The Perfect Draw » Cigar Industry

AFGL: Eddie, Traviata and Super Bowl

Travis Lindsay — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:41:36 +0000

A Few Good Links for this week will cover Eddie Ortega’s new venture, a new edition to the La Traviata line and something about a football game.

1. Eddie Ortega has left EOBrands to start the eponymous Ortega Cigar company. Eddie isn’t going for the limited edition nor the mass market crowd. Instead, he’s going after the happy medium in between the two saying that he wants somewhere around 300 accounts with retailers. He hopes that this will be a mutually beneficial relationship and that quality will remain high. I’m sure I speak for most cigar smokers by saying “I hope so too.”

And why would anybody think otherwise? EOBrands produces the 601 brand of cigars as well as Cubao, which are both highly thought of by many cigar smokers; Eddie’s cigars should be as good. Here’s a little peak into what he’s up to:

All the brands comprise a rich and complex blend of tobaccos grown in South and Central America with Nicaraguan tobaccos from Esteli and Jalapa giving it the prevalent flavors topped off with an excusite (sic) choice of Mexican Maduro; Ecuador Habano; Connecticut Broadleaf or Connecticut Natural.

2. There’s a new La Traviata on the way and it is the La Traviata Luminoso Maduro. This cigar weighs in at 4.5″ x 50 with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and should go for slightly more than $5.00 a stick. Personally, I liked the Ecuadorian wrapped La Traviata better than the maduro but maybe this one will change my mind.

3. The Super Bowl is this Sunday barring any Tom Clancy-esque hijinks by nuclear physicist Islamofascists. I don’t have a dog in this fight (is that okay to use that analogy when talking about football nowadays?) and never do when it comes to football. Still, it is an event that cannot be passed up.

What cigar(s) are you going to smoke during the game?

Punch Cigar Rights of America Cigar Review

Travis Lindsay — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:41:30 +0000

This one has been in the humidor a while; just sitting on its tray minding its own business… until now! Being part of a CRA sampler I got a long time ago it’s slightly oily, wonderfully constructed, maybe too tightly packed but it does look like a great cigar. Plus, it is a Punch, so I’m sure it will be, at the minimum, a solid cigar. This is in a toro size.

Spartacus Flame!

Definitely more than a “solid” cigar, this one is. Forthright spice, fleeting cherry and a few woody notes make up the flavors in the beginning of this cigar. I’m going to go ahead a peg it as a full bodied cigar, but just barely.

There is this smoky flavor that creeps its way into every nook and cranny of my taste buds. It is a nice extra dimension of flavor; it complements the other flavors well.

While the flavors are above average what I like the most about this cigar is that there is an edge to it. I like it when a cigar has a little edge to it.

In the beginning it was a full bodied cigar but after the first inch it dialed the strength down to the medium-full bodied range. After the halfway point I noticed a certain amount of earthiness creep its way through. This cigar has a good draw and a good burn.

As is the case with all the other cigars from the Cigar Rights of America sampler I will abstain from giving it a score. It suffices to say that this was a great cigar and well worth the price that I paid for it. If you haven’t already done so I would like to urge you to join CRA and help them stem the tide against those anti-smoking zealots that are becoming ever more brazen.

AFGL: OSOK, Fielder & Maryland Sucks

Travis Lindsay — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:41:57 +0000

A Few Good Links today will cover the new cigar from Room 101, why I am happy Prince Fielder is a Tiger and why Maryland sucks.

1. Jewelry craftsman and cigar maker Matt Booth has teamed up with his photographer to come out with a new blend of cigars called OSOK, One Shot One Kill. Now, if you are thinking that name is provocative let me just fill you in on the meaning: by “shot” they mean “photograph” and by “kill” they mean “killer photo.” The photographer, whose name is Edgar Hoill, is nicknamed OSOK and that’s where that comes from. If the cigar is as good as its marketing it should be great.

I like the name and it’s more understandable than one of Booth’s other cigar creations – Namakubi, which has something to do with severed heads and Samurai. I don’t have any definite plans on reviewing either of these cigars but I wouldn’t rule it out.

2. Prince Fielder did not sign with the Rangers (woohoo) but has decided to sign on as part of the one-two punch that is Prince-Cabrera. I guess if you wanted to strangle a joke out of this you could say that Prince, Cabrera and Verlander are now “Detroit’s New Big Three.” (Note to Tigers’ marketing team: I came up with the slogan so you owe me royalties if you decide to use it.)

