What exactly is a Boutique Cigar?
Another Editorial by David Garofalo
I got a lot of emails and calls about last week’s Editorial I wrote calling “The End of the Boutique Boom” so I thought we would clarify a bit because there is plenty of confusion on exactly what a “Boutique” Cigar Brand really is… so let’s dig in.
Boutique, pronounced bo͞oˈtēk is a noun and according to the dictionary it means a small store selling fashionable clothes or accessories, a business that serves a sophisticated or specialized clientele. The word is French for “shop,” which derives ultimately from the Greek meaning “storehouse.” So with that information, a boutique cigar might be a cigar shop’s brand. If that is true, you should include Ashton as a boutique to Holts in Philadelphia although many millions of those cigars are made each year by Fuente. Also a brand like Illusione would be considered a boutique to Fumare in Reno Nevada which are made by Casa Fernandez, this is just a couple of examples.
This term “boutique” can also refer to a specialized firm in other industries, such as a boutique investment bank or boutique law firm. The word is often used to describe a property in the independent sector of the hotel market in order to
distinguish itself from larger chains (such as Hilton Hotels). In this case, the establishment tries to convey the idea that its operation is small, elite and highly specialized. This is where we in the cigar industry (I believe) have taken the term, small companies making a small amount of cigars.
The term “boutique” applies to mass-market items including cigars that are either niche or that are produced intentionally in small numbers to be sold at some time higher prices. This can also be referred to as boutique manufacturing, even when made by one of the bigger manufacturers.
The “boutique” classification is normally given to a smaller type of cigar manufacturer as opposed to the big factories like General, Altadis, Fuente etc., but one of the questions is…what is the cut off and can a big manufacturer make a boutique brand for a brand owner which should not be confused with the manufacturer themselves?
Some claim a boutique cigar brand is one that is manufactured in quantities of less than one million cigars. Some claim Boutique cigars are usually limited in quantity and must be made in smaller factories. It’s confusing as there is not a definite answer to this to my knowledge, but I’d like to finally come up with a complete definition to what a boutique cigar really is.
My qualification would contain that the total production number of the entire line, meaning every size combined of that brand name must be under one million per year.
Sure it could be made by a major manufacturer or a small manufacturer but wouldn’t it be automatic if it was a small manufacturer as a small manufacturer is making far less than 1 million cigars per brand anyway. This is going to create a large amount of “boutique” brands… and it does.
How about private label brands like store brands, exclusives etc.? Yes, they would certainly be considered “boutique” as they are “true” boutiques as they are for the store… boutique by definition. There must be hundreds and hundreds of them in that category alone.
How about very successful “boutiques” that have received the attention of the retailer who brought them in. These brands 
sell across the country and in some cases across the globe like Tatuaje, Illusione, Aging Room, Alec Bradley, Hammer + Sickle, Asylum and Kristoff? No, they may not be boutique anymore because their sales might be over the threshold now. They “were” boutique but has their success taken them out of that category?
So does that mean every unsuccessful cigar brand is automatically a boutique until it becomes successful? Now I’m starting to confuse myself and I thought I had this all figured out.
How about 262, AKA, Black Label Trading, Crowned Heads, Espinosa, J. Fuego, Regius, CroMagnon, 7-20-4, Atabey, Byron, B.G. Myer, Cuba Rica, Debonaire, Fleur de la Reine, Recluse, Tortuga, La Palina and Bandolero? They all might fall under the million total cigars per full brand (my apologies and congratulations to the owners of the brand that doesn’t fit because I’m guess, the sales are above this.)
Some of these cigars are made in big factories who make non-boutiques but maybe a big manufacturer cannot produce a boutique but I’m not quite sure of that yet. Can a big beer company produce a micro-brew? A micro-brewery or craft brewery is a brewery that produces a small amount of beer. So a small factory like RoMa Craft who makes CroMagnon must definitely be a “boutique,” right? YES, but only if they make under a million cigars per year… and my guess is they are getting very close if not their already.
What are the most successful “boutique” brands? Simply being called a boutique cigar means they may possibly have not had the success (yet). Actually being called a success would mean they can’t be called a “boutique” brand as I see it… but I haven’t totally sold myself on this theory yet.
Large multinational brewers distort the lines between craft-like beers and true craft beers from small, independent brewers, big brewers put their names on the packaging of their craft brands, for example Blue Moon.
The perception that the beer is special while trying to hide a brand’s ties to big beer sometime backfires when the consumer perceives the move as an attempt to pull the wool over their eyes. Some of these “micro looking” beer companies hit sales of $100 million. The beer geek loves the independent and thinks they are buying from the small guys and maybe that is the same of the cigar lover.
But do beer drinkers really care who owns the brewery that makes their favorite ale, pilsner or stout? Maybe they just want good “consistent” beer. Maybe people want to support the small brewer.
The large brewers say it’s simply nonsense, consumers care only about how a beer tastes, not about who owns the brewery. They point to other product categories like automobiles, in which a brand like Audi doesn’t make reference to the fact that it is owned by Volkswagen.
Some believe Boutique Cigars are similar to microbrew beers, Perdomo even made that connection very prevalent in their new and highly successful Perdomo Craft series.
Anheuser-Bush recently said their sales dropped a few percent and shares fell. Some feel craft beer may be partly to blame for the fizzling popularity of Bud. Yuengling has now topped Sam Adams as the number one craft beer and ships almost five million barrels of beer per year… that just doesn’t seem like a micro-anything.
The fact is that some small beers are better than mainstream beers, but some just aren’t. The same goes for cigars… but with cigars the real problem stems from the raw materials. The small guy just doesn’t have the resources to buy the same materials consistently to maintain a consistent blend, which is why you see a lot of them produce “limited releases,” all the time. There is a limit to the amount of raw materials they can get. The big guys buy years and years of supplies to keep their brands consistent.
When it comes down to it… I’m simply not ready to create the definition of a “boutique” cigar, but congratulations go out to all those who are not boutique any more. Every brand starts out small and some… a very few make it big. Those are very successful brands… brands that sell.
The late, great Fred Zaniboni, Director of National Sales for Arturo Fuente (who was once a boutique brand themselves) once told me, “There are only 2 kinds of cigars, those that Sell and those that don’t”. There are 3 kinds of “boutique” cigars… those that will remain boutique, those that will go on and become “not” boutique and those that will fade away.
The chance for success, right now, for the boutique cigar brands has never been tougher in my opinion.
