Quai d'Orsay Alma

[Bijan]

Was playing around with a theory of mine concerning barcode serial numbers and came across a 10-count box of Quai d'Orsay Alma.

Did a quick google search and this leak came up:

https://halfwheel.com/2017-habanos-s-a-release-list-leaks/128465/

All the other regular production cigars there are out now. The code I found would roughly indicate August 2020 production. When do we expect these to be released?

Edit: The theory on serials which seems to be confirmed so far, is that serial numbers come in mastercase sized batches. That means there will be 52 PC 25 dress boxes in a row. Or 18 Esplendidos in a row. 21 Sir Winstons in a row. Or 100 du Maire in a row. Etc. Could always be a multiple of those if several mastercases were processed in a row.

[Tstew75]

1 minute ago, Bijan said:

Was playing around with a theory of mine concerning barcode serial numbers and came across a 10-count box of Quai d'Orsay Alma.

Did a quick google search and this leak came up:

https://halfwheel.com/2017-habanos-s-a-release-list-leaks/128465/

All the other regular production cigars there are out now. The code I found would roughly indicate August 2020 production. When do we expect these to be released?

Another 54rg LOL...hopefully this one will just die before eventual release

[NSXCIGAR]

These lists are typically insider rumor. Most I've seen actually get a lot right but I've seen a lot wrong or delayed. Who knows--incorrect, cancelled, delayed. 

I've seen many cigars on these lists over the last 2-3 years that have yet to materialize (Por Larranaga Galanes, Cuaba Britanicas Extra among others).

[Bijan]

1 minute ago, NSXCIGAR said:

These lists are typically rumor. Most I've seen get a lot right but I've seen a lot wrong or delayed. Who knows--incorrect, cancelled, delayed. 

I've seen many cigars on these lists over the last 2-3 years that have yet to materialize (Por Larranaga Galanes, Cuaba Britanicas Extra among others).

As I've said I have a serial number that verifies for a 10-count box of QD Alma on the Habanos verification site and it's roughly in the August 2020 production range of serials. It would be odd for them to add a phantom cigar to the database.

[JZBdano]

They named them No. 50 and No. 54 instead of Goumet and Alma.  Good decision I think.

[NSXCIGAR]

2 minutes ago, Bijan said:

As I've said I have a serial number that verifies for a 10-count box of QD Alma on the Habanos verification site and it's roughly in the August 2020 production range of serials. It would be odd for them to add a phantom cigar to the database.

Maybe, maybe not. They have to add the cigar to their internal database before production. Perhaps they did but changed their mind about production and forgot to remove the cigar from the database. Have you hit any other ghost cigars plugging in barcodes?

[Bijan]

36 minutes ago, JZBdano said:

They named them No. 50 and No. 54 instead of Goumet and Alma.  Good decision I think.

That makes more sense now! I guess that means that 54s verify as Alma at least occasionally!

 

35 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Maybe, maybe not. They have to add the cigar to their internal database before production. Perhaps they did but changed their mind about production and forgot to remove the cigar from the database. Have you hit any other ghost cigars plugging in barcodes?

Not yet, but I'm sure I will, if I play long enough if that is the case. I've only been at it a short while.

[Tstew75]

1 minute ago, JZBdano said:

They named them No. 50 and No. 54 instead of Goumet and Alma.  Good decision I think.

Oh wow, you're right! It's the QDO No. 54

Damn....DUH

[NSXCIGAR]

36 minutes ago, JZBdano said:

They named them No. 50 and No. 54 instead of Goumet and Alma.  Good decision I think.

I was just about to check that...yes, it looks like they just changed the names at the last minute.

 

35 minutes ago, Bijan said:

That makes more sense now! I guess that means that 54s verify as Alma at least occasionally!

Is that what you did? Plug in a 54 and it came up with the name Alma in the database?

[Bijan]

1 minute ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Is that what you did? Plug in a 54 and it came up with the name Alma in the database?

No I started with my box of Montecristo Especial, and found the closest code before and after that was a different vitola. For me it was Alma before and Short de Punch after, with 64 in a row of Especial which is 2 mastercases of 32.

[cigarsdelcuba]

i can confirm that it is a simple name change. the cigars were gourmet and alma and were changed as noted above to the sizes 

[NSXCIGAR]

3 hours ago, Bijan said:

No I started with my box of Montecristo Especial, and found the closest code before and after that was a different vitola. For me it was Alma before and Short de Punch after, with 64 in a row of Especial which is 2 mastercases of 32.

Funny. You might turn up some other phantoms in there. Sounds like they get ahead of themselves with the database.

For the record, I'm glad they didn't stick with Alma. About as bad as Esmeralda. There must be someone high up trying to honor the names of their female family members with these names. 

[Fugu]

8 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

For the record, I'm glad they didn't stick with Alma. About as bad as Esmeralda. There must be someone high up trying to honor the names of their female family members with these names. 

Well, with Alma signifying ‘soul’ and Esmeralda ‘emerald’ (the gem), I think they chose some fairly decent names. Sure, also women’s names (and, for that matter, quite a few location names in the Spanish speaking world). But what’s wrong with that?

