Boveda are those brown 2-way humidity packs you put in a humidor to preserve cigars. When you own a humidor, you need to make sure the cigars inside stay well-humidified or they can be hard to light, burn to too fast or get moldy. With Boveda in your humidor, you'll get better flavor from a cigar. Boveda has been keeping cigars tasting great for more than 25 years.

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00:00 Cold open

04:04 See the 4 test cigars side-by-side

05:15 How to tell a cheaper cigar from a more expensive stick

07:45 Rating cigars, the smell test

08:55 Rating cigars by how they look

10:40 Rating #1 Cigar

10:46 What to look for when you cut a cigar

12:26 Are cigars overpriced?

14:57 Rating #2 Cigar

19:39 Rating #3 Cigar

21:59 How to get cigar taste out of your mouth

27:09 Rating #4 Cigar

31:35 Do more expensive cigars stay lit longer?

32:37 How do you smoke a cigar to taste the most flavors?

46:10 Nate and Rob guess cigar prices

48:08 BIG CIGAR REVEAL—cigar prices and cigar brands

- This is a great cigar.

Have no idea what it is.

Heck, I don't even know what price it is yet.

- I don't either.

- But I'm-

- But if this is the $4.20 cigar.

- Ah, we're screwed.

- [Nate] Yeah, we're screwed.

- We're so screwed.

- Because this is delicious.

- [Rob] There's a story inside every smoke shop

with every cigar, and with every person.

Come be a part of the cigar lifestyle at Boveda.

This is Box Press.

(upbeat music)

Welcome to another episode of Box Press.

I am your host, Rob Gagner.

- And I'm your other host, Nate Beck.

- This was something we thought of for quite a while.

- [Nate] Yeah.

- And we had a hard time figuring out

how to do it for a live,

so that's why we're pre-recording this.

And, overall,

I'm like actually most excited about this one.

More than anything.

- When you came upstairs with this idea

and I went, "I'd totally forgotten about it."

- Right.

- I'm very excited about this,

because when we put this together,

with this idea,

I'm super excited to see if I can actually

accomplish what we're gonna do.

- Oh, yeah.

- Like, if I can hit it,

you know, you want to get the overachiever status.

- Oh, yeah.

No, and then, you're competitive like that too.

- But I'm mostly super curious

on how this is gonna play out.

- [Rob] Oh, absolutely. - Super curious.

- Absolutely, well, if you guys are listening, obviously,

thank you so much for listening on any podcast platform.

We're on Spotify, Apple, you know, all of them.

Podbean, we're everywhere.

So, if you're there, please like,

like and subscribe.

I definitely don't say that enough,

that's why I choked on saying it.

But I'm getting feedback

that there's not enough likes and subscriptions

for us to kind of get some pathway.

Because, let's face it, they're trying to restrict us

all the time with our content,

because we are quote, unquote,

"associated with," you know, "a product that is regulated."

So, let's get in there.

Go ahead and like and subscribe.

We want to, you know, we're doing these every Friday.

Whether it's gonna be a Box Press interview

with a famous cigar maker.

Or whether it's gonna be Nate and I

just throwing out some "rando" stuff, like this.

- Having some fun.

- Yeah, so we're gonna have some fun.

If you are listening to us, and you want to see this,

you can go over to YouTube.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, it's Boveda Inc.

You can see the whole thing.

We're gonna have it all here.

We should explain what the heck we're doing right now.

- Yes.

- So, I was thinking, I'm like,

can you taste quality in a cigar?

- Hmm.

- You know,

what makes a difference between a $35 cigar

and a $5 cigar?

- Right.

- What, like, could,

if I gave those to you, could you even tell?

- I'd like to think so.

- [Rob] Yeah.

And with that big of a difference, you,

like, let's go, like, I would take that challenge.

I'd put $10 down and be like,

I bet you I can tell which one's five bucks

and which one's $35.

- I think so too.

And I think it'd be a much harder

difference if you were talking about

a $5, a $10, a $15, just like doing smaller increments.

That might be trickier.

- That's what we're going to do as well.

- But we are doing that.

- I'm glad you said that because

we actually have the prices of these cigars right here.

Now, go ahead and show the camera that.

So it's, basically, five, ten, 20, and 35.

I mean,

this is gonna be hard. - It is.

- So, my expectation for this

is to figure out, it,

here will be my success.

I'm gonna set up my success.

I get the $5 stick and I get the $35 stick.

- Sure. - In the right spot.

- Sure.

- The middle- - I'm with you on that.

- I'm kind of like, whatever. - Yeah.

- But if I totally go with a

$5 stick in the top two,

I am going to erupt with like,

"What the heck is going on?"

- Because

what we have

inside this envelope.

- [Rob] Is the list. - [Nate] Is the list.

- And show them the cigars,

because we went to our local retailer and said,

"Please do this for us."

- As always, we've got Boveda in here.

We went to our local retailer, Tobacco Grove.

- He unbanded everything.

- He unbanded everything.

We have four cigars for each of us.

- Yep. - We have Cigar #1.

Number one.

All right?

- [Rob] Yeah, show them out, and then,

the other thing that I said was,

Connecticut, it had to be like all the same wrapper.

- Cigar #2.

- [Rob] All the same size.

- [Nate] Right now we've got,

strikingly different sizes, but very similar bands.

- Like, ring gauge, I wanted like

ring gauge to be about the same.

I want, you know-

- #3.

- As much of it as consistent as possible.

- So we've got, I'll see if I can hold these here.

We've got these three so far.

