Have Budget Cigars changed?

[tonycsmoke]

Originally Posted by stogie5150

About ten years ago, someone in the cigar business that knows their shit told me their most EXPENSIVE cigar (at the time a 10-12 buck smoke) cost about 3 bucks to make, all in. THAT'S why I don't smoke expensive cigars.

Bundles for me have been pretty consistent through the years. Good ones are, well, good, and the shitty ones, well, they're shitty.

I smoke a LOT of the Casa De Garcia bundles. Maduro, Natural, Nicaraguan...they always deliver for 25.00 a bundle.

If I had to guess, most cigars...even the most expensive cigars are under a dollar to make. Not that there aren't other cost to get them to our door. There is a reason that they hand roll very few in the US. They only need to pay a few dollars a day for a someone to roll a hundred or more a day.

[gui_tarzan]

I rarely buy a box, typically I get bundles or samplers or seconds.

As far as the bundles go, yes, I have seen a steep decline in quality of FdOs, mostly burn problems, and Victor Sinclairs aren't nearly as good as they were a few years ago. Gran Habanos were good a few years ago but they don't have enough spice for me anymore.

Samplers are my favorites because they usually have a mix of top end and lower end brands so it's a cheap way for me to get the really good stuff. And normally the lower end sticks in those samplers aren't too bad.

Seconds are marketed as either "we made way too many" (bull****) or they are not as aesthetically pleasing as the ones that go into boxes. I couldn't care less (used in correct grammatical form) about a patch here and there, sun spots, large swings in color, a few veins, whatever. They're no different than the #1s with the ones I have purchased in my opinion. If they are different, I can't tell.

A couple of types of low end cigars I will never purchase again are Fumas or Cuban-sandwich. I hate shrapnel, period.

[Mad Dawg]

Originally Posted by tonycsmoke

If I had to guess, most cigars...even the most expensive cigars are under a dollar to make. Not that there aren't other cost to get them to our door. There is a reason that they hand roll very few in the US. They only need to pay a few dollars a day for a someone to roll a hundred or more a day.

IIRC, someone with deep insider knowledge of the industry once said no cigar costs more than two bucks to make. May have been Lew, may have been Saka, but I don't know for sure. In any case, that sounds about right to me.

And to the point of the thread, yes, I've seen a decline in the quality of "value cigars" lately. The bundle of "Alec Bradley 90+ Rated Seconds" lanceros (seconds of Tempus Creo) I've been working on has been disappointing...impossible to keep lit. Oh well, so it goes with the cheapos...

[tonycsmoke]

Originally Posted by Mad Dawg

IIRC, someone with deep insider knowledge of the industry once said no cigar costs more than two bucks to make. May have been Lew, may have been Saka, but I don't know for sure. In any case, that sounds about right to me.

And to the point of the thread, yes, I've seen a decline in the quality of "value cigars" lately. The bundle of "Alec Bradley 90+ Rated Seconds" lanceros (seconds of Tempus Creo) I've been working on has been disappointing...impossible to keep lit. Oh well, so it goes with the cheapos...

Yet a recent find such as the Nicaraguan Ligero Laced 2nds have been a revelation. Cain 2nds at under 2 bucks a pop.

I've had luck with the Man O War 2nds
Famous House Brands - the Famous NK3 are awesome. I have no doubt that some old favorites lose a little luster either through quality or changing taste. But there are plenty of really great inexpensive quality smokes out there. I'm a huge fan of Oliva, you can buy nearly every smoke they make as a second from cigars international. You just have to know the name.

[TommyBB]

Originally Posted by tonycsmoke

Yet a recent find such as the Nicaraguan Ligero Laced 2nds have been a revelation. Cain 2nds at under 2 bucks a pop.

I've had luck with the Man O War 2nds
Famous House Brands - the Famous NK3 are awesome. I have no doubt that some old favorites lose a little luster either through quality or changing taste. But there are plenty of really great inexpensive quality smokes out there. I'm a huge fan of Oliva, you can buy nearly every smoke they make as a second from cigars international. You just have to know the name.

That's its own thread And there's likely one already.

[Rob G]

There are a lot of factors that go into cost of production and sale, such as the cost of land, tobacco, equipment, labor, development and ADVERTISING. It's no coincidence that the cigars in full color ads in Cigar Aficionado are amongst the highest priced cigars.

As with any product, cigars are sold at the highest price they can sell for. If they can only sell for $2 that's where they are priced. If they can get $20 per stick then that's what they are going to be priced at.

[Wankel]

Glad I stocked up on about a million Consuegras back around 2000...

[Rob G]

Originally Posted by Wankel

Glad I stocked up on about a million Consuegras back around 2000...

Very smart move.