Cigar Magazine and JR Cigars

[miketafc]

OK mayby it's just me but has anyone noticed that JR has been pushing the new Cigar Magazine that just published it's first issue. Well it named the Patagas Black Bravo the highest rated cigar for taste, for construction, and for appearance in the Winter 2004/2005 issue.

Now I just received my JR Cigar catalouge in the mail and plastered on the front cover is Partagas Black Bravo and several othe Patagas Black cigars.
The headline is how they were chosen by cigar magazine etc. etc.

Now I've been a customer for may years but I feel my gullibility is being tested here.

Marketing genius or marketing horsehit or both???

[God]

One man's marketing genius is another's marketing horseshit... I believe that Cigar Magazine is published by JR Cigars as a marketing tool for them so reviews may tend to promote brands they want to move... but as with any review... smoke what you like... I have had cigars that have been rated high in various publications that tasted like crap and others that don't recieve a good rating that I have enjoyed...having said all that... I do like the Partagas Black Maximo... I have some burn problems with the other sizes however... But then again that's my opinion...

[GOAT LOCKER]

Well, JR's is owned/controlled by Altadis, who also owns the Partagas brand. Surprised eh? Altadis has also aquired a 50% share in SA Habanos. When the embargo ends, guess where we will buying our ISOMs?

[c2000]

The only way J&R is going to have any circulation of the mag is to give it away.. I do a lot of research on cigar vendors and has the prices on J&R's cigars went up or am I dreaming..It seems they are not as competitive as they once were...

Jerry in Minnesota.

[Wetterhorn]

Speaking of price comparrisons - I am sure some of you have seen this site, but I found it to be pretty good.

http://www.cigarprice.com/

I had a three month trial, and found it to be interesting and helpful. I also found that usually JR was among the best prices for any given cigar. Many of the lowest priced cigars were from smaller companys that may not have had the service the bigger vending companys provided.

[kansashat]

Originally Posted by GOAT LOCKER

Well, JR's is owned/controlled by Altadis, who also owns the Partagas brand. Surprised eh? Altadis has also aquired a 50% share in SA Habanos. When the embargo ends, guess where we will buying our ISOMs?

I thought the DR Partagas was owned by General & that General owned Villazon. Altadis owns a bunch of labels, but........it wouldn't surprise me if something has changed & I missed it. Is General now a part of the Altadis group?

[MoTheMan]

IMHO, JR Cigars is about one thing, promotion, promotion, promotion. JR is always touting about their next GREAT CIGAR that you'll absolutely die for. What a bunch of Malarchy.

Was a big smoker of many JR products for years, but eventually found that many of JR's house brands (Remedios, for example) were really of lesser quality and that the only thing good about them was a lower price that made them more affordable.

Now, I only buy established premium brands from JR, and for most of those, the prices can't be beat.

[txmatt]

I am not really bothered by the tie between the magazine and JR. All magazines cater to their advertisers, consumer reports' even got caught adding categories so they could improve product ratings for their big funders.

The new Cigar Magazine will have a disproportionate number of Altadis products reviewed to be certain; however I like the way they send out the cigars to subscribers for the reviews.

JR is one of the better priced retailers out there. There are suppliers out there that can beat them, however I don't believe the price discrepancy can be blamed on this magazine. JR's $2 shipping rate also helps to close the gap between their rate and the others. JR has supplied two of my last four box purchases; the other 2 were buymorecigars.com and cheapercigars.com.

JR will keep giving the magazine away to get circulation up. Until they have big circulation numbers it will be hard for them to get companies other than Altadis to buy advertisement space in the magazine. A lot of magazines give away subscriptions now to keep their circulation up. At one time last year I was getting 15 magazines I paid nothing for. As a favor to my then 17 (now 1 year old Brother-In-Law I signed him up for free subscriptions to Stuff, Maxim, FHM, and Blender. My Mother-In-Law was not happy when she found out that I was responsible.

-Matt-

[miketafc]

It certainly sounds like quite a complicated web leading to a marketing bias.

On the other hand I have used JR for yrs and love their customer service, prices, shipping costs and above all the quality of the cigars and their storage.

If I need reviews I have always got the best and most reliable information right here!

[GOAT LOCKER]

Originally Posted by kansashat

I thought the DR Partagas was owned by General & that General owned Villazon. Altadis owns a bunch of labels, but........it wouldn't surprise me if something has changed & I missed it. Is General now a part of the Altadis group?

Khat, you are right.
According to the Altadis website, They own:

Farias
Fleur de Savane
Phillies
Dutch Master
VegaFina
Pleiades
Don Diego
Longchamp
Antonio y Cleopatra
Santa Damiana
Meccarillos
Cruzeros
Montecristo
Partagás
Cohiba
La Gloria Cubana
H. Upmann
Picaduros
Ducados Mini
Van Holden
Entrefinos
Tampa Nugget
Hav-a-Tampa
Backwoods

But, it looks like they are including some of their Cuban brands here. General owns the DR Partagas and Cohiba, as well as a bunch more. After winning the Cohiba lawsuit, you have to wonder if Altadis will go after General for Partagas, HDM, LGC, Punch and all the other "Cuban" brands that general has domestic versions of.

[BigBubba]

I've bought from JR's and thought the service was great & I searched all over the web for the best prices including shipping cost's and for me JR's seemed better, even if it was only a couple of bucks
I signed up for the mag mostly to get the free 8 pack, there's no way I could of bought those same smokes for $40 so I figured the mag was just a bonus as for Partagas, I love the Black Label Maximo & Classico, have had no problem with either, both were very yummy

[BayouDawg]

BOTH! Rothman is a shameless self promoter, but hey, that's jes bidness. That "Cigar Magazine" is nothing but JR's stock, I got a good laugh out of it. For the most part JR's prices are still very comptitive. There are a few boxes I get from them and I really like the 5 packs, but at the end of the day I'm following the best buy I can find.

Marketing genius or marketing horsehit or both???

[levell3]

I got the magazine a couple weeks ago and was really disappointed. Now don't get me wrong, Cigar Aficionado has been consistantly going down hill since it basically became Aficionado sans Cigar. But at very least I can't complain too much about the production values. The layout and format of the magazine is pretty decent but Cigar Magazine looks like they need to go back to the drawing board. I think they were trying too hard to be the exact opposite of CA but chose to ignore what was good about it. The photo qualty left much to be desired and I have NO idea how the Partagas Black scored highest in appearance when in the photo is looked like a hot steaming turd The other knock on the mag is that it is rating some of the most generic cigars out there the market, how about some new products? The only plus I saw was the reviews of up-in-coming product and MSRP's, that was useful. I hope things improve soon or it is going to go the way of beta max. Just my 2 cents.

[radar]

I'm pretty impressed with the fact that you guys know who owns everything! I just smoke em' if I like em' and toss em' if I don't.

I do shop some with JR's. Some of the prices can't be beat.
Radar

[Jeff]

I'm glad this discussion came up because I was considering subscribing to Cigar Afficianado. I do think JR has pretty reasonable prices. I wished I lived near one of their warehouses in order to avoid shipping.

Jeff