Well, yesterday went to my local LCDH, since im still waiting for my friends dawghter to arrive from La Habana with my Salomones and Diademas.
And I see a box of Punch Black Price, I asked and they said it was being discontinued and had a 25% discount, i was amazed, but even more amazed when I asked her if she could open the box, and it was full of plume, decieded to take a look at the box code, and it was from 1993, SoI did not waste one second and bought the box.
Came home, and said what the heck Ill smoke one of these just to see how 12 years of age in a cigar taste like, well I was dissapointed, the draw was very mediocre, the cigar was overfilled, it went out several times, and even do the ash was white as snow, it did not burn evenly.
I thought maybe its the humidity, but once you clip the cigar, you can see its plugued, and overfilled, got very sad, since I thought anything under 1998 would be excelent, and now Imagine 1993, but no.
Today I had a breakfeast meeting and after eating, I had 5 of these that I was going to put on my desktop humidor in my office, and I thought Ill have another one of these Black Prince, maybe I got a dud in the box, since there sometimes is always one bad, well it was not as bad, but still overfilled, and its the draw, since what good is a 12 year old cigar, if you really can't taste the cigar itself, since you are to concentrated in getting what little draw you can get.
Will leave them at 67% RH for 1 month, and try another one, lets see if they at least open up.
Such is life.
"A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a Smoke." Rudyard Kipling.
Hey Roberto, A friend of mine has 2 boxes of the Punch Black prince, one from 96 and the other from 98. Believe it or not the box from 98 smokes and tastes better than the box from 96.
Bought a couple of singles of these in Polanco in December. Box code was the old version and I didn't write it down. Damn fine smokes. Tasted like a Cohiba-lite with a vanilla/white pepper flavor. Will definitely be included in my next box purchase as they seem to be generally available still.
The risk of kicking butt is you get some crap on your shoe
It's fairly easy to inspect a box, looking for very tight cigars. Just check the foot of the cigars. Having bought hundreds of boxes over the years, this method is about 95% accurate, for me. Sqeezing the cigar is the least accurate method, imho.
With that said, there is one store in Havana that often has some very old boxes. From my experience, there is usually something "wrong" with them. Inevitably, the cigars in those boxes are usually poorly rolled (no draw).
---------Why smoke good cigars when there are great cigars----------
Yes I also had the same problem with a SLR Churchill box wich was also with a 25% Discount and I did not ask to open the box, the cigars had a very pale wrapper, and were hard as sticks, the box code was from 2000, ive had them for over 1 year, and they are still as bad as when I first got them, I mostly give them to my father in law, wich has no idea about Habanos, and just likes to have a cigar with him the whole night.
"A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a Smoke." Rudyard Kipling.
Sorry to hear that... did you bought it in Polanco? They have some nice Punch Black Prince in San Angel (in singles now) with no draw problems (at least for the few I had)
No recomiendas entonces comprar las cajas de descuento que tienen?
Xavier
Posts: 664 | Location: Mexico City | Registered: March 11, 2004
Works for me for many years. The success rate, at least for me, is so high, that I consider this method infallible.
Rarely does a cigar, with tobacco properly bunched, have an impossible draw.
sq.... look for air channels, in the tobacco, at the foot. If it looks like a solid mass of tobacco, it will not draw. With more experience, you will get better at judging the cigars.
Every cigar you smoke, first look at the foot... that way you can accumulate some experience and be able to relate the draw to the appearance.
---------Why smoke good cigars when there are great cigars----------
Roberto, i have a couple boxes of Punch Black Prince from 2002- allegedly the last year of production. They are delicious- I like them better than Punch Punch- and so far no draw problems at all.
Originally posted by Bass Man: Roberto, i have a couple boxes of Punch Black Prince from 2002- allegedly the last year of production. They are delicious- I like them better than Punch Punch- and so far no draw problems at all.
they are still making them.. I bought a box in Havana a few weeks ago with a 04 date on it...
Posts: 26 | Location: Canada | Registered: February 23, 2003
It makes you wonder if the LCDH knew they were plugged. I bought a box of 98 SLR Churchills last year. Every cigar in the box was plugged. I bought a draw poker just to smoke these. The flavors were incredible, but the draw ruined the experience. I just bought a box from 01 that are perfect.
