We got a whole lot of cigars in at work on tuesday(26000 is the current total with about 1000 or so more to go), and it seems to me that our supplier pulled our order waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy out the back of their stock. Every single box of our Olvias had one of the old bands(before they put the letter front and center on it, so it only reads what line it is on the sides of the band), and we even got a box of La Aurora Preferidos Ruby Tubos with a release date of 2005. Now onto the questions:

When exactly did they change the bands for the Olivas from the one that looks similar to what they still use on the Connecticuts to this day to the ones with the letter of the line front and center?

When did Rocky Patel change the color of the labels for the Vintage 90s? I know it wasn't too long ago but can't remember for the life of me.

Are Alec Bradley Family Blend No. 1s(the 5.5"x50) still made? And did they ever change the blend on the Family Blends?

When did CAO change the boxes on the Gold lines? We got 3 boxes, 1 each of the Robusto, Torps, and Churchills. The Robustos were the only ones in a box with a latch on it.

Weren't the CAO Sopranos discontinued and when if they were.

Have the Punch Royal Coronation or Gran Cru bands ever changed?

When did Alec Bradley start putting cello on their cigars?

I'm sure there's a couple things I forgot, but this should be good. Just wanted to put some dates to boxes of cigars where theres a noticeable difference from the new stuff.
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When did CAO change the boxes on the Gold lines? We got 3 boxes, 1 each of the Robusto, Torps, and Churchills. The Robustos were the only ones in a box with a latch on it.

Answer: if memory serves me right, the latch went away right about the same time the CAO gold maduros were released.

Weren't the CAO Sopranos discontinued and when if they were.

Answer: nope. Still in production.

Have the Punch Royal Coronation or Gran Cru bands ever changed?

Answer: Not since the days of pharaoh
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thanks!

so i guess that means we have a box of 4 year old CAO Golds. hmmmmmm
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Not necessarily. They continued to make them with the latch until that packaging material was gone. I did say around that time.
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ah, true, but I'd venture a guess that they didn't have those around for too long afterwards. worst case its only 3 years instead. either way just more proof that we got some ancient stuff in. :-) its been like christmas these past 5 days stocking things and finding little ancient gems every so often. we got some serious yellow cello on most of our shipment
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I'll get back to you on Monday. I may be able to give you more specifics on the golds, I seriously doubt that you would have gotten cigars that old directly from the manufacturer. Assuming you have/work at a cigar store, did you purchased these directly or through a wholesaler?
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it was through a wholesaler, we typically don't buy enough at a time to warrant buying from the manufacturer as far as i know. this was easily our biggest shipment since I started working in april. i think our second biggest shipment since i began was somewhere around 1000 cigars and we got 26 times that this time around :-)
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if you don't have enough storage room.... :-)

Seriously though, sounds like you got some great smokes there. Good luck with everything.
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Yea, its been a good couple days there. We honestly don't have enough room for it, everything is doubled up on shelves and my boss even had to take some of the backstock home with him cuz we didn't have enough space ourselves :-)
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Better start smoking...that would be my retail downfall :-)
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I'd order those Pref Rubies from you right now if I had the scratch.
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Does your store have a website? I'd love to get my hands on some old Olivas and a few Ruby tubos...
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http://www.tinderboxraleigh.com/

I'm not sure how my boss handles the stuff with ordering online, but if you give us a call I'm sure something could be worked out. I'll probably be working the morning shift tomorrow(or at least part of it) so tuesday or wednesday would be your best bet for getting in contact with him.
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For reference the Olivas have this band: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pvXopjRH4E...va+serie+g.jpg

Anyone else have any other clues as to when things were changed? Right now I'm just relying on telling myself they're ancient :-)
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Trust me, I am. I've walked out with 25+ sticks since we started stocking stuff. :-)

Oh and sorry bout the triple post
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bump for any more answers and a new question:

when did Ashton start putting cello on the VSGs? I don't remember ever seeing them without so that would push it back to 2 years if my memory is right, but not sure how much further back they started putting the cello on
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