And then, we've got #4.

- [Rob] I mean-

- [Nate] Try to get my fat fingers out of there.

- [Rob] Nate, at first, I thought for sure, I was like,

"You know, we're gonna have to do this blindfolded."

And I actually went on Amazon,

and got like, blindfolds, and I was like,

"We're gonna do this blindfolded."

And then I was like, you know what?

After like,

talking to Rick and being like,

"Could you, can you really tell?"

He's like, "No dude, you're gonna be fine."

I don't know.

- I'm even looking at the foot of each cigar.

- [Rob] It's, yeah.

- You know, Because sometimes a cheap cigar, you can tell.

- Right.

- It's not gonna be as-

- Doesn't have a nice spiral.

- Yeah, it's not as tight.

Like, right now,

I'm looking at Cigar #4

and comparing it to Cigar #1.

They both feel

very well constructed.

Smooth.

#4 is a smoother wrapper.

- Dude.

- #1 has

far more noticeable veins.

- We're not here trying to deconstruct a flavor.

What we're trying to determine is,

with a quality cigar, we know, you gotta probably have,

you gotta distinguish between

the construction. - [Nate] Yep.

- The burn,

possibly, like how well does it burn?

But then, more importantly, young tobacco,

and particularly tobacco that has too much ammonia in it.

- So, under-fermented tobacco?

- Yeah. - [Nate] Yeah.

- Is gonna be harsh. - Yes.

- It's harsh, hits you in the back throat.

It doesn't have the complexity in flavor.

It doesn't have the depth.

- Yep.

- In complexity, as far as like,

the nuanced flavors that you're gonna get.

It could be more monotone.

- Sure.

- Like, maybe, you just get like a,

you know, it's consistently the same flavor.

- Maybe it has a, you know, an under fermented tobacco

might often have like,

kind of musty, green, grassy flavors.

- Sure.

- It might just be nutty,

or it might just be slightly sweet.

It generally tends to be

less complex

than cigars that are

more expensive.

- Right.

So, we gotta get into this,

and we're gonna use our Boveda cutter.

We actually have these up now on the website.

The Boveda Double Guillotine Cutter.

It's got a Boveda "B" etched in the blade,

as well as the Boveda logo.

If you want these, you can head over to our website.

If you put one in your cart, it's $10.

If you put three in your cart, it's $25.

So, a little bit of a price break there.

- Yep.

- Let's get into it.

Let's just start with #1.

What we're probably gonna do is,

you're probably gonna see us, pretty much,

get these lit, but then we need to get

at least a half inch to these

to get the oils warmed up.

To get everything going.

We are definitely not gonna be critiquing these

on the first few puffs.

- No.

- You, sometimes you can tell quality,

but we really want to get into them.

- So, first cigar, what do you think,

Rob, before you cut it, what do you?

- Yeah, I mean we can definitely do that, right?

- [Nate] What do you smell?

- Oh, shoot.

- [Nate] Smells like a cigar. - Oh, you know what I smell?

Tobacco.

(both laughing)

I smell tobacco.

- It smells like tobacco.

- You know what two, three, and four smell like?

Tobacco. - [Nate] Tobacco.

- None of these smell different to me.

You know, the only cigar- - Oh, that ones a little less-

Less aroma in number two.

- Oh, this, three was a little bit different.

- [Nate] Ooh, sweet's got some,

three has some sweetness in there.

- Yeah.

Four, I can't tell anything.

The only time

I can really tell is with a brand.

I'm not gonna name names, because I don't wanna do that.

And, maybe, it's a good thing.

- [Nate] Some hay, I get like grassy,

you know, like dried hay?

- But it's the musty smell.

And there's a particular brand that I always am like,

"Okay, I can tell when I smell the foot

that I probably have that brand."

- Do we have- - I don't have that.

- Like, #1, I don't really get

a whole lot of oiliness to it.

We're gonna go full, halfwheel here.

- Now, if I'm looking at these,

#2 and #4 look more matte.

And #1 and #3 look more oily.

- And #3, I think, to me, is the oiliest of all of them.

Like, it's got the most sheen, at least in my cigar.

- Sure.

- You know, and Connecticuts don't often have-

- [Rob] Look at #1 and #3.

- But see, like, that could be just a difference in cigars.

You know, in each one-

- They're looking pretty, look at my #1

look at my one compared to your one.

Your #1 is like super veiny. - Yep.

- Mine's not. - Same cigar.

- So, this is what I'm saying like-

- [Nate] Mine is on this side.

Rob's is this side, same cigar.

You can see a really prominent,

I'm gonna guess,

vein or a stem on the inside.

- Vein, stem is down the middle.

- Right, but I'm guessing this might be a stem

that's in there, Because there are stems inside cigars.

- Oh, yeah, I don't know. - You know what I mean?

It's possible, but this has definitely

more noticeable veining.

Yeah, and this one,

you can kind of feel is on the inside.

Rob's is pretty consistent.

Maybe there's one

noticeable vein here, but,

same cigar.

I'm assuming same box.

- Yeah, exactly.

- This one's yours. - Yeah, I mean-

- All right, we're gonna cut that one.

- And the cap on this is really good,

but the cap is good on all of these, pretty much,

except for, I mean, my #4 cap is a little bit more-

- And my #3 is perfect.

It's, all of them have-

- Yeah, my #3 is amazing. - The wrapper with the applied

circle cap on the top.

So none of these have that, you know,

traditional Cuban style where the cap is,

you know, three seams and it's all one piece.

