...but still short of the brilliance compared to Fuentes marketing.

Remember when the Opus was in its early stages? You could only find them east of the Mississippi. At the same time, they introduced the Diamond Crown line. Those they initially made only available west of the Mississippi.

What that did was create a chaotic situation in which west coasters were paying ridiculous inflated prices for Opus at local B&M's, and visa versa for the Diamond Crowns on the east coast. It increased demand for both products on a national level for smokers wanting what they could not normally acquire locally.

Brilliant.
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More power to him, if his marketing nonsense works so be it no one forces any of us to buy any of his smokes. Personally I like most of what he has put out but I'm done trying to jump thru hoops for a cigar since there are a hell of a lot of great smokes out there.
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Yes, he is a marketing machine but if the cigars didn't back up the hype in most cases the ploy would only work once maybe twice and he would quickly fade away. More often than not people really enjoy the cigars so the buildup and hype will work every time until he starts failing on putting out a product that people enjoy and backup the hype. I just wish he would make his price points a little more reasonable but at the end of the day lets face it, his job is producing and selling cigars. He does it to make a living and to make money so if what he is doing sells more product than he is good at what he is doing and making a good living because of it. Wouldn't we all like to make more money? Hell, most cigars could use a reduction in price but cigars are a luxury item and like most luxury items the prices aren't always reasonable. My only other real complaint other than price point is the delicacy of a lot of these special release cigars wrappers. For example the Verocu series. Those wrapper will pop and burst sometimes just looking at them funny but they're a great smoke and I made sure to stock up on them when I could. Until his product starts to fail to satisfy the masses I would expect to get used to Tatuaje to be around a while. Yes, trying to track down some of these smokes suck and the inflated prices from having to track down these smokes sucks too but no one is forcing you or I to go out an do it. I do find it funny how so many people hate Pete for his marketing tactics but Fuente who does the same thing every year with Opus and Anejos flies under the radar. Maybe it's because everyone is so used to it by now.
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Just like Steve Jobs. :-)
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People that just walk into B&M's and have absolutely no idea of what a cigar forum is...enjoy whatever Tat's they happen upon and have no opinion of Pete Johnson.
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They've also been known to enjoy Cremosas and Puros Indios cigars too...

And the occasional $45 Opus X or $100 Burpha in a glass tube.
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Pete Johnson is a cool guy. I like his cigars.
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I think capitalism is great...and Pete is a master of marketing. However, I have chosen not to chase after every limited production, best thing since sliced bread cigar that he (or anyone else) releases. If I can find them at one of the local B&Ms or online at reasonable prices, I will try them, just as I do with most every new release that comes out. In my experience, the limited production stuff is usually a let down anyway. The Dracs were mediocre at best. The Boris is better, but neither are as good as most of the regular production Pepin/Tatuaje products. The black tubos really aren't very good, IMO. The red tubos are much better and of all the limited production tats they are the best, but they are one of the easiest to find....go figure.

There is a difference between Opus/Anejo marketing and Tatuaje marketing. Opus are released quarterly and all the shops with Fuente accounts get some. So, they are limited, but can be easily obtained by the masses. Anejos are released once per year to all Fuente accounts and are still fairly easy to find. Hell, I've seen Anejos for sale in 2 different shops in the last month at MSRP. Even if you miss a release, you can get in on the next one with no sweat.

My point is that hype and marketing will buy you a pretty puppy, but only a truly great cigar will make him wag his tail. Pete's regular lines are great...especially the new El Triunfador. He does not need fancy packaging, limited production runs, golden tickets, or any of that other crap to sell cigars. They sell themselves. I'd rather all the manufacturers put their effort into making outstanding cigars than trying to sell me something with fancy packaging or a "limited" run.
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:-)
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I agree that Tatuaje has benefited greatly from some excellent marketing, but that link still baffles me. For one, I don't understand how pictures of police in riot gear and terrible music have anything to do with a cigar company. and second, what market segment of cigar smokers is that supposed to appeal to?

Even if it is a whole new venture unrelated to cigars, like clothing or music, it doesn't seem like it is meant to appeal to the majority of his current fans, based on that website.
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Amen!
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I think all the hating on a brand does a lot to discourage some of our newer members. Just something to think about CA family :-)
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Yep.

The cigar industry is different than most others. Its all about the product in the cigar world. Thats it. If you produce a great cigar, it will sell.
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Yeah, there some great Gurkhas, um... Tats!
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IMO, Pete has already established himself and his cigars. The majority of people like his cigars. So anything he releases now and in the future will cause a buzz without all the marketing. He should back off the marketing, save a butt load of money, and let the crazy cigar folks talk up the cigars. He is a house hold name and shouldn't market his line/cigars like he is new anymore:-)
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:-)
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That's really only applicable to the forum crowds and a small percentage of non-forum types. Outside of that circle, he's still tiny, attempting to grow into small. Altadis or General probably sells more cigars in less than a week than he does in a year.

Hence the reason for the continued marketing.

If it works for him, great, go for it. I don't personally need or care for his parlor tricks, but at the end of the day, they really don't mean **** to me. Yes, I have fun poking at some of it, but I don't keep myself awake at night fretting over Pete's marketing campaign.

Ultimately, any increase in his sales is beneficial to the industry as a whole, because it pulls consumers further in. The further in that they are pulled, they more they buy, and not just his cigars, as they start looking around and venturing into other manufacturers.

And right now, with the S-CHIT taxes and more restrictions and regulations coming down the pipe seemingly daily, any one cigar maker or manufacturer's increase in sales benefits all cigar makers and manufacturers.
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Outside of the forums...the marketing doesn't mean a thing. 99% of the time...I'm bringing the news to the B&M's. And if there isn't somebody in the shop that knows the line enough to be able to promote Pete's sticks...it won't even get off the ground. I've seen it happen...

Sorry...late edit: While we're talking about hype and marketing, here's a pic of the latest Monster...The Face

Image
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From the horses mouth(via Facebook)...

"The plan is to sell 666 limited edition boxes of 13 to 13 retailers on the 13th of Oct. and have 1300 plain boxes of 10 sold the week of Halloween to my top 130 retailers."
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Nice.

Haters gonna hate, it gives them something to do. I like the Tatuaje and DPG regular lines enough that I don't feel the need to chase down the rare/htf stuff. I've had some of those releases and thought they were great, but when you start to get worked up and angry about finding/not finding a certain cigar it's time to actually light up and smoke what you've got and R-E-L-A-X. I think in the end, for me, all marketing is obnoxious, so I have a hard time taking any ad campaign seriously, and I don't see the need to single out one particular businessman to venomously denounce him for trying to make a buck. They're all out there doing the pretty much the same thing.
I think that all of the Pete bashing lately is not necessarily in the spirit or best interest of the forum, especially when the mantra is "smoke, what you like, like what you smoke." We know you don't like PJ guys, some of us do, there's no need to spit everytime the name is mentioned. :-)
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