Sunday 4th. of August 2019

[PeeJay]

Thanks for the comprehensive replies from everyone, much appreciated. I’d wager he falls into the “trusted seller” category so appears i have another option for custom rolls.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hit me up for one when you come over

[Simon Bolivar]

Very much what @SHAMZ84 and @Simon Bolivar said ..... I've had some decent dealings with him. At times I think his English is either sufficiently vague or incongruous (my Italian is pretty limited) to enable you to come to some conclusions which are perhaps a little more definitive than his intent. I don't believe he is deliberately seeking to mislead, but rather make the best of his supply line.

Over a couple of years dealing with him now, and a lot of chatting, i have defined that his BHK and CoRo offerings are rolled by different folk. Of the BHK, the 52 is the only one I have tried, although I have a 56 and a 54 in a humi somewhere. The 52 is a pleasing smoke but lacks the richness of the original. I have bought two or three batches of CoRo from him. The initial bunch were exceptionally well rolled. They had similar quality wrappers to the BHK but different colours. The BHK-ish were an almost exact match for the real deal in colour.

Sadly I had a more recent batch of CoRo which were 75% shoddy work. Badly filled, you could see stems through the wrapper, you could see holes/ tunnels through from the foot, soft/ hollow spots along then stick, and not cut off square. To his credit he held up his hands and said he had not had time to check them. He replaced the order. The replacement quality was good but not as good as the originals. I have not yet smoked one as I have them sat in a cab mellowing for a few years.

The one in the picture above represents a very well made stick - clean sharp lines, high quality wrapper, and a steady fluid draw. His Upmann 2's are similarly good. The Supremos he has done have been very enjoyable indeed and in my opinion are of exceptional quality - I got these as an order after the original CoRo order and they were of a similarly high standard, if not better.

So here is the sense of it all as I have defined it - he has a good working relationship with two main rollers. One from El Laguito and one from Upmann - both he backs as being in the top 5 rollers in either factory. The conclusion I have made is that they do private work on the side. Or maybe he is somehow selling some form of factory rejects. Clearly the Supremos cannot be rejects as they haven't been made for c.5 years He has also picked up sticks from Alejandro and one or two others which he calls out by name.

My advice in general is that if his pricing suits your pocket, then buy and enjoy them as well rolled CR's 'in the style of'... If anyone felt that they were buying them in order to get cheap Cohiba/ Upmann etc. then 'deals that look too good to be true' etc...

Have to agree with you there Emaresee, except he did tell me they were genuine Behike's. However, I was not so foolish as too believe him but the wrappers were excellent & it was perfectly rolled. I only bought once from him, half a dozen sticks. So the first delivery might always be better to draw the customer in but I had an itch to scratch & I was satisfied & didn't buy any more from him.

You're either a fan of CC or not, I agree at least his are Cuban & when I bought them @ E15 a stick, less than half the price the Behike's were on the market then. I would say for such a large cigar, it would have stood on it's own at that price. Double what you might pay in Cuban but then they have been bought & imported back so I don't have a problem with someone making a reasonable profit, when offering a serivce.
I guess the only negative side is if someone really thought they were real & then was disappointed & never bothered trying a real Behike. Although currently very over priced, that's based on their scarcity rather than the amazing flav but worth trying once at least. Shame is when you visit Cuba, your unlikely to fond any, which is where they would be the most treasonable price. I did find boxes of all sizes in the LCDH St Kitts so if anyone is cruising in that area, check them out.

[Tomm783]

Hit me up for one when you come over

I?ll hold you to that!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk