@Charlie Minato @JackLinos Charlie, hoping for THE BEST, regarding some CCs that are HTF, UNOBTANIUM, or even SPLENDID is very different from saying CCs are THE BEST. I would be over-joyed to win and would love to smoke some cigars I haven't in quite some time or never have if I won. I am an effusive supporter of HW, often times referring to it as my bible. I am fortunate in that I can find and do smoke what I want, NC or CC. I KNEW there would be no CCs due to the embargo and/or legal issues. Please do not confuse the two issues.

Also, and I have to say this, aged RASS, Cabinetta, or what I smoked last night, an 07 PL Asia Pacifico RE. What would you blind-test for those? Some CCs are dirt cheap and others, are just plain BAD, while others need more time. RASS comes to my door for under what most people pay for a average to cheap Nica, the PL RE, somewhere between an LP and a PAM.  I know you and I could sit and have a very interesting conversation about what qualities a certain region has to offer. Believe it or not, I think the UF-4 tasted like an Upmann. A young Upmann, but a good one, just the same. 

The contest, like everything else HW does, is EPIC. I would be lying if I said I didn't hope I win. The best secret is the more different things you smoke, the more you enjoy smoking. That has been my experience, anyway and one i hope to continue for years to come.

Btw, while I am sure the cigars will vary in a variety of ways, I would take the cuadrado and Brooksy's blend and feel like I won the cigar lotto!

Cheers,

Jack

@JackLinos

Hoping for the best is what we are doing. I'm one of HSA's proponents, but the 25 Days of ER would be a package of eye candy and disappointment. We tried to pick cigars that were interesting, HTF, "special," but most importantly GOOD. If this isn't doing it for you, I don't think we will ever be.

While I'm sure many of our readers would be overjoyed to open up a package full of specially-banded Cubans, it would be false hope, the cigars just aren't that great most of the time. And believe me, we have a mess of ERs that Brooks and I don't really know what to do with besides say, "overpriced, boring, iffy construction."

Last thing I (or any of us) want to do is send someone a package full of cigars from my (our) humidors that I (we) know will be frustrating to smoke.

The whole point isn't just to give one person a great holiday, but 25 other great days of enjoyment after that. If we wanted to make this the flashiest holiday contest, we could have gone a lot of other routes. If we wanted to clean out our humidors, there are plenty less exciting cigars.

We chose this one and I'd like to think it is "the best" for 99.9% of our readers.