Sancho Panza Ducales???

[99call]

This is interesting, this is aparrantly from the Spanish "Ministry of Economy and Finance19076 resolution of 14 August 1996".  It seems to suggest that whatever these cigars were, they were selling the 'Ducales' for a price point close to a box of Monte 4's. 

7 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

There doesn't seem to be anything third-party that sheds any light on these

 

[Fugu]

13 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Not necessarily. I'm sure it is legitimate, but the permission could have been granted by someone who didn't even have authority to give it. Who knows--this was the early 80s. I doubt legal action would have been pursued for a such a limited release at that time.

Now, I still think that this wouldn't have been done without strict permission by Cubatabaco and an agreement done in writing (somewhere, somehow). Cubatabaco has always been extremely assiduous in trademark issues and all legal affairs. The weak link I see here, is the Altadis expert, whom they are citing. If he was a true expert, I had simply asked him more questions..... And - Altadis in its former form is not being existent anymore anyway, the introductory para already being wrong ("now known as Altadis..."). Today's Altadis has a completely different task and structure, it's mainly the name that survived (meanwhile, even the name Tabacalera has been revived...) So, in this respect, Halfweel surely is no investigative journalistic publication...

5 hours ago, 99call said:

This is interesting, this is aparrantly from the Spanish "Ministry of Economy and Finance19076 resolution of 14 August 1996".  It seems to suggest that whatever these cigars were, they were selling the 'Ducales' for a price point close to a box of Monte 4's. 

Seems we are getting closer... Thanks for posting that document! What's interesting is not so much pricing (would a price of 20% below Monte and similar to the Cuban SP be much surprising?...). But what seems indeed interesting to me with that list, which is showing a tobacco fiscal and tax regulation for the Spanish exclaves Melilla and Ceuta, is that those Spanish Sancho Panzas are the only ones listed. No mentioning of the Cuban vitolas. So, that tells me that this might have been a special Spanish production for extra-territorial and offshore Spain (duty free?), and it seems that regular Cuban SP were not (may not have been) available there at the same time back then.

What appears special to me in the present case, mainly, is the strange permission to use the brand name, while actually not being the original brand, and thus the parallel existence (or may be not, since locally separated?) of two SP brands in Spain for some time. One may look a bit deeper into the reasons for why this would have been produced in Spain/Tenerife and for Spain (former Tabacalera staff should know). I guess it may have either been caused by a trademark / property rights issue at that time, or perhaps be founded in the special customs/taxation and fiscal status of the Canaries and other offshore territory (- was it available in mainland Spain?), a.s.o....

[99call]

Interesting box logo, I'm surprised they went to the degree of hashing up the elements of the cubatobaco leaf.

[NSXCIGAR]

I guess we have an answer as to market value--the Ducales just sold for 180 GBP and the Hidalgos sold for 355 GBP at the recent UK auction:

https://www.onlinecigarauctions.com/sold_lot_info.php?products_id=4678

https://www.onlinecigarauctions.com/sold_lot_info.php?products_id=4679

[99call]

1 hour ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I guess we have an answer as to market value--the Ducales just sold for 180 GBP and the Hidalgos sold for 355 GBP at the recent UK auction:

Yeah, I saw this, I was surprised there was such a difference between the two, to be honest. 

Those SP Belicosos two lots back from these looked fabulous