- Is this your #4?

- This is my #4.

- That cap is horrible, it like chipped.

- Yep.

- [Rob] All right.

- So, it's interesting.

- It might, that might have given it away, though.

- I don't know, we'll see.

- It could be your bottom, your $5 stick.

- Could be.

I sometimes will notice on higher quality,

more expensive cigars,

that when you make that cut across the top,

it's just like glass.

You know, it's well packed.

You don't get a lot of stems.

I always like to tap mine

a little bit on something to get the,

the gunk out, the extra bits.

Should I cold draw?

- Oh, yeah.

I always forget to do that because, you wanna know why?

It doesn't matter if I cold draw or not.

I can't taste a difference.

- So this ones a nice cold draw.

- Is it?

I'm gonna do that on the next ones, but-

- Like a lot of cigars,

there's actually like some sweetness to the tobacco

on my lips.

Like raisin.

- [Rob] Hmm.

It's smooth on the first light.

- I'm a little nervous.

- Nervous?

- Not in a bad way, but-

- Want me to show you how to smoke a cigar?

- Oh, shut, you shut your mouth.

- "I'm nervous, I don't know what I'm doing."

- Like, nervous excited.

- Yeah, like you're-

- Like when you're about to get on like a crazy

amusement park ride that's gonna drop you 300 feet,

you're like, "Let's do this."

But then you get up there, and you're like,

"Oh, my goodness."

- Yeah.

I don't know, man, I just don't-

How are you-

How are you gonna be able to tell

the middle ones?

#2, #3.

#2 and #3

are gonna be the hardest, I would think.

- I think so too.

- At some point,

the cigar is just too,

like, it's overpriced.

Because my point

that I feel like I'm getting to is like,

around $10 to $15 a cigar.

It's like, okay, after that, do you really know?

Do you really know?

How unique is it going to be?

And, maybe, that's the key.

Like, okay, when we did the Davidoff $500 cigar,

that was totally unique flavors.

I've never tasted anything like that.

The amount of different flavors that were coming at me.

So, yes.

- I will say, most

cigar review sites

will break up a cigar into thirds.

Right?

First third, second third, third third.

You know, as the cigar heats up,

as those oils and sugars concentrate towards the end,

you do get some difference in flavors.

I don't notice that as heavily as some other,

you know, review sites.

But some cigars, right out of the gate,

you know, can kind of hit you with some really off flavors.

And, you know, so far in this one,

we'll have to see how the other three smoke.

I'm not getting

a lot of off flavor.

- This is great. - [Nate] It tastes great.

- This is a great cigar.

Have no idea what it is.

Heck, I don't even know what price it is yet.

- I don't either.

But if this is the $4.20 cigar.

- Ah, we're screwed.

- [Nate] Yeah, we're screwed.

- We're so screwed.

- Because this is delicious

so far.

- Is it better to like,

smoke this one for a little bit

and then get the next one lit?

I hate relighting sticks, cigars.

I hate relighting. - I kind of do too.

- But how are you gonna be able to tell like-

I wanna be able to be like,

"Okay, I think this one's #3 and #4

but I don't know which-"

- I mean, palate fatigue

is a phrase that gets tossed around in tasting anything.

It happens when you smell too many bottles of cologne

or perfume at the fragrance counter.

- Yep.

- I feel, personally, pretty confident that I can smoke

these four cigars concurrently and taste differences.

- Great.

- I know we could when we did-

- [Rob] The blind.

- What, five cigars?

That we did with the Cigar University

from Luxury Cigar Club.

Wasn't it five cigars?

- Where we were talking about how

wrapper affects the flavor of the cigar.

- They were dramatically different.

- They were.

- Now, it might be more of a challenge

where they're all Connecticuts.

But I don't think so.

- Well, and I didn't- - Let's see.

- I don't know, we'll find out.

I'm going in on #2.

- All right, #1, here.

- #2's got a nice cap.

- Yeah, mine is really nice on this one.

Solid, construction is really good.

All of these seem really well constructed.

- Yeah.

I'm not-

- [Nate] All right.

Tap here a little bit.

- We'll have to do an ASMR of

cutting and smoking a cigar

for social.

(whispering) - We'll talk, just like this.

- Hey, you know what?

(whispering) - Get the whispering, yeah.

- Now I just found a reason to expense an S.T. Dupont.

Bing!

(both laughing)

"Rob, what's this $1,000 lighter charge?"

"Oh, that was for the ASMR video that we did."

- "The what?"

This one's got sort of a, like right out of the gate,

like a

herbal, almost kind of

fresh mint little note in the background.

- I'm not getting a good flavor.

- What are you tasting, something off?

- Yeah. - [Nate] Sour?

- No, more like stale marshmallow.

- Oh, I can see that, I get that creaminess.

That's a good descriptor, stale marshmallow.

Because stale marshmallows

taste different than fresh marshmallows.

- Do they?

(Nate mumbling)

- [Rob] Anyone got any marshmallows I can try?

- Considering I just had a cigar jammed in my mouth,

I said stale marshmallows

taste different than fresh marshmallows.

- Yeah.

- Like fresh ones are, like lots of vanilla.

- Yeah. - Creamy.

And the stale ones, it's muted.

- It's like the oxygen has oxidated the marshmallow.

- It's for sure that marshmallow quality,

that like, vanilla creaminess.

- Maybe I am a good taste tester.

- [Nate] Ooh.

- This one's got some more pepper on the retrohale.

- Yeah.

- That first one didn't.

- The retrohale's nice.

