Collaboration

[El Presidente]

https://halfwheel.com/my-father-tatuaje-ship-first-la-union-collaboration/433988/

[MagicalBikeRide]

109 heads are awful popular lately

[bmac]

I will be purchasing this release

[Rushman]

Me? Likey but alas need to prioritize room in the humidor. 

[Duxnutz]

Wow. $60 a cigar! Non Cuban prices edging up. Saw the half wheel top 5 was mostly ultra premiums over $20. Interesting times. 

[anacostiakat]

Need more bands. . .  

[jazzboypro]

AFAIC no cigar is worth that much especially with NC's. Pricing is getting more and more ridiculous.

[RKPStogie]

It's the year of NC collaborations. Depending on the source, rumor is the Padron - Fuente Legend cigars may cost close to $100 a cigar. 

[BrightonCorgi]

A bit tacky looking

[joeypots]

Raise the price and people often think an item is better. A 60$ cigar must be better than a 20$ cigar. If it wasn’t a really good cigar it wouldn’t be in a really good box. Right? I’m sure this La Union product is fine. I suspect NC operators are looking at the new Habanos business model and are thinking if Cuba can do it why not me? Truly, these days a cigar is not just a cigar.

[Li Bai]

On 1/26/2024 at 8:49 PM, joeypots said:

Raise the price and people often think an item is better.

Maybe feel rather than think 🤔

This has been theorized :

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good

[Li Bai]

As a European (born and raised as a cigar smoker with CC's and CC's only for the better and for the worse) I have a really hard time understanding how big the portfolios of NC companies can be. 🤔

With those collaborations, limited editions and so and so it seems they're adding dozens and dozens of cigars each year, each brand...

It doesn't make sense to me but I'm putting the efforts to process it and i do smoke NC on a regular basis. No offense, but right now it looks like marketing strategies to me and not much else.

[Li Bai]

8 hours ago, VeguerosMAN said:

These so called collaborations or limited editions are like a drop in the ocean when you look at the whole NC portfolios. 99% of NC companies make money through their regular line ups, not these collaborations, if I am not mistaken. 

I think that's right although I'm no expert, but I was talking about their regular line ups in particular.

If one looks at AF and even only their Opus X regular production, we're talking about dozens maybe hundreds of cigars (I'm not quite sure how many since most are impossible to get in France). It's astounding and tbh, I just don't get how each and every one of them could genuinely have its own signature. That's just my take of course.

[Li Bai]

I have had some Opus X but not the unicorns as I never came across any. Great cigars but loads of gingerbread, I don't see it become a regular of mine (which is good news moneywise), I've had Don Carlos, I've had dozens of Short story, I smoked recently some Royale salute too and three or four gran reserva.

They're all different in taste I agree but to my palate, no AF has got me in love. Don't get me wrong, they're all good but there's always something missing imho. 

This being said my point is one blend, dozens of cigars and there comes a point where even the regular portfolio becomes illegible. Maybe that's the point, don't you think?