B&Ms and their oddball prices

danielzreyes

I stumbled upon another cigar/smoke/head shop that had a small humidor. In the humidor I immediately noticed an AVO 787 box with a price tag of $13.99. I thought “sweet great price!” reached up, damn, empty. Next to that were AVO in tubos and Domaines. Price, $13.99. Eh?! Next to those were Perdomo lot 23s. Price, $10.99. What the!?!? The AF section, (just basic AF cigars such as sun grown, Don Carlos etc), NONE were under $11.99 (pulling my hair). RP section, NONE were under $11.99 (I just barfed). What in the world is going on?
Usually when I visit a B&M I would buy a cigar to support the shop. But today I was too dumbfounded. I wanted to buy one of their ninja stars and throw it at someone but instead I just walked out.

I don’t get it.

bigharpoon

I used to work for a guy who had the craziest prices on some of his products. Since I was in charge of shooting his videos I kept telling him 'Ya know, if you lowered your price a little a lot more people would buy these videos'.

He didn't care, his theory was that people went on vacation with a set number of dollars in mind that they are going to spend and they will find a way to spend that amount of money somehow or other, regardless of how things are priced. Interesting theory, anyway.

xmacro

Used to visit a little **** hole in St. Petersburg, FL, called Central Cigars, IIRC. It was the only cigar bar in town, and the owner had *** selection, maybe carried 20 different cigars (yes, 20 - it was that ****) and what he did have was way overpriced; half the humidor was devoted to house-rolled fresh cigars that they rolled on site every week (neat to watch, though I kinda felt sorry for the cuban roller when I heard what he made)

I once asked the owner why he didn't carry more regular cigars or lower the prices on the existing ones, his reply was "I make more money on the house cigars, why should I carry anything else or lower my prices?"

After I left that town for Tampa, I found Tampa Humidor - great place, soft leather chairs, free wifi, big tv's, a huge humidor, good prices (sometimes they even beat Ccom). Love the place.

bbass2

We only have two places locally to get smokes. Once is a cabinet humi inside a liquor store and all of their prices are outrageous. We have one B&M with a nice big humi, but apparently not a good market in this area because it will probably be out of business soon. Most of their prices are right in line with what you would expect from a B&M, but one really caught my eye. It was a LGC Series R for $12.99! Lol that's around the same price he sells Don Carlos and WOAMs.

catfishbluezz

It depends on several things. If they buy direct, they get a better deal, and can price lower accordingly. If they buy through a distributor, they are getting them second hand, and maybe do not want to have a large accounts but still stock some smokes, so they get marked up twice. That's why you might find Opus for retail at B&M's with accounts and find sharks for $15 in CA, then $30 at the next place...

Amos_Umwhat

danielzreyes:

I stumbled upon another cigar/smoke/head shop that had a small humidor. In the humidor I immediately noticed an AVO 787 box with a price tag of $13.99. I thought “sweet great price!” reached up, damn, empty. Next to that were AVO in tubos and Domaines. Price, $13.99. Eh?! Next to those were Perdomo lot 23s. Price, $10.99. What the!?!? The AF section, (just basic AF cigars such as sun grown, Don Carlos etc), NONE were under $11.99 (pulling my hair). RP section, NONE were under $11.99 (I just barfed). What in the world is going on?
Usually when I visit a B&M I would buy a cigar to support the shop. But today I was too dumbfounded. I wanted to buy one of their ninja stars and throw it at someone but instead I just walked out.

I don’t get it.

Caveat Emptor

Lee.mcglynn

I'm grateful pa is pretty good on pricing...my only beef with b&m's around here are most of the employees haven't the faintest clue of what they are talking about!! I've narrowed my trips to three places with good staff. Personally most pa places have a good lower price so far and some only charge a nickel over what they get them for

kuzi16

Lee.mcglynn:

my only beef with b&m's around here are most of the employees haven't the faintest clue of what they are talking about!! I've narrowed my trips to three places with good staff. Personally most pa places have a good lower price so far and some only charge a nickel over what they get them for

i have the same issue. there are tons of shops near me but there is only one GOOD shop. i almost never go into the other ones. too spendy while having almost no real knowledge.

phobicsquirrel

kuzi16:

Lee.mcglynn:

my only beef with b&m's around here are most of the employees haven't the faintest clue of what they are talking about!! I've narrowed my trips to three places with good staff. Personally most pa places have a good lower price so far and some only charge a nickel over what they get them for

i have the same issue. there are tons of shops near me but there is only one GOOD shop. i almost never go into the other ones. too spendy while having almost no real knowledge.

dude, I doubt you'll find many people working in shops that know more than you. Your like a cigar expert. I agree with you, I hate having to spend a lot more locally than online. States and the Govt need to take a step back on their taxes on cigars. I mean I have never had to walk into a store or out of a store and had a few people puffing a cigar where as always have to deal with a wall of cigarette smoke from people and in Oregon we have a law you can't smoke 10 feet from a door, but it doesn't matter it covers over the entire area. Maybe that tax should be reversed, make smokers pay 50 cents per cigarette!

webmost

Lee.mcglynn:

...my only beef with b&m's around here are most of the employees haven't the faintest clue of what they are talking about!!

I don't mind that a bit, so long as a guy is willing to admit he doesn't know. What I do in that case is, I keep my fave knowledgeable cigar geeks on speed dial. Joe and Paul both work at the best stocked shop around here. When I am somewhere else, I call them. They know what I like, and they never steer me wrong. They don't mind. Hey, if I like it, I might be back their place next week looking for more.

Course, my other trick is use my pocket puter and find some reviews right here at c.com forum.

I tell you, I am getting a whole unexpected picture of cigar stores from you guys' complaints here. I thought they were all cool as cucumber salad. I mean, how else do you get into that line of work?

havanaal

My local B&M doesn't put prices near the cigars. Seems odd, but in New York, the taxes are so damn high, that the owner got tired of guys picking up the cigars and shaking their heads, or uttering shocked profanity. So I usually pull 5 or 6 that I think might be reasonable, and then check out. I'm pretty good at guessing, but its too much, I merely put 1 or 2 back. The other establishment I frequent does have prices marked, but they watch me like a criminal in the humidor, so I generally refuse to patronize them. I will agree that pricing in head shops, gas stations, liquor stores generally makes no logical sense.

clearlysuspect

When I lived in Southern Maryland, there was only one cigar shop over in Solomon's Island. He had a decent selection but I noticed a box of Gran Habano 3 Siglos (back before they were SLS). These are one of my "go to" smokes and they were selling them for $11 a piece. When I asked why he was selling these so high when I could buy a whole box for around $40-50, he BS'd me, not konwing I had about 60 of these things at the house, and said the one's I could get for $2-3 a piece were short filler and these were long filler. I turned around and walked out. I never went back.

clearlysuspect

Then again, I know a shop in North Carolina that I regularly stop at while traveling where I can get OpusX for $9-15 a stick.

havanaal

Remember Cupido's? Out of production for about 10 years. But they were a great Nicaraguan cigar. I remember going into a newsstand cigar store and the owner asks "What can I help you find?" I said, I'm looking for Cupido, but I don't see any. Well the guy gets out from behind the counter, goes in the back, rummages through a bunch of random boxes, and comes out with the Cupidos! but here's the kicker: I was used to paying $4 a stick in those days, and he was selling them for $8. I felt compelled to buy some at that point.