I think a certain number of people "invested" in the LC2014's and are frustrated that their investment isn't going to pay out like they planned.
This isn't directed at you, personally, xjsnake, rather the concept of investing in cigars.
I don't understand
anybody "investing" in cigars and then getting pissed when their "investment" doesn't flip them 500% returns in a year.
"
All investments involve some degree of risk." is on every prospectus you read. Anyone who doesn't understand that, doesn't understand what investing is. Even retail sales, you are buying something with the hope that someone else wants to pay you more money for it than you paid yourself. But even with all the market research in the world, you are still assuming some degree of risk that you're going to get stuck with surplus inventory. Hell, that was a significant contributing factor to the great depression!
The second component that bugs me about "investing" in LE cigars is that anyone who is buying cigars with the intent to sell them at a later date for a profit--without the proper licensing-- is
running an illegal business in all 50 states. Although I can think of a couple of very specific scenarios where the state might not come after you for the money, the feds sure as hell want their chunk of your income. And that's exactly what it is, income.
As a guy who has
invested in getting the proper tax license from the state (which I'm still waiting on and involves a degree of risk because they could reject my application and not refund my money) in order to sell cigars legally, people running side jobs of tax-free cigar sales kind of piss me off. If you want to be in business, do it legally. Sit down once a month, fill out the TT-8 form, and send the revenuer a check by the 20th. Your state may vary, but everyone has to do something like it.
Manufacturers are in business. Businesses, by design, are intended to make money. If you have a product that is successful--even if it was limited release-- you'd be a fool to not try to recreate that. Maybe you do it well, maybe you don't, but you have to try. Anybody who thinks it's disingenuous marketing is completely free not to buy products from them anymore. I went off in BOTL Pipers GroupMe chat just last night about one manufacturer who will not get a penny of my money. Period. If enough people do that, manufacturers get the hint.
I, on the other hand, as a guy who buys cigars to
smoke, am happy as can be about this announcement. I only got a fiver of the OR LC's (thanks to the generosity of a BOTL) and I think they're fantastic. The thought of getting a couple of boxes, excites me.
Thus endeth the sermon.
Edits: a couple of slight edits to clarify and for ease of reading.
