Cruising to foreign shores. What Cubans to consider?

sailingalien

I realize this puts me on the same level (according to some) as drug traffickers or illegal immigrants, but the wife and I are taking a cruise ship in the Caribbean this fall to Haiti, Jamaica and other ports of call. I really want to try some Cuban cigars to see if the hype if worth the worship. Our last trip to the Caribbean and my trial of Cuban cigars was less than ideal. The Cohiba's I bought weren't good for much more than kindling. If you had a chance to try some Cuban cigars and favored cigars like the Oliva V, Padilla Miami, or Rocky Patel Decade what cigar would you like to try or have other countries now equaled Cuba?

I spent some time on Cigar Afficiando and more of the highly rated cigars were at a stupid price of $20+ each. So I am a bit reluctant to listen to them or at least but them.

mfotis

I always recommend the montecristo #2 and the romeo y julietta tubo

sailingalien

The 1875 tubo's are in my humidor (non-Cubans) which are nice cigars. Are they similar?

mfotis

I dunno, i've never had those.

j0z3r

sailingalien:

The 1875 tubo's are in my humidor (non-Cubans) which are nice cigars. Are they similar?

Short answer: no, they're not at all similar.

As far as recommendations go, I'd recommend not buying a Monte #2, not because they are bad cigars, but because consistency is spotty at best due to the popularity of that particular cigar. If you want a good #2 (torpedo), I'd say go with H Upmann or Partagas. Bolivar is a solid line to look into, the petit coronas, corona extras, royal coronas, belicosos finos. H Upmann Magnum 46 are fantastic, the Mag 50 is pretty damn good too.

Russ55

One thing I would recommend, aside buying from a casa de los habanos, is if at all possible check box dates. When I was down in Cabo I didn't check dates, and some of the stuff I bought was pretty young, and it tainted the experience, and what I thought of ISOMs for quite a while. As I understand it, most ISOMs don't have much of a rest period before they are sent out. So something in a shop might have a bunch of time on it, or it may be fresh.