Biggest QdO ever?

[BJRPorter]

99, I hear you on availability/scarcity of regular production possibly being compromised due to the RE/EL/LCDH programs that were not in place decades ago. And the island is only so big, therefor planting capability is also limited.

I’m just saying the best argument against the specialty program(s) shouldn’t be leaf quantity. Before you know it, they will use the quantity argument across the board, and vitola and marca will be reduced to one.

[99call]

13 minutes ago, BJRPorter said:

argument against the specialty program

My argument is there should be no speciality programme. The speciality programme should just be the standard catalogue.   In a way the speciality programme used to be the Hoyo series the Party SDC and the Davidoff etc etc.  

My main gripe is.  In order to place the customer in the driving seat, you need continuity. With RE stuff for example (to my knowledge) the distributor is held over a barrel to front the money.  The blend can be a shot in the dark to some extent as, you cant really hold them to anything.   If it's great,    then great.   but if it's terrible the Merchant and the customer loose.....they still win.   Like going to a great restaurant, thats been doing a certain dish for years, the pressure is on the restaurant.   RE LE's are like pop up restaurants..   if the meal is crap.....so what, what are you going to do about it.    by the time you've slated them on tripadivisor, they've closed up and driven off into the sunset with the takings anyway.       

It's a premium product, it should be stand alone.  It's selling factor years ago, was "Cuba produces the best tobacco"..full stop.   I guess I agree with you to some extent, that we should praise effort to some degree. 

I just think it's a sad state of affairs that the standard catalogue and dead marcas cannot be managed effectively, so people don't need a kings new clothes gimmicks to get them re-interested. 

[Lotusguy]

HSA will make what sells - and fat, double-banded dollar gobblers sell. Until that changes, why should HSA? We can dream all we want.

[Notsocleaver]

Has there been a skinny RE that has languished on the market?

[Lotusguy]

Has there been a skinny RE that has languished on the market?

Yes, the German Boli Especial #2 from 2009 was available until about 2015. Hard to believe now, I know.

[Notsocleaver]

58 minutes ago, Lotusguy said:

Yes, the German Boli Especial #2 from 2009 was available until about 2015. Hard to believe now, I know.

Wow, you'd think that this board alone would be enough to snap up the whole run. Right in the wheelhouse of a lot of posters here, at least on paper. Was it just super hard to get outside of Germany?

[Lotusguy]

Wow, you'd think that this board alone would be enough to snap up the whole run. Right in the wheelhouse of a lot of posters here, at least on paper. Was it just super hard to get outside of Germany?

It was pre-FB groups and yes, not easy to get outside of Germany. It wasn’t even that big of a production run.

[Monarch]

18 hours ago, gojira said:

I will have to revisit the Secreto as they have a couple of years on them now.

I agree that the RE program has produced some gems. I buy quite a few REs, sure it's a lottery. But if I don't like them once they have a few years on them I can just sell them or trade them away.

Gojira, I'm in Paris at the moment do you know if Civette or Lotus are carrying the capitolios or other vendors you recommend? Definitely need to try one whilst I'm here before putting down for a box.

I picked up a box of secretos about 6 months ago, I find them at best, "taster" examples of the new QdO blend (I think they were released before the new line?). But the construction on the whole has been quite poor, 2/3 are under filled and burn erratically. Perhaps just my box.

[gojira]

Hi,

I was at Le Lotus yesterday and they still had a few boxes left. They will be getting new stock tomorrow or on Saturday.

I agree with you on the Secreto. It was the first release with the new bands and blend. I had trouble scoring nice boxes of this one because a lot were severely underfilled. I only smoked one when it was released and didn't like it very l much, too sweet for me. I resold most of my boxes and only kept two and a couple of singles. Will need to revisit soon.

Cheers,

Mike

[Monarch]

Thanks Mike, looks like I'll drop by Le Lotus in the coming days then!

[Fugu]

16 hours ago, Lotusguy said:

Yes, the German Boli Especial #2 from 2009 was available until about 2015. Hard to believe now, I know.

It was more like 2013 as to my recollection. Still, four, five years was a long stretch, true. And they weren't exactly what I would call early-approachable, nor easy smoking when young. But true, shops were mostly serving the local market back then.

Edit: The LESF didn't exactly fly off the shelves either. Diadema even had to make a jar to make the remainder move.... haha.

[BrightonCorgi]

14 hours ago, Notsocleaver said:

Wow, you'd think that this board alone would be enough to snap up the whole run. Right in the wheelhouse of a lot of posters here, at least on paper. Was it just super hard to get outside of Germany?

Sold one my boxes for over 1K USD.  Great cigar, but so is 1K.

[Lotusguy]

It was more like 2013 as to my recollection. Still, four, five years was a long stretch, true. And they weren't exactly what I would call early-approachable, nor easy smoking when young. But true, shops were mostly serving the local market back then.
Edit: The LESF didn't exactly fly off the shelves either. They even had to make a jar to make the remainder move.... haha.

I was in Germany monthly from 2010 - 2017 so I beg to differ on the availability in German stores. LCDH Stuttgart still had boxes in 2015.

I agree on the LESF, by the way. They were pretty pricey and access to Italian RE was (is) tough so it took a jar to make them sell the rest (much like the Boli 5ta Avenida).

[Fugu]

Fair enough, Herr Schäuble, and a few other shops may have had hidden the odd box here and there. Bought my final boxes in early 2013 and remember soon after that they had been quickly running out at most shops, at least online. But I didn't bother to dig deeper anywhere, as I had - what I had considered at that moment... - enough for the time being.

Anyway, certainly a slow mover. Now, like you said, there is way more flipping and even more and more retailers shipping international. You certainly wouldn't see the PL Corona fly off shelves like they do, were that not the case today.