Bundle cigars discussion and what are you smoking

[Ruffinogold]

We got handmade , machine made .... and now bundles , I reckon . I thought I made this thread before but I didn't see it . I probably just thought to write it and didnt

Often times I'd rather have a machine made with htl that smokes perfect than an off tasting bundle that may draw for beans

For our purposes , a bundle cigar is a cheaper cigar , not a premium that is sold in a bundle of 10 for 50 + dollars

Bundle cigars are often times cheaper than boxed .. or should be . There's a ton of them out there and they can be hit or miss , spotty or pretty damn good .
There's been a huge amount of bundles come about since I owned the shop years ago and I'm not familiar with many of them . Ironically , the bundle brands from back in my day are more like premium priced these days ... like La Unica and National Brand , for example . They were cheap and didn't cost squat ., they cost now but they all do anymore , thanks to the previous administrations schip tax/scam . Truth .. but I digress

National Brand was like a Baccarat cigar and were pretty popular at my shop . Don Jose were popular too , until the quality went to crapola. LA Primadora tasted like charcoal . None of these were too exciting for me
At the time ( mid 90's ) , the Jamacian Specials were very good and the Pride of Copan ... both of these were excellent bundle brands !

These days I'll try a bundle stick when at a b&m to find something decent . The Casa de Garcia is decent . I hated the blue label Olive bundle... way off flavors , imho . If you dig Mexican cigars , ugh , Matacan are ok .
JR has some interesting ones . One being the Mr. B Claro. It's a touch bitter like green wrappers are and I kinda dig them

Anyway , I think its tuff to beat a dutch master Palma but If you know of any d3cent bundle cigars ... pop them up here with a little run down

[Kevin Keith]

I'll be back with more on this topic tomorrow. I'm too tired to think too much!

[Surlywill]

Flor de Olive robusto is my go to. I have been buying them for years and are now on 5 year aged. With a little age they become a great medium bodied smoke. Also 5 Vegas series a on cbid is a good deal. I had so many cigars in storage that 3 years ago I stopped buying and just smoked what I had aged. One of the reasons I started smoking a pipe is because I was seeing the bottom of my cigar inventory. Now I’d rather smoke my pipe

[9 Iron]

Back in the 90’s I used to go into Tower Cigar in Sacramento and buy Fonseca 2nds that you could buy either in bundles of 20 or single sticks from a cardboard tray that sat on the counter. Those were fabulous.

[houtenziel]

I hated the blue label Olive bundle... way off flavors , imho .

Are you talking about Flor de Oliva? I thought they were pretty dang good myself. I thought the Maduros were excellent. However, I do not like the sweetened cap variety of the Flor.
I have had pretty good luck with various Nicaraguan and Honduran factory throwouts/2nds bundles. One thing I've found with pretty much any bundle I've bought is that they usually need a couple weeks in the humidor before they are even remotely smokeable.
I am admittedly a huge cigar snob though. I went through a bunch of MM stuff, and found pretty much nothing that I wanted to smoke more than one of(aside from Avanti). More than a few I pitched at about the halfway mark.
About as low as I go on cigars nowadays are the Tatuaje Series P - but you are looking at about 63 bucks for 20 robustos. I will gladly smoke pretty much anything coming out of the Don Pepin factory.

[Ruffinogold]

I hated the blue label Olive bundle... way off flavors , imho .

Are you talking about Flor de Oliva? I thought they were pretty dang good myself. I thought the Maduros were excellent. However, I do not like the sweetened cap variety of the Flor.
I have had pretty good luck with various Nicaraguan and Honduran factory throwouts/2nds bundles. One thing I've found with pretty much any bundle I've bought is that they usually need a couple weeks in the humidor before they are even remotely smokeable.
I am admittedly a huge cigar snob though. I went through a bunch of MM stuff, and found pretty much nothing that I wanted to smoke more than one of(aside from Avanti). More than a few I pitched at about the halfway mark.
About as low as I go on cigars nowadays are the Tatuaje Series P - but you are looking at about 63 bucks for 20 robustos. I will gladly smoke pretty much anything coming out of the Don Pepin factory.

The ones I tried had an ammonia thing going on

Back in the 90’s I used to go into Tower Cigar in Sacramento and buy Fonseca 2nds that you could buy either in bundles of 20 or single sticks from a cardboard tray that sat on the counter. Those were fabulous.

Oh man , those were good !!

[houtenziel]

The ones I tried had an ammonia thing going on

Ammonia in a cigar just indicates that they are young/fresh. Pretty common, and nothing that some time in a humidor can't solve.

[Ruffinogold]

Yes , that would help . I'm looking for right now good to go . I'll retry them , so ya know . I've heard people talk good of them and now you

[Chef Benny]

Rosa Cuba Vargas, and Special Jamaicans .. Both are my go to bundle smokes!

Great Topic!