Man O'War..

Cigar Sherlock

Sooo.. I have had a few of these from orders off the web...but none of the B&M's in my area carry them and they all look at me funny when I ask (as though to say, what cigar is that?). So I guess my question is, do your B&M's carry AJ's blessing? or are these things internet exclusive?

stephen_hannibal

I think ccom has exclusive rights to some of his brands.

docbp87

AJ has blended stuff for everyone from Rocky Patel to Padilla. I do know that Cigar.com/CI have the rights exclusively to a lot of different brands though (MOW, among others) In fact there are even rumors about the ownership of 5 Vegas/CI/CCom/etc. etc. all being the same.

Vidarien

docbp87:

AJ has blended stuff for everyone from Rocky Patel to Padilla. I do know that Cigar.com/CI have the rights exclusively to a lot of different brands though (MOW, among others) In fact there are even rumors about the ownership of 5 Vegas/CI/CCom/etc. etc. all being the same.

Yeah its kind of the unspoken question around here. And admittedly MOWs and 5 vegas etc are great blends, which I personally attest to....but it also means you have to take in-house reviews of these brands from ccom and the sister site with a grain of salt as they are their specially licensed brands and will obviously sing their praises over anything else that they have to go with out of house (Like nica libres...for all the spectacular praises you hear about them in some of the deals...anyone who has tried one vs the padron anniv. series knows the comparision is bunk). Thats good buisness and I respect it, but, as a consumer its something you have to take into account.

Gentleman

There is a smoke shop a few blocks from me. They mainly sell cigarrettes but they do have one cabinet humi filled with mainly macanudos and drew estates. I walked in smoking a Man o War with my buddy and the owner asked if she could keep the band to "look into" getting them. The awesome part was she let me look though their catalog and pick out next month's shipment. The downer was she's on a contract with warehouse so she can only order stock from them and the only thing they have worth mentioning was the Cohibas, a few Rocky Patel's and Romeo Y Julieta.

zeebra

There are 2 B&M's by my shop. One does not carry any of AJ's blends. The other has the one of the MoW, forget which one, its either the regualr or ruination. I asked him about Virtue, he said its only for internet.

Cigar Sherlock

It's not a big deal really, I just see all the praise from everyone about these cigars and yet they are hardly known in the realm of retail shops. Sad really, if they are so good they need to be out there being advertised....or wait a second..what am I saying? Let the masses not know of them, that way we get them all to ourselves

wwhwang

Yeah...Man O' War is CI and Cigar.com exclusive. I remember when I visited my first B&M in San Angelo, TX, which was called Colonel's Pipe and Tobacco (I think). Anyways, I told him that I was relatively new to cigars and asked him for recommendations. He asked me what I've smoked already and what I liked. I said Man O' War and La Gloria Cubana. He asked me what the hell Man O' War was and I said it was a very flavorful cigar from CCom, to which he prompted said "Oh, one of those online cigars" with a tone of contempt. Despite the old guy's attitude, his store had a really nice selection. Tons of CAO, Alec Bradley, Drew Estate (which I despise), Nub, Oliva, La Gloria Cubana, Macanudo, and Gurkha! He even had Gurkha Grand Reserves pretty cheap! Unfortunately, I didn't know what they were, so I never bought one before moving back here. But something tells me he'll have San Lotano, now that he knows how popular AJ is :P

lilwing88

AJ is the man, for sure. His stuff is excellent and anything with his name attached to, I'm trying. That being said, I have to think that he will be an "on-line" guy for the most part. Even though his new line is B&M only, I have to imagine that it will be hard for him to get B&Ms to commit to carrying his stuff. Most B&Ms I deal with have nothing but contempt for the on-line market. They're the competition, after all. I might be wrong here. This is only my speculation.

His stuff is good enough that any merchant should want to deal with him, but there is still an "us vs them" attitude between the B&Ms and the on-line industry.

zeebra

lilwing88:

AJ is the man, for sure. His stuff is excellent and anything with his name attached to, I'm trying. That being said, I have to think that he will be an "on-line" guy for the most part. Even though his new line is B&M only, I have to imagine that it will be hard for him to get B&Ms to commit to carrying his stuff. Most B&Ms I deal with have nothing but contempt for the on-line market. They're the competition, after all. I might be wrong here. This is only my speculation.

His stuff is good enough that any merchant should want to deal with him, but there is still an "us vs them" attitude between the B&Ms and the on-line industry.

