....although these are "secrets." JdN doesn't like to have their name attached to other cigars, so it's generally kept quiet when they're making other folks' stuff.

Bodega was what I was thinking about. Thanks for that.

smokinsteve wrote:I tried a triple maduro last night and didn't even smoke the first inch.

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I just wiped my brow of sweat. Good!