Is Pepin starting to pass Fuente?

R

RJT

Chestbeating Pack Leader
In my last few retailer catalogs I see a lot of Pepin stuff and little Fuente stuff. Do you think Pepin is starting to pass Fuente in the popularity contest? His stuff so far has been pretty amazing to say the least. IMHO his offerings have been as good or better than most Fuente has to offer. Either way I think it is good for the industry it keeps other manufactures on their toes in keeping up with the demand and wants of consumers. To be honest I am glad to see it and hope he dosent over extend himself with all the sticks he is offering. What’s people thoughts?
 
Pepin is definately gaining more and more popularity. But as far as taste goes, a Pepin stick, compared to most any Fuente cigar is a completely animal. Pepin's cigar have a little more kick and that peppery spicy taste that a lot of people seem to be looking for right now. It's simply a matter of flavor profile, and what's more popular right now. As far as that goes, it looks like Pepin is beating out Fuente a bit. Personally, I'll take an AF Cuban Beli, King B, Don Carlos, or Hemmingway over a Pepin stick any day. JMHO.
 
A Newb's opinion:

Well, I haven't had many Pepin's and I have just recently had my first Anejo, 858, and OpusX. With just those 3 I find it hard to believe anything can pass them. The Anejo and 858 Maddies are just flat out great!

I am sure there are more seasoned Gorillas that can add more insight, but in my opinion Fuente is awfully strong.

Great thread though, will be interesting to see the opinions here.
 
Personally, I like the Pepin stuff better than Fuente. The only Fuente stuff I love are the rare stuff like Anejo and Hemi Maduro.
 
In popularity I'm not sure.

In flavor..... I doubt it..... especially beause like everyone said the "special" cigars like Anejo's are tough to beat. Even regular production like the hemingway short stories (which used to be my favorite smoke) I'd say beat out the pepins..... speaking of which I havent had one of those for a long time... I'ma gunna give one a try soon see how they stack up to a more mature pallate.

I'm off to my fieldwork (Work but no pay 7-3:30.... NOT FAIR)
 
In price? Yes. If flavor, No. But maybe if they start cranking out as many blends at K. Hansotia and Rocky Patel, you never know! :ss
 
If you dont count the SC (which is really an Ashton stick) then its an easy question to asnwer. In the last week I've been in 4 different B&M all decently sized. It would be fair to say each one probably had 12 open boxes of AF product, prolly more. And each had 1-2 open boxes of Pepin
 
i think you are hard pressed to beat the rarer fuente line. the good thing is that if pepin does start to dominate (if is the key thing) then it could posssibly push for more regular release fuente rare's. the only bad thing is that the quality would suffer trying to keep up with demand. i just really started smoking a few pepin sticks lately. so far i've liked them but still search out the harder to find fuente line more.
 
Fuente has never done a thing for me. Opus, Anejos, Hemmingways, etc All mild hot air sticks, their profile just isn't in the same ballpark with me. Its like i hate buying tickets if i'm not going to see the game.

Pepin on the other hand makes damm fire crackers that go on and off in my head for a whole cigar. Flavor and spice is ever so nice, it makes me a happy boy.:ss











(wa, a post in the cigar lounge who would have thunk it)
 
In my mind it's hard to compare a Dominican v. Nicaraguan tobacco. Like someone mentioned, they're different animals. It'd be interesting to see what Pepin can do with Dominican Leaf vice versa with the Fuentes..

Could have a Fuente Pepin face-off.. but I doubt that'd ever happen.
 
apples and oranges.
both are strong in their individual flavor profiles. some prefer one to the other. i like both. good change of pace. just enjoy what you like!
 
I've never been a huge Fuente smoker, but I do enjoy the Hemingway and Don Carlos lines quite a bit. If I had to pick a top 3 list of cigars, I'm sure they would all be Pepins.
 
khubli said:
In my mind it's hard to compare a Dominican v. Nicaraguan tobacco. Like someone mentioned, they're different animals. It'd be interesting to see what Pepin can do with Dominican Leaf vice versa with the Fuentes..

Could have a Fuente Pepin face-off.. but I doubt that'd ever happen.
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Very good point. If Fuentes made cigars from Nicaraguan tobacco, who knows what you would have. For my part, I think that the Pepin made sticks are higher quality than the Fuente, better performing, and generally better tasting. But then again, Pepin is not making as many cigars as the Fuentes. Also, I think that the Fuentes have a LOT more variety of flavors than Pepin. I consider the flavors of cigars to be a lot like a spectrum of color. Pepins tend to sit in a rather narrow band. Fuente has the spectrum covered from infrared to ultraviolet.
 
I prefer Pepins now over all other NC brands. The only ones that stick out in my mind that I might take over a pepin are of course Anejos and hemingway maddies (and maybe an 898 SG, just because I've never had one).
 
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