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Disclaimer first: I am not in the know and nor am I a student of the cigar industry. And, I apologize in advance if my assumptions have been beaten to death from numerous other posts causing eyes to roll. So, I've been pondering why HSA discontinues our beloved cigars and hangs on to lesser cigars. For instance, how does Montecristo Opens survive when Partagas SDC 1,2,3 Punch RS 11 die. How does 50+ ring gauges get introduced in a market when traditionally customers prefer smaller ring gauges (my assumption based on comments on these boards)? I understand basic economics such as supply and demand. But, could HSA's decisions be driven by supply also rather than just money? Could it be that they discontinue vitolas/marcas because they just can't produce them anymore? Bear with me here as this is the assumption I have. Not every part of the tobacco plant can be used to make a great cigar. And, perhaps not every crop in every region year after year can yield good tobacco. Do you think, that maybe certain vitolas are axed because there is not enough supply to make them? Or, HSA is not confident that they can continual produce enough supply of certain parts of the plants to replicate the flavor of that certain vitolat? What if they use parts A of the tobacco plant from field 1 and part B of tobacco plant from field 2 to make Diplomaticos #4. One year, the crops yield enough raw material to produce let's say 3 years worth of Dip 4's. Then, the next year the tobacco plants from field 1 that yield Part A in the blend do not turn out like the first year. And let's say this occurs the next year and year after that. The material is so off that when they try to blend the Dip 4, it does not taste the same? To extrapolate this further, do you think they get all this surplus material, do their hardest to find a different so-so and acceptable blend, pack it more and more to make 50+ ring gauges then sell it off with a big marketing push (i.e. RE, LE)? So, could this also be the impetus for HSA's discontinuations as well?