Palio Cutter...

jinny said:
I respect that, I haven't had to experience Xikar's customer service (or lack of)... and perhaps I am lucky to be avoiding it.

I certainly didn't want to come off as championing the virtues of Xikars... I merely wanted to point out that I had a preference for them.

I think the main point I wanted to convey is that if someone already had a cutter that they were satisfied with, switching becuase other people say one is better than another may not be something that I would feel comfortable recommending... unless they had the means to do so...

if I had a Palio and switched to a Xikar and didn't like it (or viceversa), I would be fairly upset, considering the amount of money these premium cutters are commanding... If I had the means to collect them, that would be another story...

but hey, I'm game for a comparison test... I'll put my money where my mouth is... :D

where's a good place online to get some new Palios? and by "good", I mean "cheap." :) I'll give 'em another shot... I could use another for my office anyways... so, I won't be to upset if my initial impressions are still accurate. :D
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:D

No problem at all my friend. You're just expressing your thoughts and opinions and I'm doing the same. We've had different experiences but at least we're able to communicate them in a respectful manner. I appreciate that and am glad to have had this discussion with you. We need more people in the world like that with open minds and good conversations. Thanx for broadening my horizons as well.

That being said, www.cigarmony.com has great prices on Palio Cutters. In this way you will be supporting 2 business' run by Brothers of the Leaf that care about the cigar smoking community. Good for you!

I understand about the recommending thing. I guess my thoughts on it are if someone is coming to me (newbie or FOG alike) and saying "Man, I'm not happy with these cheapie little cutters I keep getting at the B&M. What's a higher end cutter that I can buy that will do the job?". My first reaction is to list to them the best cutter available performance wise, then to give alternatives based on affordability. Luckily for me I usually just sum up both in the Palio Cutter :D
 
LasciviousXXX said:
:D

No problem at all my friend. You're just expressing your thoughts and opinions and I'm doing the same. We've had different experiences but at least we're able to communicate them in a respectful manner. I appreciate that and am glad to have had this discussion with you. We need more people in the world like that with open minds and good conversations. Thanx for broadening my horizons as well.

That being said, www.cigarmony.com has great prices on Palio Cutters. In this way you will be supporting 2 business' run by Brothers of the Leaf that care about the cigar smoking community. Good for you!

I understand about the recommending thing. I guess my thoughts on it are if someone is coming to me (newbie or FOG alike) and saying "Man, I'm not happy with these cheapie little cutters I keep getting at the B&M. What's a higher end cutter that I can buy that will do the job?". My first reaction is to list to them the best cutter available performance wise, then to give alternatives based on affordability. Luckily for me I usually just sum up both in the Palio Cutter :D
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done... thanks for the link, Palio is on its way. got a few other things too. :D
 
After graduating from cheap give away cutters I moved on to Davidoff, Xikar and Palio. I find the Palio to be the best of the bunch but not by a large margin. All are good. For smaller RG sticks the simple Havana Cutter gives me the best, cleanest cut.
 
LasciviousXXX said:
I'm the one that listed the Con on the Xikar's. My example is this, while Xikar does offer a warranty.... try getting your replacement back in less than 10 months. At least with the Palio, I know I will be taken care of by a professional in the industry with the high level of comittment to the customer that I've come to expect from the company. And it will be handled quickly and efficiently.

I've had less than sub-par experiences with Xikar's Customer Relations Dept..... bleh.:rolleyes:
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from my one experiance of seing a fubared xikar that did not work and the coustomer service the person recieved was amazing

short version, lady comes in to the cigar store where i shop and says her boss wanted to get his xikar fixed, the sales people take one look at it try to get it to work and it does not, so they reach in the xikar case and hand her a brand new one and keep the non working one to be sent to xikar, now thats customer service :)

i have had my xikar xi2 for 3-4 years and have not had any trouble out of it at all

i dont want to argue i was just stating what i have seen with there customer service :)
 
I thought I would chime in, Ive got a Xikar cutter and the spring recently stopped working on it.. one quick email and they said to send it to em and they would fix it. Good customer service, I just have to get it to them.
All that being said, I haven't done it yet, because Ive got the palio, and I just love it.
Scott
 
I currently use Xikar Xi2 cutter (my first and only cutter) to cut my Cuban cigars. I was wondering about the Palio cutter, can you cut the cigar with it by putting Palio on a table, putting the cap of the cigar through the hole and against the table, and then cutting? I have done this with my Xikar cutter. It obviously isn't the traditional way to cut a cigar but I'm a novice in the world of cigars and also I smoke cigars usually after I've had a couple of drinks so I wanna makes sure I get a straigh cut.
 
SmokingElvis said:
I currently use Xikar Xi2 cutter (my first and only cutter) to cut my Cuban cigars. I was wondering about the Palio cutter, can you cut the cigar with it by putting Palio on a table, putting the cap of the cigar through the hole and against the table, and then cutting? I have done this with my Xikar cutter. It obviously isn't the traditional way to cut a cigar but I'm a novice in the world of cigars and also I smoke cigars usually after I've had a couple of drinks so I wanna makes sure I get a straigh cut.
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Poriggity said:
Never tried it that was, but Im betting it'll work ok...
Scott
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No - that little trick works with Xikar but not the Palio. The nubs on the Palio will keep it too far off the surface - I know - I tried it already.


Ron
 
I used Xikars before but had to go through a lot of pain using them. I had my palm accidentally clipped, had the Xikar 1 lose all the little screws, had the Xikar 3 and although it looks nice, the wood insert disengages. You try to justify using them because you spent a lot of money on it and it does look good. Functionally though, I will take a Palio. They are the best cutters I've ever had.
 
