Quote Originally Posted by Bubba -NJ
I went to 7 legitimate cigar shops and 1 news agency that were all listed in the yellow pages and all in New Jersey . At one shop the clerk told me he was expecting them today but didn't get them , say's he'll have on Monday . 1 other shop had the gift sampler with 2 Hemi's , 2 Opus , 2 Anejo's and 2 other Fuente's for $110.00 . The rest of the shops told me that they have no idea as to when or if they'll be getting any . I also saw a couple Don Carlos samplers for $100.00 . The sentiment from the shop clerks is pretty much that Fuente send's them what Fuente wants to send and not necessarily what they need . So I guess I'll try looking in Pennsylvania on Monday if the 1 shop doesn't pan out .

The problem with these particular cigars (actually, all of Fuente's rare cigars - Opus X, Hemingway Maduro's, Anejo's) is Fuente sends them to the stores when they want to - not when the store orders them. Stores do not order those types of cigars.

The good news, however - Fuente does not allow their authorized retailers to charge above their MSRP. If you see a retailer doing that, Fuente will follow up.

The problem lies in retailers that are not authorized Fuente stores, or authorized stores that purchase Fuente products from sources other than Fuente. They are permitted to do that. Fuente does discourage price gouging, but has little to say when a retailer purchases from a 3rd party source.

The key to this is - have patience. Quite frankly - if you're thinking of taking up smoking Anejo's full time you better have a very deep pocketbook. It is going to be tough to purchase any more than a few Anejo's at MSRP (maybe a box, if you're lucky) unless you have some serious connections. I have smoked a few of the Anejo's over the last couple a years - and I really like them. But I do not want to get hooked on them because I don't have deep pockets...