I was in a local B&M this weekend purchasing a Illusione Epernay and a rep for Lars Tetens starts talking to me. I have never heard of this brand before, he goes on explaining their aging process and I half listen. He then hands me a couple sticks and says they are on the house to try out. I explain I am not interested in infused sticks and he insures me these two are not infused. I take the sticks, buy the Epernay and leave. I smoke the one Lars Teten Sunday night, wake up Monday morning sick with a sore throat. Started looking into this brand and keep seeing things like "Lars Tetens Scam Artist". I also read that Drew Estates was formed by former Lars Tetens employees.

Anybody else know anything about these cigars?
From the research I have done I really am turned off to Lars Tetens and don't really want to go back to that B&M if they carry such a known bad brand. Any thoughts? I pulled the one freebie I had left out of my humidor and may just throw it away. Is this as horrible of a brand as I am reading?

I now realize that the Illusione in the same picture may be a sin!
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Funny.. I kinda felt that way with the one epernay I smoked. Hahaha... :-).

I have never smoked a Lars Teten and have never heard anything positive about them. Your experience strengthens my desire to never even lay eyes upon one...

Perhaps it should be offered up for the Punishment PPP at shack. :-)
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The only Lars Teten I have smoked was the Gorilla Finger and it was easily the most nastiest stick I have ever had. There are plenty of threads on here about them.

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showth...ht=tulip+twins
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Never heard anything good about them.
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Neither of the two I received where the Gorilla Finger. I found two threads about Lars Tetens and both where for the Gorilla Finger.


Maybe I will save the cigar I still have for a "special occasion":-)
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Don't waste your time. And yes, the worst of the worst is the Gorilla Finger. But I wouldn't trust anyone who could make a cigar that bad, and sell it in good faith, saying that it uses premium tobacco. More like premium cat $hit.
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Now that's just silly. That would be like not shopping at a particular liquor store because they also sell MD20/20 in the wine section.

Because a B&M owner chooses to carry the Lars cigars for his clientele who smoke them, how does that make him bad? He's running a business, if it doesn't sell, he'll probably eventually stop carrying them. Just so long as he takes proper precautions for storing the Tetens that are infused/flavored, as some of them are very strong, who cares? You don't have to buy them, I certainly wouldn't, but I won't judge the shop for carrying them along with other more normal/popular cigars.
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Good point, I'm sure I will go back since they do have some nice sticks (lots of Fuentes). I just have a bad taste in my mouth right now and after I got sick and started researching the Lars brand I felt even worse. I told the rep about this site, lets see if he joins and can shed more light on the subject.
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I think if you read that Drew Estates was started by Lars employees, you might be getting bad information,
BUT about 6 months ago I began wondering, aren't Jon Drew and Lars Teetens both hippie looking guys with
bizarre clothing styles? Don't they kind of favor one another? Could it be that one IS the other? I THINK that
there is no relationship whatsoever, but I often ponder it.....Is this some kind of Chris Gaines/Garth Brooks kind
of deal...If you cut tetens' hair and put on stupid blue glasses, wouldn't you have J. Drew?? SOMEONE out there
knows, but not me.

Stay away from those cigars. Nothing good can come from it. You will not even be able to SELL such a cigar.
MAYBE you can throw it at a homeless hippie and he will stop chasing you, but that's about it, so DO carry it
at all times when in an urban environment.
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You need better things to ponder :-)
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:-)
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+1 :-)

Gorilla Fingers, FTW! :-)
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Yeah, Shane, they're poop. I wish you'd have asked before you smoked it, the boys would have warned you off.
Don't hold it against your B&M. For every really bad cigar out there, there's someone who loves it. Be happy he tries to be comprehensive and hit as many niches as he can. Just don't smoke any of this stuff. I'd sway you away from Acid Wafes and other Jonathan Drew stuff, as well. Their infusion methods cause much the same unpleasantry as you described. And most are flat out gross.
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+1 But I do like his ashtrays. :-)
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True dat. Cool swag.
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Scott, not everything Jon makes is infused...
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Exactly. I'm pretty sure that my ashtray isn't infused...:-) However, the LVHs I bought were friggin' nasty.
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Yup. I probably should have been clearer. Not all his infused stuff is horrid, either. The Javas and Kahluas aren't awful, I've kept them around in the past for the ladies to smoke and they've enjoyed them. It's that floral goo flavor I was alluding to. It's enough to gag a maggot off a gut-wagon.
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The new LVHs are a mixed filler bargain smoke made specifically for CI.

The old LVHs were an entirely different cigar, long filler, w/ cameroon capas. Pretty decent cigar actually,

The long-gone LVH Early Years with the broadleaf maduro capas were actually a rather high quality product but CI sold them at such a deep discount it was ridiculous.


Yeah, I hear you. ACIDs aren't for me either. Lot of people like them though - they sell like mad.

I do keep some Tabak Especial negras around, pretty much for the same reason as you did.
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Don't lie, you loved every single minute of it. I even saw you nub the damn thing
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