Wow! I didn't know so much work and time went into a cigar. Now I see why they're priced the way they are.

Thanks!

Living in FL I can swing on down to "Ybor City" (Orlando's version of South Street) where there are bars with old Cuban guys in the corner that hand roll the bar's cigar stock right there in front of you.

A good cigar is no different then a good wine - the raw mats have to be aged for at least a year, it takes an expert to make it and once it's rolled/bottled that's about as good as it gets.

Funny cigar story - my buddy Herb is a Civil War buff and he scored a Confederate trunk from an estate auction. Upon rummaging through it he discovered a CW era cigar box and though "kewl, just found CS' b-day present!" He picked it up and heard stuff moving around inside and upon opening it, discovered a handful of cigars. Unable to believe his luck he hit up some experts and had it confirmed - 150 year old cigars.

Of course I had to smoke one so I devoted a humidor to carefully reconstituting one over the course of about two weeks and once it was restored to as good a shape as it could get, I settled back and fired the sucker up.

Turns out the 150 year old cigar hadn't been aged long enough!

Apparently the the Northern troops were coming and the tobacco couldn't be moved so the locals must have said to hell with it and just rolled the suckers prematurely.

My own bit of cigar fact/snobbery