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 Maybe that's becoming an outdated model under contemporary pressures for profit and share.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...first off I must say how much I enjoy you posts...they remind me of my days in college when we slung the lexicon of the English language to a point of delirium....you make me think and that's refreshing.
I read that mailer this morning while drinking my morning coffee and smoking a new Trinidad Coloniales I just received. I was in agreement until the last line of the dialog, no gentlemen taught in a proper manor of cigar tradition wrote that, I assure you. I have been smoking cigars over 30 years and when I posted a topic for discussion concerning Black Cat Cigars in reference to
Don Pepin Garcia ( it was lost after Rod had to reset the server) and how he felt he was mistreated by him personally, most of the responders here chalked it up to a common business deal gone awry and nothing more, that the emotional context was overstated....but I totally disagreed. I thought a hand shake was as good as a signed contract....that's the way MEN did business for many years and the way this indusrty was built.
There was a time when you went into a cigar shop and everyone there was in a suit, shirt and a tie....it was like going into a Men's Haberdasher. You were greeted in a manor not seen today, at the door by a person who gave you his undivided attention while you were there, most times making a recommendation in addition to your favorite brand and gifting you a cigar to try right then and there...he cut it, charred the tip, handed it to you and provided the light from a large cedar switch. A conversation then proceeded about the cigar, it's origins, and then a personal anecdote about it's maker. At that point you joined in a group conversation with all the others making purchases. There truly was a touch of romanticism to the whole buying experience. I still remember the smell of the shops when I went with my Uncle...the creaky wooden floors, all the cigar display cabinets filled with every conceivable brand with boxes stacked openly, the giant fans slowly spinning on the ceiling, add the sight of all the customers smoking cigars, talking, laughing....drinking scotch, bourbon, or port wine that was offered by the owner and sales staff. The smell of cigar smoke was intoxicating...I still feel it every time I walk into a cigar shop to this day. The same people were in these establishments for as long as I can remember...that level of tradition to this retail industry died with them. When you shopped in this type of environment, it demanded a certain amount of respect.
...and now I'm sounding like a FOG treading through a cynical society....lol
Now don't get me wrong, there are many, many fine cigar shops out there and I tend to frequent the smaller owner operator type establishment where there is a measure of passion behind their means of making a living. People that have learned, not only of the current brands, but about their past and how it got to this point...'students of the leaf' as I say. They take the time to tell you about trends in the industry and who's hot and who's not. Who's brand has increased in quality and who's has suffered. Honesty. When I visit a cigar shop, I want to learn something new, not rehash what we all already know in a battle of cigar knowledge. Salaries as they are today dictate a thinner staff, but our society has bred a generation of individuals bent on serving themselves, devoid of conversation and random interaction. I have been to Holt's many times and have had some very interesting conversations concerning new and old smokes, so that comment seemed out of place from what I have witnessed in the past. But then again, things change, as did their business model. I'm sure they will say that the person that wrote that was only involved with the advertising part of Holt's and in no way has any reflection on the retail side of the business or it's views. But it's sad to say, I see this trend becoming more common every day...you never read comments like this before....they were more of a 'back room' type of discussion. But we now live in the Internet era where personal blogs are a way of life and everyone wants their 15 minutes....a personal pulpit in a manor of speaking.
Since my time here at CP, my faith in this older tradition has been renewed...although it does lack the personal touch of physical contact the way I was taught by my cigar mentors. Bombing a guy with a UPS package pales in comparison to handing a person a carefully selected bunch of cigars and witnessing the look on his face...while receiving a much appreciated hug in return. But here at CP, this tradition is much more far reaching...it makes friends across the world...and that is the lure of this version of the cigar passion.
I enjoy being a old guy learning new tricks...keeps you young....although the notion of being called a "newbie" takes some getting used to.
Keep up the good work gentlemen.
Actually Wilkey, I'm sorry you feel that way, we do go out of our way, I hope, to make our cigar customers comfortable, but your point is well taken, and I'd be interested in your thoughts on what might change that perception. Give me a call
