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Holt's announces Padilla's demise?

Phlicker

also know as @PhillyBeerGuy
Joined
Jan 9, 2007
Messages
884
While casually flipping through the Fathers' Day edition of Holt's catalog, I was absolutely stunned to read this on the last page:

At one point in time, Ernesto Padilla was looked upon as a rising star in the cigar world. He was young and hungry, and he had a couple of lights-out, cutting edge cigars being manufactured by another rising star: Pepin Garcia. He also had a nice cigar being made in the Oliva factory. He received glowing ratings, lots of publicity, and all seemed to be going well for him. That was a couple years ago. Nowadays, the tide has taken an unfortunate turn for Padilla. Neither Pepin nor Oliva are making cigars for him anymore. We think this means one thing and one thing only: Padilla is on his way out... We have nothing against Padilla personally. In fact, we consider him to be a friend of ours. We simply do not want to get caught sitting on a ton of discontinued, sedentary, totally immobile inventory.

Therefore, we're cutting prices on all Padilla products bigtime! We're slashing prices on Padilla left and right, and blowing this stuff out from not 'till it's gone! Join in on the fun that is "Padilla Madness" and procure yourself some Padilla cigars today. Hey Ernie P., we've got one word for you and one word only: Buh-Bye.
Did anyone else see this? If so, were you as stunned as I was? I mean, we've all known for awhile now that Pepin and Padilla had parted ways, but Ernie posted back in February indicating that the marca would continue on. Yet here we have Holt's, a retailer of Padilla products, publicly announcing Padilla's demise. I hadn't read it anywhere else before, so at first I thought it was a joke. If it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, however, I really don't get the humor. It's a little too harsh with the "Buh-Bye" and reads like a sort of obituary, despite the "we consider him to be a friend of ours" line (like that'll smooth things over with someone you claim to be friends with after you blast them in your publication). A quick check on Holt's website shows that Padilla has been removed from their alphabetical list of cigars.

Thoughts on this? As much as I like Holt's, I find this to be classless. Stop carrying their line and discount your stock on hand if you truly think the ship is sinking, but find a more professional way to promote the sale. I'm not a regular smoker of their products, but for the sake of karma I hope Padilla continues on and releases the next, hot "must have" cigar just so Holt's has to eat some crow on this one.
 
I agree, classless. From CA it would seem Padilla is opening a factory of his own. He probably won't give holts the discount they are looking for, didn't kiss their ass, or someone with more value and pull at Holt's offered them something to throw him under the bus.
 
yeah, for being a 'friend' Holts comes across as an ass with how they decided to send Padilla out.
 
Cigar Ad copy should be taken with a generous amount of salt. It's a tradition in the cigar industry to sling the B.S.

Doc.
 
We just got in some of Padilla's new blends and the lanceros are freaking awesome. The boxes are the same but the stickers and box stamps are from Honduras (I think, not sure). Regardless that copy was not in good form imho, I like the Pepin blend and rolled 8/11's and the new stuff. On a personal level I grabbed a ton of the Padilla/Pepin stuff to set back because like all the other discontinued brands they will be sought after and VERY HARD TO FIND. Hell I may have to raise prices on the site due to not being able to get anymore Padilla's made by Pepin.

Kevin
 
Cigar Ad copy should be taken with a generous amount of salt. It's a tradition in the cigar industry to sling the B.S.

Doc.
I've read enough J.R. Cigar and Thompson's catalogs to be well aware of that, Doc. Most of the time the copy is slanted to make less-than-stellar products seem like the next Opus-that-nobody-knows-about, though. This one just seemed a bit over the top, especially for Holt's.
 
I, too, was confused by the comment. He’s a friend, yet you lob a bomb like, “Bub-Bye”??????? IMO, there is something else going on between these two parties that’s being concealed. Only recently did I learn of Holt’s existence. I have made purchases from them, but I have to admit that I may reconsider that in the future.
 
Bad form if you ask me. I've never done business with holt's and now I think I may keep it that way.
 
How about the existing blends, will they continue?
I'm specifically wondering about the Don Pepin Garcia Black Label, will these be going away?
 
How about the existing blends, will they continue?
I'm specifically wondering about the Don Pepin Garcia Black Label, will these be going away?




Don Pepin Garcia Black Label is not a Padilla product so no worries.
 
There are no Padilla Links on the Holts site that I can find either.

