El Presidente Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 The demise started with the move of production to Pinar in 2005. Big mistake for a "Premium" Marque. Fundadores, Coloniales, Robusto Extra are sales duds for HSA. Robusto "T" a mild success. Reyes holds its own. Trinidad Ingenios perhaps the worst performing LE of all time. Packaging is too expensive. 12 and 24 count boxes a mistake. They couldn't produce the great looking "T" tubes. B&M Retailers worldwide (outside of LCDH and similar) can't afford to carry both Trinidad and Cohiba. They pretty much all chose Cohiba. Retail displays are shrinking through global legislation. Trinidad gets booted out of the displays. All in all a textbook example of a marking screw up. Personally, they should have kept the Reyes and "T" and repackaged. If it comes back then it should be in the guise of : Trinidad Reyes standard 25 Dress box and cab of 50 (ala Shorts). Robusto "T" same as well as standard 10 count dress box. Something sexy ala"Flying Pig" Trini in a 25 count dress box. All manufacturing needs to be done at Upmann or La Corona. El Laguito doesn't have the capacity. Partagas consistency is not good enough. It will be put in the "too hard basket". Hopefully common sense will prevail. Problem is "Common Sense" isn't too common.
khomeinist Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Over the years I've had some wonderful Fundadore, Reyes and Coloniales. With some age and a good one, there is a wonderful, kind of cashew characteristic I never found in another marca. Frankly, regardless of what your overall thoughts are on the Trinidad marca, it is sad for all cigar lovers to watch them do this. Smaller brands with thinner ring gauges. Goodbye! Soon it will be a marca you DO hold near and dear. Exactly. Well said.
gersonmorelli Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 That's terrible news... Even though I'm not a huge fan of them, I have a great respect for the marca. If someone asked me what is one cigar that you wish you had more, it'd be some 98 Fundadores. I feel the pain for those who enjoy these. It's a matter of time before they decide to cut LGC... Reason why I'm stocking up what I can find.
mk05 Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Thanks Rob, sad news for sure, as there is no other cigar quite like the Trinidad. I hope everyone lights up a Trini tonight. Long live mufasa ('04 RE smoking very well):
jedipastor Posted April 25, 2012 Author Posted April 25, 2012 I'm sure they'll come back in some form, the question is will they be more expensive or less? They should be less, but the statement of "return as a premium brand" makes me think otherwise.
El Presidente Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 but the statement of "return as a premium brand" makes me think otherwise. The scary part of the statement (if correct) is that the morons don't realise........ IT IS A PREMIUM BRAND!!!
gersonmorelli Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 The scary part of the statement (if correct) is that the morons don't realise........ IT IS A PREMIUM BRAND!!! Who knows what does that mean?? Maybe they'll create the second derivative of the premium brand... As a matter of fact the third or fourth since REs, LEs and special releases already fill this gap.
joshb Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 I'm sure they'll come back in some form, the question is will they be more expensive or less? They should be less, but the statement of "return as a premium brand" makes me think otherwise. "In a blog post further discussing the news, Christoph Walters offers a cut and dry reason for the stoppage in production: “the nasty price tag.” He goes onto say that “consumers around the globe bought Cohibas instead and left these Trinidads sitting on the shelf.” He goes onto commend Habanos S.A. for the decision, saying “let the ‘old Trinidad’ cigar line rest in peace,” while looking forward to a relaunch of the brand with a more moderate price tag.". Not that that is with any great authority, just fwiw. More moderate pricing sounds good to me, but certainly contradicts the other press regarding a relaunch of an even more premium branding.
dan5974 Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Let me guess. The new brand will no longer be Trinidad but renamed "MyBad!" The cigar will start at 60 ring, have 3 'bling ring' bands and a black lacquer box!!! Cost per stick about $60.00 Way to go Tabacuba!!! Go get'em tigers!!! FU Tabacuba. Sincerely, The Pig You always hit the nail right on the head PigFish.
jedipastor Posted April 25, 2012 Author Posted April 25, 2012 It seems more likely to me that the next Trinidads we'll see will be REs and LEs, and probably not for a couple years. This allows them to still charge a bunch for them, like they want to for everything, and will increase demand/hype for them when they do come out. I just wish HSA wasn't so dumb. I mean, if you want people to buy the cigars, maybe -- oh I don't know -- make them correctly? Maybe don't put 1st level rollers on an $18 cigar? Maybe if they aren't selling well, you should price them lower? Everyone knows the mark-ups are insane. Oh yea, and maybe when you're blending LEs you should have someone competent do it. Or instead you could take a cigar that's too new to be well-received and chop half and inch off it while charging $5 more ... oh wait ...