- It is. - [Rob] I actually like it.

I think maybe it was just like the first light.

I had a hard time lighting it anyway,

so it might've been kind of smoldering.

- You hit the nail on the head with that marshmallow.

For sure.

- Nice.

- Absolutely.

- I gotta go back to #1 now.

This is gonna be so hard.

- So far, I like this one better.

- Flavor wise or quality-wise?

- Flavor-wise.

- Flavor-wise, see, now,

that's the problem that I have with that.

You know, you really have to think hard of like-

- [Nate] Yep.

- Do I like this because I like the flavor of it?

Or do I, am I saying,

"This is a $35 dollars cigar or $5 cigar, and why?"

- Well, at the end of the day, what's,

what is the one thing that a cigar smoker,

a bourbon drinker, a coffee drinker is looking for?

Are they, is the first thing flavor?

Like, does it taste good?

- Yeah, but I'm trying to say like,

screw flavor, I wanna know why you're charging $35 for this.

- Sure.

- Why? - Sure.

- What makes that $35?

- Because like, this cigar, based on this cigar,

just on construction alone,

I would say that's a better cigar.

- Yeah, see-

- At least my, between my two.

Smooth, even wrapper, no

like, noticeable, distinct veins.

This one's super lumpy.

- Yeah, but that, my, you're #1 and my #1

are night and day difference.

- They're night and day different, that's the crazy thing.

- Yeah, you're #1 does look not very good.

- If I never smoke this cigar again,

would I have an off opinion because of the construction?

- And I actually like that, because, right now,

I like the fact that we have some differences.

Had I just, had one of us just done this,

it would've been like, "Oh yeah, well I think this is

the $5 cigar because of that."

- Yes, but yours is pretty perfect.

- It's a natural product, so each,

vein, stem, whatever, is gonna be different.

- All right, you know what this tastes like to me?

- What?

- A guilty pleasure I have, when I'm road tripping,

gas station cappuccinos.

- Ah.

- This tastes like french vanilla gas station cappuccino.

- Really? - Yeah.

- In the best way.

A weird creaminess that somehow comes about with

water frothed with powdered whatever

in a machine that almost always overflows your cup.

Because you always wanna get your money's worth, you know?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Just based on the construction alone, this one.

- [Rob] #3 is- - #3 is banging.

- Pretty banger. - [Nate] Yep.

- I mean, that cap is like

one, two, three, plus another cap.

- [Nate] There's not much on the foot of this one.

- [Rob] Ah, wow.

It's pretty good.

- It's definitely,

this one on the foot

really has, almost, none of that mustiness.

- I get nothing.

- Super clean aroma off this cigar.

Oh, yeah, see?

That.

- What's different about that?

- Do you see how

this one has some more-

This one's got some more space between the leaves.

You know, you can see where the

leaves are kind of all bunched together.

Show the people.

This one, you can see, there's a little,

you can see some distinct spaces

between the tobacco leaves. - [Rob] That's #2.

- [Nate] That's #2.

And then, #3, which I haven't lit yet,

it's just very tightly packed.

- [Rob] Show them #1, though.

- And then, #1, is also,

you can see some stems in there.

- [Rob] But look at my #1.

- [Nate] Yours is much, much better,

so let's show Rob's.

- That's my #1. - #1.

That looks, pretty consistent.

- [Rob] It looks really close to my #3.

- [Nate] Yes, these two look really close, yup.

- [Rob] Oh, you wanna do them together?

- [Nate] Yeah, let's show them side by side.

#1 and #3.

So, #1 and #3.

- [Rob] And, you guys, all we're trying to do

is figure out which one's 35 bucks and which one's five.

And we have no idea.

- You know, I said there's, you know, stems in here?

In this construction of this cigar,

you can see it in the end.

- Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.

- That big lump in there?

It's going down through there, but it tastes good.

- Ah, yeah.

Well and, I've heard

that the stems add, you know,

a certain amount of flavor as well, right?

What are you getting?

- You know what this tastes like?

- People are gonna think I'm nuts.

This tastes like champagne.

- Yeah, I think you're nuts.

With the flavor tasting.

Dude, I do not taste anything.

- No, it's bright.

It's yeasty, kind of bready, like really good champagne.

- Okay, now that you said the yeasty thing,

I kind of got that.

- Bready. - Yeah.

We got the bubbly water to try to help cleanse our palate.

You can also use almonds, raw almonds.

Not roasted, not salted, just raw almonds.

That'll give you, help cleanse your palate.

Still water, sparkling water, whatever you want.

We're trying to do our best to prevent

palate fatigue. - Fatigue.

- I almost said

the reverse of that.

I almost said fatigue palate.

- Palate fatigue.

(both laughing)

- He wants the blue plan black.

- Yes.

- Blue pen back.

- Yes, blue blazer black for you-

- Blue blazer black?

- For you "Friends" fans out there.

This tastes like champagne, it's awesome.

Whatever that is, it's great.

- Maybe it is a Perdomo Champagne.

- Doesn't get enough love, but it's a great cigar.

- Shout out to the Perdomos.

- [Nate] Really good cigar.

- They were so gracious in

getting Matt and I into their

Miami office

spending like,

pretty much, a whole day with us.

At least past lunch, because we ate lunch there.

Then we shot.

I mean,

we shot a whole day there.

And we shot,

he let us see all of the,

you know, how they inventory everything,

because they were offloading a container

and he said, in two days, they were gonna have that

container completely shipped out to stores.

So ridiculous the operation they got there, so smooth.

