So the Somm Rioja has landed and went live on my site this morning. This is the second core line released by Vlad from Somm Cigars. The blend sounds interesting and the fact that it comes from Eladio Diaz’s factory is quite intriguing.
Vlad has a nice following he has established through his years in the industry and the BDX, his inaugural core release, is easily one of my most popular sellers. It should be no surprise that when I opened up to taking pre orders that I quickly sold through more than half my initial order of the Rioja - which was the largest order on a single brand I have made to date… Once they were placed online, I then quickly sold out of any remaining boxes I had and I have had some samplers and singles ordered as well.
The number of box orders/pre orders was a bit surprising to me honestly - especially since I take pre orders on 5ers too. This led me to today’s question:
How often do you buy a box of cigars before trying the blend?
Personally, I was hardly ever a box buyer as a consumer - see The Minimalist Cigar Smoker - so when something new came out that I figured I would like, even if it was limited, I would go for a 5er. However, even if I was a box buyer, I probably would still go with a 5er. Now, Somm makes their stuff in 10 count boxes, which I could probably more easily justify, but still, I likely wouldn’t.
As for today’s smoke, I went with a Patina Maduro Precipitation this morning while I took some Somm photos and did a little work on my current guitar neck build. The Habano Precipitation is known to be one of my all time favorite cigars. The Maduro was excellent is excellent in this vitola! Full of dark, robust flavors with nice balancing, subtle cocoa and sweetness. A treat!
Take care,
-Trevor