Have we reached cigarmageddon?

[Hammer Smokin']

The only cigar not to sell out on 24:24 is the outrageously priced Monte #2. 

so I would challenge the term "extremely reasonable". 

[El Presidente]

5 minutes ago, Hammer Smokin' said:

The only cigar not to sell out on 24:24 is the outrageously priced Monte #2. 

so I would challenge the term "extremely reasonable". 

To be fully informed.....it was the cigar we had most of (3 mastercases!) 

2 boxes left so jump on in !

[MPS]

20 minutes ago, Hammer Smokin' said:

The only cigar not to sell out on 24:24 is the outrageously priced Monte #2. 

so I would challenge the term "extremely reasonable". 

Outrageous? Lmfao. No extremely reasonable. Unfortunately for the buyers they are here sitting reading all of this conjecture and complaining and just haven’t come to terms yet but it’s inevitable. The cope here is tremendous. 

[HarveyBoulevard]

Yes, Cigarmageddon is here.  I will finish off the Cohiba and Trinidad I have and will not be buying more.  Sad because Trinidad is my favorite marca and I smoke more Esmeralda and Coloniales than anything else.

I will continue to buy E2, Edmundos, BBF, etc.  I will continue to buy them assuming there are any to buy and they don't cost a lot more than NC.  If or when these staples become more expensive and harder to acquire, I will find some NC to smoke.  Until then, I am good for a few years so I have time to wait it out and see what actually happens...

EDIT:  When larger rg Nudies hit the street, I will be starting my transition

[Hammer Smokin']

2 hours ago, El Presidente said:

To be fully informed.....it was the cigar we had most of (3 mastercases!) 

2 boxes left so jump on in !

I know you have said in the past you don't release that info but it is most interesting!

[DaBoot]

3 hours ago, Hammer Smokin' said:

The only cigar not to sell out on 24:24 is the outrageously priced Monte #2. 

so I would challenge the term "extremely reasonable". 

And the one box per client also helps not selling out as fast,

[dangolf18]

4 hours ago, Hammer Smokin' said:

The only cigar not to sell out on 24:24 is the outrageously priced Monte #2. 

so I would challenge the term "extremely reasonable". 

I can imagine you walking into a high-end steakhouse and saying "Do people really pay these outrageous prices?!". LOL just poking fun.

[Hammer Smokin']

30 minutes ago, dangolf18 said:

I can imagine you walking into a high-end steakhouse and saying "Do people really pay these outrageous prices?!". LOL just poking fun.

My idea of a "high end" steak house is The Keg. 

 

And if that "high end" steak house doubled, tripled, quadrupled their prices, you'd have people questioning prices as well. 

[GavLew79]

25 minutes ago, Hammer Smokin' said:

The Keg

Great prime rib. Only been to the Ottawa one. 

[MrBirdman]

4 hours ago, miamipadronsmoker said:

Outrageous? Lmfao. No extremely reasonable. Unfortunately for the buyers they are here sitting reading all of this conjecture and complaining and just haven’t come to terms yet but it’s inevitable. The cope here is tremendous. 

Please reserve that kind of disrespect for Reddit. We don’t impugn other members here or laugh at them if they offer a reasonable opinion.

[GavLew79]

5 hours ago, miamipadronsmoker said:

a million times better than any non Cuban cigar. It

I disagree. I used to think so. I smoked 95+% Cubans for nearly 10 years. Nothing could touch them. However, this last 12-18 months I've been exploring the New World. I can now smoke $10-15 sticks that are really good. Every day. Think RomaCraft, Tatuaje, Illusioné, Espinosa, Crowned Heads, Room 101, Caldwell, Foundation, JSK, ...and many more. 

If Habanos want to price me out, fine. I'll smoke my ageing Cubans as an occasional treat until they're gone, and they can go f-themselves. Brand loyalty means nothing to them. So I'll reciprocate. 

[bates40]

Insane cigar prices with a nose diving stock market are not a good combination for Habanos....

[El Presidente]

We were having a discussion yesterday about pricing generally. 

So far, I am having trouble finding  a good steak in London/Miami that is less than 35 quid/40USD in a decent restaurant. 

The price of goods is astounding. I haven't been overseas in 2 years but 20 - 30%% increase in that time from places that I last visited.  It is an eyopener. 

 

 

[Chas.Alpha]

8 hours ago, El Presidente said:

We were having a discussion yesterday about pricing generally. 

So far, I am having trouble finding  a good steak in London/Miami that is less than 35 quid/40USD in a decent restaurant. 

The price of goods is astounding. I haven't been overseas in 2 years but 20 - 30%% increase in that time from places that I last visited.  It is an eyopener. 

Think of it this way, the price of fuel has tripled in the last year. Unless the restaurant you are dining at has their own cows, the steaks are being shipped in from somewhere else. 😔

[El Presidente]

Just now, Chas.Alpha said:

Think of it this way, the price of fuel has tripled in the last year. Unless the restaurant you are dining at has their own cows, the steaks are being shipped in from somewhere else. 😔

Trust me, I understand the pricing pressures!

Restaurants are still busy wherever I have been on this trip.  It is interesting  to see how elastic/resilient the consumer is to price pressures. 

