Choice in size?......or choice in Marca?


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So imagine if you will, HSA is faced with an imaginary fork in the road, to either produce

A,  A much more expansive catalogue of marcas/blends, but only in a Petit Corona size.   So you have PC in all the marcas in production today, plus all the dead marcas on CCW, i.e Siboney, Maria Guerrero, Dunhill, Davidoff, Cabanas, Gispert, La Escepcion etc etc. 

or 

B, how things are at the moment

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19 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Based on decisions made in the recent past they would go with....

B. how things are at the moment

Who's 'they' John?........ sorry, I'm more wondering what you would like, not what you think they might do......sorry I think I may of structured the question poorly.

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22 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

B,   :ok:

It's far from perfect but the anticipation of HSA's next market winner and market disaster keeps me excited  ;)

Interesting.  Within that, do you think there is a limit to how many distinctly different blends cuban tobacco can realise? i.e. in some respects it would be pointless having more brands, if the tobacco itself couldn't offer something unique to define the new marca as valid and and important addition. 

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7 minutes ago, 99call said:

Interesting.  Within that, do you think there is a limit to how many distinctly different blends cuban tobacco can realise? i.e. in some respects it would be pointless having more brands, if the tobacco itself couldn't offer something unique to define the new marca as valid and and important addition. 

I think there's an infinite number of ways to blend tobacco for an infinite number of flavors/profiles, the better question is which ones of those will actually have mass appeal for a viable business.

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4 minutes ago, mt1 said:

I think there's an infinite number of ways to blend tobacco for an infinite number of flavors/profiles, the better question is which ones of those will actually have mass appeal for a viable business.

Yep I would agree.   But in a way, the most valuable brands to me are brand like Diplomaticos and Sancho Panza, as they have so much character and individuality. I must confess to getting  little annoyed if I choose a cigar, and it could just as easily be something from another line. 

This hits to the core of the question in a way.   Personally if I had the offer of 30 or so drastically different, but equally excellent petit coronas, I would feel as I had more variety than i do now.

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2 minutes ago, 99call said:

Yep I would agree.   But in a way, the most valuable brands to me are brand like Diplomaticos and Sancho Panza, as they have so much character and individuality. I must confess to getting  little annoyed if I choose a cigar, and it could just as easily be something from another line. 

This hits to the core of the question in a way.   Personally if I had the offer of 30 or so drastically different, but equally excellent petit coronas, I would feel as I had more variety than i do now.

I agree with your viewpoint, just not the vitola.  I don't know how other people feel, but I have generally concluded that I prefer certain sizes over others and if I could have it my way, I would have every brand's blend in a Laguito No.2 or No. 1 as I like that size.  But I think for most cigar smokers (I believe we on here are in the minority), size is more important than brand (I'm talking your average person who might smoke a cigar now and then, they tend to choose by size alone as they may not know the brands/profiles well enough).  From a marketing standpoint, using one vitola is a sure way to confuse your consumer base and basically compete against yourself I think.

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2 minutes ago, mt1 said:

I would have every brand's blend in a Laguito No.2 or No. 1 as I like that size

I would happily go along with this two.  My preferred option would be a lonsdale.   In a PC I just chose the most basic format in a way, to see if a middle of the road vitola, would still entice someone, if lots of marca's could be optioned in return.

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4 minutes ago, 99call said:

I would happily go along with this two.  My preferred option would be a lonsdale.   In a PC I just chose the most basic format in a way, to see if a middle of the road vitola, would still entice someone, if lots of marca's could be optioned in return.

I hear ya.  I would settle for anything long and around 40RG (or even sub 50RG) to be honest.  I don't find so much enjoyment or variety in sizing, but I'm more interested in the blend/flavor.  I realize they are related, but I'd almost always pick a Montecristo Especiales No.2 over a No.2.

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2 minutes ago, Derboesekoenig said:

One vitola?

Yeah I hear you, but on the other hand, what if that one vitola was in Cifuentes glass tubes, or La Coronas jars.  And regardess of packaging, does your mind never stray to what in must of been like in the 30s then there 100+ brands to choose from. 

Personally in the format was a Lonsadale, and sensibly priced, I would rather have that single vitola in a choice of 100 different blends.   But thats just me, and I completely see where you're coming from

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11 minutes ago, shlomo said:

"Blends"...haha

do all cigars taste the same?.   I realise the organising of tobacco in Cuba, maybe ramshackle at best, but are you suggesting the idea of a Sancho Panza Belicoso having a certain defined flavour year on year.....is chance?

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I would go with B. I like having different cigars for different situations/smoking time at the moment.

Also if they had many marcas all rolled in just one size, I would put a small fortune on it not being a petit corona. Would you really want to be limited to just petit robustos or montescos? 

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I'd feel greedy taking the A option since it's one of my favorite vitolas. I never got my A.D.H.D treated and I get bored smoking anything that is over 90 minutes (even if it is mind-blowing). But then again, I think about how I would be forced into more NCs for golf or fishing smokes, and this ultimately lands me back to being non-greedy and routing for option B.

However, from the current vitola trends, I would think it would more likely to switch to only Robustos, so let's not think about such scary hypothetical scenarios. ?

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11 hours ago, 99call said:

So imagine if you will, HSA is faced with an imaginary fork in the road, to either produce

A,  A much more expansive catalogue of marcas/blends, but only in a Petit Corona size.   So you have PC in all the marcas in production today, plus all the dead marcas on CCW, i.e Siboney, Maria Guerrero, Dunhill, Davidoff, Cabanas, Gispert, La Escepcion etc etc. 

or 

B, how things are at the moment

No brainer for me- B

But, to make it interesting, what if you change out the words "Petit Corona" with "Laguito No 1" or "Julieta No. 2"???

Again, it's be a no-brainer for me, but I think in the opposite direction.

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B, but I don’t feel like the options are exactly equivalent, that is, I think A is a more extreme scenario. Though B may lean towards a variety in Vitolas over blends, there is still some variety of each. If my option B had instead been for a single blend with all of today’s vitolas, I would most certainly choose A. Similarly if option A was for say 5 distinct vitolas with all the blends that have ever been part of the catalogue I would probably choose A as well. As the question stands though, I just feel like B is the more balanced option of the two. Plus I do feel like vitola changes the smoking experience considerably (even if I don’t always find that change desirable).

 

Very interesting question though, it got me thinking, thank you!

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