The Cohiba Club Membership Policy

Because we've been asked by many guys in past months, it's time to publicly state our membership admission policy.

We started out (in the Spring of 2007) as merely a collection of friends. Additional friends of current members are still admitted occasionally, when openings arise, with only modest screening and limited concensus needed for admission to be granted.

The following is intended for outside parties whom are not known to the club. Fortunately, it's not complicated - only three aspects of it exist:

1. Opening
This may sound obvious, but it's worth mentioning because of the simple reality that there are not always openings for new members. This is due to the fact that the club's founders sought early on to keep the club from growing too large. Instead, quality members forming a cohesive unit is more desirable than massive numbers. So from time-to-time, the founders may announce an opening and take applicants under consideration.

Another reason for limitting the membership count is the nature of our herf structure. We often hold our monthly gatherings at our own residences. We take turns hosting the group. Simply, too large a group makes this difficult to accomodate. Other times, we occasionally dine together at local restaurants and have found that even our group of twelve can sometimes make it challenging to get a reservation, let alone the trouble we'd have if we were 25 or 50 in number.

2. Application
A formal application must be submitted. A document exists, to be completed by applicants, that is made available upon request. It provides the club's founders an opportunity to learn a bit about an applicant; attributes such as cigar experience & preferences, hobbies, interests, background, etc.

3. Introduction
Applicants will be permitted (and required) to attend two herfs as a 'guest', to meet the members, and to allow the founders to assess the applicant's compatibility with the culture of the club. This last step is no less critical than the preceding requirements, for a good fit of personality must be determined prior to formal and permanent admission into the club. This is necessary to protect, not only the well-being of the club, but the interests of the applicant as well.

As our members will attest, joining The Cohiba Club is a meaningful and worthwhile endeavor due, in large part, to the quality of its members. These deliberate, mandatory steps will ensure our original goal of maintaining the strength of a viable and active club for many years to come.

On behalf of Co-Founders Robert and John,

--Fernand

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Update - 10/26/09

From club member Patrick:

"Being a part of the club has been absolutely wonderful and is everything and more that I hoped it would be when I first contacted you almost a year ago, and it is directly attributed to the great guys who compose the membership. I hope you and all the guys know how much I appreciate and look forward to the herfs and the great food, cigars and conversation that come along with them."

Blind Cigar Swapping

The Cohiba Club Blind Swap

Rarely do we get to do a truly blind cigar tasting. Simply taking the bands off of cigars that you’ve purchased yourself doesn’t quite cut it because in the end, chances are you’ll know what you bought. To really do it properly, you must depend on someone else providing the cigars for you to judge. Alas, we’ve come up with a way to do this which should prove to be fun and educational.

Between our regularly-scheduled monthly herfs, a few of our club members will be engaging in our new blind swaps. The following is an explanation and guidelines for how these blind swaps may be accomplished.

· This is a swap in which we'd simply trade equal numbers of cigars to each other.
· Since our regular herfs are usually four weeks apart, how about picking three rather different cigars to trade.
· Three because you'd have 3 weekends in which to smoke them before presenting your findings at the next herf (my kind of homework).
· They'd be unbanded at the time of swapping in order to conceal their identity, but numbered (of course) so that the 'giver' of the sticks knows which is which.
· I suggest picking cigars from different price ranges to make it interesting, so one would be 'a little spendy', 2nd a middle-of-the-road one, and last a bargain stick (country of origin could be different too).
· The recipient of the three blind sticks will not know which is costly or cheap and is encouraged to make that guess as part of his evaluation.
· Prices might range: $10-$12 for the high-end cigar, $7-$9 for the medium one, and $4-$6 for the value stick (one with great potential that you feel might surprise somebody).
· Also, the vitola shouldn't be overtly recognizable, like a Fuente Short Story, or an LFD Mysterio.
· So for those of us with cigars, it may simply be a matter of plucking a couple from your humidor and maybe supplementing with one more interesting choice from a shop to round out the trio.
· For those with no cigars at home, a quick stop by CigarLand in Shoreline will get you in the game.
· By trading, you're getting back roughly the same as what you gave away, so in reality, you're spending the money on yourself anyway.
· Remember, it's not a contest, only a 'blind' taste-test. There's no winning or loosing, just rating objectively (which we'd never get to do otherwise).
· To make it more interesting, we could also try guessing other stuff about them like where they're from or who they're made by.