Expert: Bill Finck Jr. - 4/7/2011

Question
I just received a box of El Rey Del Mundo cigars that I ordered on line. They are in a wooden box wrapped in plastic.  The date on the bottom of the box is 25-Oct-2009, almost 1.5 years ago. Can these still be considered fresh or should I return them?
Thanks.

Answer
Gene,

We sell the El Rey del Mundo brand, and after reading your email I went and looked at our inventory, because I've never noticed a date on the bottom of the box before. Sure enough, every box is dated, some as old as 2008. We turn these cigars over quick and are frequently sold out of them, so there's no chance we've had any of these cigars in our humidor more than a couple of months. We buy them directly from the distributor who owns the brand, and I know he moves thousands of boxes a month, so again there's no way he has older cigars. I'm not sure what the date means, but I'm sure it is not a manufacture date for the cigars. I'll ask my contact there and will let you know if he has an explanation, but in the mean time I'd say go ahead and open them and enjoy them. If for some reason they are not fresh, you should send them back to wherever you bought them, but I think they're going to be fine.

Hope this helps.
Bill