tatuajeanarchy.com

[T.G]

Originally Posted by klipsch

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.

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.

[elderboy02]

Pete Johnson is a cool guy. I like his cigars.

[marge796]

Originally Posted by elderboy02

Pete Johnson is a cool guy. I like his cigars.

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.

[Dunkel]

Originally Posted by newlifetaxidermy

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.

Amen!

[LasciviousXXX]

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

Originally Posted by LasciviousXXX

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

Yeah, there some great Gurkhas, um... Tats!

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

Yeah, there some great Gurkhas, um... Tats!

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

Yeah, there some great Gurkhas, um... Tats!

There is a big difference, if you polled the majority of smokers, they would say that Ghurka never ever lives up to any hype. I would wager most would say that Tats, while maybe hyped up, typically are in the ballpark of the best NC cigars out there. I really can't think of a line of cigars OTHER THAN PADRON and OPUS/ANEJO that consistently makes a really great cigar. Ghurkas are dog turds, you wont ever hear anyone say that about Tats.

Originally Posted by klipsch

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.

I consider myself a VERY well educated smoker, and know a lot about cigars, and 7+ times out of 10 if I go into a random B&M and buy to support, its gonna be a Tat (J21 if they have it, Especiales if they don't).

Originally Posted by DougBushBC

Ghurkas are dog turds, you wont ever hear anyone say that about Tats.

Tats are dog turds.

[Tripp]

Originally Posted by Darrell

Tats are dog turds.

I saw that one coming.

Originally Posted by LasciviousXXX

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

I don't think people are hating on the brand, they are just hating on the gimmicks and marketing. I have not read a post where folks are bashing the sticks. On the contrary, Tats are some of the best NC sticks out there.

He will never be as big as Altadis or General. If that is his plan, I think he is living in lala land. People recognize brands like Punch, Montecristo, RyJ, etc from the brands' Cuban heritage. To say that selling some monster themed sticks or whatever marketing ploy you can come up with is going to boost your name recognition to that of brands that are well over 100 yrs old is crazy.

The best marketing tool for cigars is still the rating your brand receives in Cigar Aficionado magazine. While we all have our opinions about the magazine, it is where the average cigar smoker on the street gets his or her information about different cigars.

I could understand all the marketing ploys and gimmicks if Pete made chitty cigars (look at the way CI, JRs, Thompson, etc market some of the off-the-wall nastiness). His smokes are some of the best in the business and deserve to be treated as such. I can understand making a few collectors boxes, etc but making a limited production that sells at only certain shops and then hyping it up is and was a recipe for disaster. Folks were calling around to different B&Ms looking for Dracs. While this seems to be good for boosting the brand, I think a lot of folks got their feelings hurt as a lot of loyal Tat fans were not able to procure them on the open market and had to pay through the nose for them. Some B&M owners were jealous of others who received shipments and they didn't...etc. It damaged B&M reputations with their local customers in some cases and was an all around boondoggle over cigars that were not some of his best work. He could have sold more cigars at the same price by offering every one of his retailers a certain number of boxes.

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

[Tripp]

Originally Posted by klipsch

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

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."

[akumushi]

Originally Posted by klipsch

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

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.

[Tripp]

Originally Posted by akumushi

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.

[replicant_argent]

not to mention the whole ticket thing was insanely stupid, with retailers eligible to win.
I like Tatuaje.. a lot. They are some really nicely blended sticks.


I just can't afford them as it is, and I don't see them being as good a value as many other alternatives I can easily get for what I perceive is a a better value when my cigar budget isn't what I would like it to be.




And it helps to not feel/look like an 8 year old searching for an elusive Pokemon card.

[akumushi]

Originally Posted by replicant_argent

not to mention the whole ticket thing was insanely stupid, with retailers eligible to win.
I like Tatuaje.. a lot. They are some really nicely blended sticks.


I just can't afford them as it is, and I don't see them being as good a value as many other alternatives I can easily get for what I perceive is a a better value when my cigar budget isn't what I would like it to be.




And it helps to not feel/look like an 8 year old searching for an elusive Pokemon card.

I also can't afford much of the Tatuaje line. Last year with the Drac looming and hype building, I thought to myself, wow, I can have thirteen of this NC Limited Release that may or may not be good, or a whole box of 25 CC Monte Especiales. Let me just say I'm really enjoying those Especiales, and having avoided the Drac fiasco entirely, I can still say I like Pete Johnson and his product.

[Volt]

I thought I might repost after reading some of the followup postings.

In case any thought I was bashing the sticks, in no way. Smoke what you can afford and what you like and enjoy. Life is way to short to smoke bad sticks.

I was commenting more on his marketing. As others have noted, it also comes accross as gimmicky to me and that gets my cynical warning thoughts going. I am definitly more of the word of mouth for a good product advertising type. Too much smoke and mirrors looks shady, your milage may vary.

Whether it's good sticks, the marketing, distrobution, he has folks chasing his product. Good for him. As I noted on par with HD, Apple, etc that have a lot of the fans. I hop in and out of HD stock all the time because they can sell "stuff". I think their motorcycles are not necessarily the best (before you start hating, I currently own a '07 Streetglide) but HD knows how to move product. Apple has people upgrading a phone, device at least once a year. All good for the bottom dollar.

I do think at this point based on local B&Ms in VA, his product is out there. A bit higher priced than the average stick, but he is not unknown. I'm not sure at the end of the day what image, opinion, etc he wants folks to have concerning him and his product, but at this point, he still comes accross as a shuckster type to me and I don't think that's a fair representation of his cigars.

You wake up every day and decide what kind of person you are going to be and what kind of day you are going to have. You can look at all the hype around Tatuaje's products and decide that you are going to have fun with it and see if you can get a hold of some, speculate about what he is going to do next, or you can throw hate and ***** about this or that or how you can't get them, or how its a gimmick...

If you don't think you should have to pay over MSRP for a cigar just because it is limited, don't. I agree that people buying boxes and trying to flip them for twice what they payed is messed up, so I don't buy from them. I know I haven't paid any extra much extra for any of the LE cigars I have bought.

Its not like the type of advertising a certain brand uses affects you in the least and its not like you will die if you don't get to taste any particular cigar.

You are free to express your opinions, but realize that the opinions you choose to express affect people's perception of the community. There seem to be cigar communities that love Tatuaje, some that hate it and some that treat it like any other brand. I'd rather be a part of the latter.