CI "Fake" Cigars?

[wabashcr]

tons of things you buy are made by one company and rebranded as something else, and the descriptions for each is completely different, some touting that there product is better than the others, but in reality they are made by the same place and just have a different label on it. BIG one that comes to mind in the whole Porsche/VW/Audi thing, take some of the trim panels off of a Porsche Cheyenne (sp)and they have VW markings on the back, same parts that are made for the Toureg... Anybody going to sue Porsche because its not made with all Porsche parts? I don't think so.

I know this is all about a $2 stick, and it's pointless, but the bigger picture is what interests me. So if you'll indulge me, I'd change your analogy a bit. To me it's more like Porsche has a model, say the old 928, that they no longer want to support. Sales are down, and they have moved on to other projects. But then say a dealer in the US who has several Porsche dealerships, let's call him Ashley Schaeffer, decides to buy the 928 brand/label from Porsche, decides to continue making them in Viet Nam, and sells them as Porsche 928s at his dealerships for $20k. Obviously car people in the know would be aware of what's going on, and with the internet, it would be a lot more difficult to hide that from unsuspecting buyers. But selling them as Porsche 928s, like they were actually made by Porsche, seems flat out wrong to me.

The last thing I want anyone to think is that I'm a Brian Glynn supporter. I'm not. I think he botched this from the beginning, and when it looked like it could backfire and affect his personal interests, he deleted everything and pretended like it never happened. But I still think we're left with a pretty shady and underhanded practice by CI. BG being a douche shouldn't let CI off the hook.

[Cardinal]

...let's call him Ashley Schaeffer...

Ashley Schaeffer! You nailed it.

[Sticky B]

There's no way that retailers should be able to slap a 'premium' label on a shit rocket and sell it for 10 times it's true value.

Are you arguing that the cigar Bryan cut apart was only really worth being sold for $0.10-0.20?

What should machine-made cigars go for?

[jp1979]

I know this is all about a $2 stick, and it's pointless, but the bigger picture is what interests me. So if you'll indulge me, I'd change your analogy a bit. To me it's more like Porsche has a model, say the old 928, that they no longer want to support. Sales are down, and they have moved on to other projects. But then say a dealer in the US who has several Porsche dealerships, let's call him Ashley Schaeffer, decides to buy the 928 brand/label from Porsche, decides to continue making them in Viet Nam, and sells them as Porsche 928s at his dealerships for $20k. Obviously car people in the know would be aware of what's going on, and with the internet, it would be a lot more difficult to hide that from unsuspecting buyers. But selling them as Porsche 928s, like they were actually made by Porsche, seems flat out wrong to me.

Porsche would never sell their brand because they wouldn't want their name tarnished, obviously David Blanco didn't care about that. If Padron did it, it would be an issue for me, but they like Porsche would never do it. I get everybody's big picture gripe, MY point and MY opinion is that this happens so much with so many other products that it just isn't an issue for me personally.

[Lapithicus]

Here is a description of what happened from David Blanco of Blanco Cigars. He presented this in a recent video:

“We changed the name of our company from Los Blancos to Blanco Cigars. We had left over boxes and bands and CI and I came to an agreement that they would be happy to take off my hands the packaging keeping the original thought in mind with regard to the blending profile, but for a much more reasonable price to allow it to be accessible in the mass market.

So, that was the agreement and the deal that we had, for which they held up their part of the agreement.

What CI told me was that the first shipment they received from the manufacturer that they contracted in the Dominican Republic was fine. Subsequent shipments for delivery have had problem issues that they are addressing and I have been assured that they are being addressed. But for those of you that got product that were substandard or not smokable...If you received anything of it from CI, or CBid or any of their other sites, please call customer service <Blanco Cigars> and they will take care of you, hands down.

Substandard product and product that is cracked or has beetles or anything else is unacceptable, I don’t care what band is on it.

So this is a problem they are having with the manufacturer they contracted with out of the DR, which I will not name because it would be very unprofessional of me and may be isolated. The product that they did have up there and I was present for had no problems. It was a lesser quality tobacco, but it is reflected in the pricing relative to what we charge for the Premier line that we have.”

I don’t think I would call this false advertising. If you see a $6-8 cigar suddenly selling for $2 and the company’s name has changed, I think you would figure out that they are not the same.

[herman]

3. is some one who buys and smokes dollar cigars really going to give a shit? Do you think that the quality of that cigar is any worse than other 1 dollar cigars, I doubt it....

I don't know what actually happened here or how the cigar was advertised. To be fair I do remember seeing a little bit of long filler in the center though a majority was short. I guess what bothers me about this mentality, if someone were to plan and commit petty theft 20xs a day, do you think they wouldn't be facing a felony if caught? By consequence it's less lethal for a business, (perhaps not the insurance company) but for some reason I don't think the law would view this as a stack of misdemeanors no matter what state you're in. If these were truly bait and switched by CI, which I don't believe to be the case, even if the consumers were forgiving, I don't see the law being so blind unless there were a double standard providing immunity.

[spyder]

I believe this issue has roots a bit further back for BG. In a video a couple years back he discussed a common practice in the cigar industry (supposedly based on "insider" information that he received.). A manufacturer creates a premium cigar line that is a hit with consumers. They milk it for awhile until sales start fading or they run through their supply of that particular blend. Then the mfg sells off the line (including the name) and any remaining supplies to a "big box" type of retailer / wholesaler. The big box folks then highly discount the price and run with it. If it's a sales hit, they contract some OEM cigar mfg to make a decent replica at a price that will still be profitable at the lower price point. For certain price points this obviously means the mixed use of long, short and scrap fillers.

So in car terms, you wind up with a vehicle made from misc good and rejected parts with VW emblems and sold as new.

[jp1979]

I don't know what actually happened here or how the cigar was advertised. To be fair I do remember seeing a little bit of long filler in the center though a majority was short. I guess what bothers me about this mentality, if someone were to plan and commit petty theft 20xs a day, do you think they wouldn't be facing a felony if caught? By consequence it's less lethal for a business, (perhaps not the insurance company) but for some reason I don't think the law would view this as a stack of misdemeanors no matter what state you're in. If these were truly bait and switched by CI, which I don't believe to be the case, even if the consumers were forgiving, I don't see the law being so blind unless there were a double standard providing immunity.

I don't understand the point of your post.

[Tman]

This is a great popcorn thread!

[herman]

More of an observation. That actually made me post. I was hesitant to post or read any further, cause I really didn't care. I mean it was just a $2.00 cigar.

I actually didn't see lapithicus's post.
Thanks for the info.