Just a quick question:

Cigars like the Bolivar RC, RASS, etc., that have slight box presses, those are actually due simply to the fit in the box, correct? They weren't "molded" that way by the torcedores. Just wondering.

Thanks,
Jason

The squareness of some cigars results from the fact that the boxes are made just slightly smaller than the cigars, and as the cigars squeeze into the box, they fill the voids and spaces. Some cigars will yield more than others, so sometimes, when you look at a box where the cigars are pressed in, some will look fatter and others skinnier, but they all start out the same. The squareness of Cuban cigars comes from this process, and not like other 'square' cigars that are specifically made that way.

I think it's true box press. If ya buy Boliver PC's by the 50 count cab they are perfectly round instead of "box pressed"...JMO

In a 50 count masa Ya might get a couple bent ones where the ribbon was located & tied.

quote:

Originally posted by Jason Shaffer:
Just a quick question:

Cigars like the Bolivar RC, RASS, etc., that have slight box presses, those are actually due simply to the fit in the box, correct? They weren't "molded" that way by the torcedores. Just wondering.

Thanks,
Jason

You have it right, in Cuba they are always made round, spending time in dress boxes is what gives them box press. I know cigars from other places are sometimes made with exaggerated "box press" but that's a different thing.
Cigars in cabs are usually round but even then can show marks from the ribbon or being squeezed tightly to its neighbours.

RyJ, I must have missed your post when I wrote mine.

That was strange, I missed RyJ post also. It's like it showed up late.

I noticed that with RYJ's posts, they just show up and squeeze in between other posts.

Almost like he has admin control? Go figure?

quote:

Originally posted by Dos Huevos:
That was strange, I missed RyJ post also. It's like it showed up late.

You certainly have a vivid imagination.

and a real jones to bring up your name it seems.
The difference is in the process. May non-cuban manufacturers use what they call a square press, where the finished, round cigars are set into a press to make them completely squared off BEFORE boxing, the Padron Anniversary is an example of this. One thing about Cuban box pressed cigars, you always get that ONE above the cardboard spacer that is so flat it looks like it was run over. I save that cigar from each box into another box I save for posterity and aging. I love that cigar. Also relatively unknown is the cigar that often seems to wind up on the far right hand side of the top layer, which for some reason is a slightly different shade than the color matched box. This is done because no cigar is ever perfect, and after they stick 24 cigars in the box, sometimes it is clear that NO arrangement of the box is going to make the top row fit properly, so they slip in a ringer from the pile of skinny RG cigars. So for a 42 RG cigar, your top right one might be as narrow as 39-40 RG. It doesn't happen near every time, but a lot.

Those 1 or 2 cigars that seem to be skinnier start off EXACTLY the same as others...it's not the case that they take a skinnier cigar to fill in a smaller space. As I reference, the phenomenon results from one cigar yielding to the density of another beside it, and as a result, one appears fatter and one appears skinnier. But at the outset they're all the same. That the skinnier looking cigar seems to be, in the experience of some, on one side or another might be a result of how the cigars are "pressed".

Again, the boxes are slightly smaller. Second, they "load" the cigars left to right, so they might squish in the last couple of cigars. Third, they use a press to close the lid, and the pressure might not be evenly applied. Those are some of the reasons for the phenomenon. But the cigars all do start off the same. There is no ringer; there is no mystery; the color matching is done WAY before the pressing; so this relatively unknown factoid is merely a myth and a conclusion that you apparently have drawn to explain your experience.

Also consider that the arrangements of cigars are done on a large table...then the cigars are grouped, the grouping is maintained, the boxes are loaded according to that grouping. Then...the box, intact, is taken to another area where bands are affixed. There, the fixers of the anillos remove the cigars and maintain their order, affix the bands, and then replace the cigars that they banded in the EXACT same order. That is part of the quality control at this stage, and great care is taken to ensure that the order is maintained.

That you have the experience of a stray colored cigar is not something that is ordinary. Perhaps a vendor switched some cigars around, or filled a box from which they took a cigar or two. But it is not like that at all in Cuba or when the boxes leave Cuba. When the cigars are finally pressed into the boxes, AFTER they have been loaded, removed, banded, and reloaded, then there is some give and take on the part of the cigars in the box.