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Tell me what sticks you used to love but can't stand anymore

After several years of developing my personal tastes, finding several new "favorites" along the way, I thought I found the holy grail of cigars in the My Father line. I thought there wasn't a better or more consistent cigar available.

I don't know if their quality/blending changed, but my opinion sure has. I think their consistently underwhelming annual "limited" release has turned me off a bit too. While I will still occasionally reach for a My Father, I think it's more sentimental than anything. These days I much prefer most medium CC's.
 
Noob response here and a legit honest question. Do Cigar blends really change that much from year to year? I realize tobacco is quite different and different leaves have different flavors. However , Lettuce is an agricultural product too. Every leaf of iceberg I've eaten or romaine I've eaten has the same general flavor.
 
Another noob here, but IMHO I think developing cigars are more akin to developing a wine. There's a lot more to wine than just grapes.
 
Not only do the blends change . . . sometimes the blenders change them! RP is notorious for substituting lower quality leaves when he can't get enough of something in the original blend of a successful cigar to make another batch. That's what happened to the Edge, by all accounts.

~Boar
 
jbfurdog said:
Noob response here and a legit honest question. Do Cigar blends really change that much from year to year? I realize tobacco is quite different and different leaves have different flavors. However , Lettuce is an agricultural product too. Every leaf of iceberg I've eaten or romaine I've eaten has the same general flavor.
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Grapes change from year to year, sugar content therefore ETOH content. So does Cigar tobacco. Lettuce, which is mostly water, is not a good comparison.

Doc
 
Not A Nice Person said:
Not only do the blends change . . . sometimes the blenders change them! RP is notorious for substituting lower quality leaves when he can't get enough of something in the original blend of a successful cigar to make another batch. That's what happened to the Edge, by all accounts.

~Boar
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My first thought when I read Doc's comment. Including the RP sentiment. My thought is yes, a lot of blends change a little, but some do better than others at maintaining the line's basic profile. I also feel that some blends are just plain reblended, either with lesser quality, or different, tobacco. I've seen it with the companies that incessantly release new blends, and to a degree, when someone is bought up by one of the deeper pocket concerns.
 
Devil Doc said:
Grapes change from year to year, sugar content therefore ETOH content. So does Cigar tobacco. Lettuce, which is mostly water, is not a good comparison.

Doc
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I also wonder how much the fermentation can vary. I would guess, depending on conditions and weather, it can sway things to some degree.
 
I'm pretty impressed that people can pick up those subtle (and maybe not so subtle) nuances enough to say that they liked one year and then not the next. It seems more likely to be a change in personal taste than the taste of the tobacco blend.
 
jbfurdog said:
I'm pretty impressed that people can pick up those subtle (and maybe not so subtle) nuances enough to say that they liked one year and then not the next. It seems more likely to be a change in personal taste than the taste of the tobacco blend.
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Depends. But, a Strawberry always tastes like a strawberry. Sometimes sweeter, sometimes more tart. A lot of the Palate changing stuff is way overdone, and I feel propagated by cigar reps who will not admit the blend is not what it used to be. You smoke a lot of a certain blend, like I do, and it is not always subtle, by any means.
 
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Make no mistake, there's also been a change in management at most of the older established cigar companies. I can't help but think that cheaper, lower quality tobacco is being used in most companies 'regular' lines, saving the good stuff for the 'limited production special' sticks.
 
A number of years ago one of my favorite cigars was the Padilla habano. I couldn't get enough. The company decided to re-blend. The new blend was less complex and imho declined significantly. I don't know why they made a change, but it isn't nearly as good as the original.
 
MadMonk said:
I also wonder how much the fermentation can vary. I would guess, depending on conditions and weather, it can sway things to some degree.
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Fermentation changes a lot from year to year, batch to batch. There are so many nutrients, esters and other compounds as well as yeast strains and strain mutations, age of yeast etc involved in fermentation that blending a wine to taste the same is a lot harder than making one that exhibits the unique characteristics of that vineyard for that specific time.
 
When I first started smoking I liked, wouldn't say loved, Cohiba red dot Dominican Toros, Acid Kuba Kuba Toros, Macanudo gold label.
 
I have none in that category. A few that are no longer preferable but none that I still wouldn't enjoy now. Just not as much. Mostly milder cigars like some Fuentes and GC type blends. They're just not what I would choose given a choice. Now there are cigars that used to actually be better that QC has fallen off, but that's a cigar of a different color. :)
 
Definitely the LP Unico Series....I keep some on hand for trade bait but I just don't get into them. Too one note.
 
Cigar Chris said:
A number of years ago one of my favorite cigars was the Padilla habano. I couldn't get enough. The company decided to re-blend. The new blend was less complex and imho declined significantly. I don't know why they made a change, but it isn't nearly as good as the original.
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Padilla is a whole other can of worms entirely. Ernesto seems to blow up his portfolio annually for a myriad of reasons. Relationships changing, tobacco availability, internet wholesalers diluting his brands... the only thing you can count on now out of Padilla is change.

The original Miami 8 & 11 Torpedo circa 2006 remains the best Pepin smoke I've had. Everything else, even 8 & 11s from 2007, has been disappointing.
 
mjolnir01 said:
Padilla is a whole other can of worms entirely. Ernesto seems to blow up his portfolio annually for a myriad of reasons. Relationships changing, tobacco availability, internet wholesalers diluting his brands... the only thing you can count on now out of Padilla is change.

The original Miami 8 & 11 Torpedo circa 2006 remains the best Pepin smoke I've had. Everything else, even 8 & 11s from 2007, has been disappointing.
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I don't even consider them the same cigars. I thought it was poor form to keep the same marca and change the blend after the split.
 
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