“You’re my friend who’s into collecting and aging cigars. And now you pass those aged cigars along to me.”
Boveda’s Rob Gagner is impatient. He loves aged cigars but not necessarily the time it takes to age a premium smoke. (Sound familiar?) The Privada Cigar Club sends each member three or so rare aged cigars every month. (And they’re not sticks you can just buy online or in a smoke shop.)
But is joining the club to get rare cigars a good value for you? (Membership is $25.99 a month + shipping.) What can you expect from a Privada unboxing? Find out over an aged smoke along with Rob and Founder of Privada Cigar Club Brian Andrew Desind.
Explore cigars, cigar life and cigar enjoyment with Rob Gagner, host of Box Press, Boveda’s cigar podcast. Subscribe to the Box Press podcast on the Boveda Cigar YouTube Channel or on iTunes.
JOIN THE PRIVADA CIGAR CLUB IF YOU:
- Dig the history behind rare cigars and the idea of giving them new life (Think American Pickers for the cigar set.)
- Crave more diversity than you can find at your local brick-and-mortar tobacco shop ( 11-year-old Romeo y Julieta, anyone?)
- Like cigars delivered to you (But hate scrolling through online cigar shops.)
- Live where cigars and tobacco are heavily taxed (When you join Privada Cigar Club, you pay for the membership, not the cigars.)
WATCH A PRIVADA CIGAR CLUB UNBOXING
A sampling of what you might receive in a Privada Cigar Club hand-stamped, re-sealable humidor bag. Caldwell Lost & Found, Matt Booth Room 101, B.G. Meyer Standard Issue and Boveda. Boveda keeps all Privada Cigar Club’s rare cigar finds fresh while in transit (and it while ages and stores cigars, too).
BRIAN ON STORING AGED CIGARS:
“If you’re taking about perfectly aging a cigar, you have to keep it humidified. If you’re talking about a box of not so great cigars. And you just want to see how they will age, try different things. I’m not saying smoke it dry. Once it’s been dry aged, it has to go back into a humidified cigar storage for at least three to six months.”
CAN BOVEDA BRING OVERLY DRIED CIGARS BACK TO LIFE?
Leave cigars in the trunk of your car like Brian? Or in a travel humidor after last ski season?
“Cigar smokers ask me, ‘Can I bring these cigars back from the dead,’ ” Rob said. “You can always bring a cigar back to a humidity level that’s enjoyable to smoke. It’s just whether or not those flavor profiles are going to be up your alley now. Overdrying a cigar, however, can bring out more of a harsh tone.” (Worth a try. How to rehydrate cigars with Boveda.)
UNBOXING THE PRIVADA CIGAR CLUB BOX PRESS EPISODE
- Should premium cigars be aged? (0:03)
- What is the Privada Cigar Club? (0:40)
- Who should join the Privada Cigar Club? Advanced cigar lover? Or a beginner cigar smoker? (1:36)
- What are the benefits of joining Privada Cigar Club versus shopping for cigars online or at a brick-and-mortar tobacco shop? (2:49)
- Join the Privada Cigar Club if your state’s tobacco tax is high? (2:57)
- Which cigar does Privada Cigar Club founder think is one of the most sought after cigars? (9:01)
- How do you properly cut a cigar? (9:55)
- Can Boveda cigar humidifier rehydrate dry cigars? (17:20)
- How long should you age a Cuban cigar? (21:04)
- COMING SOON TO PRIVADA CIGAR CLUB: A cigar’s backstory (31:05)
- Why is humidifying cigars with Boveda so precise? (34:24)
- How many Boveda should you put in a coolidor with cigars? (36:13)
- How to get all the life out of Boveda in your humidor? (37:28)
- Intimidated when you shop for premium cigars? (43:58)
WHAT ARE ROB & BRIAN SMOKING?
“I’ve been looking at this Las Calaveras in one of my aging humidors for a long time. Wondering when I was going to smoke this,” Brian said as he tore into the sealed Privada cigar package.
“The 2014 Las Calaveras limited edition cigar is what put Crowned Heads on the map. [This is] one of the most sought after cigars in the last five years. These cigars flew off the shelf and you could not get any more,” he said.
For Rob, four years of aging changed the flavor of the Las Calaveras. Read halfwheel’s redux review of Crowned Heads Las Calaveras Edición Limitada 2014.
