Yeah, dem's da ones!!!

I thought the Immensa was a larger cigar than the Rothschild. But, being as you cannot find them anymore... Just found some Rothschilds at CI, $109 for a box of 50.

Hmmm, is nostalgia worth it? It is a good price, but...
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I think there are plenty of people still buying and smoking a lot of the older long standing brands but as cigar smokers we are always searching for the holy grail. I know I still smoke and stock a fair share of some older brands like Padron, Fuente and Punch but if something new comes out, guess what? I'm trying it. Doesn't mean I no longer like the older brands but as others have mentioned our tastes and preferences change over time. Also, when something new and good comes out it's going to have some buzz especially here on the boards and it's going to be discussed until something new takes it's place especially nowadays where it seems like new blends are introduced daily. We on the boards also have a wealth of knowledge that the average cigar smoker who does not frequent boards might not have and those people sometimes tend to stick to the older long standing brands where the group of us that do discuss our hobby online tend to seek out the newer stuff and sometimes even know about it before the local retailers do.
Great topic by the way and it was fun to stop and think about how it all started for me and how far this hobby has come along for me. When I first started smoking back in college I would only smoke Punch exclusively.
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Being fairly new still, I will always look to try what is new and upcoming, but I seem to always have several Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey and Padron's in the humidors.
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Padron, Punch (esp the gran puro or gran corojo) , Excaliber, Macanudos, Perdomo Are all very tasty. In fact, I had a punch this weekend. Still very tasty.
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Why not? Most of us here are the one's who wrote the reviews over there anyway. I don't care if it counts as a hit to Mr. C's website, I still check out the old reviews over there. Too much information to totally abandon that old info. You don't even have to log in to check out the old NC reviews.
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I have only been smoking for 3 years, but my first go to smoke was a Punch Rothschild. I still go back to them occasionally.
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I'm fairly new to the hobby (4 years in) but love a Henry Clay, or Hoyo Rothchilde from time to time and a Padron anytime.
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my first stick is don diego torpedo and the second one is padron 3000 maduro... those are tasty and i'm still buying them now and then... ol' skool rules...
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I want to try the Frozen Tundra!!! When does that come out???:-)

Seriously, Punch is still one of my favorite gotos!!! I have tried many of the older brands and some are great and others come up short!!! However, so do some of the new labels!!!

I enjoy both the old and the new!!!:-)
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Cigars are like women........why stick with a 50 year old when you can have two younger 25's. OK, maybe that's not such a good analogy......
There's certainly nothing wrong with old school. I love the perfecto shape in a cigar. But now, with all the scientific research being done in the labs on tobacco I think they can enjoy even more of a variety of tastes and flavors.
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I've been smoking cigars for 20 years and used to smoke mostly AF 8-5-8's. Punch Rothschild's, various LGC's, various Hoyo Excalibers, and various ERDMs. I remember that Dominicans and Hondurans were all the raqe during the boom and then the Nicaraguans came in as the red-headed stepchild of the bunch. Many of the first Nicaraguan made products were pretty bad and tasted like dirt. Now Nicaraguan smokes are the sweethearts of the bunch and are, for me, a better smoke than most of my old standbys. I still pick up a punch or ERDM for nostalgic reasons. I absolutely don't like AF stuff anymore and LGC is the only brand I still keep in my top 10 smokes.


MCS
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Nothing wrong with a 50 yr old lady that knows how to swing it Dave. Mine just won't allow me to bring two 25 yr olds into the picture:-)

But, wouldn't it also be true that some of the old school brands would also be focusing-in on soil culture and PH to properly cultivate top quality tobacco too? Then it simply comes down to proper fermentation, aging, and blending...



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Lets not forget Montesinos ... Great old time stick
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I had the same startup brands as a lot of you had. Started in earnest a couple of years ago with Punch, HdM, and AF and I still keep them in the rotation. There are so many brands, sizes, and blends that I don't know if I will ever sample them them all.
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When I started smoking cigars in 92, I was partial to the Excalibur line and then the Fuentes. Both were tasty and got me hooks into cigars. During my latter days as a poor DJ and worker bee, I couldn't really afford much and had switched to AF Curly Heads and lower end products. Still today, I have no idea how I kept things so long without really knowing what I was doing. My first box purchase was a brnd called Siglo 21 that a friend's father turned me on to. Before I moved back to Texas, I was trying a lot of different stuff at the B&M in Villa Park that were good to me. Nowadays, my taste have become very refined and particular, like 90% CC, 10% NC (usually Tats, Pepin, Padron or Anejos). I tried smoking a Excalibur and it wasn't the same to me. I have a few of the later productions still, but I don't know if I will ever smoke them again. I try new stuff all of the time and buy what I like, but not as much as I have in the past. Besides, my JL#2 are really tasty right now!
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I don't think those sticks have gone anywhere. At the B&M I frequent, they can't keep Punch, Partagas, Romeo y Julieta, H. Upmann, Hoyo de Monterrey, La Gloria Cubana, Ashton or Arturo Fuente of any kind on the shelves, while Tatuaje, Don Pepin Garcia, La Riqueza, San Cristobal, CAO, Rocky Patel, La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial, My Father, etc. have been sitting there untouched for as long as I've been visiting the shop (a year and a half now).

The only old-timer that never moves is La Aurora products. Might have something to do with their nasty taste, lol. Also, there are piles of full Opus X boxes at about MSRP at shops around town that never get any attention, but I've never seen an Aņejo in person.
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You make the point I was hinting at much more boldly than I - as I tried to make it by hinting at it with subtlety. I do have a question. Might it be a price issue that leaves the boutique brands on the shelves? Sometimes they are $3-$6 (or more) more than some of the other blends.

CA is a corner of the cigar smoking world, and even with almost 3,500 inmates, it is a relatively small (miniscule) corner of that world.

As we talk here, what are the non-CCs that find their way into our discussions? It seems that the venerable brands that have stood the test of time, and still outsell the nouveau boutique brands, don't get as much print space here at CA as do those consisent selling old names.

Again, I am not knocking the new kids on the block. Hey, I got one Boris and one Drac (there are two cigars that took up a few threads and a couple thousand posts here at CA). They will wait for the right moment to be smoked (don't ask me what that will be, for I don't know, maybe next Halloween). RP Edge is one of the smokes I keep stocked, Taboo HSGs are a go to, I love my Cabaiguans (though I don't keep many as they are a bit pricey for me), Oliva are also regular smokes of mine, and when I can, Pepins and other Tats find their way into the humidor.

But, my Padrons, AFs, Punch, and LGCs are the stalwarts. Except for the Taboos and Olivas, a big part of it for me is the price - and the simple fact that, while good, are the boutiques that much better tasting? I must say though, as a tightwad, even on the older blends, I look for the specials (same for the boutiques).

I wonder, as smokers get started, do they get into the boutiques because that's what everybody is all excited about, and so, the excitement grows? Is that especially true here? While it isn't as overtly prevalent on this board as on others, is there a certain snobbishness that runs as an undercurrent?

Here's an interesting side-light to this. The brands that are disparaged here are also what I personally would consider short-timers. How often are Gurhkas trashed? RP takes a hit once in a while. Perdomos have many detractors. And Puros Indios has a rep almost as bad as Cremosas.

It is just intriguing to me that the old brands still plug along. And from what I've been reading here, will continue to do so. Kind of reminds me of football, the quarterback wins or looses the game, but it is the offensive line who are the boys in the trenches that get the job done and never any of the glory.

Hey, this has been a fun thread. I think some others have enjoyed it too. I think I might start another banter thread, Venerable Brands Banter - no boutiques allowed. What do you think?

God's blessings on your day.
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Do you rember when Puros Indios first came out? They were the rage, baybee! In my area, there were 2 liquor stores that would get them in and they would sell out all sizes in a day or two.

MCS
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In my case, that hits the nail right on the head. Padrons got me started, but the buzz took me to boutiques.
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:-)

I have literally had MAYBE one cigar of the "venerable old brands" each. I was sad when I looked through my humidor to find I had maybe 2 Perdomos, 1 Padron (VERY sad) and a Puros Indios Candela! (:-))

Everything else is a new brand. In fact, it is that way becuase I have made it that way. I have made sure to steer clear of the old brands... why? NO effin' clue! I can tell you, this thread has definitely made me think twice about some of these brands, and giving them another chance.
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