Gran Habano Corojo Vintage 2002 - Short Filler? Updated 7/1/13

Bob Luken

Is this supposed to be short filler? Sure looks like short filler.

UPDATED on page 3

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ddubridge

Sad day. I like to stay blissfully ignorant to this as much as possible.

blurr

I don't know the advertised writeup, but bob they're 40 bucks for a bundle of 20. Think they're saving somehow to still make money on that? I've heard they taste great though, so we all win if you're into budget good tasting smokes.

Rhamlin

What the heck happened here?! As far as I know it's supposed to be all long filler. I've smoked a bunch of them and always enjoyed them.

Bob Luken

The reason I asked the question is when I opened the mazo I got from ccom last week, the first cigar that I examined was a bit of a mess. There was a chunk of filler missing from the foot so I tapped the foot and There was a lot of pieces coming out of the foot from small pieces of tobacco all the way down to fine dark dust. I'm thinking beetles / larvae. So I take off the cedar sleeve but no holes. I check out about five of them. None of them had a suspicious filler missing from the foot but all five of them tapped out a similar amount of trash from the foot as the first one I described. And none of the others had holes. So I went ahead and froze them. Got them thawed out today and decided to dissect one and this is what I find. I'm not convinced beetles did this. If beetles had done this I would expect more dust. Plus I would expect to find bodies of larvae, but I have not.

Amos Umwhat

I've always believed them to be long-filler, great little cigar. I've never had any do what you're describing. I wonder if we're coming down to the end of these? Or, if there was some kind of storage problem, prior to your acquisition, of course.

NOBLE 6

I just bought 10 of those and don't recall any of that happening. Maybe I need to pay closer attention.

Heavy

Man, that's crazy. I love those too. Maybe that's why they're so damn cheap? Oh well, as long as they smoke OK i'll continue to get them. And do you call that 'mixed filler' vs. 'short filler'? Kinda like the c.com house blends?

Bob Luken

Amos Umwhat:
I've always believed them to be long-filler, great little cigar. I've never had any do what you're describing. I wonder if we're coming down to the end of these? Or, if there was some kind of storage problem, prior to your acquisition, of course.

I still have hopes that I'll like the cigar too. Maybe just some are duds. I bought these because of their good reputation here on the forum and it's also ccom's award winner for best value. I figured they would be good and even if I didn't like them there's plenty of you guys that would love to have them in a pass or trade. It's either beetles, (which I haven’t found any bodies yet) or it's a really crappy run of medium fillers that were swept up off the floor of the factory. Why do I say swept up off the floor? Well, there's some dust, but it's not super dark dust and not as much dust as would be expected if beetles had done this much damage to a long filler cigar. But it's enough dust that you'd get a mouthful of it on the draw sooner or later. There was just a few filler pieces that went end to end under the binder but then there as a lot of medium filler and a few small pieces. There were no defined tunnels or eaten out places that were obvious. I just can't decide one way or another. If anybody else is willing to scrap a two dollar cigar to find out if one of their Gran Habano Corojo Vintage 2002s is long filler or not I'd be willing to replace it for you. I would need pics for proof though. PM me before you do any autopsies.

Bob Luken

Heavy:
Man, that's crazy. I love those too. Maybe that's why they're so damn cheap? Oh well, as long as they smoke OK i'll continue to get them. And do you call that 'mixed filler' vs. 'short filler'? Kinda like the c.com house blends?

Maybe it's mixed filler, which would be OK but I'd rather that they be clear in their advertising. ------ "Vintage 2002 contains the same exact blend as the award winning Gran Habano No.5 Corojo, utilizing premium long leaves grown in the most fertile regions of Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic." ------ If it's actually mixed filler then they are just glossing over that fact. "Utilizing premium long leaves" isn't the same a "All Long filler" and I understand the difference but I'd appreciate it if they were more clear.

