A Diplomaticos Excelencia RE rant

[SofaKing]

And the first 150 people can join in this festive award by getting a free leaf ashtray to help celebrate this honor. No thanks. I'd rather support Rob, with all the money I save with his boxes/quality I will purchase his ashtray. Celebrate that.

[Olga]

And the first 150 people can join in this festive award by getting a free leaf ashtray to help celebrate this honor. No thanks. I'd rather support Rob, with all the money I save with his boxes/quality I will purchase his ashtray. Celebrate that.

I saw the photo of the ashtray but didn't know they blessed a lucky 150 with it lol.

[shlomo]

Email went out this morning.

[Olga]

Email went out this morning.

Ha yes. I stopped reading after the first paragraph. Went back and read the whole thing.

"who place an order online."

[Habana Mike]

That retailer just won HSA "person of the year" LOL

Yeah, I guess Habanos SA fully approves of her business practices

[Jeremy Festa]

Let's not be jealous guys

Sent from my iPhone

[MPS]

Sheesh you would think she killed someone from this thread. People need to get a grip. It's business and no one is getting hurt no matter who you are trying to convince. Smoke something else.

[earthson]

Yeah, I guess Habanos SA fully approves of her business practices

But she's a kapitalist! Surely HSA would be more interested in supporting the proletariat by ensuring everyone has an equal chance to purchase one box?! No?

[oliverdst]

She's a flipper. As simple as that.

[HarveyBoulevard]

If she didn't, someone else would.

If no one did, I'd have zero chance of ever getting a couple of boxes.

They are cigars, not bread. I will live paying her ransom.

Don't get me wrong...it doesn't give me warm fuzzies to pay that high of a markup, but it doesn't offend me either.

[Pilsner14]

Disappointed too. Was in Cayo Santa Maria in January, nothing to be found there. The guys at the LcDH said they never see any of the LE or RE cigars there.

Would love to find some but not at inflated prices.

Purchased 2 boxes of infantes when I was down a year or two ago in cayo Santa Maria at their lcdh. The dealings of these shops in Cuba have no rhyme or reason.......do not try to understand them.

[oliverdst]

If she didn't, someone else would.

If no one did, I'd have zero chance of ever getting a couple of boxes.

They are cigars, not bread. I will live paying her ransom.

Don't get me wrong...it doesn't give me warm fuzzies to pay that high of a markup, but it doesn't offend me either.

The point is not paying more, the point is going to Cuba and find zero boxes because an ash-hole bought them all to resell.

[Fugu]

...as has been said before, this is more an issue of the seller (Cuba) and its provisioning, not so much of the buyer. At least there's always two to the story.

While I really like the expression "ash-hole", I think this thread is going slightly amiss in developing into a discussion on a particular vendor. Even without direct mentioning it is clear to almost everyone who it is. I am not at all advocating them but'd propose to keep the debate more "general".

[HarveyBoulevard]

The point is not paying more, the point is going to Cuba and find zero boxes because an ash-hole bought them all to resell.

2/3's of this thread is lamenting about the price so that is at least part of the point.

I do agree that not being able to find the Cuban RE/ER is Cuba is disappointing. I think that is part of the fun.

[Lotusguy]

It's not a few boxes or even a few dozen - it's hundreds. Several retailers are doing this.

I'll live just fine without trying these cigars but it does leave a bitter taste and affects if I would do business with these retailers or not.

[ChanceSchmerr]

I've had some time to reflect a bit now.

My "Special `Place in Hell" comment is probably a bit overblown. These retailers appear exploitative and without conscience, certainly folks I will not purchase from in the future, but as far as we know, people aren't getting killed, just ripped off, hoodwinked and taken advantage of. I believe in the end they will get what's coming to them, as we all do in one way or another, but Special place in Hell is a bit harsh, so I back down on that.

The rest though.....

The conversation has gone a bit sideways, so to re-iterate, my issue is here is that certain retailers are buying up ALL of the stock of this Exclusivo Cuba cigar, draining the shelves not to smoke themselves or to help out friends by group-buying and selling them at cost to friends, but to sell at a massively high markup online, thus preventing folks who travelled a long way and spent a lot of money to come to Cuba from buying any themselves at the price HSA set for them. That's it.

The problem ultimately stems from HSA (or folks within the system) willing to sell them all to these retailers, but in the system presently in Cuba, I can understand how that won't change soon, so I unload on the retailers pressing for and making the purchase, because their motivations are purely greed, without consideration for anyone else. They have money, and you don't, so they will make the decision for you, they get the cigars and more money, and you get nothing. But hey, order now and get a few ashtray to sit on your shelf and remind you of the time you paid 4x more than you should have!

