Sometime last month I was hanging out at Kensington Tobacconist chatting it up with the owner. After a little while he began separating his latest Camacho Cigars shipment to be loaded into the humidor as we continued to talk. Somewhere along the way he handed me a sales brochure that was included in the box and asked me if I had heard about this new Connecticut LegendArio.
That was the very first time I heard about this new line extension. The literature didn’t grab my attention, only showing a band as I recall, so I shook my head indicating that I hadn’t heard anything about it and handed the pamphlet back to him.
I can only assume that the sales brochure was a teaser for retailers because the big news hit the blogosphere today. Within fifteen-minutes I saw mention of the press release making its way onto three separate blogs. We aren’t fond of republishing the same press release once it has begun to make the rounds (which is why you don’t see them often on Stogie Review). Jerry, Brian, Mike, and I all generally focus our efforts on original content.
After reading over the information, two things crossed my mind that I’d like to get your take on. Just to get you up to speed, if you haven’t already seen it, the press release can be found below.
Camacho Cigars Press Release:
April 5, 2010, Miami, FL – Camacho Cigars, makers of the widely popular LegendArio brand, proudly announces it’s launch of the NEW LegendArio Connecticut cigars. This new blend features an Ecuadorian-grown Connecticut wrapper, and fillers from both Honduras and the Dominican Republic. The LegendArio Connecticut’s flavor profile is quite pleasant and provides for a rich, creamy, and savory smoking experience with medium strength. As with the original LegendArio release, the NEW Connecticut delivers top quality tobacco and construction at a very reasonable price point.
The new line will begin shipping to retailers nationwide this week and should reach national distribution by the end of the month.
The NEW LegendArio Connecticut comes packed in boxes of 25 cigars and is available in the following (3) popular formats:
- Toro – $6.50 per cigar
- Figurado – $6.50 per cigar
- Bertha – $6.50 per cigar
The first thing that enters my mind is very simple, why is the brand being promoted with a product photo that looks like an artistic rendering? The photo looks as if it was created, in its entirety, in Photoshop. With the line shipping to retailers this week, why isn’t a true representation of the product available?
I don’t know if it is just me, but Camacho Cigars product seems to be slowly creeping higher and higher up the price scale. Ever since I talked about the last rendition of the Camacho LegendArio, I have stopped purchasing them. Before then, I seem to remember the line being considerably less expensive than $6.50 per stick (even accounting for SCHIP it seems high).
What was once an excellent value cigar seems to be slowly, but surely, pricing itself out of the market. The most recent price increases could have much to do with the acquisition by Davidoff some months ago, but it could also be that Camacho is positioning themselves as a super premium line. With the brand sponsoring events such as the Oscars, I would assume that it would need to appear more appealing to the high rolling crowd than the average Joes, such as myself, that used to smoke the line frequently.
I had some Legendario’s last year, and wasn’t impressed with them. As Ed would say, they were “Just another cigar.” Yea, that pic is clearly doctored up and looks fake. Kinda lame if you ask me.
If Camacho wants to price themselves for high rollers, I’m OK with that. There are hundreds of other brands to choose from.
Tom,
A couple of years ago, back when there was no band, and even when it was just a foot band, I thought they were a great cigar for the money. When the packaging changed to what it is now I got conflicting information. The rep told me the blend changed (it certainly tasted like it) and word from the office was that it was the same blend with new packaging.
Regardless of the blend changed or not, I no longer like the line and haven’t purchased one in some time now.
I stopped buying Camacho cigars, when they never followed through on their “Black Band Project” sampler offer. I still have a few limited edition corojos and a couple of their “pre-embargo” cigars. I’ll stick to Pepin’s, Pete Johnson’s, and Mr.Perdomo’s stuff.
Stan,
You aren’t alone. There seem to be many smokers out there that signed up for the Black Band Project and walked away unhappy with the way it was managed.
Well, I think one of the reason that it seems the prices are on the rise is the schip, but besdies that the more obvious issue could be the recent merger with giant Davidoff,whose cigars in my opinion are way overpriced for any market. That being said, $6.50 is still not a bad price for a single cigar and would proibably figure out to be around $115 or so a box. I am a Camacho JUNKIE and 75 of the cigars I have on hand are Camachos. But if they continue to increase the cost of their cigars, I will not keep buying them. There are too many other great cigars on the market for less $$$
I used to LOVE the Legendario line. They were cheap and packed a punch but still sorta tasted like a Camacho. I recently tried the new revamped Legendarios and was sorely disappointed. Aside from the price it was just a boring cigar. Enough time had passed from last one so I was able have a fresh perspective on it and let me tell you.. these are boring cigars. They reminded me of a Romeo and Julieta which is a great cigar, but NOT for a Camacho. I even tried them 3 or 4 times just to make sure that I wasnt being harsh on them… why? Because Im a die hard Camacho fan.
At this price I have to say that these just aren’t worth it. At $6.50 you can find many cigars that are better.. heck.. you can even get some of the regular Camacho stuff for that. No thanks.
Got to try one of these last week and it was fantastic. A very good cigar. Medium bodied. I was at a Camacho cigar tasting and one of the cigars featured was this one but it was a 6X 60 which is not my favorite size but it was such a great smoke I ended up nubbing this one. Will definitely buy a box of these when they are at the local shop