More appealing to me than any of the bellicose Magnums. Or such “brilliant” names like Novedosos (and may future save us from a Double Catalina)  

But isn’t there no better name than ‘soul’ for a cigar?

[JohnS]

17 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

For the record, I'm glad they didn't stick with Alma. About as bad as Esmeralda. There must be someone high up trying to honor the names of their female family members with these names. 

 

8 hours ago, Fugu said:

Well, with Alma signifying ‘soul’ and Esmeralda ‘emerald’ (the gem), I think they chose some fairly decent names. Sure, also women’s names (and, for that matter, quite a few location names in the Spanish speaking world). But what’s wrong with that?

True, Esmeralda is a female name and is 'emerald' in Spanish. I too thought the name was a gemstone reference when it was first released. However, I had to search deeper to link the naming of Trinidad cigars since around the time of the brand's Cuban 40th anniversary. You see, around that time when Imperial Brands acquired Altidis in early 2008 (and therefore a 50% stake in Habanos S.A) another re-marketing of Trinidad occurred a year or so later with the 40th anniversary humidor (400 humidors of 40 cigars with the same vitola as the Cohiba Siglo VI - no coincidence there), the Short Robusto T Limited Edition and of course the Trinidad Robusto T, which we all lament at its discontinuation.

The Robusto T was actually also known as 'del valle' or the valley in English and signified the first Trinidad release to carry a La Santisima Trinidad (Holy Trinity in English, the third city founded in Cuba in 1514) street or landmark reference. Every Trinidad release since then has been named after a similar reference to a street or landmark in the Cuban city of Trinidad. So Esmeralda is named after the street, 'Calle Esmeralda'. Media Luna is named after the famous hotel in the colonial centre. Simon Chase confirmed the Vigia and Topes in his article for Cigar Journal on the rise of Trinidad in recent times...

The names given to Trinidad’s newest arrivals are a bit tricky, too. Vigia, for example, another excellent stocky shape (110 mm | 43⁄8 x 54 ring gauge), means a “lookout” and refers to the tower on a sugar plantation near Trinidad city that once served such a purpose. Likewise, how many people know where Topes comes from? Again, I can help. Nestling in the Escambray mountains behind Trinidad at 900 meters above sea level, there is a small settlement called Topes de Collantes. Today it is at the center of a nature reserve populated by eucalyptus and pine trees under which a rich variety of flora prospers amongst stunning streams, waterfalls and deep pools. Topes de Collantes means something like “tops of the hills”.

Source: https://www.cigarjournal.com/trinidad-cigars/

[NSXCIGAR]

9 hours ago, Fugu said:

Well, with Alma signifying ‘soul’ and Esmeralda ‘emerald’ (the gem), I think they chose some fairly decent names

I will give you that they're better than Herfing, Ammunition or WIH 20. 

[Fugu]

14 hours ago, JohnS said:

So Esmeralda is named after the street, 'Calle Esmeralda'.

Thanks, John. I was sure there was some locality-reference involved for the Trini, but had no clue yet where to put the Esmeralda.

13 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I will give you that they're better than Herfing, Ammunition or WIH 20. 

What, no love for the Super Ramon? ????

(...what stands the WTF20 for, again?)

[Tstew75]

23 hours ago, JohnS said:

 

True, Esmeralda is a female name and is 'emerald' in Spanish. I too thought the name was a gemstone reference when it was first released. However, I had to search deeper to link the naming of Trinidad cigars since around the time of the brand's Cuban 40th anniversary. You see, around that time when Imperial Brands acquired Altidis in early 2008 (and therefore a 50% stake in Habanos S.A) another re-marketing of Trinidad occurred a year or so later with the 40th anniversary humidor (400 humidors of 40 cigars with the same vitola as the Cohiba Siglo VI - no coincidence there), the Short Robusto T Limited Edition and of course the Trinidad Robusto T, which we all lament at its discontinuation.

The Robusto T was actually also known as 'del valle' or the valley in English and signified the first Trinidad release to carry a La Santisima Trinidad (Holy Trinity in English, the third city founded in Cuba in 1514) street or landmark reference. Every Trinidad release since then has been named after a similar reference to a street or landmark in the Cuban city of Trinidad. So Esmeralda is named after the street, 'Calle Esmeralda'. Media Luna is named after the famous hotel in the colonial centre. Simon Chase confirmed the Vigia and Topes in his article for Cigar Journal on the rise of Trinidad in recent times...

The names given to Trinidad’s newest arrivals are a bit tricky, too. Vigia, for example, another excellent stocky shape (110 mm | 43⁄8 x 54 ring gauge), means a “lookout” and refers to the tower on a sugar plantation near Trinidad city that once served such a purpose. Likewise, how many people know where Topes comes from? Again, I can help. Nestling in the Escambray mountains behind Trinidad at 900 meters above sea level, there is a small settlement called Topes de Collantes. Today it is at the center of a nature reserve populated by eucalyptus and pine trees under which a rich variety of flora prospers amongst stunning streams, waterfalls and deep pools. Topes de Collantes means something like “tops of the hills”.

Source: https://www.cigarjournal.com/trinidad-cigars/

As usual, amazing stuff John. Thx