I can't think of anything I would rather smoke than Pepin's stuff...ESPECIALLY the stuff he makes for that dude named Pete! :-)

RP doesn't hold a candle to Pepin and I have yet to find a decent stick from them....but that's just me. I think the only man that can stand with Pepin is Fuente...and he stands #2 in line behind Pepin as far as I am concerned.
[Reply]

Padron, Oliva, Litto Gomez, Camacho, CAO, Perdomo...etc. Pepin certainly makes great cigars but saying that he's so far ahead of the all other cigar maker is, imo, a pretty big exaggeration. Pepin might make cigars that suit your palate moreso than others, but there are certainly several other manufacturers that are on the same level as Pepin.

As far as Rocky goes, he makes good cigars. His Edge, Decade, Old World Reserve, and even the Sungrown and 1990/1992 are very good cigars. Does he approach the industry differently than Pepin? Of course. Is his approach worth less, or not as legitimate than Pepin's? No. They are simply different styles of cigars that suit different people.
[Reply]

Some good points here. I am quikly becoming a Pepin fan and I have to agree with Eric that I have yet to have a decent RP and have yet to be disappointed in any Pepin products.
[Reply]

I think padron is the only brand on that list that can make quality affordable smokes like pepin. I ve tried LFD and thought they were garbage. Pepin does what camacho wishes they could do. Perdermo, CAO, and Oliva dont even compare.
[Reply]

This is simply your opinion. For instance I think that the Oliva V is a better smoke than anything that Pepin makes, you might disagree with that.

The point I was trying to make was that if Pepin was so far ahead of other cigar makers then his cigars would be all that people smoked. This is clearly not the case. The point is that many botls would rather smoke cigars made by the companies I listed, and others. To me, that puts them on the same level with Pepin.:-)
[Reply]

The LHOs are very good. I have had the LHO lights and the new LHO IIIs and IMHO you can't find a better smoke for under $2. I would put this in top contention with smokes in the $5 range.
[Reply]

Thanks for the info!
[Reply]

That's definitely one opinion. To me, there isn't an LFD blend I haven't smoked and enjoyed yet. There have been bad sticks, but not bad blends. LFD probably makes up almost 1 in 10 of what I smoke.


Pepin has done quite a few affordable blends. Tobacco Baez is his new line, which is a medium filler that's affordably priced around $3-5 depending on your local taxes ($3.40 here for the toro with cigar tax at 20% of the invoice and after SCHIP).

Check out his Wiki page for information about what cigars he makes as client brands here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepin_G..._Garcia_brands
[Reply]

Don't forget one of my favs, San Cristobal.
A high quality, tasty Pepin stick.

I used to crave OWRs, but the quality has
been so bad, lately, that they no longer are
a 'go to' smoke for me. :-)

Chemyst :-)
[Reply]

:-) ...except I think the My Father blend is one of the best -- although, I guess that is supposedly blended by Jaime. :-)
[Reply]