I agree. I have a business and I dont carry brands that online stores sell for a cheap price where I'm not making enough margins. Not worth the time and effort when I can sell other brands and make more money with it. I dont commit to those manufacturers either, but I have no idea how the cigar world works...

xmacro

Cigar Sherlock:

It's not a big deal really, I just see all the praise from everyone about these cigars and yet they are hardly known in the realm of retail shops.

Bah, most B&M owners don't know a cameroon from a habano, and then when you tell them you can get a better price online, they get angry. On top of that, most of them are incompetent (what I asked, one of them told me "oh yeah, the 5 Vegas Gold Maduro tastes so great because it has all that light, fluffy leaf in it").

I'm just really fed up with my local B&M's ("Central Cigars" and "The Havana Room"), so I'm sticking to Ccom - ain't nothing at a B&M that I can't get online

zoom6zoom

I don't bother with the locals anymore. Even if they have what I want, I can get a fiver from ccom for the price of a single in the store.

lilwing88

I wanna clarify that I'm not bashing B&Ms or online sales, I'm just speculating on the attitude of the market. I use both and have my own pros and cons for both. I don't think there's anything like finding a great B&M that has great customer service and reasonable prices. I love Ccom for the same reason. I guess it all boils down to that this is a business and competition will determine which merchants will carry which products.

cabinetmaker

I support both. My B&M gives me a good discount, but I did actually build it, lol..

cabinetmaker

cabinetmaker:

I support both. My B&M gives me a good discount, but I did actually build it, lol..

That being said, all the cigar reps that sell to him absolutely bash the hell outta online cigar stores and brands and A.J too.

cabinetmaker

cabinetmaker:

cabinetmaker:

I support both. My B&M gives me a good discount, but I did actually build it, lol..

That being said, all the cigar reps that sell to him absolutely bash the hell outta online cigar stores and brands and A.J too.

Damn, I'm quotable!

xmacro

cabinetmaker:

cabinetmaker:

cabinetmaker:

I support both. My B&M gives me a good discount, but I did actually build it, lol..

That being said, all the cigar reps that sell to him absolutely bash the hell outta online cigar stores and brands and A.J too.

Damn, I'm quotable!

Combo Breaker!!

Alex_Svenson

Yes cigar makers have a variety if products.... Some just for a certain customer, some for national release and some just for brick and mortar stores. Just like some stores refuse to support brands that are offered to online folks, the online folks don't usually support the brick and mortar brands. That said, there is something to be said for brands made for guys like us. It is simple supply chair economics. By buying direct from the factory and selling to the consumer, we can offer excellent quality for a fraction of the price. When you buy from a store, the store bought it from a distributor, the distributor bought it from a brand owner who bought it from the factory. Those extra hands in the equation add a lot of extra dollars before you get your cigar. Take diesel for example, to buy that cigar at retail based on the materials we use to make it would be about $8. We sell boxes of 30 for $99 because the warehouse we ship from buys all the supply. Man o war however is distributed to stores by Meier and Dutch wholesalers.

Alex_Svenson

The brand he is rolling out for the stores is San Lotano which released this month.

Krieg

cabinetmaker:

cabinetmaker:

I support both. My B&M gives me a good discount, but I did actually build it, lol..

That being said, all the cigar reps that sell to him absolutely bash the hell outta online cigar stores and brands and A.J too.

yeah they do, pretty tired of it too....not my problem you can't compete price wise with online stores.

TheDrifter

Krieg:

cabinetmaker:

cabinetmaker:

I support both. My B&M gives me a good discount, but I did actually build it, lol..

That being said, all the cigar reps that sell to him absolutely bash the hell outta online cigar stores and brands and A.J too.

yeah they do, pretty tired of it too....not my problem you can't compete price wise with online stores.

This isn't always true, most industries have to meet a minimum advertised price, doesn't mean they can't give you a deal at the register though. Same holds true for CCOM as well. I like the pricing of online retailers but I like the immediacy of a B&M, and nothing beats browsing a huge walk in and picking up and handling the cigars to find the perfect one. Both have their pluses and minuses, which is why I shop at both

Alex_Svenson

cabinetmaker:

cabinetmaker:

I support both. My B&M gives me a good discount, but I did actually build it, lol..

That being said, all the cigar reps that sell to him absolutely bash the hell outta online cigar stores and brands and A.J too.

The reps are not big fans of catalog houses such as ours. Typically catalog companies are of a size where they work directly with the manufacturer and don't have a rep, more of a house account. For the reps, 100% of their skin is in the b and m business so they tend to dislike catalogs and any brand the catalogs push. No secret we here at cigar.com are huge AJ Fernandez fanatics.

cabinetmaker

Alex Svenson:

cabinetmaker:

cabinetmaker:

I support both. My B&M gives me a good discount, but I did actually build it, lol..

