2017 Tobacco Crop Update

[El Presidente]

I was speaking to a few people in Havana who are gung ho on the tobacco crop this year. It is looking excellent and the weather is holding. 

Planted was 18000 hectares in PDR.  Another 6000 hectares was held back to be planted now .  This was a  little bit of insurance against bad weather during the initial planting. 

Fingers crossed but we are witnessing two back to back bumper quality crops 

[Fuzz]

12 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

Fingers crossed but we are witnessing two back to back bumper quality crops 

You didn't drink any Kool Aid while you were in Cuba, did you?

[El Presidente]

Just now, Fuzz said:

You didn't drink any Kool Aid while you were in Cuba, did you?

.......no Kool Aid but everything else 

 

[NSXCIGAR]

If the crop is really as good as has been corroborated by just about every report since January than we are potentially looking at some great, great cigars in 2018-2020 especially considering 2016-17 hasn't been that bad at all. Best vintage of the century so far? Possibly.

[Duxnutz]

Wrapper 3 yrs, filler and binder 2?

[99call]

3 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Fingers crossed but we are witnessing two back to back bumper quality crops 

Out of interest, what do you think they will done with the tobacco?. I.e some might think

1, Brilliant! this mean the return of some standard production favorites

2, Brilliant! this will mean 3 more times the number of RE/LE releases

3, Both

Be interested to hear how you think they will manage it?

If it were me I would simply hold it back as needed, and should it not me needed, then boom you have yourself a huge warehouse of reserva stock. It would be great to see them take the opportunity to try and develop a surplus.  I realise storage is money, but with the successes of reserva stock, do you think they will start to see greater value in holding tobacco?

[cmbarton]

Fantastic news! I was worried that the carribbean hurricanes of 2017 would have damaged some or much of the crops, which combined with increased demand from American sanctions easing would have caused production and supply issues.  Sounds like that might not be a problem after all!

[Corylax18]

They were preparing in earnest at the HLP Finca the last few days of November. I saw mentioned that HSA held back a few thousand Hectares in case of rain, but Hector was confident they would be fine and was planning to plant all of his fields simultaneously.

We have a long way to go before we can call this another bumper crop, but everything is shaping up nicely so far.  

[FatPete]

Would 19 box codes be the first with this tobacco?

[RickHendeson]

7 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

If the crop is really as good as has been corroborated by just about every report since January than we are potentially looking at some great, great cigars in 2018-2020 especially considering 2016-17 hasn't been that bad at all. Best vintage of the century so far? Possibly.

 

Are you saying 2016-17 crop has not been bad, or the cigars?  Because 2016-17 cigars have been utter crap IMHO.  Shady rappers and underfilling everywhere.  

[jfire]

Wrapper 3 yrs, filler and binder 2?

I think wrappers start to show up in and around 18 months after harvest.


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[vivalanation734]

Now if only Cuba could use some of this tobacco to make some reasonably sized cigars...

[torsion]

@mk05

[NSXCIGAR]

2 hours ago, RickHendeson said:

Are you saying 2016-17 crop has not been bad, or the cigars?  Because 2016-17 cigars have been utter crap IMHO.  Shady rappers and underfilling everywhere.  

I don't think the 16-17 cigars have been that bad considering how bad the 15-16 crop was. Yes, wrappers are generally sub-par (underfilling has nothing to do with the tobacco) and consistency is spotty but if this is a low quality point I'll live with it. 

[CigarB]

Did the discussions give any indication on when we could expect to start seeing the return of some of the missing stalwarts (i.e. sir winnie, siglo VI, etc.)? 

[joeman]

Just as long as you didn't hear from this guy

 

[Corylax18]

36 minutes ago, CigarB said:

Did the discussions give any indication on when we could expect to start seeing the return of some of the missing stalwarts (i.e. sir winnie, siglo VI, etc.)? 

Winnies were everywhere in Havana during the Partagas Festival in November. They've also been trickling out to online vendors, including here. 