[SmokyFontaine]

So communist Cuba, sold part of their cigar company to Communist China, and now are trying to figure out how to employ capitalism to gouge all customers near and far. How do I invest!?

[SCgarman]

21 hours ago, Corylax18 said:

If you think its bad now, Gird your Loins. Cuba doesnt have a plan to even start making things better, or the resources to execute a plan if they did have one. This recent price increase is a clear sign that HSA's new ownership has accepted this as fact. Rather than figure out how to increase the production and quality coming from Tabacuba, the plan is clearly to shrink demand to whatever measly level of production the island can muster. 

Prepare your self for prices to continue increasing as the quality and quantity of cigars produced continues declining. The entire country is falling apart, the cigar industry included. 

Then most will quit. Cigars are a want not a need. When a roof, food, water, and energy become unobtainable we are all screwed. My life will still go on with or without cigars. 

[dominattorney]

1 hour ago, El Presidente said:

Trust me, I understand the pricing pressures!

Restaurants are still busy wherever I have been on this trip.  It is interesting  to see how elastic/resilient the consumer is to price pressures. 

In my local area there was subtle, and later not so subtle, advertising pressure to go out and spend money to save the restaurants after covid stopped being the cause de rigeur. Not sure how objectively intelligent the reasoning of the campaign was, but people went all in.

Sure, I'll spend money I don't have. Yea. That money. The money the gubmint just sent me. That free money. I'll buys me some stuff to save that guys restaurant. 

 

I kid. But only a little. 

[Cairo]

4 hours ago, MrBirdman said:

Please reserve that kind of disrespect for Reddit.

Reddit's Cuban cigar discussion these days is more shell shocked than anything else.   Most posts are pointing at wild new prices with a "can you top this one" thing going on.    

[MrBirdman]

7 hours ago, Cairo said:

Reddit's Cuban cigar discussion these days is more shell shocked than anything else.   Most posts are pointing at wild new prices with a "can you top this one" thing going on.    

I was speaking more generally about the tone that platform is known for. 

[Andyyin]

 I’m in the camp of smoke less but smoke better.：）

[Mr. Japan]

A Trinidad  reyes 32 euro? we are far over cigarmageddon. 

 

here the new price list of 5th Avenue :

https://www.cigars-connect.com/fr/havanes-les-nouveaux-prix-publies-en-allemagne/?fbclid=IwAR0WdfhGX5YE2C7P6raGdG0WK3T_QdnsvEJgwRLPpOiv1nBNB-CRyvFV6bU

[Corylax18]

14 hours ago, SCgarman said:

Then most will quit. Cigars are a want not a need. When a roof, food, water, and energy become unobtainable we are all screwed. My life will still go on with or without cigars. 

I'm sure there are a lot that will, I probably would too if I wasn't comfortable travelling to the island for my own shopping trips. I wont be buying anything at these newly inflated prices, even the regular stuff. I was never a buyer for Cohiba, but Trinidad getting roped into this crap hurts. 

I'd rather be in the woods than in town, so if all the basics become unattainable, it wouldn't be the end of my world either. But there are a lot of people in Cuba and in the Cuban cigar industry who do have to worry about the basics, every, single, day. Its certainly not a position I envy, but there is only so much one can do. 

We've been saying it for years, but it seems like the music is going to stop playing down there sooner rather than later. There is certainly a feel of "sell everything that isn't tied down" on the island right now. Andy Ryan mentioned in another post that Julieta 2s(esplendidos) out the back door of El Laquito are running at $3, same for most other vitolas and most other Factories. That was November, I paid $4 a stick in March this year and just got confirmation of my order for a July trip showing roughly the same $4 a stick average across Lancero, PE and Sig III. 

We've seen other posts showing that 1% of the population was caught trying to enter the US in the last 7 months. Add in the ones that didnt get caught and we're easily talking 2% of the population, gone. All educated and wealthy (by Cuban standards) We're still going the wrong way, fast. 

[MPS]

18 hours ago, MrBirdman said:

Please reserve that kind of disrespect for Reddit. We don’t impugn other members here or laugh at them if they offer a reasonable opinion.

When the forum owner and vendor lists Montecristo no. 2 for under retail price and yet you still complain and call the cigars outrageously overpriced you deserve pushback. The opinion isn't reasonable at all. There is no gratitude or appreciation instead <moderated>. I'll revisit this thread in a few years and you will all still be here complaining. 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Fuzz
Play the ball, not the man.

[El Presidente]

1 hour ago, MPS said:

When the forum owner and vendor lists Montecristo no. 2 for under retail price and yet you still complain and call the cigars outrageously overpriced you deserve pushback. The opinion isn't reasonable at all. There is no gratitude or appreciation instead <moderated>. I'll revisit this thread in a few years and you will all still be here complaining. 

Don't worry about me....I am pretty thick skinned 

There is a lot of "moon howling" everywhere at the moment.  It will die down as folks adjust their expectations and/or their buying habits. HSA has played their card. They will read none of the commentary and look solely at the numbers over the coming months. 

I will focus only on what I can control and  ignore the melodrama.