The Padilla Miami, and 1932 were among my favorites.
Pepin's reputation for quality has suffered.
I find the Pepin rolled "Stuff" Holt's and Ashton are selling inferior.
geez. :rolleyes:

Are they listing prices for Padilla Items in the Fathers day edition? I'd be curious on a few.
 
Pepin's reputation for quality has suffered.
I find the Pepin rolled "Stuff" Holt's and Ashton are selling inferior.
geez. :rolleyes:

Are they listin prices for Padilla Items in the Fathers day edition? I'd be curious on a few.


I think he is spreading himself too thin by producing waaay too many blends. However the Tatuaje, Cabaiguan and Pepin Label are all still high quality in my opinion.
 
Are they listing prices for Padilla Items in the Fathers day edition? I'd be curious on a few.
Habanos
Churchill/Torpedo: 10 for $41.95

Signature 1932
Churchill/Lancero: 10 for $84.95
Perla: 10 for $65.95
Toro: 10 for $79.95
Torpedo: 10 for $89.95

Miami 8/11

Churchill/Lancero: 10 for $75.95
Corona: 10 for $62.95
Robusto: 10 for $69.95
Salomon: 5 for $79.95
Torpedo: 10 for $85.95

They also have a Miami 8/11 Sampler pack (1 each of all sizes except the Salomon) for $35.95
 
Cigar Ad copy should be taken with a generous amount of salt. It's a tradition in the cigar industry to sling the B.S.

Doc.
I've read enough J.R. Cigar and Thompson's catalogs to be well aware of that, Doc. Most of the time the copy is slanted to make less-than-stellar products seem like the next Opus-that-nobody-knows-about, though. This one just seemed a bit over the top, especially for Holt's.
Doc's been puffing for 30-odd years. I think he's potentially got some unique perspective on the matter. I'd ask him whether he thinks this is typical or whether this is unusual from a historical sense. In light of the recent public (on vendor's sites and elsewhere) acrimony between manufacturers and dealers, I'd be curious to hear whether he thinks this becoming a trend.

I've always had this romantic vision of the cigar business as a gentleman's business. Maybe that's becoming an outdated model under contemporary pressures for profit and share. One would think that there would be customers aplenty to go around, but maybe this is not the case.

Wilkey
 
The Holt's I visited for the first time in the early '70's, is not the Holt's of today. Back in those days it was staffed by gray haired gentlemen in white shirts, black trousers and ties, who actually new something about tobacco, and took pride in their trade. It may have been a gentleman's business back then; I was really too young to know. There's a bunch of sharks in the business today,not much different than the antique business, where wolves in sheep's clothing abound.

Now that I think about it, the practice of telling customers mold is plume, price gouging, contrived rarity etc., only started after the publication of CA and the cigar boom. Those events are responsible for many of the ills in the business today. You can disagree with me, but I was there and the apologists for that publication will never change my mind.

Doc.
 
Holt's is one of my all time favorite cigar retailers, but I agree, that article seemed pretty tacky and classless, especially the last sentence. I know cigar catalogs can sling the B.S. big time, especially when trying to make a dog rocket sound like a super premium, but this had a far different and even personal tone. My guess is there is some kind of behind the scenes stuff the general public is not privy too, but you should still conduct yourself better than that, IMO.
 
Cigar Ad copy should be taken with a generous amount of salt. It's a tradition in the cigar industry to sling the B.S.

Doc.
I've read enough J.R. Cigar and Thompson's catalogs to be well aware of that, Doc. Most of the time the copy is slanted to make less-than-stellar products seem like the next Opus-that-nobody-knows-about, though. This one just seemed a bit over the top, especially for Holt's.
Doc's been puffing for 30-odd years. I think he's potentially got some unique perspective on the matter. I'd ask him whether he thinks this is typical or whether this is unusual from a historical sense. In light of the recent public (on vendor's sites and elsewhere) acrimony between manufacturers and dealers, I'd be curious to hear whether he thinks this becoming a trend.

I've always had this romantic vision of the cigar business as a gentleman's business. Maybe that's becoming an outdated model under contemporary pressures for profit and share. One would think that there would be customers aplenty to go around, but maybe this is not the case.

