Regional Packaging Make a Difference?


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Has there ever been a regional cigar that was fantastic, but the way it was packaged (marca, region, presentation, etc) made it a flop?  Does the marca, presentation, or region used in a regional cigar influence your purchasing decision?  If a Sir Winston, Esplendido (or any other top flight cigar) was re-branded as a Somali regional Guantanamera, would it get the same attention and praise?  Would it be dismissed?

 

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The Hunters & Frankau 225 release comes to mind.  Well thought out and executed.  But, very expensive price tag due to it being a UK Regional.  Nonetheless it sold out rather quickly.  You could either go for the cabinet of cigars themselves, or the special humidor with 4 cabs and 1 bottle of Havana Club blended soley for this release.  This whole project was a labour of love. The cigars were rolled in 2012, aged at H&F for two years and then released in 2015.  I managed to grab a fiver of these.  The cigars are excellent.  If I had the funds, I would have bought a few humidors.  There's a lot of cool stuff released regionally, though somewhat semi-official.  For instance. In Italy, Diademas SPA, the Italian distributor, commissioned jars to move their last stocks of La Escepcion Selectos Finos and Don Joses.  They're not the only ones to do so either.  For me, it's mainly about the cigars, but I do appreciate that added touch to packaging. As long as it's not overdone like what Gurkha does.  :P

 

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Somebody said recently (i cant remember who on the the forum) that as long as the regionals keep coming, there will be a desire to "get the set" for some. This is mentality that I can even begin to understand, but I think there is a degree of genius in what HSA are doing, They are appealing themselves to the more irrational side of collectors. When you have all the money in the world, and you have 99 out of the set of 100, there is a very child like side to humans, and when you can 'have it all' most do want it. 

I'll never forget, I knew I guy in Liverpool who was a multi-multi millionaire, Anyway he was getting a Maserati delivered (something he'd obsessed about for months) and invited us round to have a look, and then a few beers afterwards. Anyway we turned up, and there is was. He seemed very somber, and we asked "are you alright mate? is there something wrong with the car?"  he replied "theres one thing worse than not getting what you want lads........and thats getting it!" 

Ultimately experiences and memories are valuable, if you get tremendous enjoyment out of owning things, then it's massively valid, but if there is a constant hope that is will fill a gap of ultimate satisfaction, then I think it's folly. 

I think HSA have plugged themselves very accurately into the mentality of the comic book/baseball card collector, where a great deal of the pleasure is not reading those comics, but showing them to others who desperately want them. 

 

 

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Hhmmm To actually have an attempt at answering your question, instead of aimlessly waffling, like I did above. 

I think the closest thing to what your talking about, would be the Fonseca no 4. I've never heard anything bad about the cigar, but they are still lingering on some shelves

they look like great cigars, and the general consensus was that is was a nice sweet, woody, creamy cigar........sounds dangerously Des Dieux- like to me

 

fonseca-no-4-benelux-2 2.jpg

fonseca-no-4-benelux-3 2.jpg

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Somebody said recently (i cant remember who on the the forum) that as long as the regionals keep coming, there will be a desire to "get the set" for some. This is mentality that I can even begin to understand, but I think there is a degree of genius in what HSA are doing, They are appealing themselves to the more irrational side of collectors. When you have all the money in the world, and you have 99 out of the set of 100, there is a very child like side to humans, and when you can 'have it all' most do want it. 
I'll never forget, I knew I guy in Liverpool who was a multi-multi millionaire, Anyway he was getting a Maserati delivered (something he'd obsessed about for months) and invited us round to have a look, and then a few beers afterwards. Anyway we turned up, and there is was. He seemed very somber, and we asked "are you alright mate? is there something wrong with the car?"  he replied "theres one thing worse than not getting what you want lads........and thats getting it!" 
Ultimately experiences and memories are valuable, if you get tremendous enjoyment out of owning things, then it's massively valid, but if there is a constant hope that is will fill a gap of ultimate satisfaction, then I think it's folly. 
I think HSA have plugged themselves very accurately into the mentality of the comic book/baseball card collector, where a great deal of the pleasure is not reading those comics, but showing them to others who desperately want them. 
 
 

I think you are 100% on target here. I’m new to the Cuban world, but not to collecting things. This hobby causes that itch just as well as anything else and I’m sure the marketing of HSA is more than aware of it.


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Although I'm not into collecting REs / LEs I can understand why it is a thing for people. Packaging absolutely plays a big role in the take up of a cigar and it's price. Would the Talisman cost the same amount if it had a JLP band on? Of course not. I can't think of a particular RE that has failed to sell due to it's brand, but there seem to be so many these days that it is hard to keep track of them all.

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I know a collector who has the complete production Habanos line up since the mid 90's. He smokes one cigar almost daily.  He buys whatever new comes out, so Regionals are the thing to keep him buying and collecting.  He is not someone to buy the humidors and books, so at least the Regionals are something one can afford and actually smoke.

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14 hours ago, 99call said:

Somebody said recently (i cant remember who on the the forum) that as long as the regionals keep coming, there will be a desire to "get the set" for some. This is mentality that I can even begin to understand, but I think there is a degree of genius in what HSA are doing, They are appealing themselves to the more irrational side of collectors. When you have all the money in the world, and you have 99 out of the set of 100, there is a very child like side to humans, and when you can 'have it all' most do want it. 

I'll never forget, I knew I guy in Liverpool who was a multi-multi millionaire, Anyway he was getting a Maserati delivered (something he'd obsessed about for months) and invited us round to have a look, and then a few beers afterwards. Anyway we turned up, and there is was. He seemed very somber, and we asked "are you alright mate? is there something wrong with the car?"  he replied "theres one thing worse than not getting what you want lads........and thats getting it!" 

Ultimately experiences and memories are valuable, if you get tremendous enjoyment out of owning things, then it's massively valid, but if there is a constant hope that is will fill a gap of ultimate satisfaction, then I think it's folly. 

I think HSA have plugged themselves very accurately into the mentality of the comic book/baseball card collector, where a great deal of the pleasure is not reading those comics, but showing them to others who desperately want them. 

 

 

Mate, you read my mind. Started typing an essay, then got bored of my own rant, lol

The gist was, basically, that somebody at HSA has done the math on exclusivity versus quality, and figured out that spreading the load over many different marcas and regions, rather than investing in two or three global releases, drives up demand and reduces risk.

You can even dispose of a few turkeys in there. As long as you throw a few winners into the mix, you’ll keep the collectors hooked.

 

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3 hours ago, CaptainQuintero said:

The UK gold medal punch things for the 2012 Olympics seemed to be all about the gold medal/wrapper/Olympics theme rather than any actual flavour to me, maybe I just had bad ones

I thought the same thing.  Overpriced and underwhelming.

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