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Discussion Contest: MSRP Sweet Spot

Discussion Contest: MSRP Sweet Spot

Happy Wednesday, folks! 

I hope everyone’s having a great week so far.  And, if I might be so bold, I hope you’re gearing up for an even better weekend ahead! 

What I’m curious about this week is your perspective on the cost of a cigar, and where you feel that you’re getting the most bang for your buck before state taxes become involved. 

Where do you feel the MSRP sweet spot is for premium cigars?

Of course, it must be said that there are obviously outliers.  While I do feel that there is a diminishing return above my personal MSRP sweet spot, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t great cigars in that category. And conversely, there are plenty of cigars that I enjoy below the average.

For me, I feel that I get the most bang for my buck in the $10-$12 dollar range.  I used to say $8-$12, but that feels like a cop out.  In the interest of being more specific, I’ll bump it up two bucks. 

Does this mean that my favorite cigars all fall within this range?  Sadly, no it does not.  A quick check on several of my recent and all-time favorites shows that a majority of them are above $12, with even a few being under $9. 

Is it expectation bias, then, that has me feeling that $10-$12 is a good range for premium cigars? Am I like the guy in line at Wal-Mart complaining that a can of Coke costs more than 50 cents?  

I’m really curious to hear your thoughts and range!  Even though my personal favorites are outliers, I feel that there are so many amazing cigars in the $10-$12 dollar category that it’s hard to dismiss on sheer volume alone.  

DISCUSSION CONTEST DETAILS

One of the comments below will win a $25 gift card.  The gift card will automatically be sent to the email address that you login to comment with, so please use your regular sign-in.   

I’ll be randomly selecting a comment below this Sunday after sending out the Weekly Newsletter. The winner can expect a comment with his or her name in it, a congratulations email, and an email with the $25 gift card information.  The actual gift card email takes some time to generate from the system and may lag behind by up to 48 hours. 

Only available to U.S. customers. (Sorry!)

 

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Comments

1/29/2020 6:57 AM
Man.  This is really difficult.  I’ll just name two companies and you’ll see what I mean....HVC, Davidoff.  I guess for me the most bang for my buck happens when I smoke a cigar and no matter what I paid for it, I am “WOWED”.  So maybe it’s a $6.50 Black Friday from HVC or maybe it’s a Davidoff 2016 Anniversary for $22.  Either way, I’m blown away by the quality and profile complexity on both of these cigars and am totally happy with what I paid for it.  TECHNICALLY, the sweet spot for me would be 12 bones.  If every cigar I purchased was $12 and had a rockin profile and  great construction...I’d smoke cigars for a living.
1/29/2020 7:00 AM
I think the sweet spot for me is around 8-10$ range,  but I have had plenty of cigars in the 5$ range that I have enjoyed a lot more.
1/29/2020 7:59 AM
This is a good question.  I normally only smoke cigars on the weekend due to time constraints, so when I do get time to enjoy a cigar, I don't want a yard gar.  This means I am willing to spend a little more for what I believe to be a quality stick.  For me, that falls under the $15-20 range.  If I had time to smoke more cigars during the week, I believe I would have to drop that down to around $10-15 to be able to afford to smoke.
1/29/2020 8:30 AM
$9 a cigar before codes.  The cigar manufacturers use Legal fees as an excuse to jack up cigar prices. And still they are continuously suing each other over copyright infringement. “His cigar has the word Craft in it-I’m Suing” Mostly over cigar names. Hell No-?I’m not going to pay for that.
1/29/2020 8:49 AM
I have always said $10-$12 because I smoke new to me cigars all the time and that’s a common range, but I elected to take a more analytic approach because this question appealed to me. I scoured SBC and created a wishlist of what I want to try or know I like. I then took only the cigars I know I like and would buy boxes of and broke them down to cost per cigar based on the SBC box price. The prices are below, without the cigar names for character count sake.  