Bob Luken

If anybody else is willing to scrap a two dollar cigar to find out if one of their Gran Habano Corojo Vintage 2002s is long filler or not I'd be willing to replace it for you. I would need pics for proof though. PM me before you do any autopsies.

Bob Luken

NOBLE 6:
I just bought 10 of those and don't recall any of that happening. Maybe I need to pay closer attention.

If I had smoked this particular one cigar,........I'd would have had a mouthfull of dust at some point. Next time you have one in your hands tap the foot, see if there's much dust falling out of yours.

Bob Luken

blurr:
I don't know the advertised writeup, but bob they're 40 bucks for a bundle of 20. Think they're saving somehow to still make money on that? I've heard they taste great though, so we all win if you're into budget good tasting smokes.

I don't mind a mixed filler cigar but I'd prefer to know clearly what it is what I'm getting. If the tobacco is good it should taste good. As you can see I didn't smoke it but this particular cigar obviously would have had enough dusty little particles to ruin any smoke session.

NOBLE 6

Bob Luken:
NOBLE 6:
I just bought 10 of those and don't recall any of that happening. Maybe I need to pay closer attention.
If I had smoked this particular one cigar,........I'd would have had a mouthfull of dust at some point. Next time you have one in your hands tap the foot, see if there's much dust falling out of yours.

Sounds like good advice Bob. Sux about the cigar, they're usually a well built stick.

Rhamlin

You might want to pm Alex with a pic of it let him know what all happened. I'm sure he'd like to know about this. And you'd probably get replacements. I've got 3 of them left doubt I'll rip into one but I might do a little tugging on the the filler at the foot to see if anything seems weird. Think ill try it tonight.

raisindot

I dunno...last December I bought 20 of the regular Vintage 2002s and they tasted like sh*t filler to me. One of the worst cigars I've ever smoked. But that's just me. Your mileage will of course vary.

Amos Umwhat

Rhamlin:
You might want to pm Alex with a pic of it let him know what all happened. I'm sure he'd like to know about this. And you'd probably get replacements. I've got 3 of them left doubt I'll rip into one but I might do a little tugging on the the filler at the foot to see if anything seems weird. Think ill try it tonight.

I'm with Rhamlin, they'll almost certainly replace them. The first Gurkha Centurion I smoked exploded on me, (I was surprised then, wouldn't be now), also my first Perdomo Habano, they replaced both of those, no questions asked, with good cigars. It's long been tradition for suppliers to replace bad sticks, being human endeavors, mistakes are inevitable.

Bob Luken

I’m certain I’ll receive great service. They have always been top notch. I’m sure that they will do what it takes to make it right. I’ll send Mr Alex a PM.

webmost

I have no prob whatever with short filler per se.

Some don't burn right. But that's also true of some long filler cigars. So I don't see that as dispositive. Not at all.

Some contain sweepings. Itty bits that shed shreds in your mouth and sparky bits all over your shirt. I got a bundle of cigar.com house blend sungrown that did that. Sent them back and they made it right. Sweepings are irritating as hell.

But when short filler consists of 4"x4" flakes, without itty bits, then it burns right and doesn't spit shreds. So, minus the snob factor, what's the diff?

Bob Luken

I'm with you. If it tastes great and burns well I'm OK with that. I just assumed they were long filler. And I'm sure they will be able to help me with a replacement.

blurr

Sorry I can't go back a page to quote, but whoever said these are maybe running to their end in my opinion had it. They've been running these and selling like hot cakes for value great tasting smokes for years. The tobacco had to end, or they're just filing with bits to continue profits on these. I'll be avoiding these from now on, unless I see some evidence this was a mishap. I call a death to the great budget smokes of gh vintage 02.

Rain

Wish I knew how it smoked, Bob. I don't care if they're Communist Extra Short filler, as long as they taste good! I've only had one, and it was kind of meh.

stephen_hannibal

blurr:
Sorry I can't go back a page to quote, but whoever said these are maybe running to their end in my opinion had it. They've been running these and selling like hot cakes for value great tasting smokes for years. The tobacco had to end, or they're just filing with bits to continue profits on these. I'll be avoiding these from now on, unless I see some evidence this was a mishap. I call a death to the great budget smokes of gh vintage 02.

