International pricing policy by Habanos SA

[HarveyBoulevard]

1 minute ago, dangolf18 said:

Was just thinking, I wonder to what extent regional editions will be affected pricewise. Also, wondering Cuban rum prices will be affected. 

Extra bands will require at a minimum a tripling of the price. God forbid they put a third band on there and it will be the price of a new Lamborghini.

[dangolf18]

2 minutes ago, HarveyBoulevard said:

Extra bands will require at a minimum a tripling of the price. God forbid they put a third band on there and it will be the price of a new Lamborghini.

You're not wrong. Look at the new prices for the 1935 line 😄. Not sure how much more they want to piss off regional distributors though. No way I'm pay $40+ for any regional cigar unless it's a 109.

[Salomones]

https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/cohiba-55-aniversario-hitting-market-with-enormous-price-tag

 

I am out for EL at this Prices.

[NSXCIGAR]

12 hours ago, El Presidente said:

It's not odd.it has been canvassed extensively.

There is a Nicaraguan and DM roller shortage as well.

The reason for the shortage has been covered and is not a mystery. The difference is that Nicaragua and DR can't conscript people. 

[canadianbeaver]

I write a weekly newsletter for this tiny town cigar club where I live. I do not proclaim to have any more knowledge than you wonderful fellow collectors. I am only thankful for teaching me all about this shite for over a decade ok?

In this newsletter I wanted to explain why cigars, especially here in Canada were either nowhere, or outrageous in price. Dig this, a quote I found online on Halfwheel:

“Getting information out of Cuba is a tough task, but if I had to guess the reasons for the shortage are numerous and include: Habanos S.A.’s general inability to supply the demand for Cuban cigars pre-pandemic, the increased demand for cigars in the post-COVID-19 world, the aforementioned issues with workforces at cigar factories, poor harvests in previous years, and the increased civil unrest in Cuba in 2021.”
 

I will now hold Cohiba and Montecristo cigars with my cold dead hands until the price returns to normal.

Other vintage ones guys can fight over on Bond Roberts. It’s fun.

The end.

Hugs and Kisses,

CB

 

 

[NSXCIGAR]

2 hours ago, canadianbeaver said:

"Getting information out of Cuba is a tough task, but if I had to guess the reasons for the shortage are numerous and include: Habanos S.A.’s general inability to supply the demand for Cuban cigars pre-pandemic, the increased demand for cigars in the post-COVID-19 world, the aforementioned issues with workforces at cigar factories, poor harvests in previous years, and the increased civil unrest in Cuba in 2021.”

Eh, most of those don't make total sense. Not the kind of uninformed speculation that typically comes out of halfwheel.

HSA didn't have a general inability to supply the market pre-pandemic. There were some issues with Cohiba and that's about it. I guess we could have liked more Sir Winston and Fundys but that isn't what I would call a "general inability". 

Next is there actually an increased demand since 2020 or are we looking at a recovery in demand or simply demand rates increasing at the same rate it had been?

As far as poor recent harvests that is flatly incorrect. The last 5 harvests have been above average at worst.

[canadianbeaver]

12 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Eh, most of those don't make total sense. Not the kind of uninformed speculation that typically comes out of halfwheel.

HSA didn't have a general inability to supply the market pre-pandemic. There were some issues with Cohiba and that's about it. I guess we could have liked more Sir Winston and Fundys but that isn't what I would call a "general inability". 

Next is there actually an increased demand since 2020 or are we looking at a recovery in demand or simply demand rates increasing at the same rate it had been?

As far as poor recent harvests that is flatly incorrect. The last 5 harvests have been above average at worst.

Thanks for your clarification @NSXCIGAR and as I said, I do not propose to have to the knowledge guys like you do. The various writers on Halfwheel have opinions as do other writers around the world. 
Check this one and ignore if you think it is BS.

https://www.simplycigars.co.uk/guide/the-global-shortage-of-cuban-cigars-2610/
 

I only read it to find a paragraph or two to explain why stores have no stock and why prices will go through the roof. 
 

CB

 

[AirOne]

“We will never sacrifice the quality of our cigars to meet demand,” 
well….

[Bijan]

17 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Next is there actually an increased demand since 2020 or are we looking at a recovery in demand or simply demand rates increasing at the same rate it had been?