- I'm gonna go out on a limb and say

this, so far, is the,

of the three we've started,

this is the most expensive one so far.

- You got #3 in, oh, okay.

So, the complexity right there

and the smoothness of it.

I might be with you on that.

Son of a gun, maybe this might be easier than I thought.

- This is great right outta the gate.

Whatever this cigar is,

delicious.

- Yeah, I don't wanna put this down.

- Well let's do

a service and go back to #1.

- Yeah, so that like sweet,

slightly sweet complexity,

very rounded, very like,

no harshness on number three.

- Yeah, so far #3 is

top of my list.

- I'm not getting the binder and wrapper

burning yet on #1, so I gotta work on this.

I can totally taste the difference.

So, when I'm not getting the binder and the wrapper in it,

it is different flavor

and I don't know how to explain it.

I don't know if it's more harsh.

It just seems like it's lacking.

Like it's harsh, it's lacking.

- [Nate] When you're just getting filler?

- Yeah, when you're just getting filler.

- Well, because you need that wrapper,

especially binder and wrapper, to either,

accentuate or mute flavors,

depending on how they crafted that cigar.

- It's always amazed me how much I'm just like,

ugh, I'm just getting filler in this, and I just,

I either relight it, you know?

Like, knock off all the ash.

Try to relight the outer part.

Or I do the puff, puff, puff,

because I hate relighting cigars.

- This one, on mine, Rob, the ash is a little more flaky.

Is that like yours too?

- Yeah, #1 has always been flaky to me.

- And #2,

that's a much tighter ash.

I don't know if you can see that.

This one, stacking dimes.

Going back to cigar #1.

Not a lot of complexity.

- Agreed. - Like it's fairly one note.

- But we're not, we're just getting into these.

But I would say this,

okay, so we're just getting into these.

We're about a quarter of an inch into three

and the complexity is rather good.

And so, if you can think like

will that build or will it mellow out?

- Yeah.

I feel like now that we're, I don't know, what,

inch into both of these two cigars?

I feel like these two have a similar

sensation on the retrohale.

This one is also pretty tight.

- #3 is still very good.

They're all good actually.

I mean, none of them are bad.

They're just, you can now tell the difference.

#1, #2, and #3.

- This is outrageous.

- If you stick with us to the end,

you'll know which three these are,

and you can do this yourself.

- No, dude, #3 is outrageous.

- Really? - Oh, my gosh.

You hit it right on the head, Rob.

Stale marshmallow.

It's there and it's creamy, but it,

this is, it's like fresher.

- Okay, I just went from #1 to #3

and I could tell

that #3, that smoothness,

and that like rounded out.

But then, my brain immediately thinks,

"Is that necessarily indicative of quality?"

Because if I'm a blender and I want a strong,

I don't know, let's just call it cedar note or whatever.

- Sure.

- You might go that route.

You know, you're not looking for smooth roundness.

Like I think of like the Davidoff No. 2 Aniversario.

So it's like,

or "Anniversary," you want that cedar punch to it.

- [Nate] Yeah, and that Aniversario No. 2

smells and tastes like hay and cedar.

I mean, it's got all of that.

Creamy, all right, here's #4.

- We'll see if we can cut this without hitting all these.

- [Nate] Got it.

- [Rob] Whoa, I kind of flubbed my cut.

Oh, that was a bad cut.

- All right, we'll clean up here a little bit.

- Whoops.

- Look at that, it's kind of angled.

- That'll work.

- That'll play.

- I do that on Torpedoes.

- Yeah, the angle cut?

- I do the angle cut, works awesome.

All right, let's see what we kind of get here on-

Oh, not too many.

I will often find, Rob,

in cigars of higher quality and better construction

that when I do this little tap

to kind of get little bits of tobacco out,

the better the cigar, and often,

the more expensive the cigar, not always, but in some,

you get very little of that.

- [Rob] Interesting.

- Like one of my all-time favorite cigars

is the Plasencia Alma del Campo.

Smooth, round,

slightly,

like a slight sheen to it.

It's my, probably, my favorite cigar to go to.

Tap that, and nothing comes out.

This one's more like

red wine or port, a little more,

kind of, syrupy wine quality to it.

Whereas #3 was like bright and yeasty.

I'm going full nerd here.

- I love it, dude, because I'm not getting any of that.

I'm like, I just got my eyebrows raised,

Because I'm like, "Dang, he can pull that out of there?"

- This one's like, yeah, it's like red wine or port.

Like a fortified wine.

- I've always told like, cigar makers, I'm like,

"Yeah if you want anyone to like

sample your cigars, send them my way."

Now I realize why they haven't ever sent me anything.

(both laughing)

- That's hilarious.

- "We aint sending that guy shit,

because he doesn't know how to taste cigars."

We did that thing with cigar scents,

where like, you know?

And didn't you say

you were up in the top five?

- I came in second. - You came in second?

- Uh huh, I was really close.

- You should totally get on that panel.

- I know, I came in really close.

- [Rob] You're good at it.

- I just missed one category,

that, when I looked back on it, I was like,

"Oh I see where I missed it there."

Like, I just wasn't

paying attention on that

sensory note.

They're based out of Italy, right?

- Yep.

- Yep, based out of Italy.

They're really great folks.

Franca is awesome.

So, what we did is, we did sort of a

toned down

sensory panel on all these different tasting notes

that they go through on their more

in-depth panel to

taste cigars and figure out what they're tasting.

To give a more objective

tasting experience to other cigar smokers.