The reason why I like this is because it puts Prince in the AL Central. The Tigers should be strong enough to manhandle their division counterparts and suppress wins enough so that none of the teams from the Central will seriously compete for the Wild Card. If baseball goes to a two Wild Card format for 2012 that means there will be five teams (Angels, Rangers, Yankees, Red Sox and Rays) battling for four playoff spots (AL West and East champs and the two Wild Card spots).

Anything can happen over 162 games but that really isn’t true. I just can’t envision a world where the Orioles or the Mariners figure out how to win enough ballgames to make it to the playoffs.

3. I’ve driven through Maryland before, it looked nice. But now I’m going to have to say that Maryland sucks because it has decided to increase cigar taxes. The size of the tax increase is a sideshow to the rationale:

“I imagine everyone’s here because of the public health side of the story,” Maryland’s Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown said. “It’s also a revenue generating story but that wouldn’t be why you’re here, but rather to focus on the benefits to health of what we’re proposing.”

Saying that the reason they are raising taxes on cigars is for health reasons is as laughable as a guy saying he has a subscription to Playboy so that he can read the articles. States who tax tobacco use want the extra revenue and the politicians who support these onerous taxes want the goodwill they engender amongst the busybody anti-smoking groups.

AFGL: Viaje, Snoop & Chuck

Travis Lindsay — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:01:22 +0000

A Few Good Links for this week includes a cigar company that’s transitioning into limited edition cigars only, a rapper (Or is he a hip hop artist? I’m too white to know for sure.) and the end of a favorite TV show of mine.

1. Viaje has announced that they’re only going to do limited editions of their cigars from this point on. From Cigar Aficionado: “Viaje recently announced that, from this point on, the company will only be producing small-batch production runs. Lines like the Oro and Platino that were previously regular-production brands will now be made in limited quantities only.” Honestly, I think this is a dangerous move for the company. If you don’t have regular production lines then you aren’t going to have regular customers.

Take Tatuaje as an example. They have a number of production lines that people like and smoke regularly, thus keeping the brand on their customers’ minds. With this entrenched customer base they have the ability to do a lot of limited edition cigars and, since there are already a good number of people smoking their production line cigars, there are more people who will take a chance on a limited edition cigar that costs more than twice as much as a decent premium cigar.

On the other hand, producing a handful of limited edition cigar brands is an exciting proposition. For starters, Viaje will have more control over the taste of their cigars. Instead of having to worry about producing a ton of cigars they can use what little leaf is available to make exactly what they want. Another plus about this approach is that the fact that every cigar is a “limited edition” may end up creating more demand than otherwise would be there just because of the customers’ perceived quality of these cigars. “Well, it’s a limited edition cigar so that means it’s rare and that must mean that it is better than this tawdry regular production cigar that I was going to smoke so I’m going to buy the Viaje,” or something like that line of reasoning may go on in a number of BOTL’s heads when buying their cigars.

Anyways, it’s an interesting gambit and I hope it works out for them.

2. Snoop Dogg (I remember when I was younger, probably over a decade ago, my local sports guy, Fred Roggin, tried to say Snoop’s name and it came out “Snoopy Dog Doggy.” Just a funny anecdote, that’s all.) has decided to take the cigar industry by storm! He’s created a cigar brand (read this if you want to waste a minute of your time) that will sell for about $0.50 a cigar… and he claims they’ll taste great. Sure.

Seriously, I just don’t get it. There have to be hordes of liquor companies, clothing companies, alternative lifestyle concerns and others clamoring to get him to affix his name onto their product; so why cheap cigars? Cheap flavored cigars at that. Well, I guess if Congress or the socialists in CA decide to ban flavored cigars the fact that Snoop will no longer be the new dogg in the cigar industry would be a slight silver lining.

3. Chuck, which I’ll admit isn’t an amazing show, is a show that I love to watch. It’s hokey and has some awfully dumb story lines but it also has this irresistible quality to it that isn’t hard to explain. Lots of action, a couple of pretty girls, bad guys that have to be defeated (and always are) and the geeky, down-on-his-luck lead character, Chuck, has blossomed into the hero with the girl of his dreams. I guess the main reason I like this show so much is because it is escapism at its nerdy best. I usually gravitate to shows that have a darkness about them (Dexter, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Nip/Tuck, Deadwood, Hell on Wheels and, holy crap, I watch too much television) but Chuck has carved out a position on my personal favorite TV show list of all time. I’ll miss it when it’s gone in a week.