The only thing we can do is refuse to buy from these retailers. A few have stated that they will anyway, they want the cigars and that's the only way the'll get them. Fair enough - and because of these retailers, that's true - it may very well be the ONLY way you'll get them. It's your choice, I won't begrudge you for doing so, I begrudge the retailer creating this monopolistic situation for their own benefit. That's who my beef is with. My only suggestion is that if you are equally as upset as I am about these greedy retailers, do not buy from them. Let these boxes go dusty on their shelves. Even if they don't ever get the message, at least your money will stay in your pocket (or go to a responsible retailer like our host) and won't line theirs to give them more resources to do this again and again.

I myself will be fine too if I don't get a box of these cigars as a result of these retailers. It's just a damn freaking shame and I just couldn't take hearing about these greedy retailers any longer.

They don't deserve A Special Place in Hell - but they equally don't deserve our business, and that's my opinion. Feel free to disagree, that's what a healthy debate is all about!

[Vinnyc]

I wonder after all the import duties are paid what he actual mark ups are?

[NapaNolan]

It's not a few boxes or even a few dozen - it's hundreds. Several retailers are doing this.

I'll live just fine without trying these cigars but it does leave a bitter taste and affects if I would do business with these retailers or not.

While 99% of the world is saying 'Thank God this retailer got a Cuba RE, I'm happy to support them!'

[HarveyBoulevard]

I don't disagree with your sentiment. I do offer another perspective to consider.

What percentage of CC smokers get to Cuba? I have no idea so lets just say 5% for the sake of argument. We all know we can't order online from Cuba so the only way to get a Cuban RE/ER is to go there or send a mule. I am not going anytime in the near future and I don't know anyone going so I am just SOL and have 0% chance of ever getting a box of these at cost.

I'd wager the only way 85-90% of CC smokers would be able to obtain these would be through retailers outside of Cuba. This means those retailers get to spend their coin on getting these ordered, shipped, stored, sold, and reshipped. I have no idea if that doubles their cost but I doubt it. So I think the price asked could be a bit 'gougy' but I'd rather pay more and get some, than pay cost and get none.

I understand it is the ALL of them that is getting under people's skin but its not like they made that many in the first place. The entire world of cigar smokers is in the millions. The boxes are in the thousands. It would be nice if they left a couple on the shelves in Cuba but as others have said, they would be sold out by now anyway most likely and we would still have to be paying secondary market prices...and that assumes we could find someone to part with them.

These 'flippers' can be viewed as cheaters and gougers and to some,from their prospective, I don't disagree.

From my perspective, they are providing a service that I otherwise could not avail myself of so oddly enough, I must admit I am a little appreciative.

Just a thought from someone who can't get to Cuba for about a squillion reasons and don't have any friends going at the moment either.

[Olga]

While 99% of the world is saying 'Thank God this retailer got a Cuba RE, I'm happy to support them!'

You entitle yourself to speak for 99% of the world?

[HarveyBoulevard]

Lets just say 95%

[Olga]

Lets just say 95%

Ok, that's better!

[NapaNolan]

Ok, that's better!

[Colt45]

Typically, the regional distributor foots the bill for their REs. I'm assuming HSA / Tabacuba is the regional distributor for Cuba? Who normally buys Cuban REs when they are produced - the average Cuban Joe / Jane, or mainly cigar tourists?

Cuban cigars are a luxury item - that is the ideology of the current Cuban cigar industry, and they've said so in print. Treating them as anything else, as any kind of entitlement, is well, obscene

[CaptainQuintero]

I suppose if you extend the practice in theory that, for arguments sake, all regional distributors decide to band up and increase the price of what they sell their stock to retailers by 300%, then HSA would go ballistic.

So the same practice of clearing stock from Cuba wholesale is wrong and HSA should* be stamping all over it. The fact that they aren't shows where the blame should be directed at.

Luckily the general perception of the Dip cigar is that it's generic and underwhelming at best, so we're not missing out on much.

But look at the Spanish RE programme, they vanish within weeks and we all know that it isn't from tourists, add to the fact that it is illegal for tobacco to be sold online or sold outside of the country and it just adds to the murky picture of how business is currently being done in some places of the cigar world.

Again, HSA could stamp on most of these issues instantly if they so wished, totalitarianism does have it's benefits!