boutique cigar talk

[Demuths1770]

This is a lenghlty one guys so hang in there but i think it should be a good discussion! I was listening to the cigar authority today at work and listing to the August 1st pod cast to get ready for the barn smoker event this weeked in Connecticut and in the second hour boutique cigars came up. I love how they refer to us forum and facebook cigar guys cigar geeks because its so true but the ddiscussion was is the boutique cigar boom over?? what do we as a group think? What do we consider a boutique cigar/boutique brand and why do we consider them boutique? Is the end of boutique cigars here? the example was m80 selling out in under 24 hours but only being a limited release. what would happen if m80 had a release of 6,000 boxes and was in shops?? Would it have sold out or still be sitting on shelfs?? Weigh in cigar geeks i mean bums!!

[TreySC]

What really make a cigar company boutique? Is it sales, the amount lines you have, whether or not your tied into a major company like general? I think that has to be determined before you can figure out if the boom is ending.

[Demuths1770]

What really make a cigar company boutique? Is it sales, the amount lines you have, whether or not your tied into a major company like general? I think that has to be determined before you can figure out if the boom is ending.

its a bunch of questions just to make us all think and give our oppions. the end of boutique cigars was what was discussed on the cigar authority and think they its the end. i just put this all together because we say boutique but what is it really mean to everyone?

[c.ortiz108]

Good questions. I'm thinking anything owned by Swisher can't really be called "boutique", meaning DE no longer qualifies. Then there's the reverse phenomenon - the big companies "inventing" boutique brands, like Foundry which is a General off-shoot. Then you have boutique Caldwell rebranding and selling old non-boutique brands like Camacho.

[RenoH414]

I don't think the boutique craze is over. In fact I think it is in full effect. Just looking at the releases coming out from the small guys and how hot they are on the market. I for 1 don't seek out boutique blends but I will try them. A few are really great in my opinion. Some of my favorite smokes right now are the stuff you have to search to find in the B&M's. But, maybe I don't have a real good grasp on the definition of boutique.

Reno

[TreySC]

its a bunch of questions just to make us all think and give our oppions. the end of boutique cigars was what was discussed on the cigar authority and think they its the end. i just put this all together because we say boutique but what is it really mean to everyone?

I've often wonder that myself and was partly why I asked. I guess to me boutique would be the smaller co. that only has a few lines and maybe does some LE's here and there. Like just of the top of my head Warped, Crowned Heads, Fratello, Crux, I know there's a bunch more out there those were the 1st few that popped in my head.

Do sales come into play just judging from what I see between here, instagram , and facebook Crowned Heads sells a bunch of cigars. Just thinking out loud since it kind of seems like that was the intention of the post.

[jhedrick83]

Great discussion topic, Kyle. Boutique (in general) is typically defined as small or servicing a very specific clientele. Part of what clouds the subject is that its a buzzword now, like small batch or artisan crafted, that companies just throw on the description to make the sheep go "OHHH!!!!". I would say a Boutique cigar company should be based on production numbers. What the cutoff would be for qualifying as boutique I have no idea. So it is hard for me to say if the boutique boom is over. Maybe slowing but not yet declining. Pull up Smallbatchcigar.com and see how many more companies they have listed on the left than they did a year ago or two years ago. Most of those companies are adding lines or extending them. I wonder how much looming FDA changes might be affecting the entry of more true boutique brands.

As for the m80. If they had a greater production run, if they were able to not change the blending, I bet they would sell out at times. Just not nearly as fast as they do now. For example, look at Illusione Rothchildes. Fantastic regular production cigars, it can be hard to find boxes at certain times of the year. You can find them here and there, but if you search for them now, most of the major retailers don't have them in stock. Bottom line, IMO, excellent cigars will be snatched up by wise smokers no matter how many you produce.

Just my

[Demuths1770]

to put a twist on it can we say companies like Drew Estate and Tatuaje have "boutique" lines like the Unicos, Monsters, M80s, and so on. Yes they are hard to find cigars but can be avertised as "boutique" for example the M80 was made just for 2 guys. its such a lose thrown word now a days. i dont think its over any time soon. yes the top selling brands are the big name brands that are mentioned like Padron, Fuente, Davidoff, Romeo y Julieta, Perdomo, Rocky Patel and La Flor Dominicana but we as a cigar geek group our a small percentage of the cigar smoking community where the brands listed get all the more main line every day smoker.

[Sticky B]

I think that boutique may be the same as that elusive "Underground" label, or "Indy", before either goes "Pop". That is why it would be hard to quantify, even if we all know in our minds what should qualify, in which case we can generally agree, until it comes to splitting hairs and asking if a small but popular brand such as crowned heads is really boutique at this point...

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[Billb1960]

As has been mentioned it really comes down to production numbers. Any cigar that's manufactured in very limited quantities could qualify for "boutique" status regardless of how big the manufacturer is.