Oh my goodness. What happened to that lovely cigar. I received 10 wavells the other day and smoked two and both had sugary sweetened tips. They also seemed a little rough in the rolling and were not near as smooth as they used to be. This was not advertised as such nor is the standard of LGC that I was used to. Do all the "classics"now have sweetened tips, or some of them, or is it a crap shoot from here on in? I liked the old label better too.
I called the company and they said they were having a few problems and complaints about this very issue. A full refund was made. I suppose it boils down to a decline in quality control. Too bad.
I finished up a five pack of these some time ago (probably over a year ago) and don't remember a sweetened tip. My review of the first one from 2019 doesn't say anything about it being sweetened, so it must be a recent development. I'm still smoking through a backlog of various LGC blends and vitolas and my general impression of their rolling quality is that it varies and is maybe only a tad bit better, on average, than Gurkha and Rocky, both of which suffer, at least in my experience, from rampant construction issues. I suppose when one of your main retail outlets is websites like CI and C-bid, which cater to budget buyers, you have to find corners to cut and having your sticks rolled at factories which employ newbie rollers who will work for below-average wages is no doubt one of them.
I haven't purchased any of the "classics" in well over five years as I still have some in my humidor pushing 10 years. and if it is designed change. I doubt I will in the future. I like a sweetened cap on infused cigars and on traditional cigars when you expect it like some Baccarats, but that's only when I want and expect it. To make such a change unannounced to stalwart like the LGC is just piss-poor!