$7.75, $8.04, $8.08, $8.09, $8.55, $8.96, $9.24, $10.13, $11, $11.40, $11.50, $11.60, $11.66, $15.95

Total average of $10.14, average removing high and low end outliers of $9.85, a median of $9.69.

14 total cigars with 5 between $8-$9 and 5 between $11-$12.

So it appears I have two equal windows for my sweet spot MSRP.

Fun Fact, my favorite cigar of them all falls in the middle at $10.13.
1/29/2020 10:33 AM
My sweet spot per cigar is $3.50. I always try to watch for sales and will typically only pay MSRP for a stick if I am at a brick and mortar. I will pay more for certain sticks I really like but will try to buy boxes to get the best bang for my buck. The most I spend per stick is my monthly cigar club here which to me is worth it since in total you always receive way more than you would if you'd have paid MSRP and allows me to try sticks I would never pay the money for.
1/29/2020 1:11 PM
Californian here, so it's really a challenge to neglect the state tax! I'd have to say the $8 to $10 range is where I live.
1/29/2020 2:38 PM
So being from California I’d have to say I have two sweet spots. One for my brick and mortar and the second for my online shopping. If I’m at any cigar shop I’d say my sweet spot is about $14 a stick. I can buy most of my favorite stogies at that price. however, If I am doing some shopping online I’d have to go with a cost of about $11 per stick.
1/29/2020 7:43 PM
$13-15 for me! I don’t smoke as many as I would like to, so currently my sweet spot is on quality over quantity. Nothing wrong with sticks above or below, but I generally get the greatest satisfaction from the $13-$15 sticks
1/29/2020 8:14 PM
Anything between $5-$12 is my comfort zone for the majority of my purchases.  With some samplers I have been able to try some truely great cigars that were above $12,  that I would never would have tried because of the price and I ended up buying at least a 5 pack.
1/29/2020 9:21 PM
My sweet spot would be in the $7-$10 range. I can find a number of boutique brands with unique blends that fit the range, but still get well established brands that push at high quality cigars in the price range. It is fairly easy to find, especially online, singles of Tatuaje and Illusione for those prices, and never be disappointed in the choice of smoke.

It isn't "too expensive" to experiment with a new cigar, even if the result isn't a new regular blend to smoke. There are certainly a selection of cheaper regular smokes, and even dirt cheap throw away or distraction smokes that can help to satisfy the want for a cigar, but not actually cure the crave for something delicious without spending a fortune. There are also some far more expensive, and while they are enjoyable after a certain threshold it becomes a question of "Was it worth it?" Many times I find the answer to be I'm not really sure it was. Staying in that 7-10 range, getting great quality and flavor always leaves me saying yeah, definitely it was.
1/30/2020 6:10 AM
Oh how times have changed. I once had to think hard about paying $10 for a cigar and I believe the first time I did, it was a worth while My Father. I would say the sweet spot today is in the $8-10 range. Plenty of fantastic cigars below that though.
1/30/2020 6:40 AM
I find that many cigars from $8 to $12 seem to fit my very well. There are some cigars that I would spend a little extra for, but don't smoke them regularly. As for under the $8 mark, very few cigars that I enjoy have been at that price point. 2019 had a ton under $8 that are fantastic though.
1/30/2020 8:44 AM
9-10 dollars.
1/30/2020 9:02 AM
My sweet spot is around $8-9 before discount codes, so around $7 out of pocket. The $12+ category is really capitalizing on hype in my opinion. Even cigars like Opus X and Padron 64's and 26's are tremendously over hyped in my opinion. Plenty of $8 sticks that are as if not more interesting.
1/30/2020 9:05 AM
I think for the sake of generalization $12 has to be the sweet spot for me.  The amount of cigars that I would consider ‘extremely high quality’ in that range is pretty amazing.  I think you could smoke a different cigar everyday for the rest of your life at that price point and still be really happy with the value you get for your money without being too sorely disappointed by the few that don’t quite hit the mark.
1/30/2020 9:58 AM
Such a great topic. Really enjoying all the comments. Here’s my 2 cents. When I think value and best bang for your buck I am thinking of what sticks I have had that I feel could charge more. I am regularly surprised in the quality of the $8-10 sticks. I have had a few sub $8 that have wowed me. The Crowned Heads Juarez being one of them. At the $6ish MSRP I think it is very underpriced . For the most part the $8-10 range is just always winning. Once I get out of that range I find I’m in one of two camps. Either “Yea this is worth the $$ and I would buy it again” or “no it’s not worth the $$”.
1/30/2020 10:48 AM
If I had to specify a price, I guess the 10 to 15 dollar range is about where I'm at. This is assuming I'm buying singles. I purchase cigars I like in fivers, boxes, or on special. It certainly keeps the price down a little bit. My recent purchase of 30 premium cigars rangan rate at $200 after discounts (VIP membership FTW) on this fantastic site ;) so obviously that is lower than I would typically spend.
1/30/2020 4:17 PM
$29-$31. Definitely.

