Wow! At first I thought that an Ecuador-wrapped Nicaraguan stick designed and presented identical to Behike was something you would expect a from a soulless catalogue brand, not PJ. Pete and other respectable manufacturers certainly pay homage to Cuban cigar tradition, but this cigar is an identical copy. Something isn't adding up.
My guess is that this is a super-elaborate "FU" to General and Altadis by extension. I don't have any statistics, but some amount of GnA's sales must come from under-informed buyers thinking that they are getting a "real" Partagas, Monte RyJ etc... When I started smoking, the conceptmof identical, but unrelated brands confused the s**t out of me and just seemed wrong.
With all his success, maybe Pete felt empowered to take that issue on in a very spectacular way?
If General were to accuse him of "stealing" essential design cues from what's become one of the most popular and identifiable Cohiba releases, they'd have to admit that they utilize confusion to make money. After all, they don't make the Behike, they hadnt gotten around to copying one and Pete beat them to it.
Maybe I'm trying to justify a sketchy move by someone I respect...or maybe this is a slightly insane dose of poetic justice?
