Just some thoughts when looking at these things....
stop thinking as a affecionado and think from a average joe bloe perspective...
IE... montecristo and Ryj and of late Cohiba are the commonly most recognized marquees amongst non-cigar smokers....
smaller cigars are cheaper than bigger cigars... MM cigars are cheaper than HM cigars...
most cigars sold are cigars that are not consumed by afficionados.. they are bought by people who have no idea what they are buying.. presents for newborns.. weddings.. x-mas and new years.. etc etc..
As cubans also have the reputation they have.. worlds best cigars (common knowledge even amongst non smokers and someting that's debated by some)..and the fact that the these small cigars are available pretty much everywhere.. even at pubs and servo stations etc etc.. pretty much every place you can buy cigaretts have a small display humidor with some tubos and monte 4 etc (scary as a lot of time the humidors are not maintained. and lack any humidity ha ha)
surprisingly.. or not really surprising when thinking in the terms of non smokers buying,.. fonesca KDT is also a big seller... it's cuban and the presentation is soo lovely with the silk paper wrapped around it... same goes for RYJ cederos series.... (there is no secret that one of the reason for the mild blend of these is the fact that they are introductory cigars.. the cigar world don't want to scare off potential future customers by having a too strong blend..... so in general.. if the presentation is so that it appeals greatly to a non initiated smoker.. you can bet it is a mild to medium strength cigar...
just some thoughts I have picked up when working in the retail environment...
another part is the retailer.. he rather see 400 boxes of just 2-3 cigars sell from his store then the same amount of boxes worth of a variety of cigars.... the more he orders of the same marquee and line.. the better the discount... hence.. he would select a few blends known to not offend new smokers and sell tons of those as recommendations whenever someone comes in and says "I don't really smoke but I want to buy a few cubans to celebrate x event".... the monte 4 and the ryj romeo no 2.. the cedros delux and fonesca Kadettes would more than likely be the ones suggested.. and maybe some other machine made if the customer objects to the price....
This is why some cigars sells so much eventhough they are not high on the afficionados list....