SteveGriff Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 I wrote an article yesterday regarding the Trinidad discontinuation, if anyone is interested: http://www.stevegriff.com/cigars/articles/2012/04/24/trinidad---the-brand-everyone-loved-but-no-one-bought/ Kind Regards, Steve
Zigatoh Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Thing is, don't they consider most of their brands 'Premium' and Cohiba/EL/Trinidad/etc would come in as Uber-Premium or something, thereby meaning Premium is a downgrade of sorts for Trini??
BENN Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Besides the Hamburg LCDH is there any other confirmation on this, specially from Habanos? Just heard from Loren, according to her they will not be discontinued! / Ben Bockbrännarbolmers
Lotusguy Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Besides the Hamburg LCDH is there any other confirmation on this, specially from Habanos? Just heard from Loren, according to her they will not be discontinued! / Ben Bockbrännarbolmers I wouldn't trust those Hamburgers as far as I can throw them but I got the same information in a newsletter from LCDH Kokke.
celtmick1984 Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 The rosy view is that this signals an attempt by HSA to pull back some of the premium tobacco and redeploy it, with further aging and tweaking, to improve the portfolio, investing in the global competitiveness of CCs. One can hope, right?
Michel1968 Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Well, as a result Cohiba should at least have a decent stock to produce the Piramides Extra...
Nino Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 I wrote an article yesterday regarding the Trinidad discontinuation, if anyone is interested: http://www.stevegriff.com/cigars/articles/2012/04/24/trinidad---the-brand-everyone-loved-but-no-one-bought/ Kind Regards, Steve Thank you for the article on Trinidad and your great blog, Steve ! Nino
Orion21 Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Point made, they need the premium tobacco to continue to expand the EL, RE and special run cigars from Cohiba. Who knows, maybe they need it for the annual production of the Behike cigars that offer 3-4 times the profit. Either way if the brand wasn't selling I'd understand, but I am skeptical because there is all new stock available and very little aged beyond the EL's. This isn't a case of 50 cabs from 2003 sitting on the shelf for 5-10 years . . .
Jason55555 Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Just finished ordering a box of Reyes from the Cigar Czar , gonna lock these up for a good 4-5 years & when feeling nostalgic and maybe want something that is not around anymore so then I can reminisce on Trinidad's over priced days lol. This video from James Suckling re assured me that the Trinidad Reyes is a amazing cigar well worth buying and storing in the humidor..... http://www.jamessuckling.com/montecristo-petit-edmundo-versus-trinidad-reyes.html
BENN Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 I wouldn't trust those Hamburgers as far as I can throw them but I got the same information in a newsletter from LCDH Kokke. Just talked to Ajay, and he had talked with Habanos about this matter yesterday, he confirmed what Loren said. That the marca is not being discontinued right now! / Ben Bockbrännarbolmers
SteveGriff Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Nice writing Steve! Best, Michel Thanks Michel, most appreciated! Steve
SteveGriff Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Thank you for the article on Trinidad and your great blog, Steve ! Nino Most appreciated Nino! Glad you liked it. Steve P.s - I love your flying cigar blog... who doesn't!?!
sighuber Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 I'm no marketing guy but it just seems to me that having nearly 30 brands to manage is a tough job for HSA. How can they differentiate the product in that many ways to create a compelling brand image for so many brands? I agree with others here that we will see other slow sellers culled from the portfolio to allow them to better focus marketing efforts and perhaps save some money in packaging costs. I wonder how many marcas they willl settle on...perhaps 20?
in0gravity Posted April 26, 2012 Posted April 26, 2012 Hello All, somewhere along the line must have been a misunderstanding. Yesterday the German distributor 5th Avenue confirmed that the Coloniales, Fundadores and Reyes will remain in production. "Only" the Robusto Extra and Robusto T will be discontinued. He also confirmed that in one or two years a new robuto size will be launched. So please calm down. There will be lots of Trinidad around regards Lars
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