QOTW: How do you define a boutique cigar manufacturer?
Today, I’m back again with another Question of the Week. In these posts, I will pose a question to you, the reader. Feel free to respond in the comments section, where you can also reply to other comments with our “threaded comments” feature. You can also respond on our The Weekly Cigar Forums. Anyway, on to the Question of the Week.
How do you define a boutique cigar manufacturer?
This week, the question will require a little thought to answer. What is a boutique manufacturer? Does it have to do with the quantity of cigars produced? Does it have to do with the cost of the cigar? Is it a marketing term used to generate hype for a product? You tell me. I don’t want to sway your responses with my opinions on the matter, so I’m going to let you answer the topic on your own. I’m expecting some good conversation on this topic!
To start the discussion, here’s an excerpt from Cuban Crafters Cigars website on the topic of boutique cigars:
“What’s the difference between Boutique Cigars and other Premium Cigars?”
Boutique Cigars are premium handmade cigars which, in contrast to regular premium cigars, are made in small batches. There is greater detail on quality, and the tobacco leaves are special and hand selected to create a distinguished complex flavor. A Boutique cigar company makes less than one million cigars annually. While difficult to find in many cigar retailers and cigar stores and smoke shops, Boutique brands are something different from the ordinary mass produced cigars commonly available in most cigar shops. Their flavor and aroma is unmatched.
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I generally think of a boutiqe brand as something that the average cigar smoker doesn’t know about, and it’s not widely available. My favorite boutique brands right now are Phoenix, 7-20-4, and El Premier Mundo. The cigars are often top quality, and you get the added bonus of increased accessibility to the owner of the compnay.
I love the KA Kendall 7-20-4… it’s a great smoke.
I would think of a boutique as a company that provides a special blend for a single high end location.
I believe a boutique cigar line has to be one that is produced in smaller quantities. In addition, they’re not mass marketed, but the quality of the cigar is worthy of placement in fine Brick & Mortar retailers.
Thanks for your input, Sean.
Cigars produced in limited quantities with limited distribution. Typically available only from the producer or in a limlted number of retail locations. Unfortunately limited production doesn’t always mean good construction or flavor. I’ve had some spectacular boutique cigars along with some that shouldn’t be sold. It all depends on the blender and rollers.
For me a boutique cigar company is a cigar company that has humble roots and is focussed on making the best cigar with the best tobacco. They don’t care about making 1,000,000 boxes year, but they make what the can with the highest quality of tobacco that they can get their hands on. For me, these would be brands like Tatuaje, Don Pepin Garcia, 601, Illusione, etc… I wouldnt say there is a set limit on how many cigars they can roll, but its probably under 200,000 per vitola or so.
A boutique brand must also be hard to find. Not everyone can carry them simply because they don’t have the production ability to do so.
Other than Habanos, I pretty much strictly smoke boutique brands (other than Padron) simply because of the quality and the flavor. They know what they are doing and are doing it for the passion and love of blending tobacco. They spend months and years making up new blends unlike most of the big names out there *cough* Rocky *cough*.
To me a boutique manufacturer is a company that puts out a single blend or a small selection of blends. They wouldn’t have large, national distribution agreements so the cigars would only be available in specific regions or direct from the manufacturer’s website. They would also have small production runs since the company would probably not have many rollers.
In my opinion a boutique company is one which is family owned and operated and produces limited amounts of cigars.