My thoughts exactly. I wonder what he says when confronted with this...
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Probably nothing as a lot of major cigar companies "dye" their wrappers.
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Image
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:-)

:-):-):-)
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Legendary.:-)
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That sucks man
:-):-):-):-):-)
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Legally I do not think JC or CI could do this as Rocky would cut them from his list. On the other hand some manufacturers do sell bad runs at a discount to the big houses like CI. None the less if you are not happy with something weather it came for JC, CI or Cbid they will make it right if you give them a call.
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I hate to be a cbid/CI basher, but I too have noticed that not everything on there is the same quality as what you get from other retailers. There is quite a bit of difference in the Pepin products I have bought from cbid/CI versus what I have bought at local retailers and smaller online shops. My Father is one of my favorite NC smokes. I bought a bunch of lanceros off of cbid at a steal....I smoked them, but they are like night and day compared to the same stick from a B&M....in terms of quality and flavor. Have had similar experiences with DPG black, blue, tobacos baez, and nestor miranda as well as padilla, alec bradley, oliva, et al. Now, if I see something that is not a CI exclusive advertised on the daily deal or cbid in mass quantities, I steer clear. With that said, I did get a killer deal from cbid on an outstanding box of DPG blue churchills once.
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I buy 75% of my cigars from JC and have been for the past year - had no problems with quality or delivery.:-)
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I do a lot of business with CI. I've found that when I get a shipment from CI and put it in one of the humidors, the RH goes up. This suggests to me they are sent "wet" and I don't necessarily have a problem with that. Sure beats the alternative! But every shipment also comes with an insert that says to put them up for a while before torching them (not that I listen -- I'm a repeat offender when it comes to lighting up something ROTT.)

I have probably bought in the neighborhood of 400 to 500 cigars from CI over the last five months alone. I've not detected any quality issues -- not to say others have not had them, just that I have not. And that covers everything from Padrons to Pirates (which are really good smokes, btw.)

I'd just suggest that, if you have any concerns, call them up and give them an opportunity to address your concerns and make it right. They have the reputations of CI, CB and C to worry about. Not that what others have suggested isn't true, it just seems that it wouldn't make much sense to put that much at at risk especially in the world of the Internet.
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I have sent them a customer service email, but I am still waiting for a reply. I also have purchase a fair amount of cigars from them and not had much of a problem until lately. My recent box purchase from CB have been in great shape without any problems. Maybe it's just the quality of RP going way down hill.

As a internet vs. B&M thing that really isn't the issue here. Last time I checked there was local B&M out here in Iraq, so that leaves me no choice but to order from the internetz. There really isn't even a good one back home so all my purchases are over the net there.

I did light one of these smokes up today and can say that it is nothing like the Decades I have smoked in the past. It had a hint of that "Decade" taste but if I had to compare it to another RP cigar I would say it tasted almost exactly like a Indian Tabac Super Fuerte. Definitely not worth the price even at the discounted JC price. Really sad if this is the fault of RP.
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I can't say that everything they're selling are fakes or anything like that, but have noticed inconsistencies. On a number of occasions, I've had a cigar that I bought from a B&M, or a different site, and really enjoyed it. Then a few weeks later, buy 5 or 10 of the same cigar from C-Bid, and been disappointed with every single one. This has happened to me with RP a few times, Padilla once. Inconsistency within the same pack seem to be more due to issues with storage, as they ship very wet.
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Can't see how something like that could be anything but due to something at Rocky's end. Something like that is simply beyond what CI/Cbid/Cigar.com could have had influence over.

Wouldn't be the first time an RP blend has changed once the original tobacco stocks for a cigar were used up and new crops were being used to produce the cigar.
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They had a Diamond Crown event last week at my local B&M. The rep stated that in his opinion the best thing about Fuente Brands is that they are consistent. I have to agree as long as things are consistently good. He estimated that Fuente has about 8 to 9 years worth of tobacco for production stored up. Crazy huh!

I purchased a humidor on CBid, and I was very happy with it.
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Meh. I've had inconstant Fuentes, and they were Opus Xs to boot. Pure ammonia bombs, the tobacco used in that release had no age on it.

Unfortunately, most reps are full of ****.

The only people I would believe when they say that they have tobacco stockpiled for X number of years is General Cigar and Padron, and to a lesser extent, Altadis. It's pretty widely known that General won't even create and launch a cigar unless they have 5-7 years of tobacco stored up for it, and that's 5-7 years at their volume numbers, which are probably 5-10-20 times higher than anyone else's volume numbers. Padron's tobacco stockpiles are legendary, so cut that in half for realism or skepticism and it's still a massive amount. Altadis, see General cigar above, they're just not as good at stockpiling as General.
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I don't trust what most rep's say, but I do agree that I want consistency in a product. I hate getting something that is great in one box, and the next box tastes like it was made somewhere else, with totally different ingredients.
I like Opus, but they have to sit for a year before I touch them. I think it is amazing how much tobacco must be stored up between all the big manufacturers.
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I'm with you bro. and I would venture to guess that we all want consistancy, be it good or bad, in a line of cigars from any given manufacturer.
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Back to the topic at hand. I don't want to imply that CI/cbid is selling crap or that the cigars are poorly made, not smokeable,etc. I just do not believe their cigars in all cases are the same as what other B&Ms or smaller online retailers receive. Like Tripp said, on multiple cigar lines, I have bought and enjoyed sticks from the local B&M (just a few weeks ago, it was the AB SCR). Then, I purchase the same thing on cbid and other than size and band, the two sticks are nothing alike. So, my feeling is that some manufacturers are making cigars especially for CI that are of lower quality (mostly underfilled) or use a lower grade tobacco so that they can give them a smoking deal....which they pass along to their shoppers. The other possibility is that CI buys all the seconds/rejects and somehow convinces the manufacturers to label them as firsts. Not sure of what is going on, but, at least in my mind, not all of what CI/cbid sells is first quality. Like I said, I would not call any of these seconds crap, because I do smoke this stuff on a regular basis. I just would not call them premium cigars.
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Most of the cigars I've bought have been from C-Bid, Joe's, CI, or Cigar.com. I've never had any problem with anything.
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So are you saying there might be a slight possibility that there are 2 types of cigars? 1 for B&M's and 1 for online retailers?:-)

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

I think the answer is simple. It's the manufacturer that is sneaking in lesser quallity stock into the larger internet retailers orders. Every producer has stock that is just barely under standard. Throw them away or sneak them in a big order? CI will not open every box for sale like a B&M would. By the time the poorer sticks are discovered they're in a third persons hands and much less likely to get returned. It's all about profit margins.

So in short, blame the manufacturer.
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