And we all put in our points,

and then, at the end, they revealed who,

you know, came in first and where everybody came out.

And, of course, I'm competitive and was

trying to do a great job, and I came in number two.

- Congrats, man.

You deserve it, because you're good at it.

I would've been- - [Nate] It was fun.

- Had I joined the meeting, I would've been at the bottom.

- Sitting outside, in my Adirondack chair,

on a Sunday morning, it was great.

- That's why I missed it,

because I forgot to put it on my calendar.

- The time change gave me a little bit of

a little bit of a hiccup.

No, this is nowhere near #3, right outta the gate.

- Nah.

- Nowhere near.

- And look at, well, look at my burn.

I mean I don't know if that's,

that could just be me lighting it but-

And I wonder, too, like,

if it burns, yeah, that's a way uneven burn.

Mine's got an uneven-

- Just started.

All three of the other cigars didn't do that.

- Have we found our $5 cigar?

Who knows? Stay tuned.

- No, this is like a little,

it's a little sour.

- [Rob] That's not good.

Maybe, is that good?

- Not terrible sour, but it's different than these three.

Acidic would be a word that I might use.

- [Rob] Yeah, I guess not bad.

- And I generally like acidity in cigars but-

- [Rob] Complexity-wise it's not there.

- Wow, #1, I went to #1,

and it just tastes like stale air.

- #1 is just very, sort of, single note.

Yeah, this one's, now that we've gotten

a little further into it,

it's a little musty for me on the retrohale.

- [Rob] Yep, I just noticed that as well.

And the ash just fell off for me so,

I don't know what that means.

It literally could mean that it's very

aged tobacco.

- [Nate] Gotta light #2.

I will say, and we've had this conversation with

tobacco shop owners and managers.

Really high quality,

exceptionally crafted cigars

will stay lit longer.

- I wonder why that is.

Is it just because like younger tobacco

might have more moisture in it?

- [Nate] Maybe, yeah, maybe.

- What are we looking at here?

What's the science behind that?

- [Nate] Like, I know-

- [Rob] Better burning tobacco, maybe?

- One of the more costly cigars

in the market right now is the,

the Byron, Atabey, Alfonso.

These are $35+ cigars

on the regular, right?

We got these at Tobacco Grove,

one of our local shops here, great shop.

And

the manager of the shop, Rick, who put this together for us,

has said that, I think Byrons,

and even some Davidoffs, he's able to set down

and 10 minutes later, he comes back,

and he can still puff it.

- If you guys are out there, I mean this, totally do this.

Go to your local shop, try this out.

If they're gonna entertain you at all,

it's a pretty cool thing for them to do.

If you're new to cigars,

or you're just getting into it,

and you really want to know how to like,

taste a cigar and not overheat.

Like, most people don't understand,

you're managing the cherry, or the fire,

the intensity of it.

And we learned this trick.

It's the 3-3-3 rule.

So three second slow draw in,

none of this like mad puffer stuff.

Just a nice three second pull.

Get that, get

the red circle all the way around. Still good?

- This had no smoke coming off of it.

- And it's back?

- And it puffed immediately.

- #3? - #3.

- Who you think is the $35 cigar?

- This is, this is my, that's what I'm-

- So get that- - This one set.

- Get that all the way lit,

and then hold it for three seconds,

because you're letting that smoke then

put oils and sugars into your palate,

and then slowly blow it out of a small hole.

I typically concentrate it on one of my cheeks, and then

I put my tongue on that cheek

to see if I can pick up those oils and sugars in my mouth.

It's all about just cool smoke

to get all the oils and sugars to not burn off

before you bring the smoke into your mouth.

And then to let it stay in your mouth

so it deposits as many oils and sugars

as you possibly can, and then blow it out.

- Look at that.

- [Rob] Amazing.

But that was a game changer for me.

And, I'll tell you this,

if you've never done it before and you struggle,

I struggled for the first month doing it

and I looked like an idiot.

I didn't know how to hold the cigar,

like I didn't know how to hold my, puff out my cheeks.

I felt like I was gonna swallow it.

If you struggle with it, you're doing it right.

#2 and #4

are tasting really similar to me,

except for #4 has more sweetness.

It's the only thing I can

really say

flavor-wise.

- I say this a lot when I taste cigars

or talk about flavors.

When people ask me

like, you know, "How do you taste that?"

Or, "What, how can I try and taste flavors?"

I'll always say, you know,

think of foods that it might remind you of.

Think of beverages it might remind you of.

Think of perfumes or fragrances it might remind you of.

This cigar, #3,

has flavors like a really good cologne or perfume.

Like layers of flavor.

Floral.

A little bit of cedar, kind of woody note.

Creaminess.

Look at that, it's just,

it's just like perfect.

- Any of these cigars, once they're revealed,

I'm not knocking the cigar.

Right now, I'm just saying,

"Boy, I can taste the difference right now

between all four of these."

I'm having some difficulties between #2 and #4.

But if I go from #1 to #3, woo-hoo.

And now, that may not have anything to do

with the price point or the quality.

It might have to do with the tobacco.

Like,

you know, they just might not be

good compliments to each other, right?

But #1 seems to be very flat,

but as you smoke it, then it kind of picks up

its character again. - It does.

- And your palate gets used to it.

- Yeah.

- So there's this like weird effect.

- Yeah, that's a great way to put it.

- That happens when you're jumping from cigar to cigar.

- I'm gonna say I like all four of these cigars.

- Go from #1 to #3.

See what that does.

- All right.

