Boycott Fuente/Newman - message I recieved

[Evillepaintball]

Talk about being Nothing but a BULLY and making a misguided business decision, Fuente/Newman have gone right down the crapper and made a decision to beat up on the "Little Guy" that had absolutely nothing to do with them, nor could ever be logically associated with them. Fuente/Newman should be here forth BOYCOTTED. Let their products rot on the shelves, I encourage everyone to read and understand why.

There is/now was a relatively small yet growing public Non-Commercial cigar forum called the "HabanoCigarFamily" that had members there talking about all types of cigars, but predominately Habanos. Recently, Fuente/Newman, being the "BULLY" of the cigar world sent the administration of that forum a note telling them that they were going to SUE them for "Trademark" infringement of the common words "Cigar" and "Family". Excuse me, but the Fuente/Newman Trademark of "Cigar Family" and their Charitable fund that they hold have absolutely nothing to fear from this small cigar group which as stated before primarily talk about Habanos. It is ludicrous that the lawyers for Fuente/Newman would even consider that there could possibly be any confusion in the market between the two separate identities.

Fuente/Newman's claimed that the HabanoCigarFamily would " likely to cause confusion in the marketplace and constitutes trademark infringement, dilution, and unfair competition in violation of federal and state law. Any use of these marks is unauthorized and illegal use, and will deceive consumers by causing them to mistakenly believe that the website and/or internet services bearing this version of the CIGAR FAMILY mark are somehow authorized by, approved by or associates with Fuente & Newman." TOTAL BULLSHIT Only a BULLY talking out their ass would even consider that a highly remote possibility. People that are members of both places have NEVER considered that a possibility!

Many positive alternatives were discussed with Fuente/Newman to bring this whole issue to a positive resolve, yet it is the contention of Fuente/Newman that they want to flex their muscle and berate the little guy, the common everyday cigar smoker and SUE them for something that could have resulted in a very positive outcome for Fuente/Newman.

NOT NOW!

Because Fuente/Newman do not care about the daily cigar smoker, because Fuente/Newman has no honor, because Fuente/Newman has NO respect for the people that buy, smoke, and support the cigar industry, I am telling everyone out there in the cigar community that Fuente/Newman Products are over priced, Over Hyped, and NOT worth buying. I call for a general BOYCOTT of all Fuente/Newman products.

I cal tell you that they just lost the respect of over 500 serious dedicated daily cigar smokers and many more are going to follow suit. I encourage you Not to participate in any of the Fund raising ventures, not to buy any of their cigar nor their accessories.

Fuente/Newman must have forgot that when they were sued for Trademark Infringement by the Opus Wine maker, that because to the general common interest of the consumer, that a peacefully co-existence was achieved.

The above message does not reflect the views/policies of Evillepaintball or his associates

Just thought I would share with you guys a message I recieved the other day.

[bigpoppapuff]

the fuente family can lick my balls...they're not nearly as big as they think they are in the D.R.....dwarfed by guillermo leon's family.....it's the same bullshit as their feeling that they own the letter "x"....fuck 'em all...

[cigarsarge]

The HCF board is run by Ligero1...He is used to litigation.

Don't care for the Fuente hype either...They can sue each other till the cows come home.

[ggiese]

HCF gets what they deserve - they've the big bullies of the cigar board neighborhood for a while now - now they're getting a very big taste of their own medicine. Good for them!!!

But - please - boycott Fuente/Newman products. That leaves more for me!!!

BTW - as a side note - how is it you are calling for a boycott of Fuente/Newman products based upon something you know very little about??? I think you should do a bit more research before you open up this can of worms...

[Evillepaintball]

HCF gets what they deserve - they've the big bullies of the cigar board neighborhood for a while now - now they're getting a very big taste of their own medicine. Good for them!!!

But - please - boycott Fuente/Newman products. That leaves more for me!!!

BTW - as a side note - how is it you are calling for a boycott of Fuente/Newman products based upon something you know very little about??? I think you should do a bit more research before you open up this can of worms...

whoa, im not calling for the boycott, I dont like their products anyways. All im doing is relaying a message to you guys. I couldn't care less about the dealings between Fuente and HCF.

[heftysmokes]

Eville-
I'm curious as to what part of this post is the message you received, and which is yours. I saw the last sentence was "Just thought I would share with you guys a message I recieved (sic) the other day," and I'm glad you did so. I just want to know if the entire thing was the message you received. So, could you throw some quotes on that big ole bitch, or italicize, or something.
Also, who authored this message? Was it from "HabanoCigarFamily?" some unauthorized rep of the site? My crazy-ass mother? Maybe you could clear this up.

Thanks

[SmokinDVM]

HCF gets what they deserve - they've the big bullies of the cigar board neighborhood for a while now - now they're getting a very big taste of their own medicine. Good for them!!!

But - please - boycott Fuente/Newman products. That leaves more for me!!!

BTW - as a side note - how is it you are calling for a boycott of Fuente/Newman products based upon something you know very little about??? I think you should do a bit more research before you open up this can of worms...

I'm with you on this one. Right now, I can't hardly get my hands on any decent AF's(opus and anejos). Maybe it'll be a little easier with a boycott?

[cls515]

I am telling everyone out there in the cigar community that Fuente/Newman Products are over priced, Over Hyped, and NOT worth buying.

This is ridiculus. This statement discredits the entire post in my opinion.

[dHUTCH]

I dont care about the situation but how can you take control of the words "cigar" and "family" in the cigar industry. Lets see...............all the companies are making CIGARS and most of the big name brands are FAMILY owned buisnesses.

