javajunkie
BoM July '12
take a look at the oliva v featured above. provided is a tat 7th for scale, and a palio. this smoke was recently, and generously, given to me. having just nabbed a(nother) box of #4, and considering the lancero as well, this beautiful smoke seemed to me to be a god send. a corona gorda! hell, a 5.75x46 perfecto, rivaling my first wow cigar, the AF hemmingway. an absolutely perfect find for me!
then i did some digging, read and surfed a little (thanks brooksie&co at halfwheel for the list of diadems). this is NOT a regular production smoke, but rather something that they made for a sampler. actually got a chance to talk to a really nice guy, ian, from oliva, who said they would likely never make this smoke again. "they don't sell". so i find a blend i love in a size that is perfect for me, just to know i will never be able to make this a go to in any sense, despite the fact that the serie v is usually super affordable for what it is. so, i say to myself, "well f#@k me."
i really do hate it, but i can understand it. you walk in to any shop, the hog leg smokes WILL have more space. more companies will make over 60 than under 50. and more shops will chose to carry a robusto over a corona, a gordo over a lonsdale. because THEY SELL.
i realize that i smoke more than the average smoker. i sample more brands than average. by and large, we are the farthest edge of the consumer bell curve: once a year on one end, cigar trading LE chasing net nerds on the other, and the median point is a guy who smokes one brand, or three, on a regular basis, hell or high water. and it IS a business. manufacturers, distributors, b&m owners all eat on the cash they generate off this. the craft and the art inspire and drive, but bills got to get paid. and, in my bell curve scenario, the most purchasing power is always going to be in the middle.
still, there is some response. there are more smaller companies, and smaller lines within bigger companies, including the more restrained sizes in their set, and doing them well. hell, with oliva's #4, it was a limited, but it was an open release, and you can still hunt some if you need to. single store and single region releases also offer venues to do something more niche, rather than for joe stogie at the median point.
in the end, if you like a smaller size, support it. buy it in the b&m, buy it on the net, TELL PEOPLE about it (your friends at guys night, or random dude you are chatting with in a lounge), tell INDUSTRY people about it, but back it up with your bucks. all the people in the industry make money off our happiness, an hour or two at a time, and if they can see themselves making money by making more traditional sizes, they will.
but then again, it could just be me. thoughts?
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