When will we see Morro Castle from AJ?

dennisking

Morro Castle is on the evil empires site as part of a sampler they have for black Friday. Are we going to see this in stock or should we call and talk to a rep about availability.

Alex_Svenson

Should start shipping next week. I fly to Nicaragua Sunday and will scope it out.

docedwards

WOW! The big guy checks in with us on Thanksgiving. But then he gets to fly to Nicaragua to check on some smokes. What a life. May be that I'm just not living right. Have a great trip and thanks.

PuroFreak

Ok, I have to say it... Is AJ trying to rival Rocky with the number of blends he has on the market??? How many new blends has he put out in the last 6 months alone??

wwhwang

PuroFreak:

Ok, I have to say it... Is AJ trying to rival Rocky with the number of blends he has on the market??? How many new blends has he put out in the last 6 months alone??

On the number of blends? Maybe. But at least AJ's stuff is good :P

PuroFreak

wwhwang:

PuroFreak:

Ok, I have to say it... Is AJ trying to rival Rocky with the number of blends he has on the market??? How many new blends has he put out in the last 6 months alone??

On the number of blends? Maybe. But at least AJ's stuff is good :P

Well thats debatable... I've seen several people who aren't fans, but if you remember back to when Rocky first started expanding his lines so rapidly, most people at that time considered most of his cigars to be really good. Quality has suffered with his cigars... Kind of like Gurkha... Not saying AJ is going to end up the same way, but it kind of seems like he is going down a path we have seen a few others go down before..

docbp87

wwhwang:

PuroFreak:

Ok, I have to say it... Is AJ trying to rival Rocky with the number of blends he has on the market??? How many new blends has he put out in the last 6 months alone??

On the number of blends? Maybe. But at least AJ's stuff is good :P

While there are several blends by AJ that I think are really awesome, there are just as many, if not more, that just taste like any other discount "meh" stick out there... I sort of see where Puro is coming from. Look at the Dirty Dozen Sampler. 12 sticks. Maybe 5 of them are great, the rest are either okay, or so-so, which is what I would say about Rocky or Gurkha as well.

Russ55

docbp87:

wwhwang:

PuroFreak:

Ok, I have to say it... Is AJ trying to rival Rocky with the number of blends he has on the market??? How many new blends has he put out in the last 6 months alone??

On the number of blends? Maybe. But at least AJ's stuff is good :P

While there are several blends by AJ that I think are really awesome, there are just as many, if not more, that just taste like any other discount "meh" stick out there... I sort of see where Puro is coming from. Look at the Dirty Dozen Sampler. 12 sticks. Maybe 5 of them are great, the rest are either okay, or so-so, which is what I would say about Rocky or Gurkha as well.

Yeah but only 4, maybe 5 of those are actually his. The rest are for other people's labels. He really only has a handful of blends that are his own.

dennisking

in regard to AJ's sticks, you can't win all the people all of the time.
Alex, travel safe. Thanks for the update. I think a play by play is in order.

PuroFreak

I don't want anyone to get the wong idea that I'm just bashing the guy, I really do enjoy most of his blends, but just concerned things might change in the future like they have with some other companies... The Diesel is probably my favorite AJ blend to date, but I haven't tried the Unlimited yet... have one resting in the humi that will meet it's maker soon! Also haven't tried the Ave Maria or the San Lotano... Need to try the Ave Maria, it reminds me of my neice Ava Marie. lol

docbp87

Russ55:

docbp87:

wwhwang:

PuroFreak:

Ok, I have to say it... Is AJ trying to rival Rocky with the number of blends he has on the market??? How many new blends has he put out in the last 6 months alone??

On the number of blends? Maybe. But at least AJ's stuff is good :P

While there are several blends by AJ that I think are really awesome, there are just as many, if not more, that just taste like any other discount "meh" stick out there... I sort of see where Puro is coming from. Look at the Dirty Dozen Sampler. 12 sticks. Maybe 5 of them are great, the rest are either okay, or so-so, which is what I would say about Rocky or Gurkha as well.

Yeah but only 4, maybe 5 of those are actually his. The rest are for other people's labels. He really only has a handful of blends that are his own.

And that actually makes it worse than Rocky, if you ask me. At least Rocky isn't the one blending all of his crappy sticks.

And don't get me wrong. I'm playing Devil's advocate here. I like AJ Fernandez's work for the most part.

Russ55

docbp87:

Russ55:

docbp87:

wwhwang:

PuroFreak:

Ok, I have to say it... Is AJ trying to rival Rocky with the number of blends he has on the market??? How many new blends has he put out in the last 6 months alone??

On the number of blends? Maybe. But at least AJ's stuff is good :P

While there are several blends by AJ that I think are really awesome, there are just as many, if not more, that just taste like any other discount "meh" stick out there... I sort of see where Puro is coming from. Look at the Dirty Dozen Sampler. 12 sticks. Maybe 5 of them are great, the rest are either okay, or so-so, which is what I would say about Rocky or Gurkha as well.

