Ok, so I agree that it gets irritating when every LE is like a feeding frenzy and the prices soar and the cigars are near impossible to get your hands on unless you jump on every release when it comes out and you have to risk ending up with an untried cigar that you hate or missing out on one that ends up being stellar. The good thing is that we're part of a community that really shares the love and a lot of us get to try these otherwise unattainable cigars thanks to our generous BOTL.
BUT...
In defense of the whole concept of LE cigars. Big companies like General will not even consider making a cigar unless they have enough tobacco to make it consistent over tens of thousands of boxes of cigars, even if that cigar would be really great and tasty. Small boutique companies have much smaller batches of tobacco to work from and sometimes they have a great idea for a cigar but can only make 500-1000 boxes. And maybe the cigar is so unique and specialized that even if they could make more, they're not sure they would be able to sell all of it. In comes the concept of the limited run; use that small batch of superior tobacco in creative and unique ways, put it out and see how it does. That way you don't get a cigar that is awesome upon release but starts to decline and then is completely different and inferior a few years later when the original tobaccos run out and the producer is forced to substitute some of the leaf, unintentionally dilluting or changing the blend, and you don't get a novel idea that is quickly forgotten and ends up losing money for the producer who has sunk whole crops of tobacco into a failed product.
I actually think it is a miracle that brands like Fuente and Padron keep any consistency at all in their lines, and that is only possible because they own huge farms, have HUMONGOUS stockpiles of their own tobacco stored up to ensure consistency and are fully integrated topdown operations where they control everything. Small boutique operators that have to procure their tobacco from other companies cannot guarantee consistency in the long run, and thus in order to get more variety and to maximize their profits they resort to limited runs. It may hurt our wallets and be frustrating at times, but a lot of the cigars we love simply would not be possible to produce as anything but limited releases, so in the end, for those of us that love variety and like to try new, different and experimental cigars, limited releases are actually a great innovation in the market and benefit the community as a whole.
Do some producers carry it too far and just gouge our wallets over specially packaged garbage? Yes, but there are also PHENOMINAL cigars that would not have existed at all if they weren't made as part of a very limited release. I think that the concept of LEs, at least in theory if not always in practice, makes complete sense and is good for both the consumer and the producer
