Cuban or Not to Cuban or Boutique or not Boutique? That is the question

I read this today and thought we all need to comment or review this some more if you are in the Cigar or even the tobacco industry,

Here you are:

Boutique or not Boutique? That is the question

Saturday, March 09 2013

OPINION | By Hayward "Lou" Tenney

A while back, when we had our original blog page, we reported on the flippant musings written by the former figurehead of a certain cigar retailer. 

Quoth the maven: Boutique cigars are theoretically limited production cigars made by people no one ever heard of before, and fabricated from tobaccos no one knew existed before. In other words, they're cigars that are targeted for brain dead people who happen to have money to burn.

Besides the obvious offense to smokers of brands like Tatuaje, Padrón, Jesus Fuego and countless others, it presupposes that use of the term "boutique cigars" is little more than a marketing strategy. Seems to me the term could use some clarification.

To employ a hackneyed device, Dictionary.com suggestions: of, designating, or characteristic of a small, exclusive producer or business...

So doesn't this encompass just about every cigar manufacturer? Well, not really. There are a couple billion dollar outfits that produce machine-made and/orhandmade cigars. Altadis (Romeo y Julieta, Montecristo, Trinidad, etc.) and General Cigar (Macanudo, Partagas, Punch, etc.) come to mind.

Here's the rub: in my experience, those who regularly smoke these "non-boutique" brands tend to be one or two-brand smokers. Call me crazy, but wouldn't "brain dead" sooner describe those who have limited their repertoire to the mechanical "enjoyment" of one or two brands? Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Okay, so the word "boutique" may not be an ideal descriptor; indeed, a purveyor of women's apparel on Rodeo Drive or a small-batch New England chocolatier are more probable candidates for the designation. But as I clip and toast my Cojonu 2006…Mmmm, damn that's good…Well, I forgot what I was going to say.

What defines a boutique cigar manufacturer? Sales? Size of operation? Please share your thoughts with a comment.

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Ok here is the real rub. 80% of all the Cigars I SPY Carries are from the small batch , single line manufacturers. 

So based on the quote of the Maven we here are brain dead. Well let me say far from that.

After finding some of these "B" cigars, I have found some that in my opinion surpass the NAME BRANDS and in some cases even better the best pre-embargo Cubans. So now it is time for your two cents. Let me Know.