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Anyone know of any suppliers that stock them? The only place that I have found on the net is the LCDH in Hamburg and they obviously don;t ship to the UK. Has anyone managed to find somewhere in the UK that sells them?
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Not imported into the UK at this time although they may be in the near future
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Mitchell -
Seems stupid for them to delete nearly everything from a marka without letting a market as big as the UK even retail them. I'm surprised not one shop has managed to get some stock of them :/Comment
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Designed for & mostly limited to France. It's only a Eurostar w/end away
Simon Bolivar: Liberator of Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru & Venezuela.
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Not imported into the UK at this time although they may be in the near future- the only importer in the UK is Hunters and Frankau, if they dont import them, no one will ever stock them
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MitchellComment
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Ha ha...I'm off to Antibes next weekend - how likely do you think it is that I'll be able to find some of these when I'm out there?Originally posted by Simon Bolivar View PostComment
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I may have to write a nice letter to H&F asking if they can look into the possibility of getting their hands on them. I have friends in Australia who have local stores that stock them regularly (Getting their stock from Pacific Cigar Ltd ) and they don't stop raving about them, mild honey and caramel; a really classy old school cuban. I'd assume if Pacific Cigar Ltd can get their hands on stock then H&F will be able to if they wishedComment
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Sure H & F can get anything that they wish to no problem but it has to be a commercial and marketing decision based on whether the brand will actually sell in any reasonable volume in the UK
This thread is pretty thin- how many boxes do you think you are interested in buying over the course of say a year? and your friends? and the rest of the guys on the board ? add it all up and I'll be more than happy to take it up with H&F and ask them when they think the cigars can be imported for you
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MitchellComment
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Oh crickey I don't think I would even register as a blip on H&F radar in terms of purchases. I currently buy probably around four boxes a year as I only smoke outside and you know how the weather is lol.
I'm a relatively new cigar smoker, I've probably been smoking them for just over four years (I'm 24 now) and although I have half a dozen boxes of cigars the most exciting thing for me as someone reasonably new to Cubans is the excitement of trying different markas and violta. But the thing that strikes me the most about cigar smokers is that regardless of how long they have been smoking they are obsessed with that same excitement of exploring new/different releases. I mean look at the UK regionals they have flown off the shelves!
It's like you say it would all be about sales but I would hazard a guess, based on how UK regionals have sold, that if a stock of QDO coming to the UK was marketed as a special event then there would be a lot of interest. For example a release party like there was for the Flor De Cano, hype about how a historic brand that was previously a French market speciality is now being chosen for the UK market.
I just seems to me that HSA and H&F are potentially missing out on sales for no real solid reason. I agree that any release is a risk but (Unless I'm wrong) UK regions have sold well so it's reasonably safe to assume there is a market for new, quality cigars in the UK. I could be all wrong on this but the risk seems small (A small stock of QDO) against potentially great positives; more sales, and two potentially very important things;
1-a marka doesn't die (Let's face it QDO won't be around for much longer if sales stay the same and deletions by HSA continue)
2-The customer base that has grown disenfranchised by the habanos deletions may come back to the fold and be more happy. Talking to people there seems to be a lot of upset at some of the deletions (Bolivar Corona Extra, Robusto T, LGC Tainos) especially some of the older smokers who are seeing their 50 cabs for aging vanish and the thinner guage cigars across Cuba being phased out. Maybe bringing a classic speciality cigar like the QDO Corona to availablility in the UK would offset any knock they have felt.
And I guess that anything which brings excitement to the UK cigar community can only be a good thing. Obviously sales records probably wouldn't be broken, but according the sales release Jose Piedra is second best in the world and who would honestly smoke one of those over a QDO!
I'll get off my soapbox now
What do you think a potential QDO release would be like for the UK? You obviously have a lot more experience in the field
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A well thought out response thank you, let me share my views with you:
You are asking for a cigar to be imported into the UK presumably as you have heard some good things about it which is absolutely fine but you say you are a novice Havana cigar smoker so I have to ask how many Havanas within the current 24 approx ranges available in the UK have you tried so far ? Have you tried all the UK regionals and limited’s?
Your suggestion refers to ‘ a small stock’ I am no importer but I would hazard a guess that it really doesn’t work like this ‘ pop a dozen boxes onto the next export mate’ it’s just not that simple
You say that a lot of people are upset at deletions but the harsh reality is that talk is very cheap and if these people do not actually purchase these particular cigars there is very little reason to keep the vitolas within the brands alive. The reality is that there are tons of most deletions still available …as no one buys them.
Personally I like the QDO brand and would like to see it in the UK although I doubt it would gain any significant sales or interest generally.
If I want a mild cigar I smoke a Juan Lopez.
I have not been massively impressed with appearance or blend on QDO’s generally over the last few years ( we sell them in our Hamburg La Casa del Habano) not that there is anything wrong with them it’s just that there are so many more interesting cigars out there as alternatives.
Throwing a cigar party ensures one thing only- expenses, not necessarily sales so it is relatively weak as a marketing tool for an existing brand. I remember doing a relaunch party for Saint Luis Rey at Dunhill a while back, great evening, food, champagne, loads of cigars, sold out event- fabulous- any significant sales? Well nothing I would be retiring on any time soon.
I don’t want to sound too negative but QDO and excitement are an oxymoron for me
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MitchellComment
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You don't sound negative, just a voice of reason
I keep a note of each new cigar I try and it's up to 57 so far, I have 13 more in the process of being brought down to 65rh so when the weather behaves and I can light those up that should take me up to 70 different cigars tried, that includes the UK RE / LE programs.
I think everyone understand the dilema that HSA are trying to delal with, no retailers wants to buy more stock that isn't moving and HSA doesn't want to make more. But on the flip side if production was purely down to sales how many annual deletions are we away from the choice of only Monte Opens, Monte 4, Siglo VIs or a Quintero/Piedra. At least across forums there has been a lot of anger at some deletions (Dip 4, Robusto T, Boli CE seem to have caused the most column inches) especially when push came to shove that stock of those deletions moved when people realised it was going to go. So the market was actually there for the most popular of the deletions, I don't think Dip 4 can really be found anywhere now, it would be sensible for HSA to look at something like a limited run of say 1000 boxes every 2-3 years, the portion of the market who bought up those remaining boxes would be happy and demand would be kept high due to the limited run so stock most likely wouldn't be sat around for long. But now they are gone forever. It's probably a safe bet to assume that HSA will have to take notice of these types of views/feelings when in 7-8 years Duty Free has been phased out and they have lost 30% of their business model.
Maybe an option for a retailer like yourself would be trying to guage interest by newsletter, talk is cheap but email is free!
Talking about cheap, I could be wrong but QDO on the whole seems significantly cheaper than a lot of other ranges, is there a space in the market in these financially restricted times for a new release that has a lower retail price.
Just some thoughts
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I dont think we're missing much with not having the QDO over here. If you're that hell bent on getting some then probably the best way is to jump onto a train or boat and grab some on the continent. The travel will probably be more exciting than the smoke.Comment
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What did you find they were like? Guy and Pig and Rob have been lauding over them so much lately, their boxes have been 6years + on them thoughOriginally posted by SteveGriff View PostComment
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Guy?Pig? Who dey?Comment
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