I love reading threads like this. Thank you very much for the kind words.
First, HogFarmer....the fine print read that if you didn't smoke your Knuckle Draggers within a year you had to distribute them to members of BOTL.org.
Second, demand has been a surprise so the out of stock conditions are regretful.
Unlike many other brands, we actually own and operate the factory where all of our cigars are manufactured. What this means in a practical sense, is that the number of cigars we can produce is limited by two things. First, the capacity of our small factory (<35k/month) and second, the amount of resources we have to buy tobacco.
When we started making the CroMagnon in November, 2010
we were making 2,000 cigars/month. We purchased enought Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro, binder, and filler to support this production. We knew the cigar was great, but we were certainly not ready for the demand that happened after we sold our first cigars in March 2010. The long and short of it is that we had limited resources and weren't able to purchase enough of the right tobacco to meet the demand
.so we didn't (no short cuts, no compromise on quality).
We poured every penny from our sales (+about a million more) into buying more tobacco. However, the cycle from purchase to the shelf is 12-14 months. So
.CroMagnon and Aquitaine (the Ecuador Habano Ligero version) will be ready in August 2012.
While we were waiting on the tobacco to ferment, we developed the Intemperance. Still, the cycle time for this project is about 6-8 months. We began selling these at Hava Cigar Online in February 2012
.and demand has been amazing. (I mean c'mon, it is a $5-$7 boutique from Nicaragua!)
Last year, we started developing our retail strategy. We sold CroMagnon in three retailers. We began opening accounts for Intemperance in May 2012. Due to the limits described above, we will only be able to support about 25 retailers: Texas (10), Oklahoma (1), Kansas (2), Illinois (2), Indiana (2), Tennessee (2), Pennsylvania (1), Virginia (2), Delaware (1), Maryland (1) and Florida (1).
Why 25? Simple. Our factory, with current staffing and tobacco can sustain production of 16k cigars/month. That works out to 40-50 boxes of each size in each line each month. While we have more than 100k cigars rollled and ready to sell, we are ensuring our retailers that (unlike some other brands) we will be able to support at least their original order each month. We don't want them supporting the brands, displacing others on the shelf just to have to fill the spaces because we are out of stock.
What this all means is two things. First, if you frequent one of these tobacconists, you will be able to support them directly. If you do not, you always have access to our cigars from Hava Cigar Online which is allocated just as the others are to support our customers in the 39 other states.
The bottom line is that we are taking our time. Taking time to do this the right way. We hope that you find these efforts reflected in the consistent quality of the cigars and in our service to you and your tobacconists. In turn, we hope that you continue to patiently support us as we grow.
By the way
Intemperance is for sale at Hava Cigar Online as I type
there is even a discount for box quantity pre-orders! =)
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RoMa Craft Tobac
