CI "Fake" Cigars?

[Skeat5353]

CI never sold it as a "premium cigar" its description said it was made with "premium tobacco". If you bought this cigar expecting Davidoff quality and premiumness for $1.60, you need your head examined.

I think there's a little bit of a difference between overhyping a crap cigar and buying a brand with a decent reputation, then selling crap cigars under that brand. That's what it appears, at least to me, CI is doing. We know they do that with Gurkha, and it seems like that's what happened here with at least the Los Blancos. I guess it's a fact of the industry, and they're probably not the only ones doing it. Just seems like a bait and switch, which to me is more sinister than simply referring to a shit cigar as "premium."

Both very good points. But the use of the word 'premium' places the cigar in a different class. If I go to the butcher and he sells me a 'Prime' cut of beef for $2 a pound, when it really should be $10 a pound, I'm excited. But if that beef I bought is really 'Select' under the guise of 'Prime', then the butcher has deceived me. If the FDA finds out of this practice, then he will be fined and lose his license. Why are the same standards not in place for cigar retailers and consumers? If I buy what is advertised as a 'premium' cigar, then it should not contain 'non-premium' tobacco. The same way the butcher can't sell me 'Select' beef under the guise of 'Prime.' There should be standards, just like in the meat industry.

When I buy a premium cigar, the band shouldn't matter. The tobacco under the wrapper is all that matters. And it should all be graded, because clearly there is a difference between the leaf used in a Padron '26 and $2 shit rocket. But there is no standard, other than the discerning palate, to place a rating on that difference. There is no way that a 2-dollar shit rocket should be branded under the same 'premium' umbrella as the Padron. But they are. To the uninformed consumer, they see 'premium' as the only standard, whether it's a high-end Tatuaje or low-end piece of garbage like the one Glynn dissected.