Passingwinds

» Passing of Wind, » » Nice way of calling yourself a Fart. » » As for me being a sensitive cigar smoker, let me share something with you. » While I may not be Hispanic, I am not a “Gringo” either. I am a Cherokee » Indian, so if you want to call me an American Indian or a Native American, » I have no issue with that. » » Addressing you comments about the obligation of the passionate consumer » voicing their opinions about the current marketing efforts and supplying a » Company with educated feedback is priceless. Having a degree in both » Marketing and Management, I have a keen insight into what a manufacturer » is looking for from the buying consumer. Lord knows I have written enough » marketing surveys searching for feedback in order to better supply the » market with a product that they are receptive to. In my humble opinion, it » is not only our right, but a solemn duty and obligation for us as » passionate Habanos smokers and buyers to give Habanos S.A. the » foreknowledge of what their actions are having with the market. » » As for the ploy of creating a Edición Limitada, if they were to have » produced a superior product, then perhaps a premium price point might have » been justified. Sadly, this is just not the case, and that friend is just a » FACT. » » You make a comment as if you have a factual information concerning the » production not affecting the regular production of the day in and day out » Habanos. Only someone that in fact has inside information could possible » make that card Blanche statement. Thus, unless you work directly for » Habanos S.A., then I’ll kindly request that you keep your comments in » check unless you can back them up with fact. Do you work for Habanos? » » Finally, I will agree with you that both you and I can disagree with each » other concerning the issue. Some people enjoy walking through life as a » follower; some people take the bull by the horns and make things happen. I » prefer to be one of the ones that speak passionately about a love of my » life, and if I can voice my opinion, perhaps I can make a positive change » not only for myself, but for every other lover of the Habanos Leaf. Tampa, This is not an ethnic issue for me. I used the term "gringo" because that is the term Cubans might use to identify Americans. I was speaking from their frame of reference, not my own. And the term was not specifically applied to you, I said, "...they don't need help from armchair gringoes (sp)," referring to Americans as a group. The term "gringo" is not necessarily disparaging. My Spanish dictionary defines it as, "an American or European." It is derived from the Greek word "griego" which means stranger or foreigner. It seems to me a couple of individuals, in response to my disagreeing with you, decided to "play the race card" and create an ethnic issue where there was none. From my perspective, if any one wants to get their panties all in a bunch over the political correctness of the term "gringos" in the context in which it was used, let them. Getting back to the issue, and away from political-correctness police, marketing surveys are alright, but they have their limitations. They're similar to political polls in some ways. It depends on who you ask and how you phrase the questions. Trying to predict what consumers want is not that easy. What is easy is to look back at what has already happened. The fact that the Cubans keep making limited edition cigars and keep selling them is pretty strong evidence that consumers must want them. To me, it is interesting that you are actually campaigning against limited edition cigars. Most people just don't buy them if they don't want them. You don't want them for yourself and you don't want anyone else to have them either. You state that it is not only your right, its your solemn duty and obligation to forewarn Habanos SA about the repercussions that producing these cigars will have. Personally, I like the opportunity to choose to buy the occasional limited edition cigar and I don't need someone else trying to override my preferences with their own preferences. When Habanos SA receives your warnings, I hope they ignore them. Rather than accepting your marketing predictions which are based on your personal preferences, I am inclined to believe they will look back and see what consumers have actually been buying and base their decisions on historical facts. You state that it is a fact that they are not producing superior cigars for the premium prices. Far be it from me to disagree with you, but, that is a subjective opinion and not a fact. And then, you've made the rule, "unless you work for Habanos SA, then I'll kindly request that you keep your comments in check..." You don't work for Habanos SA either! How come you're free to make comments and I'm not? And who made you boss? I have more to say about the issue and perhaps I'll treat you (laugh here) to some more of my perspectives soon. Please understand, I hold no animosity towards you and I mean no disrespect. I'm just expressing my views which are contrary to yours. If I'm ever up in your neck of the woods, I'll buy ya a beer. Catch you later. P.W.