That could be premature man. If they're selling like hotcakes you would think they plan to keep selling them.
This could be a fluke simply not enough info to jump to nailing the coffin.

Rain

Two things that stick out to me on the CCom page."... a one time production made with this aged wrapper is now available for a limited time.""Vintage 2002 contains the same exact blend as the award winning Gran Habano No.5 Corojo, utilizing premium long leaves..."So, this is billed as a limited time, long filler smoke. Limited time...meh, I know this has been out a while, so that is a stretch. So, either Bob got a mistake or caught them in a lie.

catfishbluezz

I can shoot George a message if you like, he's a cool cat

Bob Luken

catfishbluezz:
I can shoot George a message if you like, he's a cool cat

Thanks. I already did. But you can too if you want. (No reply yet but hey, It's the weekend.)

Heavy

I'd be very curious about the response(s) you guys get from George.

Bob L., have you smoked any others from the mazo? Let us know how the others smoke. I'm wondering if I need to get a mazo if they truly are getting towards the end of this tobacco, or if it's already too late....or if we're creating a panic for no reason LOL!

Amos Umwhat

I mentioned previously thinking that we may be coming to the end on these, because of the "one time" production, and am curious as well. I also must add that when these first came out I was seriously impressed with them. The first few mazos I got were incredible. Chocolate, spice, held an ash up to 2 inches or longer. I remember telling my wife "I'm going to be buying lots of these, they're as good or better than many a $10.00 cigar I've had."

"More cigars? Huh." (she smokes menthol cigarettes, bleah!)

By the next year, they weren't quite the same. The wrappers seemed to lack the oily sheen, the chocolate notes less pronounced, that certain Gran Habano spice was still there, though, and for the price (which I note has gone up) they were still my "go-to" cigar for quite awhile. I've wondered for awhile, though, how long will these be available, and will the quality continue to deteriorate?

Also, when the Churchills came out, they were too new for smoking. Smoked very poorly unless dry-boxed extensively. There was quite a stir over it, here, I remember Fla-Gypsy being quite vociferously outraged. Me too. Anyone smoking the churchills these days? Have they improved in smokability?

onestrangeone

Amos Umwhat:
I mentioned previously thinking that we may be coming to the end on these, because of the "one time" production, and am curious as well. I also must add that when these first came out I was seriously impressed with them. The first few mazos I got were incredible. Chocolate, spice, held an ash up to 2 inches or longer. I remember telling my wife "I'm going to be buying lots of these, they're as good or better than many a $10.00 cigar I've had."

"More cigars? Huh." (she smokes menthol cigarettes, bleah!)

By the next year, they weren't quite the same. The wrappers seemed to lack the oily sheen, the chocolate notes less pronounced, that certain Gran Habano spice was still there, though, and for the price (which I note has gone up) they were still my "go-to" cigar for quite awhile. I've wondered for awhile, though, how long will these be available, and will the quality continue to deteriorate?

Also, when the Churchills came out, they were too new for smoking. Smoked very poorly unless dry-boxed extensively. There was quite a stir over it, here, I remember Fla-Gypsy being quite vociferously outraged. Me too. Anyone smoking the churchills these days? Have they improved in smokability?

I got some of the robusto's in a sampler and liked them enough to pick up two mazos, the last time I ordered I got the churchill, about two months ago, the draw and the burn are ok, the flavor is not as pronounced and seems somewhat bland, I wrote it off as me having a bad taste day, I will revisit later this week.

Bob Luken

Catfish, I read your last post too quickly and thought you meant Alex. Somebody before you metioned asking Alex about it. I kinda new and I know who Alex is but I'm not familiar with George. What's his Last name?

Bob Luken

catfishbluezz:
I can shoot George a message if you like, he's a cool cat