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happens all the time.....

How is this even legal?

Sigh...
since Trish is watching, I better nip this in the bud.

Those threads you read were likely from people spreading their own bit of misinformation. No cigar manufacturer is going to make internet only lots, and B&M only lots... and the physical effort of re-labeling a cigar is ridiculous when you consider the scale these companies work at.

They're exactly what it says on the label.

Thank you Trish. :)

(of course she's going to say this Pork... she's PART OF IT!!! trust no one....)


(meet me behind the Politics forum and I'll give you the real truth behind the internet cigars)

The posts I read here and on other forums didnt say the manufacturers were doing it, the sellers were basically buying the labels and putting them on house blends. The ones who posted this on this site seem to be long time posters.

I do believe this happens all the time and CI/Cbid is one of the biggest offenders. Can I say that for certain? Nope. But it's what I believe is happening. I'm not saying they are necessarily "inferior" cigars. I just don't think they are the same ones you can buy in a B&M. A perfect example of this (to me) is La Perla Habana. The old school Black Pearl Rojo's I used to buy at a B&M were great. The ones on here are not the same cigar. They just aren't. And, unsurprisingly, the ONLY place I know of where La Perla can be bought now is from CI/CBID and the mysterious "other place".



I don't know. Sorry Trish...not trying to piss you off. The noob asked a question..I answered with what I believe to be the answer.

You know, this is always touted as THE cigar that gets rebanded by us. But here's how it works:

The original La Perla hit the cigar world like a rocket! Everyone loved them and bought them up. With increased production, costs needed to be reviewed and that cute little silk footband was expensive - not just to produce but the added manpower to put it on the cigar. So when that was removed, folks immediately said it was reblended. Sales may have dropped off slightly or maybe not, I'm not certain. But the brand is now slightly diminished.

Now add into the mix this is a boutique brand so the tobacco is often-times limited in quantity. With that ealier increased production, that delicious wrapper is gone. So they go out to purchase more just like it but alas there is none to be found. And the brand loses much of its luster.

As all of you know, tobacco taste changes based on environmental conditions during its growth. When that specific wrapper was gone, they tried other wrapper from a different year. It tasted similar but not exactly the same. So no....the blend did NOT change but the wrapper leaf DID change.

Think about it....if that brand was still a HUGE money maker for the manufacturer, why would they sell it? Answer: They wouldn't.

To suggest that we reband inferior cigars is irresponsible at best and libilous at worst.

So, why is it that those cigar stores have the 'original' cigars? Simple - they stored them away or just didn't sell them. There are a lot of savvy cigar store owners out there. They may have put them away from their stock, purchased it from individuals who had them stored from their own stock, etc.

I'm not upset with you Tiger, I just can't believe that you think so little of this company as to suggest we do this.

Whatever, you'll believe what you want and its easiest to think that the giant company is evil. That for some reason we took this superb cigar and junked it up. I guess that makes sense in some idiotic way.

I know that many of you are thinking that I don't know what I'm talking about and I'm just saying this because I work for this company. But how many of you have spent the past 13 years doing nothing but learning about and discussing cigars? So while you don't have to consider me an expert, you do have to acknowledge that I may know something of what I speak. And I've never BS'd you. When we've been at fault, I've acknowledged it.

So....do with this information what you wish. I know that many of you will disregard it because its contrary to what you 'know'. Again, whatever. I certainly can't force you to understand it.

I know I'm walking a thin line so I will be very careful about what I say.........You said.."Think about it....if that brand was still a HUGE money maker for the manufacturer, why would they sell it? Answer: They wouldn't. "

That doesn't really answer any questions.....Did they sell it to CI? You have the right obviously to not answer that...hell, you have the right to boot me, but I know a LOT of people are genuinely curious.

Next you said....


"To suggest that we reband inferior cigars is irresponsible at best and libilous at worst."

