I was in Philly this past week for work but took one afternoon to head to Hamburg to the CI Superstore. What a wonderful trip! (apart from the fact the the turnpike was closed and it took forever to get there)
As always the staff was wonderful, the cigar talk was great, there were wonderful deals to be had and it was $4 Martini Tuesday! The drinks at the Superstore are great and at $4 the Martinis were an incredible bargain. Got to spend a lot of time with Jason (who has been heavily involved with Blendlabs, even blending one himself! check out his mug here:
http://www.cigarsinterna...-reviews/staff/jason-b/ ), He is one of the guys you see reviewing cigars on the CI website and the catalog. I also got to meet the man himself Joe Stracco, Superstore General Manager (who also has done a ton of youtube reviews for CI, just search for them, or start with this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4ZNNsx8bUY ).
As some might know (I didn't say care, just know), it was a about a year-and-a-half ago that, while at a visit to the superstore, I grabbed a Blendlab sampler that was on sale and decided to start reviewing some of them here on the Cbid forum, especially after they started showing up at great auction prices. It has been a fun 1 1/2 year ride but, alas, it is coming to an end (BUT see the glimmer of hope at the very bottom of the post!)
What was the "Blendlab" room at the superstore is now the "Value Vault," While about half of the "vault" still is made up of the remaining Blendlab stock that they have on hand or is in the pipleine, its days are numbered. With the new FDA rules, there is no way that CI can keep the Blendlab program alive and the message from Jason to the customers that were there was to "Stock UP!" on any of your favorites.
I did just that getting bundles of several of my favorites. There were several other customers there doing the same thing, loading up baskets of favorite blendlabs, sharing stories and favorites, it was actually pretty sad, sort of like a wake for a good friend.
I also, for one last time, picked up some Blendlabs I have never tried. I will post reviews on these ASAP so that, if anyone wants to try them they can and - if so inclined - stock up before they are all gone.
Learned a lot that I didn't know and confirmed a lot of what I had suspected. I promised not to reveal all of the things I was told but there are some tidbits I can share. For one thing, for those that looked down on the Blendlabs, you might be shocked at what some of the sticks really are. One is a LGC Series R Maduro, just in a different size then they currently sell. Another was the "rough draft" for the Oliva V Melanio - again the biggest difference was the size and style. Yet another was a cigar commissioned by AF that AF decided not to sell - at least not yet. Each of those have been available here on Cbid for just a couple buck a stick, so its been a heck of a deal for a long time. I was told that I was wrong about the RH-5554 being made by Kristoff, but when I showed the guys the similarities with the blends, the blurbs and the reviews, they did agree that they seem to be almost the same cigar, so they mystery continues...
The staff told me that the (for me) infamous VB-6744 is by far their best Blendlab seller. I won't tell you what any of them said about it, but when I gave them my one-sentence review ("put a packet of Sweet And Low in your mouth, then light up a Swisher Sweet that has been infused with rock-candy and you get CLOSE to the sweetness of the VB") nobody argued with me. What I will repeat is that the people that buy the VB-6744 LOVE that cigar and that from day one they have always sold all that they can get their hands on. They know they could charge a lot more for that stick than they do, but they and Drew Estate have never have jacked up the price. In fact there was a guy there loading up on bundles of them. I shook my head and vowed to try to be more understanding of other peoples - clearly flawed - palettes. :)
As always at the Superstore, the customer service was outstanding. I got great advice, suggestions, and great deals. If you go there, be sure to ask about their coupon special. You don't actually need the coupon, they have them stacked next to the register. Recently the deal has been 5 cigars, a lighter and a smiley magnet for $19.99. I wanted some decent but not over the top sticks to smoke this week while in Philly, needed a lighter, and also wanted a magnet - so the deal was pretty good especially for a retail location. I don't know if all the coupon packs are the same, but I got a Ave Maria, Man O' War Ruination, Ramon Buesso Oddesy, a Diesel and one stinker - a 5 Vegas Gold that I will either hand out at Thanksgiving or use as a prop and something to chew on at the next poker tournament.
Now some photos!
Almost there!: http://imgur.com/a/U0j7A
Arrival as the cold and clouds roll in: http://imgur.com/a/sTO9l
How sad: http://imgur.com/a/dI6A3
Great Bartender: http://imgur.com/a/tMwkJ
My haul (note how I don't let that 5 Vegas get too close to the others...): http://imgur.com/a/DnzFR
Now for the promised glimmer of hope: U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, D-FL, and US Senator Marco Rubio, R-FL came together and introduced S. 1461 as the companion bill to H.R. 1639, so that the Senate legislative process can now consider the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act. The bi-partisan bills, working together would exempt "Premium Cigars" from the FDA regulation. Everybody should contact their members of congress to urge support of these bills. If this would become law, the blendlabs and many, many, smaller batch premium cigars - that are currently doomed - would survive. Learn more here: http://www.cigarrights.org/newsletter/CRA_News_Alert_Template_080511.htm
