Expert: James Yee - 5/20/2009

Question
Hi James.Hope you're having a good day.Can you tell me,I'm in the process of picking up a large quantity of Cubans to stock a 100 count new humidor of mine now that it has gone through the re-humidification stage.One of the Cigars I'll be purchasing will be one of my favorites being the Cohiba Siglo V1.Which leads me to my question.I've read in different blogs that if one can get their hands on the boxes of 10 in regards to this cigar that they are better than the 25 slb boxes?Is there a truth to this?Are the boxes of 10 boxed earlier or aged longer or something?I do know that to date,pretty much every box of 10 I've purchased is dated Feb06,in terms of the branded date on the back of the box.I've never to date ever purchased a box of 25 of them before.what's your take if you will...on this?If I am missing something on this issue,any advice or info would be greatly appreciated.Would this also apply to all boxed Cubans?Have a great day and thanks once again.Your advice in the recent past has been most helpfull.

Answer
Hi Bill,

No, there's no truth to this as there isn't any major difference between the different boxes of Siglo VIs.  When Siglo VIs are produced on a certain date, they're all produced from the same batch of tobacco.  A box of 25 SLB Siglo VI dated Feb 06 for example, will be the same cigars as a 10-count box of Siglo VIs also dated Feb 06. All the Siglo VIs are rolled at the same time and sent to the Escogedores (colour sorter) who sorts the Siglo VIs according to colour and bundles them.  Once the cigars are colour sorted, they're sent off for packaging.  Some are packaged into 25 count boxes, while others are packaged into smaller boxes such as 10 count or specialty boxes.

I've also heard people say that 10-count boxes of cigars are better than full boxes but I've also heard people say that 25-count boxes are better than the smaller count boxes.  It's really a matter of personal opinion (and speculation).  It is possible that a box of 10 Siglo VI dated Feb 06 will taste better than a box dated a more recently simply because of a longer age time.  Boxes produced at the same time however, should be fairly similar.  This applies to all Cuban cigars.

If there are differences between the cigars, it would be negligible.

Hopes this answers your question.  If you have any more questions, please feel free to just ask and I will be happy to help.

Regards,
James