AFGL: List of Lists, King, Fielder

Travis Lindsay — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:01:29 +0000

A Few Good Links this week is going to focus on a list of the lists of top cigars, some news about Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and an update on the (so far) sad tail of a slugging first baseman without a bag.

The Consensus: 2011 Awards via halfwheel: Ever wanted a Metacritic-esque survey of the cigar world? (Incidentally, I think that would be a good idea. It would need constant updating and there would have to be some kind of resolution as far as scoring goes, should certain sites be weighted more heavily, what about vitola… I digress.) Well, halfwheel has come out with a survey of what the cigar blogging world thought were their favorite cigars of 2011. I will only tell you that Undercrown was the consensus top pick according to them. If you want to see the rest of this amazing post (like top brand, factory, country and some trends) you’re going to have to click on through.

Stephen King wrote one of my favorite fantasy series of all time in The Dark Tower. In late April there will be a new addition to this series with The Wind Through the Keyhole, which will basically shed some light on the main character’s past. I think it’s kind of like Godfather 2 in that there are some elements that take place during the natural progression of the story and there are some prequel elements as well. This will be mostly prequel though. With the movie/tv-ification of this series in peril the new book is at least something to look forward to.

While Prince Fielder’s normal pace is slower than most his current pace is maddeningly slow. I’m guessing his agent, Scott Boras, is playing a game of chicken with all of his client’s potential suitors but there comes a time when you have to wonder whether or not this was a bad move. And then I see a little piece of news like this and I’m thinking the AL West is where the real arms race is.

Cigar Journal Promotional Insert

Travis Lindsay — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:42:06 +0000

I don’t normally look at the inserts that come with a package but this one caught my eye because it was different. Cigar Journal, which is the cigar magazine of record for Europe, as far as I know, was able to have a shortened version of its magazine inserted into a shipment of cigars that I recently received. I’m guessing they paid for this placement although I can’t rule out someone surreptitiously putting it in the box.

As far as promotional inserts go this one actually got my attention. I entered a contest one of their advertisers is hosting, which is nothing more than me signing up for more emails, and I even read some of the shortened articles. Their Top 25 (which is something I have to get on, although it will be a Top 10 for me) was interesting because it featured a few cigars that I am unfamiliar with and now will look out for the next time I see one in a shop.

What really got me though was the short format of the whole thing. There weren’t these long winded articles about luxury items having nothing to do with cigars; it was all about cigars. I don’t know about you but if I want to learn something about the BMW M3 I’ll head on over to Car and Driver or Top Gear. (I’m sure they have some of that in their magazine as well but probably not as much as that other magazine. Can that even be possible?)

One thing that did catch my eye was the little snippet about Cigar Journal’s newest member: James Suckling. Now, I already knew he was their newest employee but I have to admit that it was odd seeing him in a different publication other than Cigar Aficionado or Wine Spectator. Suckling was always more interested in Cuban cigars so the change makes sense for him, I guess. While thinking about him I now remember I still haven’t seen his ode to Cuba: Cigars: The Heart and Soul of Cuba.

Going over to that site I quickly realize that it’s actually a pay to play community. As cigar media business ventures go this is probably a decent one for him. There are obviously a lot of Cuban cigar devotees and others who are just interested in learning more about the Cuban cigar history and culture. Personally, I would fall into the latter group but I don’t know if I fall into that group enough to become an active member of that community. Maybe I’ll buy the documentary someday; not a priority though.

As I divert my eyes from the screen for a moment they fall on a picture of Cigar Journal’s staff gathering for a team photo in St. Moritz, which has to be one of the better places to hold a tasting panel. A couple of pages later there are pictures of cigar luminaries like Guillermo Leon, the tattooed Pete Johnson and Pepin Garcia receiving awards from Cigar Journal. All in all that awards ceremony looks like it had more meaning than any Academy Awards ceremony.

At the end of the day, when all is said and done, if you want to you can get access to all their editions on their website for free. I’m sure the magazine is better than looking at the digitized version and I might consider subscribing in the future. That insert, A Taste of Cigar Journal, was actually a pretty deft piece of marketing.

Cigar Aficionado June 2009

CigarSprintSale.com

Travis Lindsay — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:01:46 +0000

It seems that our cup is running over with new retail cigar deal sites. The other day I talked about Cigar Sniper and now I am going to talk a little about Cigar Sprint Sale.