This is the one part of that paragraph I think is probably correct. At least anecdotally. A lot of people myself included could smoke cigars during the work day, due to work from home and generally being stuck at home for a while.

Edit: oops I just reread what they wrote and they got a lot of timelines wrong.

Demand went up with COVID and may stay high or taper down as people go back to the office.

Also Cuba only lost the ability to supply cigars with the chaos caused by COVID and not before COVID.

And yeah harvests were good recently. Which might drive demand through increased quality. It was definitely a justification people used on the forum for "going deep on 20/21 boxes".

[coug28]

30 minutes ago, Bijan said:

 

And yeah harvest were good recently. Which might drive demand through increased quality. It was definitely a justification people used on the forum for "going deep on 20/21 boxes".

This is the semi-comical part of all this to me. So many saying they won’t pay luxury prices for a product with such inconsistencies…”I’ll just buy & smoke NCs instead”.  

Also the same people….”glad I stocked up, quality hasn’t ever been better in Cuban tobacco than 20/21 production!”

 

[AirOne]

10 minutes ago, coug28 said:

This is the semi-comical part of all this to me. So many saying they won’t pay luxury prices for a product with such inconsistencies…”I’ll just buy & smoke NCs instead”.  

Also the same people….”glad I stocked up, quality hasn’t ever been better in Cuban tobacco than 20/21 production!”

 

I guess it is qualty of the tabacco leaves vs quality/consistency of the rollers output. You need both to make good/great cigars. And Cuba badly needs seasonned rollers. 

[canadianbeaver]

Great discussion you guys. Thanks! Reminds me also about way way back in 2011-12 when RAExtras came out. Guys absolutely hated them. To this day this is my favourite cigar lol. Tiny example but hey lol. The rest period of cigars can trick us sometimes.

And also the disaster of CC’s in 1999 or so? Feel free to elaborate and correct me on that. But many cigars were so bad you could not smoke them.

Wines have this too right?

CB

[Bijan]

4 hours ago, canadianbeaver said:

And also the disaster of CC’s in 1999 or so? Feel free to elaborate and correct me on that. But many cigars were so bad you could not smoke them.

Cuba tried the opposite strategy then, and tried to double production and ran out of tobacco. Also had some change in tobacco plant strains going on at the same time.

Big crisis for Cuban cigars. Some good cigars out of that era, but a few of those years had really crappy rolling due to the massive number of new rollers and amount of production, other years had off blends due to changes in strains of tobacco and figuring the blends out again.

[canadianbeaver]

Going to add one more crisis element to CC’s today. Fraud. Been going on forever of course but there are books, groups and yackety yack about it everywhere.

I have always said, best thing about FOH and this level of collecting is we do not discuss this common shite. A more common question might be was EDRMCS better in 2007 or 2009? Answer is 2008. Anybody got a couple to trade ? (Just saying not asking).

Also love trivia questions.

CB

[Ford2112]

On 5/21/2022 at 7:23 AM, coug28 said:

This is the semi-comical part of all this to me. So many saying they won’t pay luxury prices for a product with such inconsistencies…”I’ll just buy & smoke NCs instead”.  

 

 

I was thinking about this last night while smoking a CC. I thought to myself " there is nothing like Cuban tobacco. I don't think I could go back" . NCs have some I like, but the best NC's I have ever smoked pale in comparison to the best CC's. I got a couple friends into cigars with me recently and we all agree that the NC cigars we have had lately just lack the nuances and complexity. Most are peppery ,which I can't stand.

[Shrimpchips]

On 5/21/2022 at 9:49 AM, Bijan said:

And yeah harvests were good recently. Which might drive demand through increased quality. It was definitely a justification people used on the forum for "going deep on 20/21 boxes".

I’m guessing that the increase in demand from established Customers of CCs pales in comparison to the new demand from well-off folks, WFH, looking for new ways to spend while staying put.  Like any hobby, only a few will stick it out after dropping a good chunk of cash to get themselves started.   