That being said, all the cigar reps that sell to him absolutely bash the hell outta online cigar stores and brands and A.J too.

The reps are not big fans of catalog houses such as ours. Typically catalog companies are of a size where they work directly with the manufacturer and don't have a rep, more of a house account. For the reps, 100% of their skin is in the b and m business so they tend to dislike catalogs and any brand the catalogs push. No secret we here at cigar.com are huge AJ Fernandez fanatics.

Me too, especially considering I'll have over 200 of his blends probably by wed. I'm smoking a AJ sig robusto with coffee this morning. Love them, sad they will no longer be made, glad he'll make them at a later date, though under another name.

docbp87

Alex Svenson:

Yes cigar makers have a variety if products.... Some just for a certain customer, some for national release and some just for brick and mortar stores. Just like some stores refuse to support brands that are offered to online folks, the online folks don't usually support the brick and mortar brands. That said, there is something to be said for brands made for guys like us. It is simple supply chair economics. By buying direct from the factory and selling to the consumer, we can offer excellent quality for a fraction of the price. When you buy from a store, the store bought it from a distributor, the distributor bought it from a brand owner who bought it from the factory. Those extra hands in the equation add a lot of extra dollars before you get your cigar. Take diesel for example, to buy that cigar at retail based on the materials we use to make it would be about $8. We sell boxes of 30 for $99 because the warehouse we ship from buys all the supply. Man o war however is distributed to stores by Meier and Dutch wholesalers.

Thanks for the info Alex.

Joeyjoe21_8

u actually gave me a signature series a while back...ill light it up tonight...u rave about them and this has made me curious...cant believe u bought 4 boxes though cabi! ur nuts! lol

Lasabar

cabinetmaker:

cabinetmaker:

I support both. My B&M gives me a good discount, but I did actually build it, lol..

That being said, all the cigar reps that sell to him absolutely bash the hell outta online cigar stores and brands and A.J too.

That's a shame... Man O' War is a very good cigar!

betasynn

It's interesting. Man o' War is NOT an exclusive CI/CCOM thing, though there are vitolas exclusively for them (and Mr. Svenson has a person vitola that he should share, too.) I know my store carries them, but the do not move. He's had the same box sitting there for a year. He's also looked into ordering 5 Vegas, but the owner of my shop says that the reps will tell him to look at CBID and to match those prices. In New York, with a 75% tax, it's impossible to match those prices. It's that way for lots of cigar reps, and many are not willing to deal because for them, I think it's easier to move product online. B&Ms have an important place in a world that is increasingly hard to smoke in, however they seem to be fading out.

wwhwang

betasynn:

It's interesting. Man o' War is NOT an exclusive CI/CCOM thing, though there are vitolas exclusively for them (and Mr. Svenson has a person vitola that he should share, too.) I know my store carries them, but the do not move. He's had the same box sitting there for a year. He's also looked into ordering 5 Vegas, but the owner of my shop says that the reps will tell him to look at CBID and to match those prices. In New York, with a 75% tax, it's impossible to match those prices. It's that way for lots of cigar reps, and many are not willing to deal because for them, I think it's easier to move product online. B&Ms have an important place in a world that is increasingly hard to smoke in, however they seem to be fading out.

This is what pisses me off. If a state decides to push a legitimate and legal business out of the market, they really don't deserve that business' tax dollars. I guess this is why Canadian and New York B&Ms are either closed or charge an arm and a leg for everything. I looked at some of the Ontario B&M websites and holy crap! Even their non-ISOMs charge 2 to 3 times what Mississippi and Texas B&Ms charge.

surfingzeeko

betasynn:

It's interesting. Man o' War is NOT an exclusive CI/CCOM thing, though there are vitolas exclusively for them (and Mr. Svenson has a person vitola that he should share, too.) I know my store carries them, but the do not move. He's had the same box sitting there for a year. He's also looked into ordering 5 Vegas, but the owner of my shop says that the reps will tell him to look at CBID and to match those prices. In New York, with a 75% tax, it's impossible to match those prices. It's that way for lots of cigar reps, and many are not willing to deal because for them, I think it's easier to move product online. B&Ms have an important place in a world that is increasingly hard to smoke in, however they seem to be fading out.

so what's the special vitola you have Alex? Lol

betasynn

He posted a picture of showed it in one of the videos they did here, it's like a small size. Looks sort of nubby.

xmacro

A Nub MOW . . . my dear God . . . *head explodes*