[kevin7]

I got this email from an admin there,I am a member there too. I am not posting this to stir shit about bad blood from another board so don't godamn start any motherfucking godamn shit with me or I will rip your pus filled head off of your pencil neck and dry fuck your dead skull

I dont give a shit either way and Fuente makes some good cigars and they make
some fucking absolute unsmokeable dog rockets too. I know about the way they treat retailers from firsthand knowledge and they are scumbags. I don't fucking care how much godamn money they raise for the boo hoo hoo motherfucking poor in the DR. fUente has fucked over Eddie Ortega and his line of awesome Oliva made cigars because that black shoepolish hairdye wearing piece of shit carlito fuente thinks he invented the letter X. I would laugh my fat ass off if there came a day again like years ago when nobody gave 2 shits about fuente and their cigars,there was a time when you couldnt hardly give away fuente crap. I 'd like to see that day again real soon

Dear HCF Member:

Some weeks ago I received a letter from a law firm representing Fuente & Newman Premium Cigars Limited, Incorporated, the makers of A. Fuente, Opus X, Diamond Crown and other non-Cuban cigars. The letter advised that Fuente/Newman holds the registered trademark for "Cigar Family" and that it considered our use of those words in habanocigarfamily.com and as the name of this forum to be an infringement of that trademark.

I immediately telephoned Fuente/Newman's lawyer and advised that (a) we are not a commercial enterprise; (b) we did not adopt our name to "trade" on the name or good will of "Cigar Family"; (c) we have respect for Fuente/Newman and its own commercial forum; and (d) we would gladly publish conspicuously a disclaimer of any affiliation whatsoever with Fuente/Newman etc. and (e) despite the fact that I am convinced that we are not infringing on Fuente/Newmans trademark, I would rather switch than fight.

Subquently I took a phone call from a couple of Fuente/Newman executives who informed me that they think the whole thing is a bit silly but we needed to work out a solution. Their suggestion was that we change the name of our domain and forum, which I reiterated a willingness to do if there were no alternative. However, I pointed out that the core group of members here has moved from CigarWise to CigarSyndicate back to CigarWise and now to HCF and I would prefer a solution that didn't require another name and domain change. I proposed that Fuente/Newman sell us a limited license to use "Cigar Family" as part of our name and to publish prominently a disclaimer of any other relationship to Fuente/Newman, cigarfamily.com, Cigar Family Charitable Foundation or any other Fuente/Newman entity or program.

A couple of days ago I took another call from the Fuente/Newman executives who advised me that their lawyers would not agree to let them sell us a license, and the lawyers confirmed to me yesterday that Carlito Fuente and Fuente/Newman have instructed them to sue me for trademark infringement if we do not change our name.

Accordingly, effective the SUNDAY, October 1, we are changing our name to Habano Cigar Forum and our domain to www.habanocigarforum.com. This will not affect any of the existing posts or other data in the database. As of SUNDAY you should come here via the www.habanocigarforum.com domain and delete your cookies and change your bookmarks/favorites accordingly. You should not have to re-register and your username and password will not change

I regret the inconvenience that may result from this change and that Fuente/Newman would rather risk alienating our members than to win the good will that would have resulted from an alternative arrangement that would fully have protected their legal rights.

Best,

*****

[bigpoppapuff]

as i stated earlier...the fuentes and some of the fuente lemmings are the ones that think that carlito's shit doesn't stink....i assure you...guillermo leon and his family mean much more to the D.R. than the fuente's do......carlito can take his curly-heads and shove him up his ass....

the fact that he thinks he owns the letter "x" is laughable...as is the way he treats his retailers.....

[ggiese]

as i stated earlier...the fuentes and some of the fuente lemmings are the ones that think that carlito's shit doesn't stink....i assure you...guillermo leon and his family mean much more to the D.R. than the fuente's do......carlito can take his curly-heads and shove him up his ass....

the fact that he thinks he owns the letter "x" is laughable...as is the way he treats his retailers.....

What Kevin and Sid say are absolutely true. I cannot disagree with them at all. The Fuente's are very selective in how they send items to their retailers. It's somewhat about those that generate business for them, but even more about how enthusiastic a Fuente representative. The who "X" issue was laughable... I always thought these cigar families worked cooperatively - and then you have the Fuente family... Kind of an enigma...

However, those HCF POS's that are calling for a boycot have alot of nerve - given the way they treat "non-family" members. Further - if you do not agree with them you will find yourself on the outside looking in - and they will do everything possible to make life miserable. Such as flooding advertisers with nonsense e-mails about not patronizing them because they choose to post on a board owned/operated and/or populated by people they don't deem worthy...

I just find it amazingly ironic that the HCF crew is getting a good taste of their own medicine - and they're finding it awfully bitter. Maybe they should take heed to the message...

Also - if I were the Fuente Family and was concerned about the "Cigar Family" name - I would go after a board like the HCF. C'mon - their brand of nonsense can be damaging to the reputation of something like "Cigar Family" at Fuente - if someone were to draw a possible association between the two. While most insiders know there is no connection, someone new to the cigar board world may not see the distinction and believe they are somehow related...

But, who am I - I'm just a "Cigar Snot" and "Cigar Snots" are not welcome at HCF ...

Paintball - you really have to be careful about how you post. It looked very much like YOU were calling for the boycott. While you may think you are doing the overall community a service by posting that message, you're not realizing you are stepping on some toes... If you know what you're doing - that's great. If you don't, that could be very bad...

[cinda]

[quote=heftysmokes;62305 Also, who authored this message? Was it from "HabanoCigarFamily?" some unauthorized rep of the site? My crazy-ass mother? Maybe you could clear this up.Thanks[/quote]

I always liked Heftysmokes!

[nhcigarfan]

I don't like most of Fuente's stuff anyway. But I'm not giving up my VSGs.