Both of these sites have a couple of things in common. First, they are about selling cigars and cigar accessories. Second, they are auction sites. True, Cigar Sniper goes the penny auction route and Cigar Sprint Sale, which is brought to us by Cigar.com (and Cigar.com is owned by Cigars International), goes the countdown to purchase route. More on that later. The other thing that these sites have in common, which is something that I did not totally grasp until quite recently, is that they both share exquisite timing; they were both launched right before the American shopping season. That’s strategery right there!

Cigar Sprint Sale has that name for a reason: it is a sprint to see who is going to win the item on the block. Basically, it works this way:

New item goes up – and only one item is available per lot, first come only served
It starts at a certain price – usually around MSRP
Every second that the item is not purchased the price of the item goes down – it can go down a dime or more than that depending on how expensive the item is
All this time there is this little red man racing from a start line to a finish line picked by the proprietors of the site and if that little red man were to reach the other end then there would be no sale
If, on the other hand, and this other hand has always been the case when I’ve been looking, someone will bite and buy the product before it hits its reserve
Repeat

It’s actually a pretty ingenious setup that they have going. The whole sprint motif gives the buyer all the motivation that they need to buy that product that they want, especially at the price it’s going for. Another motivating aspect is that for each lot there is only one product available at a time. So you better act fast or that deal may be gone for good (or it may come back in a few hours, you never know).

Yeah, sure, this site sounds a little addicting. So do all the other auction and deal sites out there. If you are the type of person who cannot control their buying habits then you have to stay away from these sites because even though you may be getting a deal on certain items that doesn’t mean it’s a great thing for your personal finances when you have bought a dozen “great deals” in a single day.

On the other hand, if you can exert a certain modicum of self control or you have a plentiful enough supply of money to make your self control problems a moot point then a site like Cigar Sprint Sale can be a good place to find great deals. For example, I have seen the Xikar XTX Double Flame lighter go on this site for considerably less money than any other site online is asking. That’s a good thing. I’ve also seen Don Pepin Garcia Series JJs go for much less than they normally would and the same goes for a number of great cigars.

But that’s the thing with sites like this. If you are willing to devote some time to it then you will find some great deals. Cigar Sprint Sale also has a mix of products that does tend towards having some good quality cigars. Sure, there are going to be some value sticks thrown in frequently, but if you wait long enough you will find cigars that you like.

The question is: are you willing to wait long enough to get a good deal but not too long so that someone else doesn’t get the product you want?

CigarSniper.com

Travis Lindsay — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:51:34 +0000

A little over a month ago I participated in a beta test for a new cigar auction site called Cigar Sniper. Developed by Famous Smoke, Cigar Sniper is a penny auction site, which means you pay a fee for each bid ($0.60 is the value for the “paid” bids and, depending on the package you purchase, you will receive a number of “free” bids – more on that later) and because the bids cost money the overall price for the product can be much lower than the retail price of said product. Here are some of the rules you can find on the Cigar Sniper site:

Cigar Sniper is unlike other penny auction sites, where you forfeit the money you spent bidding on auctions. Instead, any money you spend bidding counts towards the purchase of the item at Famous Smoke Shop’s everyday low price.

Cigar Sniper is perfect for anyone who was already going to buy a box of cigars: you either win the auction at a steep discount, or you buy the box at the everyday Famous price by simply paying the difference.

That, right there, is the salient point that you have to seriously take into consideration when using this site, once it’s live, to make purchases. There’s also a hidden point that I did not find explained on the Cigar Sniper landing page: there are “paid” bids and “free” bids. The hierarchy here is simple: only the “paid” bids, which have a $0.60 value, count towards purchasing the item you lost out on. “Free” bids are just that, free. You can use them to bid on items but if you happen to lose out on that item those lost bids do not count towards your purchase of that item. That is a serious consideration to keep in mind when bidding.

Now, when I was going through the beta test the site would just automatically use the “free” bids up before moving onto the “paid” bids. I don’t know how it is going to work once the site goes live but just remember if you use this site to note which bids you are using.

I think there is going to be a distinct strategy that develops on this site. Free bids, with less inherent value, are going to be used more in the “spray and pray” approach to sniping deals. And why not? Someone may be willing to pay $80.00 for a certain box of cigars but not $125.00 for that same box and, as long as he’s using “free” bids, he has every incentive to jack up the bidding to $80.00 for that box.

This is a bad situation to be in if you are using “paid” bids, however. Let’s assume we are in the same situation as above but instead of “free” bids you are stuck with “paid” bids. And you’re up against a guy who is frivolously using his “free” bids, recklessly jacking up the price of the product. You bid ($0.60) and then he bids ($0.00) and then over and over again a number of times. The bid price is going up and up, you are paying for each bid, and, before you know it, the bid is now at $74.50 and you have made ten bids ($6.00 total) and that is more than you are willing to pay for that box. So you quit, which means you lose both the box and the $6.00 in bids. Bummer.

