Brand Loyalty thread

Cigars have huge brand loyalty. I know plenty of guys who will only smoke Fuente, even if most of them taste like bland nothingness (their higher end stuff kicks butt tho).

Same with Rocky Patel's cigars. Or Gurkha (even if the dude who owns the brand doesn't even smoke cigars.. he's a European watch designer who makes pretty boxes and commissions a cigar manufacturer to make cigars that match his boxes).

Then there's the joker who will plunk down 12 bucks for a Dominican Cohiba that is nothing BUT an average cigar. Or the guys who will buy nothing BUT Dominican Montecristos, even if they're nothing like the Cuban brand, and more expensive to boot!

Personally, I mix and match, but I am a huge fan of Don Pepin Garcia. Can't get his smokes locally, but they are the closest thing to Cuban I've found. The Hirsh y Garcia at Cigar King is one of the best non-Cuban cigars I've ever had. They remind me slightly of a Cuban Cohiba Esplendido mixed with a Camacho Diploma.

And yeah, there are HUGE Cuban cigar snobs. Think the Davidoffs you see at da Tinderbox are expensive? Try the Cuban Davidoff and Dunhills... they haven't been made since the late 80s and they go between $70-300 bucks a piece.

Scotch, whiskey, bourbon, and cognac drinkers are also usually pretty brand loyal. I drink Hennessey personally. Smoother than Courvoisier while having a tinge of a peppery bite sometimes. Goes great with my cigars.