Ramon Allones Phoenicio 40th Anniversary

[ATGroom]

Phoenecia always go pretty big, but if they're serious about the 450k, that is HUGE for a regional.

For reference, here are the top 10 largest regional releases:

1    500,000    Serie D No.5 Edición Regional España 2017
2    250,000    Phoenicio 35 Edición Regional Líbano 2015
3    225,000    Phoenicio Edición Regional Líbano 2008
4    200,000    Maestros Edición Regional España 2007
5    200,000    Secretos Edición Regional España 2013
6    200,000    WIH 20 Edición Regional Líbano 2017
7    185,000    Short Bolivar Edición Regional Asia Pacifico 2008
8    185,000    Belicosos Extra Edición Regional Asia Pacifico 2008
9    150,000    Capitolio Edición Regional Francia 2018
10    150,000    Eshmoun Edición Regional Líbano 2012

Over the 200 regionals released so far, the average release size is 57,000.

For the Phoenicio 40:

-4 different coloured humidors of 40, 100 of each colour (100 x 40 x 4 = 16,000)
-40 humidors of 40 (40 x 40 = 1,600)
-the remainder in boxes of 20 (450k - 16k - 1.6k = 432,400 / 20 = 21,620 boxes)

Lot of boxes to move.

(an aside, complete speculation, but when I first saw the number on the Serie D No.5 my thought was "must be an error in the reporting", but eventually box pictures came out, and sure enough, the number plates said x/50000. It seemed like they actually produced most of them as well, I've seen numbers as high as 35,000/50,000. The cigars are basic, competitively priced cigars, fairly normal, approachable every day size, not a big ultra-premium hoopla like the Phoenicio. So my theory is that in an era of limited supply of most lines, the Serie D 5 was an effort by the Spanish to ensure they had stock of at least one good every day cigar for their market.) 

[Corylax18]

I talked to 4 people about his over the weekend. 2 In the industry and two not(one of these was Hector's Nephew) Unfortunately, Hector wasn't one of them, he gave us a quick call to thank us for "breaking in" the Vedado Casa, but he was at the airport, about to catch a flight, so we didn't have time to get into this.

The two people that I asked who have worked or currently work in the industry laughed in my face. Hard. Followed by head shaking and face palming. The news hadn't made it down there yet, so I had to explain why I was even asking such a stupid question.

Hectors Nephew confirmed that Hector received more land from the government, but didn't know exactly how much. He also informed me that Nothing had been grown on it yet and that it is about 20 minutes car ride from Finca Quemada de Rubi. I was told it was being used for "Animals" which I assume to mean grazing. I did confirm that the original Finca is about 6 Hectares, not 6 acres as I originally stated.

When I asked a certain well respected roller his opinion he answered; "No, this is not possible." After he finished laughing. He mentioned something that I hadn't even thought of. The entire grading, sorting and fermenting process is based not on what farm the leaf comes from, but on its color and physical characteristics. 

Once the Governments cut leaves Hectors farm, its brought to sorting/classification buildings were it is separated by leaf type (MT, Ligero, Volado, Seco) then recombined with other farmers leaf of the same type for the 2nd and 3rd fermentations. Link to the process on HSA's website at the bottom.  

So, at a minimum, HSA would need to change their entire process from Seed to finished cigar to make this even remotely possible. They would also need the Government to do them a solid and allow Hector to be the subject of a "Personality Cult". An idea that fly's directly in the face of 60+ years of communism. 

Not that I had any doubts before, but nothing I learned this weekend reinforces Phoenician's claims. They are lying, Full Stop.

http://www.habanos.com/en/el-mundo-del-habano/un-largo-camino-por-recorrer-tripa-y-capote/

[Corylax18]

18 hours ago, ATGroom said:

Phoenecia always go pretty big, but if they're serious about the 450k, that is HUGE for a regional.

For reference, here are the top 10 largest regional releases:

1    500,000    Serie D No.5 Edición Regional España 2017
2    250,000    Phoenicio 35 Edición Regional Líbano 2015
3    225,000    Phoenicio Edición Regional Líbano 2008
4    200,000    Maestros Edición Regional España 2007
5    200,000    Secretos Edición Regional España 2013
6    200,000    WIH 20 Edición Regional Líbano 2017
7    185,000    Short Bolivar Edición Regional Asia Pacifico 2008
8    185,000    Belicosos Extra Edición Regional Asia Pacifico 2008
9    150,000    Capitolio Edición Regional Francia 2018
10    150,000    Eshmoun Edición Regional Líbano 2012

Over the 200 regionals released so far, the average release size is 57,000.

For the Phoenicio 40:

-4 different coloured humidors of 40, 100 of each colour (100 x 40 x 4 = 16,000)
-40 humidors of 40 (40 x 40 = 1,600)
-the remainder in boxes of 20 (450k - 16k - 1.6k = 432,400 / 20 = 21,620 boxes)

Lot of boxes to move.

(an aside, complete speculation, but when I first saw the number on the Serie D No.5 my thought was "must be an error in the reporting", but eventually box pictures came out, and sure enough, the number plates said x/50000. It seemed like they actually produced most of them as well, I've seen numbers as high as 35,000/50,000. The cigars are basic, competitively priced cigars, fairly normal, approachable every day size, not a big ultra-premium hoopla like the Phoenicio. So my theory is that in an era of limited supply of most lines, the Serie D 5 was an effort by the Spanish to ensure they had stock of at least one good every day cigar for their market.) 

Wow, Raw Data!! I would add that the Serie D No. 5 are 50 x 110 Petite Robustos while the  Phoenician 40th will be 54 x 164. That equates to almost twice as much volume and consequently twice as much tobacco as the Serie D's. Special Indeed.....

[FireDigger]

Does anyone have any more news on the Phoenicia 40? Were they released in Nov. 2019? I find it interesting that Phoenicia normally commissions the largest batches of REs, yet you see very little being sold online. So it must be true they only sell these in B&Ms in their regions?

[StogieSteve23]

Thank you for sharing this! Very cool they had HLP and Cueto involved with this project and pictured next to one another.  Two masters of their craft. 

[NSXCIGAR]

On 4/30/2019 at 8:47 PM, ATGroom said:

...So my theory is that in an era of limited supply of most lines, the Serie D 5 was an effort by the Spanish to ensure they had stock of at least one good every day cigar for their market.) 

I think we found the upper limit since the LGC D5 is still easily available at original prices nearly 3 years after release. 500,000 sticks is an awful lot. I can't imagine how long it's going to take to move that many P 40 with Elie Bleu humis. 

I think the magic number is probably around 250,000 sticks for large production. Enough to keep good supply through the next release for the region.

[Cigarsmoker81]

Sorry to revive an old thread but was wondering if any of you have smoked the RA phonecia 40? If so let us know your thoughts