I hear it all the time; "the golden age of cigars is gone", "I remember when I could get Cubans, they were the best. Cigars now a days don't come close to touching the Cubans I used to smoke."
I say we are. A few decades ago before things like embargos and communism, Cubans ruled the roost when it came to cigars. Now due to state institutionalized policies and fields that only traditionally grew tobacco now being used for other things such as food crop I say many Cuban cigars are not what they once were.
The cigar market of today has exploded with a huge amount of selection. It's almost impossible to find something you want when it comes to flavor, blend, or shape.
Cigar makers are even producing barber pole style cigars featuring a mix of wrapper leaf.
With all this in mind I believe we never really arrived to the golden age until these past few decades and the invention of the internet allowing one to shop, select, and review on a larger scale than we have ever seen outside of maybe the local smoke shop or cigar clubs.
What say you?