MrBirdman

I was speaking more generally about the tone that platform is known for.

Please reserve that kind of disrespect for Reddit. We don’t impugn other members here or laugh at them if they offer a reasonable opinion.

Love gin - on vacation and found a bottle of Nolet’s a favorite that’s not really available in PA anymore. Gin is a wonderful canvas for the artistry of great spirits. Great read Ken, thank you.

“This machine turns out HAND-MADE cigars.” Love it 🙂. Thank you @Puros Y Vino!

You don’t have to be a connoisseur (or connossieur) to tell a cigar is plugged. Are most sales in HK through divans? I know most fine cigar merchants will replace a plugged cigar purchased for on premise smoking.

Thank you for sharing, sounds like the BR event did not disappoint!

I’m not sure there’s many people who expect the prices to go down. I also don’t think it’s fair to assume posts skeptical of the move are motivated by hope and not reason. There is a logical case for skepticism they can sustain sales at the new prices if they reach pre-COVID production capacity (a big if), but in that event I think they’ll just limit production accordingly and make more of other cigars. We are used to Cuba making as much as it can and scarcity being natural, but artificial scarcity is part and parcel of many luxury goods and happens in NC cigars too. If they start sending distributors more cigars than they can sell, grey market discounting is inevitable. But even “discounting” on the new prices will be higher than today, and even if production recovered tomorrow wouldn’t occur until distributors had rebuilt their stocks (ie years)

Perusing this old thread and realizing it may have new significance now that we’re seeing better availability in petacas and because 3/5 packs will become the only size many smokers will be able to afford in Cohiba. The only Trini in packs that I know of are Vigia. Regarding the above, I keep all tubed cigars in their tubes. I think tubos are, depending on the cigar, more an advantage than a problem. They do age a little slower and naturally gain a little more cedar over time. If you don’t like cedar it can be partly dissipated by removing the tubo a day before smoking. Cardboard sleeves, on the other hand, are the pits and I immediately put the cigars into a singles tray with their marca or an SLB if possible. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to how, when, or even which ones go bland. Case in point: a few years ago I bought two 5-packs of Siglo III with 3 years of age, same exact box code, same storage conditions (lightly “plume” covered). One pack was stellar - while they smoked older than 3 years they had plenty of flavor. Cigars from the second pack are the blandest Cohiba I’ve ever smoked.

I already feel like I’m that guy and I’m only in my 30’s!

Late 2019 1’s had a rash of total plugs, so far haven’t seen anything like that in 2020-2021, but YMMV.

If anyone reveals it to you please PM me 😉 !

Completely agree.

This is what I think some people are missing in this: most rich people didn’t get that way throwing their money away. Are there fools? Absolutely. Are there enough who smoke lots of cigars to support this nonsense? I guess we’ll find out. I suspect artificial scarcity is the most likely outcome of all this, if Cuba is able to get production anywhere close to pre-COVID levels If anyone is willing to pay that price on BR I’ll gladly sell them all my Reyes without a moment’s regret!!

By dead do you mean out of production entirely or repositioned within the market? I agree that, absent artificial scarcity, they can’t support these prices long term. But I doubt they’d delete the entire marca anytime soon.

Davidoff have been in short supply lately. They already make a $100 and a $500 cigar, and both are consistently available online at discounts. They’ve announced price increases in line with inflation for this year.