With the several different Cohiba 50th anni. releases, the huge Talisman coming out late last year, and the general wrapper shortage. I think that Siglo VI size/quality wrapper leafs have been going elsewhere. There seems to be a slow, but steady supply of Esplendidos though, so I may be off. My guess is that they start rolling more BHK 54 or 56 with those wrappers before we see any Siglo VI again, so it could be a while. Unless we have multiple years of bumper crops or a complete sea change in cigar buying habits this is going to be the trend going forward. HSA will happily scrap an old stalwart so that they can stuff the exact same tobacco into a 20 count box of "special" cigars with some cute story behind them, which clearly demands a 50% markup to a 25 count of a similar vitola. Why would they put that scarce wrapper leaf on a $15 Siglo VI when they could put it on a $35 BHK or a $60 Talisman and double or quadruple their profit?

Its depressing, but its the way of the world. For a "communist" country I am regularly amazed at how well they embrace and execute capitalism.

[mk05]

1 hour ago, torsion said:

@mk05

I don't know anything, mate. I just hope for the best.

[Blakes]

1 hour ago, Corylax18 said:

Winnies were everywhere in Havana during the Partagas Festival in November. They've also been trickling out to online vendors, including here. 

With the several different Cohiba 50th anni. releases, the huge Talisman coming out late last year, and the general wrapper shortage. I think that Siglo VI size/quality wrapper leafs have been going elsewhere. There seems to be a slow, but steady supply of Esplendidos though, so I may be off. My guess is that they start rolling more BHK 54 or 56 with those wrappers before we see any Siglo VI again, so it could be a while. Unless we have multiple years of bumper crops or a complete sea change in cigar buying habits this is going to be the trend going forward. HSA will happily scrap an old stalwart so that they can stuff the exact same tobacco into a 20 count box of "special" cigars with some cute story behind them, which clearly demands a 50% markup to a 25 count of a similar vitola. Why would they put that scarce wrapper leaf on a $15 Siglo VI when they could put it on a $35 BHK or a $60 Talisman and double or quadruple their profit?

Its depressing, but its the way of the world. For a "communist" country I am regularly amazed at how well they embrace and execute capitalism.

You know it's all messed up when a $15 Siglo VI is now the cheap cigar in the equation!!!
 

[99call]

3 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

consistency is spotty but if this is a low quality point I'll live with it. 

Yep, if this is as bad as if gets.....it's still pretty bloody good

[kuma]

Great new Pres.  Maybe in time the quality will return to the 2013 - 2016 levels where evertime you looked in on

LFTH your boxes were either HIGH end Hq.'s or dead eyed god given TOP of the chart PSP's.

A thing of beauty to behold!  Can't wait for those crops come to market !!!!!

[SCgarman]

No matter what Cuba does, I will still keep smoking and buying primarily Robustos and Petit Coronas.

[NSXCIGAR]

8 hours ago, Corylax18 said:

With the several different Cohiba 50th anni. releases, the huge Talisman coming out late last year, and the general wrapper shortage. I think that Siglo VI size/quality wrapper leafs have been going elsewhere

I'd have to point out that I think the real MIA cigar has been the Siglo V. Haven't seen a 25 box of these in a looong time. Not really a vitola HSA likes to make anymore anyway, so probably makes sense to reduce production on that one most. 

As far as where the 17 leaf is going to be allocated, I could care less. I think a good crop causes all boats to rise. I doubt there's going to be a reduction in 50+ RG cigars anytime soon. The last 10 years should have shown us HSA is fully committed to special production and large RG. And IMO, regular production has always been on the whole better than special production. I don't expect that to change, although it could I suppose. 

I've always felt good, large crops are vital to strain and blend refinement. When all the strains planted in every part of every finca are viable it produces a massive amount of information that carries over for many years and results in better blends, better cigars and more consistency in flavor. I can always deal with shortages--just make them good when they're available. 

[zeedubbya]

You know it's all messed up when a $15 Siglo VI is now the cheap cigar in the equation!!!
 

Siglo VI for $15? Where? Oh wait...maybe you’re thinking of the 2/3 version just released in 2017. 2/3 the size, 2/3 the price...the Medio Siglo makes perfect sense to me now! When in short supply of wrapper make them 1/3 smaller. I will have to give HSA more marketing credit....


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[Wertman]

does this mean there is a chance for a des dieux in the future.  i hope so