Re: IPCPR Convention Update (Formerly the RTDA)
- From: Tex <JessAlanFields@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:50:59 -0700 (PDT)
On Jul 17, 6:11 pm, Wingman <win...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:11:48 -0700 (PDT), Tex
<JessAlanFie...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jul 16, 7:26 am, jeremy <jer...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Tex wrote:
I might be back later with an update. Besides the low turnout of
retailers (gas prices? airline prices?) this has been a pretty good
show.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Tex.
Say hi to Jenny for and and Smokey for me, I have not seen spoken to either
for quite some time.
Warn Jenny I will be up in her neck of the woods for Christmas this year.
JJ
Are you talking about Jenny from the Briar Shoppe? Haven't seen her
this year.
Patsy, though, is there as always. As large as life, that woman. The
new Texas Cigar Merchants Association has been discussed a few times.
Smoking a Savinelli Special Selection right now in the hotel room,
trying to gauge whether or not we want to carry it.
Tex.
We had about 30 shop owners at the Texas Cigar Merchants Association
meeting. I was really surprised at the content because they tried to
blow very little smoke up our kilts.
I was impressed by the new lines from SAG, United Tobacco and Rocky
Patel just to name a few. For those of you the like the stronger
Nicaraguan cigars SAG has the new Casa Magna. I would place it
somewhere in taste between a JdN Celebracion and an Antano 1970. It is
an excellent cigar.
United Tobacco has brought out a powerful Nicaraguan, Cubao. It is
pure bliss for people that like their cigars with a lot of flavor. Try
this one for sure.
I left Rocky until last. I am so impressed by the Indian Tabac 10th
Anniversary. It is kind of the Anti-Decade. Where the Decade is dark
and rich and bold, the ITC 10th is crisp, clean and complex. I am
adding this one to my shop right now.
The most impressive smoke RP brought this year still had a project
band on it. The Rennaisance is pure bliss. I am only hoping we get
it in time for the Christmas shopping season. I hardly ever pre-order
cigars but I ordered a lot of these for future delivery.
A couple of my larger disappointents is that Perdomo is doing away
with the La Tradition Reserve series. Only the Champagne will show up
in the new line relatively unscathed. The Maduro is completely
reblended and the Sungrown is gone (and after returning to the
original blend for the Sungrown my customers were just starting to buy
it again). I think the world of Nick Perdomo but I have to worry
about the repeated "build and dump" brands he has created.
Another stalwart line that is being "de-emphasized" to my
disappointment is the regular Indian Tabac line of cigars. The IT
Cameroon Legend Maduro is one of my best sellers. I can still get
them but they have disappeared from the order blanks so it is just a
matter of time before they are gone, too. Ditto with the rest of the
IT line except for the ITC 10th Anniversary.
On the positive side many of the manufactures had new bundle offerings
Rocky Patel, United Tobacco and even Kinky Friedman all brought out
what on the surface appear to be decent lower priced items. It is
good to see the Kinkster line come out (the Kinky Lady was a surprise
entry but not orderable at the show) to give a lighter smoke in the KF
line.
The trend at this years show seemed to be "hooray for Nicaragua". It
seemed like everyone was bringing out a new line of Nicaraguan
influenced/manufactured/blended cigars. The is also a trend to higher
and higher end accessories. Tex mentioned the Porsche/Bugatti/etc.
lines. They were not alone when it came to expensive accessories.
I got to sit down at lunch with Tex and his business partner on
Monday. Thank goodness they talked me down off the ledge. I was
totally overwhelmed by the show. I spent too much money and may have
overreached by a little bit but at least I was too busy to spend much
time at the Blackjack tables.
Overall I think this is going to be a very tasty year for cigars. Most
all the manufacturers have new, fuller flavored cigars ready to roll
out. Hopefully the trend to mega-sized cigars has ended.
Wingman
Wingman
"When you find yourself in command, take charge. When faced with a decision, do what is right. Nothing else matters." - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Glad you enjoyed the show.
I haven't tried the Renaissance yet, but may smoke my sample if I have
time (and the place to do it) in smoking-unfriendly Washington, D.C.
where I am for the next couple of days.
We decided to open up an account with Los Blancos, and Pete Johnson
opened us up a Tatuaje account. The Cruzado from Illusione is
fantastic. Needs a little less power, but Dion is working on that. The
final blend should be smooth, if stronger than the Illusione.
We also finally opened our Alec Bradley account. WOW, what a nice guy
Alan Ruben is. I won't go into details, but he had some medical
troubles no less than a week prior to the show, but proved himself to
be one of the hardest working guys in the business when he made it to
the RTDA anyway. The new Tempus is AMAZING. A similar, but far better
blend than the Rocky Patel Decade in my opinion. I believe it has a
Criollo wrapper. It also comes in a lancero size that's a bit thicker
than the usual Laguito No. 1 format, but still works very well to
showcase the excellence of the wrapper. He really has a passion for
his products and it shows. After never having been much of a fan of
Alec Bradley (though I think the Maxx is a decent value stick) I am
ready to boast of the Tempus to all of my customers. This is a company
going places!
There are some other things I might add later, but yes, the show was
very productive and quite nice. The only bad part was that you
couldn't smoke in the hallways of the convention center, in LAS VEGAS
of all places. Even my bureaucratic enemies in Houston's city
administration pulled THAT one off last year!
Oh well, New Orleans next year ought to be more friendly. We should
get together an ASC smoke-out (or, if you would prefer call it a
"herf") for that show, because it is a great central location for all
the guys from Texas, Louisiana, and Florida to come out to.
Sorry we never got around to dinner my friend, we were just too busy.
We'll definitely have to do that soon, perhaps when you open the new
storeront.
-Tex.
.
- References:
- IPCPR Convention Update (Formerly the RTDA)
- From: Tex
- Re: IPCPR Convention Update (Formerly the RTDA)
- From: jeremy
- Re: IPCPR Convention Update (Formerly the RTDA)
- From: Tex
- Re: IPCPR Convention Update (Formerly the RTDA)
- From: Wingman
- IPCPR Convention Update (Formerly the RTDA)
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