As an owner of a tupperdor, $5 torch lighter, and cheap plastic cutter, I've clearly resisted getting into the fancy accessories but these posts sold me.

Just ordered a palio from cigarmony. Looking forward to seeing the light in a few days. It feels good to order from a well-liked company and not some random website on the net.
 
mason said:
It feels good to order from a well-liked company and not some random website on the net.
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I'd like to echo these thoughts...

I, too, broke down and picked up a palio and blazer late this morning from Mark. Within 20 minutes of my order, I received a friendly "thank you" from Mark where he indicated that my order was going out today.

I (obviously) have yet to receive it, but Mark is definitely off to a good start with me.

It does feel good to order from an actual "person" and not a faceless entity out there in cyberspace.
 
cigarflip said:
I used Xikars before but had to go through a lot of pain using them. I had my palm accidentally clipped, had the Xikar 1 lose all the little screws, had the Xikar 3 and although it looks nice, the wood insert disengages. You try to justify using them because you spent a lot of money on it and it does look good. Functionally though, I will take a Palio. They are the best cutters I've ever had.
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:tpd: :tpd: :tpd: :tpd: :tpd:
 
Just thought I would put my .02 after about 25 palio cuts....Great cutter...only problem I have had is on larger ring guage's I seem to have trouble making the cut where I want it...That might be user error but for the money I dont think you can go wrong!:2 :2
 
benatlexus said:
Just thought I would put my .02 after about 25 palio cuts....Great cutter...only problem I have had is on larger ring guage's I seem to have trouble making the cut where I want it...That might be user error but for the money I dont think you can go wrong!:2 :2
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Maybe we can help. What kind of trouble?

I have experimented with a number of sticks and find that I can get a clean cut consistantly on 60 rg smokes and sometimes 62.

~Mark
 
hey guys, not sure if I should have just started a new thread, but I'm lazy, so now that I have both the Palio and the Xikars to use, I'm gonna post my thoughts on them here... :D

First off, my initial impressions of the Palio were correct... they felt the same to me as the model I tried a few years ago... I can't remember if that first one I tried had the BOTL crest icon thingy in it tho. I can say that the Palio cuts very nice... the action is very nice... my initial complain was that it felt awkward in my hand and that has not changed... now, with extensive use, I think I know why... I find myself trying to use them like scissors... so my thumb pushes in to the hole at an angle and is not the most comfortable for me... carefull examination of the finger position shows that the position that I try to have with the Palios that makes it awkward is, coincidentally, more like the finger postion that I use with the Xikars.

When I conscientiously position the Palio cutters correctly, it makes a beautiful cut... actually, even when I use them with my awkward position, the cut is fantastic. there is little to no play in the blades and the cut can be made very confidently.

That said, the Xikars cut very well too... I mentioned the "play" in the blades before... and I think it's more the feel of the springs holding the blades open. it can be disconcerting at first but I have gotten used to it and all my cuts are nice...

I am confident that my personal gripes with the way I hold the Palios would go away with enough use.

I did a few cuts thru a Mac Hyde Park and as you can see in the pics below, the cuts from both cutters are impecable... at least the cuts thru the entire width of the cigar...

what I couldn't show in the pics below, was the feel of the cut attempts on a larger guage traditional parejo cap... cuts on a torpedo or perfecto seem to be fine, but the sharper angle of a regular parejo cap seems to deflect the Xikars a little more than the Palio... so, what does that mean? well, whereas the cuts thru the width of a cigar by both the palio and Xikar are nigh indistiguishably perfect, some realworld cuts of caps were different... for example when cutting the cap on the Hyde Park, the Palio's light surgical tool like blades cut straight thru with little complaints... but the Xikar's heavier blades can be deflected a bit if you do not push the cigar toward the blade. using the technique of holding the Xikars flat on the table minimizes this issue... so in a realworld situation where you will probably be more likely be cutting the cap than the entire width of the cigar the cut on the Palios is better.

the largest cigar that can be cut thru the entire width is about a 52-54 ring guage for both cutters with maybe a little bigger for the Xikars. so the caps on something as big as 60RG should not be too dificult as long as you aren't trying to cut near the entire width.

I posted the cuts of the two cutters below, and just for fun, I pulled apart the Macanudo Hyde Park that I sacraficed for the test... For being as flavorless as I find them to be, they are certainly made well... long filler (none chopped)... nice almost artistically wrapped binder leaves, and nice wrapper too... the quality construction explains the consistency in draw quality... if they could only find some flavorful leaf, I would smoke 'em more.
 
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of the two cutters the Xikars are by far the heaver ones... although dimensionally, they are smaller... so deciding which ones to carry around with you could be a toughy... I think my ideal/dream cutters would have the palio cut with a different finger position.

and of the two cases, I like the Xikars better... it's nitpicking, but the Xikars are leather and have a smaller velcro piece so they are easier to open and probably less likely to tear from opening too much.

the Palio cigar holder function is probably pretty usefull tho, so coupled with the fact that the Xikars are really heavy and more expensive, I think the Palios would be my cutter of choice of teh two to take around with me.

here are some side by side comparison pics of the cutters and cases
 
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jinny said:
First off, my initial impressions of the Palio were correct... they felt the same to me as the model I tried a few years ago... I can't remember if that first one I tried had the BOTL crest icon thingy in it tho.
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The crest is there on the older ones but it isn't in the silver color like on the new ones; it is just embossed into the plastic composite.
 
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