Just kidding. Usually $12-$15 for me.
1/31/2020 6:12 AM
I will pay for an expensive cigar if I know it is good. Price is not a factor if the company has a solid reputation. I buy Davidoff's without hesitation because I know I won't be disappointed. I am hesitant to buy an Ataby because there is no history. Just because the guy designed a band doesn't justify a crazy price. I don't get too many opportunities to smoke, so when I do, I want each and every time to be exceptional.
1/31/2020 6:35 AM
My premium sweet spot would fall between $10 - $14. I would jump to $16 - $22 for a super premium cigar. (Padron, Davidoff, OpusX, etc). But it is up to the individual what one classifieds as "their" premium definition and there spending capability.
1/31/2020 11:15 AM
I typically immediately discount anything under $10.  I’m a special occasion smoker and even though there is probably some great stuff under that price point, I’m not going to search it out.  I’m playing the odds that a $15 cigar is likely better than an $8 one.

I think those odds fall off quite quickly as you go from $20 to $20+.  So for me it’s $15-$20.

And experiments have repeatedly shown that your experience with any luxury good is enhanced simply by how you feel about the “specialness” of the product.  I know it shouldn’t be that way, but it is.
1/31/2020 11:51 AM
I like Corona size so they generally a priced less but the best are still around $10-12. They usually satisfy at that price.
2/1/2020 1:00 PM
My MSRP sweet spot is between $10 - $12 for cigars. Yes, there are some phenomenal smokes in the $8 - $10 range, but I sometimes worry about the consistency/quality control of some brands.
2/1/2020 1:03 PM
Great question!

I feel like $12-$16 is my personal average range. It's at this point that I begin to *expect* a super solid smoke at a price befitting something super solid. That said, the $10-$12 range seems like a fair *general* average: a solid smoke that may or may not "wow" you, but definitely shouldn't totally disappoint you either.
2/1/2020 3:51 PM
The $8:00 to $12.00 seems about right. No matter the
"reputation/legend/hype" foistered upon us by the $+++
companies out there, the disappointing experience often matches the ridiculous price paid.
Many true boutique brands reasonably priced have forever won my loyalty due to their ability to deliver a very high quality and enjoyable smoking experience.
2/1/2020 4:45 PM
My very favorite cigars seem to fall in the $12+ range, probably averaging out to around $14-15 if I’m honest with my bank account (that’s an IF).  That said, I also thoroughly enjoy several cigars in the $9-12 range, so the sweet spot varies depending on the producer and availability.  I’ll go with $11-15 to be on the safe side!
2/1/2020 8:10 PM
If say sweet spot for MSRP is probably 14 bucks. There are for sure some quality choices for more than that but if I am at a retail store $14 seems to be about right.
2/2/2020 6:28 PM
Congrats to Ted!  And thanks to everyone for participating this week :D
2/3/2020 12:09 PM
7-11
2/4/2020 10:17 AM
To me this is a two part answer. If we are talking everyday cigar then I feel more value in 6-8$ cigars. If I go to the cigar lounge or have more time on the weekend to celebrate a cigar, then I easily feel more value in a 10-12$.