Lighter Maker Colibri Closes!

[Cliff-cl]

I just saw this on Cigar Report Daily....Not sure if anyone cares or not; figured I'd pass it on.

http://www.cigarcyclopedia.com/webap.../view/1344/27/

[mc2712]

Well there goes my lifetime warranty!

[cooljcadetman]

wow! i think that says it all

[Hot Stuff x]

I imagine the brand will continue under new ownership, hopefully anyway.

[SMOKE20]

Wow, interesting news

[shortstory5]

Originally Posted by Hot Stuff x

I imagine the brand will continue under new ownership, hopefully anyway.

I can imagine this being the case...

[Camacho Junior]

Wow. Crazy how this can happen.

[KazzTheMurse]

Lotus is better anyway

[Rusty Shackleford]

That's too bad, I guess it's just another company to belly up because of our bad economy. What a great time to grow up.

[jim@mindofmen.com]

Wish I could say that I was surprised. I have owned a number of Colibris over the years and they have all sucked. They are great when they are new, but over time they all stop working. No amount of purging, cleaning, or anything else ever seemed to fix the problem.

I had heard that things had gotten better over the last year or so, but they established a reputation for many years as a producer of innovative, nice looking, but poorly performing lighters and it looks like it finally caught up with them.

The article quotes someone at Colibri as saying that no one is buying lighters anymore. That's not true - it's just that no one is buying Colibris any more.

[BigBuddha76]

Originally Posted by jim@mindofmen.com

The article quotes someone at Colibri as saying that no one is buying lighters anymore. That's not true - it's just that no one is buying Colibris any more.

exactly...its only been in the last 3 years that Colibris had started to get better. and before that, Colibri had a nasty reputation for just not working and their customer service was crap and their warranties were worse. All those years hurt Colibri, and yes no one was buying Colibris anymore (althought for dirt cheap I'll buy one)

That being said, I have a Colibri Quantum that is 12 years old and I have never had a problem, knock on wood. I think thats some sort of record

[FunkyCold5]

That is insane.

Considering what is happening with smoking bans, job market, and the recession, these cigar/cigarette accessory companies will be hit the most.

I have only one lighter I use consistently and I've had it for over 3 years. So, turn-around for lighters are practically null. Companies need to be diversified to survive in this market.

Would Cutters like Xikar and/or Palio be next? Cuz I also have only one good cutter and it's my Xikar with a lifetime warranty.

[Doogie]

sad news when a giant in the industry geos down.

[KazzTheMurse]

Originally Posted by FunkyCold5

That is insane.

Considering what is happening with smoking bans, job market, and the recession, these cigar/cigarette accessory companies will be hit the most.

I have only one lighter I use consistently and I've had it for over 3 years. So, turn-around for lighters are practically null. Companies need to be diversified to survive in this market.

Would Cutters like Xikar and/or Palio be next? Cuz I also have only one good cutter and it's my Xikar with a lifetime warranty.

idk if it was just me or everyone, but I'm not suprised on the closing of colibri. We never sold a lot of colibri except for a few years ago before lotus came out. when we picked up lotus, we knew that this quality was not seen on the market before.

After lotus, basically the sale of colibri and their known to be shoddy constuction and quality went down the drain.

[tx_tuff]

I'm surprised but I would agree that Colibri was an over priced poor product. Maybe the fact that the company couldn't get the stock out should have been a clue to them to make better product or at least lower the price. Instead they are going to blame it on the economy and bad market. I'm sure that helped but thats the the whole reason.