- Because now I went back to one, after the almonds,

and I still got that weird kind of like, meh flavor.

- Yeah.

It finishes pretty creamy.

- Yeah. - Finish is nice.

I like it.

Now we're gonna go-

- To #3.

- To numero

3.

Well I'm gonna say it, if this is not

a $35 cigar- - [Rob] I'm buying it.

- It should be.

- I'm buying a lot of it.

- [Nate] It could be.

- I'm buying a box.

- I'm buying it, because this is delicious.

- "If this is not a $35 cigar, I'm buying a box."

- Well, I just did that with one of my

blind tasting subscription cigars.

- Which one?

- Standard & Twain

released

their Top 5 Blind Tasting

Cigars that they rated over the course of the year.

And the one that came in at number one

is a cigar called, Elenor Rose,

from Serino Cigars out of Florida.

- Look at that,

there couldn't be a better segue right there.

- [Nate] What?

- Guess what's happening today, Nate?

- [Nate] Could it be?

- We are dropping the Box Press episode with Serino Cigars.

Tony and Carson over at Serino Cigars, that guy.

I told him, at the end of that interview, I was like,

"Dude, you should have a book, a documentary,

something on you."

Because it is

amazing the stuff that he's done.

How he made his first million,

to working with Blockbuster, I mean.

And then, he admitted, I'm like,

"Well, why are you out here still chasing, you know,

dollars and cents?"

He's like, "Because I like to spend money."

So he's like, "I just wasted it all."

You know, like, bought lavish things.

Lived the high lifestyle.

So, really cool story.

Head over there and check that out.

Serino Cigars.

- #2 and #3 are an interesting jump.

- [Rob] It's a $10 price difference.

- A $10, $8.

- [Rob] And if you can't tell, you just wasted $10.

$10. - Yep.

- $11.75 to $19.95.

- You out, and what's gonna be even more despairing

is if I get

the $20 cigar,

and I say, "Oh, that's a $5 stick."

And then, the $5 is the $20 cigar.

I'd be like, "I just wasted $15."

This could go any way right now.

I think

I'm in agreement with you on

#3.

I would definitely put that at the top right now.

There's nothing that tastes like that.

- No, not in this- - [Rob] Nothing.

- Not in this circle. - And it's the complexity.

It's the smoothness, it's the nuances.

- [Nate] This is a banger cigar.

I gotta say, kudos to Rick.

He picked four really nice cigars.

- Right.

- And Rick has a really nice palate.

Like, shout out to our buddy, Rick.

- Dude, it's getting tough now.

- [Nate] It is!

- Because, I don't know which one

I was thinking was #1, the $4.20.

- If I'm just going off of my four cigars,

and using construction and ash.

- [Rob] Yeah?

- And, you know, where the flavors lie.

I might put cigar #1 at the $4.20 cigar.

But yours, construction-wise, is so cleaner.

But,

I think-

- [Rob] Kind of put #2 down there right now.

- [Nate] #3 and #4 have, for me, really nice,

light gray, super consistent ash rings on it.

#1 is still a little flaky.

There's a little bit of like, mustiness in the back.

I don't dislike it.

I think it's really unique.

But there's just a little bit of kind of a

musty quality in the back of cigar #1.

- Dude, when you just smoke cigar #1,

it's just clean, consistent, good.

It's a good cigar.

- Like,

you mentioned earlier, Perdomo Champagne.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- [Nate] Always consistent, clean flavor.

Refreshing cigar, almost.

Can really smoke it any time of day.

- [Rob] Anytime.

- I feel like this falls in that category.

- Absolutely.

You know what cigar smoked this morning?

Romeo y Julieta.

- [Nate] Julieta. - [Rob] Julieta.

- [Nate] Nicaragua? - [Rob] Yeah.

The 1875 Nicaragua Connecticut.

- [Nate] It's awesome.

- Why is that so awesome?

- It's so good.

- Okay, here's the thing that,

the stigma that I have with-

- Our bosses love that cigar.

- No, they like the H. Upmann one,

because the H. Upmann one is the one with the Maduro cap.

- Uh huh, but our,

Tim Swail, our Senior Vice President of Sales, gave me that

Romeo y Julieta Connecticut,

and said, "You gotta try this, Nate."

And it's delicious. - [Rob] Dude.

- It's delicious

because it has a very recognizable band.

- If you haven't had it,

go get it. - Go find it, yeah.

Don't sleep on those.

- Altadis gets pegged as this like, oh, you know,

nothing hot, nothing new, nothing fresh.

But, dang, is it consistent.

- Consistent. - Dude.

You just go and you're like,

"Oh, I just want a Romeo y Julieta Nicaraguan Connecticut."

"Yeah, I'll take a box of that."

I'll take a box of that any day.

- I think a good analogy for that is,

you compare,

and this conversation has been going on for the last,

oh, 20 years,

the last dozen for sure.

Craft beer versus macro beers, you know?

Big, you know, Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors,

Hamm's, Labatt, any of these

clear, crisp, clean lagers.

Do they have the complexity of some really good

micro brews? No.

But every time I crack

a little stubby bottle of Coors Banquet,

it tastes exactly the same.

It is refreshing.

It's got a slight sweetness.

It's crisp, and it's crushable.

But you think of an Altadis in comparing that to

an Anheuser-Busch.

Altadis is a huge company.

The level of consistency they're able to achieve,

in the amount of cigars they make,

versus a small producer, it's exceptional.

- And what's interesting is that,

it doesn't have like the cachet and the buzz of, possibly,

some of the other like smaller producers.