From a purely economic perspective, the fair market value of something is the price a willing buyer will pay to a willing seller in the absence of any undue external forces. In free markets, supply and demand determine the price. Of course, this applies to cigars as much as anything else. So, speaking strictly from an economic sense, the value of a box of cigars that sell for $100 is $100 and the value of a box that sells for $400 is $400. The market has determined that the value of the higher-priced box is justified at $400 because people are willing to pay it. It doesn't really matter if Joe Blow from Cocomoe doesn't believe it- that's one person's opinion. The market determines the actual value. I hope no one takes offense to my reference to Joe Blow from Cocomoe. I have become aware that there are some posters here who are sensitive to this type of reference. So if your name is Joe Blow, or if you are from Cocomoe, or if you're just standing up for others who might possibly take offense, please excuse me. All I'm saying is, while it may be interesting to discuss what each individual thinks the value of a limited edition cigar should be, we already know what the market (actual buyers and actual sellers) have determined the value to be. One is opinion and the other is fact.

» » That is absolutely rediculous! » » Yas, but thanks to liberal judges rulings like this are to common:-( Frankly, I didn't know there were any more liberal judges left. Generally it's conservative judges who are notorious for taking a hard stance in matters relating to birth/maternity/paternity issues. Do you know for a fact it was a liberal judge or were you just bashing liberals?

» » Take it easy pal, I don't know your ethnicity but some folks are not going » to take kindly to the "gringo" term. It is a cigar BB. People express their » opinions like adults...civilized adults that is. As a civilized adult, I didn't expect others to get so easily miffed by the use of a commonly-used, slightly politically-incorrect term. I didn't realize cigars smokers were so hyper-sensitive.

» In response to Passingwinds, any business that takes that kind of » arrogrant air with their customers is going to lose customers, if not » their business. » » Also, be careful with the "gringo" word. There are plenty of Americans of » Hispanic ancestry, and they like being called gringo even less than the » WASPs do. I doubt the Cubans are worried that no one will buy other Cuban cigars from them because they put out ELs. Perhaps General Motors should start worrying because if they keep selling Cadillacs consumers will get pissed off and not buy Chevrolets? It doesn't make sense to me. As for the gringo reference, I have never encountered a single person who was offended by the term. Considering a gringo is of American or English descent, I have a hard time believing a Hispanic person would take offense at the mere use of the word in a cigar forum. Generally the term is used by Hispanics to describe non-Hispanics. Aren't you taking a risk using the term "WASP?" Think of all the cigar smokers that could be offended!

3M is the scotch for me.

No offense Tampa1257, but I pretty much totally disagree with you. Nobody needs to tell Habanos how to run their business. I think they're doing quite well on their own and don't need any help from armchair gringoes. I'm glad that they take different batches of tobacco and create limited edition cigars. To me, it makes sense that they would take some of the cream-of-the-crop tobacco and put together a small quantity of special cigars. Not that many people are going to buy them and it's not going to affect the production of regular cigars. I enjoy smoking a wide variety of cigars and like to include some limited edition cigars in that variety. You seem pretty worked up about this subject. I'm not being antagonistic. I just disagree with you.

I like to plan ahead. I've already switched to 5 digits for the year.

» I have a cab of 2000 partagas lonsdales and they fit the light thin » colorado wrapper proflie and they are developing a great tea character at » this point in time. Wow! That's some cab! Any cab I've bought only had 50 cigars in it.

The DC seems longer and the sides are more parallel whereas the piramide seems shorter with what I would describe as a more tapered shape. IMHO

Mine come in handy for saving my toenail clippings.

» A few well known and/or influential people make some highly speculative » comments and offer opinions, and next thing you know it becomes a self » fulfilling prophecy and everyone believes it. » » Overfilled, underfilled, cooked, won't age well, no ammonia smell when » new, etc, etc.......it's a bunch of baseless nonsense if you ask » me......some of the best cigars I've ever smoked have been '04 boxcodes I'm with you Dragon. All it takes is for some wannabe cigar expert to start a myth and before you know it everyone considers it to be a reality. Another amusing phenomena is that the individuals who post the most on forums are considered to know the most. I've smoked a lot of cigars and it seems to me the mood I'm in, the place I'm at, and the number of drinks I've had have more impact on how much I enjoy the cigar than do date codes, factory codes, aged/not aged, and the myriad of other nuances the wannabe experts like to speculate about.