(2) a small company that offers highly specialized services or products

Ok, so using that as a basis for definition, somebody like Pete or Illusione could purchase their own tobacco (high quality, small volume) and then contract out to have it rolled to some standard. Pretty normal stuff. But what comes out is a limited number of cigars due to the limited amount of high quality tobacco. And coupled with great blending and expert rollers, you have what I would consider a boutique cigar.

As an example, let us take the Padilla Miami cigars. Padilla was very concerned over the tobacco and eventually separated from Don Pepin because DP changed the blend, in particular the wrapper. So Padilla is a brand owner however, his attention to the brand and high quality standards would qualify him as a boutique manufacturer (highly specialized product).

As far as the term boutique cigar goes, bleh, just look at CI’s website and everything is boutique. I think the CI definition would be if it’s hand rolled, it’s boutique. Which wouldn’t be a bad way to do it quite frankly since hand rolled cigars are specialized and in much lower quantities then machine rolled cigars. So perhaps what we are really discussing is what’s boutique among boutique products, a boutique squared blend

As a personal reflection, I would hesitate to eliminate someone from having a boutique product simply because they hire a contract manufacturer to produce the product. By using that definition, anyone that doesn’t own the product from seed to cigar would be disqualified and even then only if they had 3 rollers. Seems way to restrictive. It’s extremely normal in business to be a system integrator but what is produced is of higher quality and has a better warranty or product guarantee.

Dave

A quick look at some numbers. The average roller can do 300 cigars per day. So a one man operation can pump out roughly 78,000 cigars per year (5 day work week without holidays). This equates to 3,120 boxes (25 count) per year.

Lets assume that this fictional manufacturer has three rollers and produces roughly 9,000 boxes per year. Do you think that would cover a major city in terms of distribution? I think it comes down to more than small portions of the globe. Many manufacturers can do nationwide distribution, it comes down to shop owners bringing in the product. The more “Boutique” the operation the fewer retailers will be aware of it.

Back to brand “X”. Here we have a guy that has 9,000 boxes per year made. This is about right for a factory with three rollers working year round. Does the small number alone make him “Boutique”?

If so, now lets say that the manufacturer making cigars for this guy is Altadis. Is he still “Boutique”? This same theory is why I can’t see Tatuaje as a boutique brand. I don’t see Pepin as a boutique manufacturer, so how can this non-boutique pump out a boutique brand for Pete?

Personally, I’m finding this discussion very interesting. Every time I just about make up my mind, something else enters the picture and brings light on another perspective.

-Walt