[Overpaid Slacker]

Mule -

Thanks. Yeah, the guy at the shop explained it in much the same way Cramer did -- it replaced the "too popular" Cohiba.

I've not been such a fan of Cohibas, I'd stick with the Sancho Panzas over the Cohibas any time. It's just that the Sanchos are harder to get b/c they're not "too popular."

I'd written in my disquisition above a para. about the Cubans fleeing Cuba taking their tobacco seed stock with them. So a lot of Dominican and other "non-Cuban" cigar makers are using Cuban tobacco, grown elsewhere. Now, a given leaf grown in a hoyo in Cuba will have different characteristics than the same leaf grown on a slope in the DR (soil, sun, drainage, wind, etc.). But there's nothing to say that such a leaf will necessarily be "better" in Cuba. So there are some damned fine non-Cuban "Cuban" cigars out there, and they can use the brand names they'd been using before they were stolen in the name of the People's Glorious Revolucion.

JP