Where have all the Churchills gone?

[Well Armed]

I was in Camaguey airport last May and saw 6 boxes of RyJ churchills for $600 USD each. I thought I’d found the holy grail! As an upstanding and law abiding citizen, I dutifully boarded my plane without them. But then I got thinking to myself, “Self, where have all the Churchills gone?  Such a previously popular vitola is now rarely seen for sale.”

Wassup with that?  Double robustos as far as the eye can see, and by August Churchill is forgotten to the dustbin of past preferences, perhaps? That would be a true shame. 

[loose_axle]

I've seen plenty appear after a long time on a few grey market sites. If they're Esplendidos or Sir Winstons they disappear rapidly though. Haven't seen any 2023/2024 date boxes for Churchills yet. I'm sure they're there, like DCs, only a few see them and strangle them at birth. 

[Doctorossi]

My house?

[potpest]

13 hours ago, loose_axle said:

I've seen plenty appear after a long time on a few grey market sites. If they're Esplendidos or Sir Winstons they disappear rapidly though. Haven't seen any 2023/2024 date boxes for Churchills yet. I'm sure they're there, like DCs, only a few see them and strangle them at birth. 

Picked these up in December last year.

[BrightonCorgi]

Considering that only four Julieta No. 2's are in production is a good indicator. 2 are very expensive, 1 is regular, and other one is a once in a while to market cigar.

[El Presidente]

Slowest selling vitola in non Cubans = Churchill. 

Before cigarmageddon, the same could be said in the Cuban cigar world. Plenty great Churchills went to the wall over the past 20 years. 

It suprises me that the R&J Churchill is not more widely available. Like the Monte 2, it is a recognised staple in Asia and the Middle East. 

It could be as simple as large wrapper being in short supply and designated to higher ROI product. 

I expect a flood R&J Churchills over the coming months. It is the way Cuba does things. 

[loose_axle]

10 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Considering that only four Julieta No. 2's are in production is a good indicator. 2 are very expensive, 1 is regular, and other one is a once in a while to market cigar.

What's the fourth one? I know we've got RyJ as a regular, Sir Winston & Esplendidos as the 2 x expensive but I'm going mad trying to figure out the last, unless its the ERDM Tainos? 

[BrightonCorgi]

1 hour ago, loose_axle said:

What's the fourth one? I know we've got RyJ as a regular, Sir Winston & Esplendidos as the 2 x expensive but I'm going mad trying to figure out the last, unless its the ERDM Tainos? 

QdO Imperiales

[loose_axle]

1 hour ago, BrightonCorgi said:

QdO Imperiales

Ahhh I didn’t realise still in regular production. Thank you sir! 

[Li Bai]

5 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

QdO Imperiales

I thought you were talking of the Monte Anejados, I didn't take Travel Humidors into account. I guess we could say there are 5 julieta n°2 still in production?

[Fugu]

Technically, only three Julieta No. 2 remaining in regular production. The DF and Travel Retail editions are usually quite limited and rather short-lived special editions, often even shorter than some ERs.

[Edicion]

11 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

QdO Imperiales

I've never even seen one. CCW lists them as discontinued since 2015. Are they still made and pop up every now and then? 

[Li Bai]

5 minutes ago, Edicion said:

I've never even seen one. CCW lists them as discontinued since 2015. Are they still made and pop up every now and then? 

I've seen a box of this Travel Humidor at CDG airport's duty free

 

[Ford2112]

So we have Sir Winston, Esplendido and RyJ basically. Esplendido, Sir Winston get a lot of forum love. Seems like the new jawbreaker vitolas are the ones selling like hot cakes. I guess in my older age and propensity to slow down and enjoy my time doesn't jive with the modern day " go go go look at me crowd" these days. I prefer longer evening smokes that take me on a journey. 

[Well Armed]

On 8/14/2024 at 6:45 AM, El Presidente said:

I expect a flood R&J Churchills over the coming months. It is the way Cuba does things. 

I am going to hold you to this prediction. And if you are wrong, I’m going to wait longer. But I won’t like it! If RyJ made 1 Churchill for every 100 Wide Churchills, I’d be happy.

Does Habanos SA have a complaint department?  

[cigaraholic]

Of course Habanos SA has a complaint department 🪣

[Reuben]

I really love a vitola in churchill size.  One of my favorite sizes!

[Well Armed]

I remember getting two cabs of Bolivar Coronas Gigantes and thinking it would be 20 years before I smoked them all. Shoulda gotten a dozen cabs. 

[loose_axle]

I never got to try the Bolivar CG. Still kicking myself to this day. Got given the option to buy 2 x boxes of Hoyo DC's or 1 x Bolivar GC. Being returned to the cigar smoking scene after many years at that time I didn't realise they were discontinued and thought they'd come up again. Same with VR Don Alejandro. If there are regrets its letting those two slide. 

[REesq]

So true Well Armed ☹️.  I had two boxes of Bolivar Coronas Gigantes and two boxes of Vegas Robaina Don Alejandro, the later of which I bought from Carlos Robaina himself at the 5th Avenue store.  Special occasion cigars. I thought I was set for life. Apparently, I have either lived too long or I simply have too many special occasions because they are pretty much long gone, just a few RDA remaining for a really special occasion.😉 Back to the original post, I have seen a few boxes of Sir Winstons in the wild  which I purchased immediately, both 2023, but I haven’t seen any boxed RyJ for a long time. Just a few tubos here and there. I read somewhere that there was a shortage of quality larger sized wrapper leaves, but I just picked up some Partagas and Cuaba Solomones and those require pretty large leaves so who knows.