Let me be very clear.....I am IN NO WAY suggesting that CI is rebanding garbage cigars. I'm not saying that nor do I believe that. I BELIEVE that CI is now part of a huge conglomerate that is consolidating as much of the cigar world as they can. It's good business practice. They buy up these labels and do their very best to replicate them. Sometimes it works...sometimes it doesn't. IF CI owns the label, they are ABSOLUTELY within their right to use that label. The problem comes in marketing. If a customer sees an old favorite...something he/she has smoked for YEARS.... on CI (or any of the other players) and buys it thinking he is getting the same old cigar that he loves and it turns out to be completely different...what's he supposed to think? And THEN he goes to a B&M and can continue to buy that old cigar......that guy thinks "What the hell is going on?" I see your points and understand them. I also don't think of you as just a company shill. I still think you guys are the best of the best on the interwebs...if I didn't why would I still be here? Making fun of Wheelrite is fun and all but hardly counts as a hobby..or even very sporting.

I know and agree with all this..BUT...when was the last time you saw LaPerla in a B&M? When was the last time you saw virtually ANY of the same Gurkha's that CI sells in a B&M?

We all know that wrappers can change and blends have to be tweaked and who much gives a crap about the fancy banding. It's the marketing I have issue with. Saying a cigar got a "95" rating when you are talking about a blend from 10 years ago. Does CI do this? I don't know...you tell me.

Two different distinctions. LaPerla was definitely a B&M cigar... but it's been a year or so since I've been in a b&m so I can't tell you if it's still there. Gurkha however, has a freaking million crappy blends, I suspect a lot of B&Ms simply don't bother stocking all of them because it's shelf space they can't afford. Remember, they've only got so much humidified retail space... if they were to stock all theblends of gurkha we see here, they'd only have crappy cigars for sale.



I think everyone does this. I'm not sure how often those "ratings" get updated on blends, and since every cigar's blend must change subtly over the years (really, do you think the Padron 64 uses the same cigar blend now as it did when it first came out like 20 years ago?) so there should be more visibility in the industry as a whole as to what years actually earned what rating, and what year's blend is being sold... but that applies to both B&M and online retailers. A B&M may have the opposite problem as CI/Cbid.. .they may have piles of overstock on a blend which sucked that year, but sell it under a new, better rating.

I remember the change in the LaPerla Black Pearls. The B&M I was going to at the time switched their label. I've seen it in others over the years as well. The original had a "La Perla Habana" main label, with a "Black Pearl" ribbon.... the new blends/labeling simply said "Black Pearl" on the main label. The blend definitely changed with the label change.

The Gurkha Beauty's you can STILL GET at b&m's is in no way, shape, or form, the same cigar as what cbid sells as a Gurkha Beauty... period... no questions asked, unless you're an idiot you'd be able to tell the difference...

What the hell do I have to do with this?

TIGER

I just have to call bs on this.
Why would the manufacturer create two completely different cigars with the same name? I can understand if you're buying 3year old product from a B&M while from CI you're getting recently rolled (since they have higher turnover), but it makes no financial sense for there to be two separate products put out the same year, with the same name.

I don't think Trish is a corporate shill...now VICTOR on the other hand......

we know Bro,,,,



wheel,

why would you call bs when you don't know what you're talking about? Go find one at a b&m and look at it - just look... then come call bs...

I don't have a pic of the beauties side by side but here are the titan's... it's a similar aesthetic difference between the 2 available beauties...

https://www.cigarbid.com...Gurkha-Titan-New-and-Old

poor CROS

90 people viewing this forum when I last looked. I bet they're all looking at the overbid threads.

they both still look like turds to me…

How do you know, maybe the b&m is rebanding them. Cigar conspiracy outrage

You're actually supporting Victor here, and I think Victor is right. You may be able to buy old inventory of the Gurkha, or la perla, while there is a very different cigar being sold now ( new inventory) that CI/CBID hold the rights on and hold the rights on the label.

But no way are cigar manufactures maintaining 2 separate supply chains with 2 different cigars under the same label. That would be impossible to manage.

How does Gurkha manage the five million different cigars they have anyway?

As a noob, this "got" me several times.

Actually it's what led to me getting on the internet cigar forums.

Then the other forum I'm a participating member of, introduced me to cigarbid.

Then I spent hundreds of dollars on good cigars and found the forum here.

Now I'm here. Because cheapo cigars were being banded and advertised with the 93 rating of their originals.

See, a nood can contribute to this thread afterall.

OK, that I can believe.
This doesn't necessarily require a new manufacturer tho. The same company can lose their quality standards, etc etc... Hell, a new company can buy a label and improve the line...

I guess it's just something I'm uncomfortable making broad generalizations on...