Wilkey
Wilkey,
Upon further reflection I'm fairly certain that there's something else at play here. I don't deny that some bad blood between Holt's and Padilla probably prompted this copy and the subsequent discontinuing of Holt's carrying Ernesto's line. Exactly what happened, I couldn't say, but Holt's has a decided slant towards anything manufactured by Fuente or Pepin, so it's entirely understandable that they would choose to support Pepin over Padilla. They are very quick to indicate whether or not a particular marca was rolled in either of these two factories, as this somehow indicates automatic higher quality over other brands. Take their current catalog, for example. 32 of the 82 pages are devoted to either Fuente or Pepin rolled cigars. Jorge Padron and Litto Gomez come in a distant 3rd at 4-5 pages each. I haven't been smoking for 30 years, but in the 12 that I have been I've never seen a vendor slam a manufacturer this way in print.
 
Wilkey,
Upon further reflection I'm fairly certain that there's something else at play here. I don't deny that some bad blood between Holt's and Padilla probably prompted this copy and the subsequent discontinuing of Holt's carrying Ernesto's line. Exactly what happened, I couldn't say, but Holt's has a decided slant towards anything manufactured by Fuente or Pepin, so it's entirely understandable that they would choose to support Pepin over Padilla. They are very quick to indicate whether or not a particular marca was rolled in either of these two factories, as this somehow indicates automatic higher quality over other brands. Take their current catalog, for example. 32 of the 82 pages are devoted to either Fuente or Pepin rolled cigars. Jorge Padron and Litto Gomez come in a distant 3rd at 4-5 pages each. I haven't been smoking for 30 years, but in the 12 that I have been I've never seen a vendor slam a manufacturer this way in print.
That's a very well-stated observation and I tend to agree. I would hazard that the enmity between Padron and Lew Rothman of JR Cigars would fall into the same class of relationship. However, JRC has never been quite so bald on their commerce site about attacking Padron products directly. The high concentration of Fuente and Pepin products has not gone unnoticed, not even by me. But then again, JR's catalog is heavy with the major Altadis brands (e.g., Romeo y Julieta, H. Upmann) and it does get tedious.

It also seems to me that the advertising copy in the Holt's catalog has started reaching further and further into hyperbole, teeming with all sorts of crazy, excessive descriptors. For example, in their October 2007 catalog (what I have next to me right now) you can find the following: mystifyingly dark, super-extensive natural fermentation, mouthwatering sweetness, scrumptious bouquet, enchantingly rich, profound complexity, like freshly brewed Kona coffee, mind-boggling blend, mouthwatering flavor, lavish notes of earth, oak, and chestnuts, cigar for the ages, bodacious blend, burns in outstanding fashion, rich meaty character, butternut-brown Corojo wrapper, wood, earth, cocoa, and mixed nuts (I wonder what kinds of nuts are in the mix. Cashews? Filberts? What, what?), wholesome hints (as opposed to what, perverted hints?) of oak, apricot, and cayenne pepper, assorted peppers (I can tell bell peppers from chiles, but what other peppers could they be talking about?), fresh cinnamon (I have never smelled cinnamon bark recently peeled off of a cinnamon or cassia tree but I presume it doesn't taste like the stuff in my Lawry's spice jar), pear, hickory, and tapioca (good god, they actually wrote tapioca!), hodgepodge of spices, aroma of earth and woodcuttings (wtf are woodcuttings?), and on and on and on.

What I have not done is an analysis of descriptors used correlated to brands or producers. It's not impossible that this is all part of a subtle attempt to shape the perceptions and expectations of these brands. For example, how many times do you need to read or hear that a cigar is "creamy" before you convince yourself that it is indeed "creamy?"

The Holt's I visited for the first time in the early '70's, is not the Holt's of today. Back in those days it was staffed by gray haired gentlemen in white shirts, black trousers and ties, who actually new something about tobacco, and took pride in their trade. It may have been a gentleman's business back then; I was really too young to know. There's a bunch of sharks in the business today,not much different than the antique business, where wolves in sheep's clothing abound.

Now that I think about it, the practice of telling customers mold is plume, price gouging, contrived rarity etc., only started after the publication of CA and the cigar boom. Those events are responsible for many of the ills in the business today. You can disagree with me, but I was there and the apologists for that publication will never change my mind.

Doc.
When cigars made the flip over from a way of life, to an accoutrement of an aspirational, acquisitive lifestyle, that is when it all went to hell in a hand basket.

Wilkey
 
wow those are some descriptions, what ever happened to earthy (dirt lol) or just good tasting blended TOBACCO. :D
 
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