June, 1999

Is it me, or do the major cigar manufacturers seem to be coming out with a bunch of new (and 
unnecessary) cigar sizes? General Cigar, manufacturers of Macanudo, launched the high end 
Cohiba "Red Dot" line last year, the Macanudo Robust line this year, and are now introducing a 
plethora of new sizes in those lines to attempt to eat up ever more shelf space at your local cigar 
shop. A couple of years ago, I remember them complaining that they didn't have enough tobacco 
to meet the demand for premium cigars at the time. Suddenly, there is enough to launch half a 
dozen, new sizes of cigars in their current lines. Notice the prices haven't returned to the pre 
popularity level though. Kind of makes you wonder doesn't it? Fuente on the other hand is still 
measuredly distributing their cigars making them hard to find, especially in the higher end OpusX, 
Hemminway and Don Carlos lines. Is General Cigar buying up all the surplus tobacco?

Many cigar smokers also wonder why the Padron Serrie de Anniversario cigars are in such short 
supply. Well, it's my understanding that these cigars are made from vintage, aged tobacco and are 
produced in limited supply. Additionally, cigar shops are required to buy a certain amount of 
regular Padron product after which they receive the Anniversarios based on a percentage of the 
total product ordered. Then there are a few greedy individuals who hunt the shops online and by 
phone and scoop up all the Anniversarios they can find without ordering on other cigar. These 
cigar "snobs" don't realize it but they are slowly cutting off their own noses because Piloto 
(Padron's parent company) won't ship Anniversarios without an accompanying order of regular 
Padrons. So by buying up Anniversarios without buying regular Padrons the supply becomes even 
more limited, because no shop owner in their right mind will order more Padrons when they have a 
full stock so that some "cigar snob" can get his supply of Anniversarios. Some shops are even 
going as far as making the sale of Anniversarios incumbent on a minimum purchase of other 
cigars and even then limiting the number that can be purchased by an individual. Believe it or not, 
I actually heard someone say "I only smoke Anniversarios and OpusX!" to which I replied "Guess 
you don't smoke much, do you?" Now I must say that Anniversarios are great cigars, but the most 
popular size sought by these "cigar snobs" is the Diplomatico, which in my, not so humble 
opinion, is far from the best cigar in the Anniversario line. Once again going to show that bigger 
isn't always better, sometimes less is more, and there's actually no cure for stupidity. The reality is 
that the regular Padron cigars are great and the 3000 maduro is a better cigar for a lot less money 
than the Anniversario Diplomatico. So go figure.