Quote Originally Posted by dj1340 View Post
I started smoking Black Label when they first came out, even went to a cigar event they were at. Their stuff was really good and in my mind
even better than some of the well known names, I bought a few boxes. After they got going and became bigger, all I had was issues with
about every stick they made. No draw to wrappers blowing up. Haven't touched one since although I really liked what they were doing.

Viaje seems to have fallen off the radar, they were doing some really good stuff and I still have some sticks from about 5 years ago.
The Satori line was one I really liked.
I think one of the biggest issues with Viaje and BLTC is that prices kept going up because "they're all small batch releases" but they've yet to really hit one out of the park and justify the cost. Zombie was solid and Morphine Lancero was good, but they've yet to produce that stick that is both Unique and extremely good! Caldwell falls into this category as well. Long live the king and king is dead are ok. However, they started into these "Limited" Lost and Found releases and started bumping all their prices and for the most part, they all suck! People love to pay for hype but at some point your product is going to have to live up to that hype. If it doesn't, you're not going to make it.

The other thing is variety. If you really want to be big in this industry you have to have something for everyone. That's why DE and Tat got so big. That's why My Father is still doing well. While I've never had a bad stick from BLTC, everything tastes similar IMO, so unless that particular taste is your favorite, you find other smokes. Same with Viaje. Everything I've had from them has been really heavy on that Charred Wood Flavor, which for me just doesn't do it. At an average of $12+ per stick I just avoid them now.