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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

I'll PASS, Shorty.

I agree with many of the things that Habanos S.A. has done to maximize the profit from any given year's tobacco crop.  But one of the things I do not like, and now I can fairly say, never WILL like, is the absolute explosion of petit robustos, and to a smaller extent, petit piramides.  I understand that more cigars can be rolled with less wrapper leaves, and even that some wrapper leaves that could only be used on a perla or minuto can suddenly be found dressing a much fatter, and therefore more costly cigar.  What started with the Petit Robusto of Hoyo de Monterrey has now gone on to play some part in nearly every marque in the entire Habanos portfolio.  The place they have done the most damage is the Ediciones Regional and Ediciones Limitada series.  Here you have the effect of hypnotizing the customer into thinking, "here is a EL or RE cigar that I can afford 25 of."  25 of these tiny cigars may cost less than a box of Sir Winstons or even some lesser churchills or piramides.  But the satisfaction, to ME, is nothing like the same.  There are many cigar lovers who will say that they H. Upmann Magnum 48 Edicion Limtada is a fantastic smoke, and it is certainly very good.  But how many people have been utterly disappointed with the Bolivar Petit Piramides, the Bolivar Short Bolivar, the Partagas Serie P No.1?  When not disappointed with overall flavor, many people seem to come to a place of wanting for more once any burn issues burn themselves out after lighting and things get rolling.  Good manufacture or bad, Love it or hate it, the flavor you get is all to quickly over and you are holding a stub thinking, what just happened? 
Lots of people like the Hoyo Petit Robusto, but now there are even Short Robustos T.  A great cigar in it's full robusto size, but hardly worth the money in this Petit size.  Montecristo Petit Edmundos are also very hit and miss.  I heard rave reviews for them for a few years running, but every one I have had has shown come construction problems and run up one side like it's a race. 

Here is an idea for Habanos...Instead of rolling 25 of these cigars,  roll me a cabinet of 50 delicious, fine-burning, well-blended Minutos?  Franciscanos, Trabucos.  I will even pay a little more for the product.  Right now, I know that you feel like this is a good strategy, but to me this format has long over-stayed it's welcome.  I don't much care for them, based on the ones I've had.

1 comment:

James said...

I hear you. It would be nice if Habanos would just keep the corona size alive instead of trying to replace it with this petit robusto size. But maybe they are just trying to hit the 'sweet spot' of the cigar, haha.