Like Others have said the price increases on everything but Cohiba/Trini aren’t too crazy - the increase in price across the board is definitely driven by supply/demand more than set pricing from HSA, given grey markets are basically priced the same as legitimate channels now.  It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out when Cuba is able to get more stock off the island in a timely manner, if there is stock in the warehouses in Havana.  I know for myself, not having the massive inventories others do, I’ve found myself ticking up on purchases to go deeper on things I’ve been going through faster when the opportunity presents.  Luckily I mostly smoke smaller formats which seem to have some availability here and there.  Probably missed the boat on getting a nice box of Esplendidos or Fundadores, which given the price increases I may regrettably never get to try (although maybe for the best so I don’t know what I’m missing out on).

[Salomones]

On 5/18/2022 at 5:49 PM, Frankinho007 said:

https://www.5thavenue.de/sites/default/files/2022-05/Verkaufsprogramm Habanos_Nr.34_01.07.2022_final.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1iRb2B44GoEJTNyO2o0GVptbACSgkAlluKXX4NVwjKVibOJWu-BDdlxEM

Cohiba, Trinidad have been raised the most - no surprise here

Montecristo 1935 and Romeo's Linea De Oro almost tripled - which is kinda rough and unexpected.

Regular cigars were raised in the usual 5-10% range I'd say.

 

Btw. Picadores are not longer listed. Are they official Discon?

[SCgarman]

5 hours ago, Ford2112 said:

I was thinking about this last night while smoking a CC. I thought to myself " there is nothing like Cuban tobacco. I don't think I could go back" . NCs have some I like, but the best NC's I have ever smoked pale in comparison to the best CC's. I got a couple friends into cigars with me recently and we all agree that the NC cigars we have had lately just lack the nuances and complexity. Most are peppery ,which I can't stand.

Padron '26 and '64 are very refined and balanced with virtually none of that offensive pepper. They will hold up against most Cubans. But they were never cheap, and post covid have price spiked like all else. Still great cigars nonetheless.

[El Presidente]

3 hours ago, Salomones said:

Btw. Picadores are not longer listed. Are they official Discon?

I haven't been notified of any discontinuations 👍

[LordAnubis]

10 hours ago, Salomones said:

Btw. Picadores are not longer listed. Are they official Discon?

Picadores are a Habanos specialist release or something i think, and they are not on the list just like Connie A and B Punch 48 etc are not on that list. Neither are LCDHs.

[Frinkiac7]

There's definitely more than a "mere 6% increase" or whatever it was on many grey market vendor sites. Kind of sad to see the gouging on things like RG Panetelas, Partas Aristos or Habaneros, R y J Belvederes. Really?

[Ford2112]

1 hour ago, SCgarman said:

Padron '26 and '64 are very refined and balanced with virtually none of that offensive pepper. They will hold up against most Cubans. But they were never cheap, and post covid have price spiked like all else. Still great cigars nonetheless.

I think I prefer the 64. I have a number of NCs resting,padron being one of them. I also like Oliva  Melanio and Illusione cigars here and there. To my palate they are good. They are still not my favorites 

[Duxnutz]

On 5/20/2022 at 3:58 AM, SCgarman said:

I'm in Myrtle Beach. One of the biggest tourist destinations in the summer months. Last summer seemed to be shortages in the restaurants worker wise. So far things better this year. Tourist season is kicking off down here full force now. I think now the era of "free money" handouts are over, more folks are back to work. Worker shortages definitely don't put smiles on tourists faces. Good thing is there are literally restaurants everywhere here. Love living here so far. 

I lived there back in ‘06 and found it super hard to meet anyone that wasn’t a tourist or snowbird. Living there kinda felt like a never ending beach vacation. 

[SCgarman]

11 hours ago, Duxnutz said:

I lived there back in ‘06 and found it super hard to meet anyone that wasn’t a tourist or snowbird. Living there kinda felt like a never ending beach vacation. 

Hard to beat the climate. Sunny almost every day. Mild winters and best of all no snow nor ice nor extreme cold. Just what the doctor ordered!

[SGD316]

The issue is everyone keeps referencing HK like it's some sort of infinite gold mine in perpetuity. It's never a smart business move to put all your eggs into one region's basket even if in the short term the market will bear the prices and demand will purchase the supply. 

HK markets are pretty fickle around a lot of things, HSA may find themselves holding the bag if the next "thing" comes around.