- [Nate] Sorry.

- What's that?

- Got a nice-

- [Rob] Picking something up?

- Like a nice bright sweetness on this one all of a sudden.

I like it.

- And that is #2?

- [Nate] #2, yeah.

Not even gonna try to get rid of this ash.

- Oh, man, my #3 went out.

- [Nate] Oh, really?

- ♪ Wah, wah, wahhh. ♪

- #4 just got way peppery.

Way more peppery.

Oh, but, yeah, there's that sweetness

coming in at the back end.

I always think in

lighter wrappered cigars, Connecticuts,

lighter Habanos

that pepperiness is like a white pepper.

- I'm basically screwed at this point

for the bottom three.

- [Nate] Oof.

- I don't know.

- So I think, Rob, on my ashtray,

I'm gonna go one, two, three, four.

Or, excuse me, most expensive,

so cheapest to most expensive.

- [Rob] Oh, cheapest on the left?

- [Nate] Four dollar here.

$11.

- [Rob] $20 - [Nate] $20.

- [Rob] 35. - [Nate] $35.

That's what I'm gonna go, when I get to it.

- I'm just gonna close my eyes and set them down.

(Rob laughing)

At this point.

- Just spin it.

Spin it.

- The other thing that we have, as far as an advantage,

we also know

Rick's

favorites.

You know, as far as cigars.

Dude is an Atabey Byron whore.

- Yes.

- I'm like, every time I turn around I'm like,

"Dude, you're smoking that at work?"

And he's like, "Yeah, I just love it."

- Rick doesn't care for the Atabeys.

- Oh, he doesn't?

- No, he says they give him a headache.

- Oh, I didn't know that, I thought he liked Atabeys.

- And he loves the Byrons and the Alfonsos.

- Well, there you go, it's probably Byron.

- So, I'm thinking, that also kind of colored my

choice.

Now he might not pick based on like his preference.

It kind of does for everybody, but-

- Boy, I went back to #1

and I really got like a grassy

flavor out of it.

- Man, this is good.

#3.

It's, you know how sometimes cigars

start to get a little softer

as you get halfway through?

This thing is as firm as when I lit it.

- Yeah, surprisingly, you know,

all of these,

oh, #1 is a little squishy behind there.

#2 is not as-

- [Nate] #1 is a little softer, #2 is not.

- [Rob] That one, you know, that's actually,

yeah, #4 is squishy too.

- [Nate] #4, like right under the band, is a little soft.

- [Rob] So, #4 and #1 are my most squishy,

that's a good point, I didn't even think of that.

- You know what I mean?

- [Rob] But that's a quality thing, right?

- Right?

- [Rob] So, yeah,

if you're paying 35 bucks, you're probably getting the most-

- [Nate] This one's a little soft here, but not up here.

- [Rob] Really-

- [Nate] And this one is still firm.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- I think I like #4 better than #2.

- It's funny, because #2,

I had pegged, in the beginning, kind of like meh.

But based on like-

I don't know.

I'm having a hard time between #4 and #2

like I did before, but I just switched them

in what, I think, is the order.

- So, I'm gonna give an initial

run at it.

And I'm gonna go, like, for me, right now,

I'm thinking #1 is the $4.20 cigar.

The

#2

is the $11.75 cigar.

#4 is the $19.95 cigar.

#3 is the $35 cigar.

- Put #1 in your spot then.

- So I'm gonna go,

I think this is where I'm sitting.

Cheapest to most expensive.

Or, least expensive to most expensive.

- I'm gonna go

#4 is $4.20.

#1 is $11.75.

#2 is $19.95.

And #3 is the $35 one. - [Nate] All right.

- Ready to cut this thing open?

- Yep.

- And the nominee

for best cigar goes to-

- He might, does he have bands in there?

- I think so.

Did he have bands in here, no?

The cheapest cigar

is #4, the Perdomo Fresco Connecticut.

Yes, I got it!

- [Nate] Nice job, buddy.

- [Rob] What did you have?

- [Nate] I had #1.

- [Rob] Okay, so you had #1.

Which is the number two expensive.

So, it's $11.75 cents.

That's the Crux Epicure Robusto Extra.

- [Nate] Okay.

- [Rob] That is amazing.

So, I'm on track.

What did you put for number two?

- [Nate] For the second most expensive,

I said was #2.

- [Rob] Okay.

So,

the #2 is actually the third most expensive.

It is the Rocky Patel White Label Robusto.

At $19.95.

And the third one, or the last, sorry,

#3 is the last one.

Alfonso by United Cigars, at 35 bucks.

♪ I can taste quality in a cigar. ♪

- [Nate] Nice work, Rob.

(Rob humming)

- I'm excited about that because

I didn't think I would even get,

I was just hoping to get the bottom and the top,

but I didn't, like, all of these are good cigars.

- [Nate] Yep, all of them.

- [Rob] All of them are good cigars.

So, hopefully, you guys liked it.

It was entertaining.

I had fun doing it.

Again, like, subscribe.

Please let us know you're out there.

Follow us.

Give us a shout out.

If you wanna watch this, head over to YouTube.

Watch it on YouTube.

Otherwise,

you know, as always,

head over to Boveda to get your

cigar needs to keep those cigars perfectly humidified

with consistency every time.

- Look at you, man.

- Look at you.

Look at, I'm so proud right now.

- You should be.

- I don't know anything about flavors,

but, boy, I can tell you if that's a $35 cigar or not.

(both laughing)

- Yes, awesome.