Yeah but only 4, maybe 5 of those are actually his. The rest are for other people's labels. He really only has a handful of blends that are his own.

And that actually makes it worse than Rocky, if you ask me. At least Rocky isn't the one blending all of his crappy sticks.

And don't get me wrong. I'm playing Devil's advocate here. I like AJ Fernandez's work for the most part.

Well, that's certainly an interesting way to look at it. To each his own.

Alex_Svenson

its comparing apples to oranges in my opinion. remember aj started as a factory and that is still 99% of his business. he makes cigars for other people. there are a lot of folks out there like this. plasencia for example makes literally hundreds of brands for dozens of customers including padilla, savenelli, rocky patel, gurkha, alec bradley, los blancos and every major catalog. AJ is the same type of setup, he makes blends for several mail order houses including cigar.com as well as cigars for gurkha, bahia, rocky, papilla, estaban carreras, garo and a bunch off folks. I think that AJ has just gotten a ton more press. conversely, rocky does not own a factory at all but rather contracts with various factories (although he did open his first factory last year now that I think about it). Really AJ has only one brand, San Lotano, everything else is just production for other customers, mostly brand owners. i don't disagree with some of the comments, his budget stuff is a just okay, good value for sure. however the premiums I m crazy about like ave maria, man o war, diesel etc. you can argue with those premiums, man they kick ass.

dennisking

so if San Lotano is AJ's only real brand, where does MOW and all the rest of the lineup fall? are they offshoot catalog brands or a brand for the warehouse or???? I know it's a nerdy question, just trying to understand the industry more. I think it's pretty interesting.

kuzi16

dennisking:

so if San Lotano is AJ's only real brand, where does MOW and all the rest of the lineup fall? are they offshoot catalog brands or a brand for the warehouse or???? I know it's a nerdy question, just trying to understand the industry more. I think it's pretty interesting.

from what i can tell the MoW brand is only sold to two companies, this being one of them.

dennisking

I guess what I'm asking is "was MOW made just for the warehouse shared by CI and CCom or better yet, if Alex works for CCom, how come CI has it as well?"

docbp87

kuzi16:

dennisking:

so if San Lotano is AJ's only real brand, where does MOW and all the rest of the lineup fall? are they offshoot catalog brands or a brand for the warehouse or???? I know it's a nerdy question, just trying to understand the industry more. I think it's pretty interesting.

from what i can tell the MoW brand is only sold to two companies, this being one of them.

There are a few other companies who carry most all of the Ccom/Sister stuff, including MoW.

kalvindale

This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone. I appreciate the concern which is been rose. The things need to be sorted out because it is about the individual but it can be with everyone.
==============
PLR Private Label Rights

j0z3r

kalvindale:

This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone. I appreciate the concern which is been rose. The things need to be sorted out because it is about the individual but it can be with everyone. ============== PLR Private Label Rights

haha, not another one.

Alex_Svenson

San Lotano is the only brand AJ makes and distributes himself. San Miguel is made fir a major distributor as is estaban Carreras and many others. Man O War is made fir Meier and Dutch distributors and is sold primarily by any company who uses the PA center fir fulfillment. It is also sold to many stores nationwide who buy wholesale from Meier and dutch. In addition to running CCOM I spend amgreat deal of time doing product development with many factories which later become brands. That is where my passion lies. While most of these are done through Meier and Dutch and made for our fulfillment center, I have also worked with several makers on national releases too. Hope this explanation helps.

dennisking

that really clears it up. Thanks

rwheelwright

kalvindale:

This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone. I appreciate the concern which is been rose. The things need to be sorted out because it is about the individual but it can be with everyone. ============== PLR Private Label Rights

Talk about a post going in circles. "I'm not gonna do it because I don't want to do it and because I don't want to do it I won't do it and it won't be done especially because I won't do it and if I won't do it it will not be be done by me cause I won't do it."

xmacro

kalvindale:

This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone. I appreciate the concern which is been rose. The things need to be sorted out because it is about the individual but it can be with everyone. ============== PLR Private Label Rights

The bots are invading . . .

Sandman1am

dennisking:

that really clears it up. Thanks

+1 I was confused but now I think I have an idea. Thanks

docbp87

Thanks for the answers and info Alex. This sort of information is what I wish there was more of in the cigar industry. Transparency really leads to better customer experiences, and for me, that is one reason why I love this board, and CCom in general. There aren't really any other online/mail order houses where the big man would show up, and tell us stuff like this.

Sandman1am

docbp87:

Thanks for the answers and info Alex. This sort of information is what I wish there was more of in the cigar industry. Transparency really leads to better customer experiences, and for me, that is one reason why I love this board, and CCom in general. There aren't really any other online/mail order houses where the big man would show up, and tell us stuff like this.

I agree with doc on this transparency is great for customer service/experiences, and business in general. It is especially good when their is a policy change and problems arise in general not just for Ccom. Many business' could take a lesson from Ccom just about transparency.