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KingoftheCove
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

7 years ago

Anyone know if AJ is still making the Man o War line?
Or, has it been licensed out to cbid et al?

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dstieger
Herf-A-Holic

7 years ago

Did they go from bad to worse?

Mrs. dpnewell
Herf-A-Holic

7 years ago

I don't feel the flavor has changed, but quality has gone down hill. Just from recent shipments, I've had a couple that where plugged, and several with wrapper defects. They ones with wrapper defects where smokable, but should have been pulled aside as 2nds.

I do know that the scary place sells them, so I don't know how they would still be a CI exclusive. Main reason I'm back here. I won a few 5vers over there, and realized I missed them as a decent everyday cheap smoke. Not the regular MOW, but the Ruination, etc. I also came back for the Genisis Project, but man, has that thing turned into a turd.

David

Edited by user 7 years ago | Reason: Not specified

midmofan
Herf-A-Holic

7 years ago

Anyone know if AJ is still making the Man o War line?
Or, has it been licensed out to cbid et al?

KingoftheCove wrote:

The Man 'o War line was always one of the "branded-house-brands" only available through CI and the CI-related companies. It was always an "under contract" cigar not available at a B&M or from other companies. But, as far as I can tell from several searches, they are still made at the Tabacalera location. If they are available from a non-"Scandinavian" outlet, that would be interesting. Dumping excess? Bad batch even by CI standards? Here is an interesting blurb I found.

While Fernandez has his own brands, like the vaunted San Lotano, 60 percent of the cigars made at this factory go to Cigars International, a giant catalog company owned by Scandinavian Tobacco Group. About 10 percent of his production is dedicated to private-label brands and the rest of the workforce produces Fernandez's own brands. If Cigar International's catalog customers don't know A.J.'s name, they know his cigars, most notably Man O' War and Diesel—two brands that have become immensely popular with budget conscious fans of full-bodied cigars.

Cigars International keeps the factory in business, but the catalog company has no direct financial stake in the operation (despite industry whispers that they've bankrolled the factory). Tabacalera A.J. Fernandez belongs to Fernandez alone. The steady flow of massive business from Cigars International allows Fernandez the leeway to be creative with his own brands. Lines like San Lotano (Top 25 cigars of 2012, 91 points), New World and Enclave, which scored 92 points in Cigar Aficionado for its Churchill size, are emblematic of Fernandez's acumen as a cigar maker. And while his large operation requires him to buy a lot of third-party leaf in bulk, he uses mostly tobacco that he's grown himself for his own brands.

Note that last bit with the third-party leaf. As stated, that does not go into his own brands but the stuff made for CI which opens up a lot of possibilities for variations in quality, flavor and even burn.

I have always liked the Puro Authentico ones when gotten here at Cbid fairly cheap. Pretty sure one of the old Blendlabs that I liked and bought a bunch of was a prototype of this offering.

Edited by user 7 years ago | Reason: Not specified

KingoftheCove
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

7 years ago

Did they go from bad to worse?

dstieger wrote:

Eh.........don’t know about that.
I like the MOWPAs after a long nap, and I used to like the Ruinations after a good nap as well.
Still have plenty of MOWPAs with years on them, but ran out of Ruinations a few years back.........kinda forget about them................so maybe that’s a tell, in and of itself.....heh heh.

I just remember liking them, and was gonna grab some.
But then thought I read/heard that the ManoWar and Diesel lines are now made under contract.
Hoping that it was just a rumor...

KingoftheCove
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

7 years ago

Didn’t see the midMo and DP posts before posting (baby sitting)
Good info.....thanks fellas

Mrs. dpnewell
Herf-A-Holic

7 years ago

midmofan,

As of this moment, the scary place has multiple lines of Diesel and MOW up for auction. Unless I'm completely out of the loop, they are still non-Scandinavian. Maybe the cigars are no longer an exclusive, the scary place is no longer non-Scandinavian, OR CI's now selling cigars to their competition. Uhmmmmm.

David

midmofan
Herf-A-Holic

7 years ago

Mrs. dpnewell wrote:

You know, I have never been certain which place people are referring to when they say the "scary place" LOL, but STG has in the past year purchased some additional outlets including the Machine-gunned themed store based in Tampa.

KingoftheCove
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

7 years ago

That part about AJ having to buy bulk for his CI lines?
That’s a bit troubling.........seriously doubt Diesels and MoWs are going to be as solid as they once were.
And DP finding quality issues with recent shipments isn’t a good development either.
Think I’m gonna pass on those Ruinations...........10-packs going for $26 on FF?
That’s another red flag imo.

KingoftheCove
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

7 years ago

#10

midmofan wrote:

The well known scary place, the MB3 place, and a short list of smaller other players is all that is left of independent online shpos doing a decent volume of sales.
If the Wellknown and MB3 place get gobbled up?
We’re kinda scrood...

tamapatom
Herf-A-Holic

7 years ago

#11

We all be schpeaking Svedish.

midmofan
Herf-A-Holic

7 years ago

#12

KingoftheCove wrote:

Ya know, although it doesn't quite specifically state this, the blurb implies that there are even different rollers and others that make the CI offerings when it says "the rest of the workforce." Training people on the CI blends?????

tamapatom
Herf-A-Holic

7 years ago

#13

What did you expect? Internet cigars.

midmofan
Herf-A-Holic

7 years ago

#14

And, FWIW, the MB3 place has a pretty good sale going on for a number of NON-CI exclusive AJ Cigars.

opelmanta1900
Herf-A-Holic

7 years ago

#15

I doubt the mb3 place sells out anytime soon... AJ however, I think has already joined the ranks of k. hore and Rocky... Lower end stuff like the mow line is probably already being mass produced, altadis and general style, with whatever similar tobacco he can acquire...

Seems like a lot of the buzz with aj for a long time was that he had a bunch of aged tobacco... Can't imagine he's been keeping that store and age process up at the rate he's been selling... I'm sure he's still got access to quality tobacco, but do you think he's putting it in anything that sells for $3?

On a similar note, the mb3 place - which is usually at least $1/cigar over priced when stuffs not on sale - sells all the Undercrowns for $3.50 a pop now... Never thought I'd see the day when some of my favorites became unsmokeable...

delta1
Herf-A-Holic

7 years ago

#16

if they would let us know when they will change the quality and production of their lines, we could load up on our faves before they go south...then we wouldn't be stuck with poor imitations of the OR's that we paid OR prices for...

KingoftheCove
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

7 years ago

#17

delta1 wrote:

Hahahaha!
Delta! You funny!

KingoftheCove
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

7 years ago

#18

On a similar note, the mb3 place - which is usually at least $1/cigar over priced when stuffs not on sale - sells all the Undercrowns for $3.50 a pop now... Never thought I'd see the day when some of my favorites became unsmokeable...

opelmanta1900 wrote:

What did you put in your bong this morning?
$3.50/ea for all Undercrowns at MB3??
I’m not seeing that..................and never saw that.
Maybe I need to smoke your stuff?

opelmanta1900
Herf-A-Holic

7 years ago

#19

You should definitely be smoking my stuff...

Not seeing it now either, but I saw it multiple times on the weekly special in the last 2 month's... $3.49 a pop... All 3 kinds...

KingoftheCove
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

7 years ago

#20

You should definitely be smoking my stuff...

Not seeing it now either, but I saw it multiple times on the weekly special in the last 2 month's... $3.49 a pop... All 3 kinds...

opelmanta1900 wrote:

Ok......got it.........I thought that you meant all the time.
Must have missed the sales............I like the Shade line for A Connie

Edited by user 7 years ago | Reason: Not specified

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