More shakeup at CAO

[ninjavanish]

Originally Posted by JJG

haha, I gotta agree with you there. I haven't bought one in years.

It seems like he did for CAO what Steve Jobs did for Apple; put an average product in a stylish and attractive package. Step 2: collect profit. No matter what you think of the cigars themselves, I don't think anyone can argue that he's not a successful business person.

I have to disagree with the average product... I think CAO makes an excellent product. Though it may not appeal to everyone's taste... and though you may grow tired of them after a while... who can truthfully say that their product is average? It's been my experience that with CAO you have quite a few selections of better than average or even exceptional quality. (CAO Brazilia anyone?)

They propelled themselves out of the cigar boom... innovated and even revolutionized the way the entire industry thinks about packaging and POS materials... as you mentioned.

They may not have lead the world in cigar sales but they are good at what they do... I think to compare CAO as a whole to an "Average Cigar" is like comparing a Xikar or a Palio to an Average Cutter... Sure there are better cutters out there. And Sure... there are more expensive cutters out there. But to get a cutter of very high quality at an average price... that's the miracle of the modern cigar maker... if you paid what you really should for a cigar... I guarantee none of us would be smoking nearly as much as we do. Either that or we'd all be smoking White Owl Grape.

I'm not trying to get on anyone's case... or taking it personally or anything... but it really is the end of an era... with the exit of Tim Ozgener from CAO... the number of cigar makers that were actually around and kicking during the boom is dwindling lower and lower everyday... that's not to say we should all live in the past but it's like a part of our culture as cigar smokers. And when our culture loses a pioneer, it takes it's toll. Whether you like the cigars or not... respect is due.

I hope that he does well in whatever he decides to pursue... but hopefully we will not lose his experience and contributions to our passion of cigars. As we all know... once the black leaf is in your blood... you can quit... but you'll never forget.