Would you guys keep on the lookout for Short Story Maduros?

[shilala]

Originally Posted by T.G

You're not wrong Kelly, Father's Day and December Holiday season (ie: late November) was still the case as of last year for most of the HTF stuff.

Ditto.
Did they do the Anejo's and Opus at different times, Adam, or were they at Father's Day and before Christmas as well?
Seems they added some extra dates this past year because Opus and Anejo are pretty well stocked everywhere?

[T.G]

Originally Posted by shilala

Ditto.
Did they do the Anejo's and Opus at different times, Adam, or were they at Father's Day and before Christmas as well?
Seems they added some extra dates this past year because Opus and Anejo are pretty well stocked everywhere?

I think traditionally, at least the way I remember it (ehhh), it was Anejos for Fathers Day and Opus Xs & BTLs for the December holidays, although it seemed like there were two regular Opus releases last year and IIRC, Mark (Norcal_Mark) was saying that he got in more boxes each time. Plus, there were all the sungrowns too, which stretched the boxes out further since people were buying those up

In the last few years, Fuente has been churning out the HTFs like mad. 858 SG rosado, 858SG, Hemi SG, Hemi SG rosado, Untold story maduros (when was the last time they made those monsters?). They even did Opus Sharks outside of the Opus-22 set last year...

Based on the larger quantity available, plus the other cigars, it sure seems like they upped production.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by T.G

I think traditionally, at least the way I remember it (ehhh), it was Anejos for Fathers Day and Opus Xs & BTLs for the December holidays, although it seemed like there were two regular Opus releases last year and IIRC, Mark (Norcal_Mark) was saying that he got in more boxes each time. Plus, there were all the sungrowns too, which stretched the boxes out further since people were buying those up

In the last few years, Fuente has been churning out the HTFs like mad. 858 SG rosado, 858SG, Hemi SG, Hemi SG rosado, Untold story maduros (when was the last time they made those monsters?). They even did Opus Sharks outside of the Opus-22 set last year...

Based on the larger quantity available, plus the other cigars, it sure seems like they upped production.

It sure is a diversion from their "protect the mystique" philosophy. It hasn't been long since I'd grab every Opus I could find for the guys here. (I no like.) Now they're everywhere, even online. I never saw one of those 3 cigar tins till this year, I bought up a whole rack, then played hell getting rid of them. I'm still stuck with 3 tins. They'll make nice gifts, I suppose.
There must be a new captain at the helm with some different ideas?

[T.G]

Originally Posted by shilala

It sure is a diversion from their "protect the mystique" philosophy. It hasn't been long since I'd grab every Opus I could find for the guys here. (I no like.) Now they're everywhere, even online. I never saw one of those 3 cigar tins till this year, I bought up a whole rack, then played hell getting rid of them. I'm still stuck with 3 tins. They'll make nice gifts, I suppose.
There must be a new captain at the helm with some different ideas?

I dunno. I have no idea how the decision power is divided between Carlos and Carlito.

There is a bit of resurgence in cigars going on, in my talks with a number of manufacturers & makers, they all seem to believe that we're heading into an expansion, almost a mini-boom, but without a repeat of a lot of the garbage (caused in part by crop shortages) from the early 90's.

Besides that, I see a few other possibilities such as the upswing in HTF & LE interest and sales over the last few years so maybe they upped production, good crops 3-5 years ago so there is more tobacco for them to use and I believe that Fuente has been expanding their capacity over the last few years (actually, I can't think of many manufacturers who haven't expanded in the last few years) because they seemed to be having a hard time meeting demands, but were still adding new accounts, now, all of a sudden, all the accounts seem to be getting more cigars. And, lastly, maybe with all the other NC HTFs out there top chose from, could Fuente product be moving a bit slower in any one location, yet better across the board due to increased availability. Couple that with more product in the distribution and you have a recipe for stuff being easy to find.

Probably a combination of many things.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by T.G

Probably a combination of many things.

I was grinding on it, and came up with what you said up there. It's hard to believe that they didn't push up production because the proliferation and availablity was almost instant.
I agree that the onslaught of htf/le's is probably cutting into their act, as well. Add poor timing into the increased production, htf/le's, and slogging economy, and that'd leave lots of opii and anejo on the shelves.
Then when they're always available, they're no longer special and the artificial shortage of supply/mystique model goes to hell. That's going to be tough to rebuild, if it can be. It's a shame.