On the other hand, if you are using paid bids and you are going up against someone else who is using paid bids and you both fit into the customer category that Cigar Sniper described above (i.e. both of you are going to buy the box no matter what) you will both have the incentive to keep on bidding up the price because you want to win the box as cheaply as possible. At the end of the day you will both end up paying retail for that product because both of you are incentivized to keep on bidding until the combination of the cost of the bids and the bid price equals the retail price of the product.

Complications will assuredly arise as this site attracts more and more visitors. I can foresee a situation where the “free” bid gangsters muck up the works for “paid” bidders because there is appreciably less value in “free” bids. And the more people on the site actively bidding the more chances this type of situation will arise.

It isn’t all bad though. I think that during the early stages of this site there will be some awesome deals to be had. And if you do fit into the customer category laid out by Cigar Sniper (you’re going to buy the thing anyways so why not take a chance and get it for less?) then this site does have some value to it.

Some people, however, should stay away from this site and they include:

People with poor self control.
People with poor math skills.
Those without a lot of free time available to win an auction.
Non-smokers.

Personally, I’ll check the site out and see what products are going for. If there are deals to be had I’ll jump on them. If not, I’ll take a pass. Just remember to do your homework and know what items on the block are going for out on the normal market. And, probably most importantly of all, if you are going to be bidding on a product with “paid” bids then you should only be bidding if you are going to end up buying the product regardless of the outcome of the auction. Using paid bids to get a product you don’t want to pay full price on is a bad idea because, chances are, the eventual price of the product is going to trend towards the full retail price.

PS: Make sure to read and understand all the rules to this site before playing. I didn’t get into all the rules (like the one where if there is a bid during the last 15 seconds then the clock goes back up to 15 seconds or the one where people can place auto-bids, which will jack up prices for you). So educate yourself and be prepared with a plan of action before taking on the other bidders at Cigar Sniper.

Help Exempt Premium Cigars from FDA Regulation

Travis Lindsay — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:19:13 +0000

I was alerted to this by one of my more loyal readers the other day and I think it warrants its own post. As many of you know, there is a chance that the FDA will unilaterally start regulating premium cigars in a manner that would throw the industry on its head. What follows is an explanation of what could happen from CRA and, if you want to take some action, follow THIS LINK to send a message to your representatives.

Help Exempt Premium Cigars From FDA Regulation! H.R. 1639 / S. 1461 – Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act

Whereas on April 26, 2010, December 20, 2010, and July 7, 2011 the U.S. Food & Drug Administration publicly posted their intent to regulate cigars in the Federal Register, it is incumbent upon the cigar enthusiasts of the United States to voice their opposition to any proposed new regulation of premium/traditional cigars by the United States Government.

House Resolution 1639 has been filed in the U.S. House of Representatives; and a companion bill, Senate Bill 1461, has been filed in the Senate. Both are filed under the banner of the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act. This bi-partisan legislation would decree that premium/traditional cigars should be off limits to FDA regulation and, ‘to clarify the Food & Drug Administration’s jurisdiction’ in the ‘sale, manufacturing and distribution of traditional and premium cigars.’

Such legislation could have a profound impact on protecting the industry, from the fields and factories of Central America , to the supply-chain throughout this nation, to the community tobacconist, to enjoying a cigar in the local shop, club or back porch.

We can assure you, nothing could rip the soul of the cigar industry apart, like FDA actions. For example, some of the (again) hypothetical possibilities, but that are not beyond the realm of reason include: No more walk in humidors (Canadian model); Limits on advertising and promotions; Banning the very word cigar or tobacco; Manufacturers having to submit blends to FDA for “testing,” before heading to your local shop – imagine the impact on boutique cigar makers; Adverse impact on flavored tobacco products; And price impact due to new fees on manufacturers. This, is the short list.

Nestor Miranda Day 2011 Video

Travis Lindsay — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 21:41:43 +0000

You probably have plans for Cinco de Mayo but what about Seis de Mayo? If you’re a cigar smoker then you are in luck because Seis de Mayo is actually Nestor Miranda Day! This is how it works: go into a participating tobacconist and buy a cigar, any cigar, and they will give you a Nestor Miranda Art Deco cigar for free while supplies last. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me. For more information watch this video.