I've seen Macanudos referenced as America's best selling cigar. Is that true? Looking around the Asylum you wouldn't think that they are that popular - you don't exactly see guys posting pictures of their humis full of Macs.

They are often described as cigars for the casual smoker...I guess I'm surprised that the preferences of the casual smoker would matter that much in terms of sales. Are CA members and like minded smokers just a small minority of all cigar smokers? Or is everyone here hiding the Macs under their Don Pepins?
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I also hear this. My brother smoke's these and loves them to death! I tried giving him some more flavorful cigars but he doesn't seem to enjoy them as much as Macanudo's. I there are more of the casual smokers than we think...
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I'm probably wrong, but I would think that more cigars are purchased by casual smokers than everyday smokers. Everytime I'm at a B&M, there's always at least three or four people wondering around looking like they are lost.
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I've heard the number one selling cigar in America is ACID. No bullshit, several of our reps have told us that.
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I was talking to a friend the other day about what I was smoking, and he actually said his dad wants to build a walk-in humi in his house and that he only smokes Macanudo and Punch. FWIW

Personally I couldn't justify the space taken up for 500 boxes of the same cigar.
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I'm one of those people :-). I've had 2 Macanudos. They were ok but nothing to write home about. Kinda bland.
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Yes, they are... and no, they're not...
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I wondered this recently myself. I think the reason we don't see it is because we're part of a certain niche in the cigar world. If you take the time to connect to the internet and discuss cigars with others then you are in a fairly new school group of cigar lovers. Even if you've been smoking cigars since Cubans were legal in the US. :-)

There are many, many more people that don't get into this like we do. Anytime I spend an afternoon at the B&M I always hear at least a few people that have never heard of Tatuaje, illusione or even Pepin! <GASP!> And if you see a young newbie come in to try out a smoke he'll always grab the Macanudos or Cohibas - name recognition!

Seems like stories conflict on this though. I've also heard that Acid is the most popular, and Macanudo - and this article from CA says that Tatuaje is top dog - followed by Padron and the OpusX.
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You can get Macanudos at Rite Aid. It is the only name brand hand rolled cigar available for miles around. Folks that don't normally smoke cigars see it and know the name and buy them.
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Look at it this way - all those guys buying Macnoodles? Well, they are staying away from the smokes we like, so that's good.

:-)
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I have a difficult time believing Tatuaje is anywhere close to the sales of Macanudo as they limit the number of retailers and the amount of cigars allocated to each. Pepin and Fuente are also limited distribution.

Macanudo's are probably the one cigar you could recommend to a non-smoker that they would smoke. Milder than most of us would smoke, but certainly not totally devoid of flavor.

Just a generation ago, names like White Owl, Roi-Tan and Muriel were dominant in the US market. Before the Boom years, tobacco from the Dominican Republic was all that you could buy and those brands still dominate. Its only quite recently that tobacco from Central America has come to the forefront of cigar production. :-)
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They typically are. Macanudo's are advertised heavily in many different magazines so the casual smoker see those adds and buys them. The internet cigar community is very, very small when compared to the masses that do smoke cigars.

Machine made cigars still outsell handmades 10 to 1.
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In the article they said they polled 46 retailers, so it was based on that, not sales everywhere in America.
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The CA article didn't mention sales, it said 'most requested'. Top spot in most requested and most sales are total different beasts all together.
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For what its worth, at the shop where I work we sell more Macanudos and Acids than any other single cigar brand. They may not be tasty, but a LOT of people smoke them! Even people who would call themselves "cigar smokers" smoke Acids and Macanudos. We are a VERY homogenous group here at CA in terms of our cigar preferences, and those preferences are FAR from what the general public prefers.

That having been said, I like our choices better :-)
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Me too. Mmmmmmm, Phillies. :-)
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You mean it isn't the Grape Swishers?
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Nah, I drink my grapes - especially the Cabernet Sauvignons. :-)
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This has been true for many, many years.

I'd like to speculate why.

It comes down to simple lavor consistency. Granted, you and I think that there isn't much flavor there - OK, none - but people like mild. The majority of people, cigar smokers included, enjoy that.

As further proof, consider how popular light beers are. How many like micro brews or craft brews with some real body and flavor in them. Personally, I'd rather have a glass of water, iced tea, or diet Coke to a light beer.

In my own personal opinion, light beer and Macanudos are both about as useless as mammoric organs on a male bovine.

I don't know if that makes any sense, but... In fact, when I look at cigar smokers sitting around enjoying a libation - the Macanudo lovers are usually drinking light beers - the smokers of fuller bodied cigar enjoy a fuller bodied beer or other libation (single malts, cognacs, ports, etc...).

As I said, just my :-)
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Macanudo, the Budweiser of Cigars!:-)
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