Okay, guys... Here's my dilemma...
Up until recently, I had not been much of an ISOM Cohiba fan. I finally got to try a Siglo II a while back and was not very impressed. I thought it was grossly overrated. Some BOTL's convinced me I must have done something wrong - I must have not humidified it correctly, maybe it was a bad cigar out of the batch (I believe it was Moki who said there was a GREAT variety of the quality of ISOM cigars - even in the same box). So, I was fortunate enough to try a Cohiba Robusto I was gifted. I immediately fell in love with the brand. It was one of the BEST smokes I'd ever had. That experience definitely changed my thinking about Cohiba's.
Because of that good experience I've been wanting to try other Cohiba's. I've hear about and been DYING to try a Cohiba Sublime EL ISOM. There's one in the pass. It is crazy expensive, and I think it will be nearly impossible to top that (price wise), let alone match it. I sometimes run into trouble with that in other passes I've been in. I've got some very nice ISOM's to trade out that did not cost the same as the Sublime, but are probably, in my mind at least, equally valuable in their scarcity. An example would be: I have a Diplomaticos #2 - that certainly wouldn't be nearly as valuable as the Sublime - unless maybe it was an '01 Diplimaticos #2. Does that sound fair? Or how does a Punch Monarcos in Tubos from '01 sound? I have no idea.... Kept in perfect conditions, both are INCREDIBLE smokes, and pretty scarce!
As far as domestics - in my mind, off the top of my head, an example would be what a fair trade was for a BTL? The cost of the stick, retail value, is not really bad - there are plenty of sticks in the range that would satisfy that. But it is scarce and very sought after. So - what is a fair trade for it?
In a previous pass I had someone question my wanting to replace a BTL with a Ashton VSG Enchantment. In my mind, it seemed to me like a fair trade - nearly equally scarce, nearly the same retail value, and a much better smoke in my opinion.
Obviously, if I can't trade for it, I can't trade for it. Brown Devil will be the recipient of a VERY nice smoke(I'm told), and that's not bad. I'm sure at some point in time I'll have the opportunity to either purchase it, receive it in a "bomb", work out a trade, etc., etc., etc. Or, I'll just continue to dream about maybe being able to try it... To be honest, other Newbs, I haven't been around this board that long and I've been able to try some incredible smokes thanks to the generosity of the other BOTL's. I'm convinced that if you have some patience, it will come your way - we tend to like to "share" our wealth.
Certainly the pass host has a say in the puts and takes, but so do the other participants who have a stake in it as well. And what I deem valuable (what I like) certainly is different than what others deem valuable. Some collect the cigars as prizes, others want cigars they can smoke forgetting about the collectors value (and I've heard PLENTY of discussion about disappointment over cigars that have a great collectors value and smoke like a rope! - ask Seizure in his "Blind Lead the Blind" pass).
This is a great learning opportunity for many of us. I'm sure I'm not the only one who ponders these questions whenever the pass reaches us and there are the VERY tempting sticks in there! Any advice from the FOG's would be GREATLY appreciated!!!
Seizure dropped me a PM this evening, and it looks like he will need to duck out of the pass ((((((((((crowd ahhh's)))))))))))
