A Question for Cigar Retailers

[frenchkiwi]

Greetings to professionals of the cigar industry, and customers in the know!

A question that has been tormenting me recently is how do dedicated cigar retailers get hold of their stock?

Reason being all my local businesses that sell a few cigars get them from Swedish Match, and even discounting for duty and tax, they get charged megabucks.

So what are your distribution channels? Do you deal direct with Habanos and organise your own imports from Cuba, or do you have to deal with a designated regional distributor, or...?

Thanks in advance for any info!

[El Presidente]

Greetings to professionals of the cigar industry, and customers in the know!

A question that has been tormenting me recently is how do dedicated cigar retailers get hold of their stock?

Reason being all my local businesses that sell a few cigars get them from Swedish Match, and even discounting for duty and tax, they get charged megabucks.

So what are your distribution channels? Do you deal direct with Habanos and organise your own imports from Cuba, or do you have to deal with a designated regional distributor, or...?

Thanks in advance for any info!

In the Asia Pacific, PCC holds the HSA License. They are based in HK. In Australia and NZ they have a regional office (PCC Australia) which handles distributon to retailers. Swedish Match also purchases from PCC although they purchase directly from PCC HK.

In effect Swedish Match are sub distributors, same as ourselves. The majority of retailers purchase from the sub distributors or PCC Oz Direct. Some purchase from parallel importers, and some partly or fully parallel import themselves.

[frenchkiwi]

In the Asia Pacific, PCC holds the HSA License. They are based in HK. In Australia and NZ they have a regional office (PCC Australia) which handles distributon to retailers. Swedish Match also purchases from PCC although they purchase directly from PCC HK.

In effect Swedish Match are sub distributors, same as ourselves. The majority of retailers purchase from the sub distributors or PCC Oz Direct. Some purchase from parallel importers, and some partly or fully parallel import themselves.

Thanks Rob! interesting. a couple of supplementaries:

I'm guessing Habanos is all for controlled distribution and doesn't condone parallel imports that compete with licensed distributors? And also sets the prices for licensed distributors like PCC maybe?

Do PCC charge you more per cigar than these "parallel importers" would? Or is there any other incentive for retailers to import their own?

Sorry to bang on... just curious ;-)

[JoshMP]

Rob: if pcc oz are another office outside of pcc hk do they then have a higher price than that charged by pcc hk? Or does the difference come from the difference in tax for the two regions?

[El Presidente]

Rob: if pcc oz are another office outside of pcc hk do they then have a higher price than that charged by pcc hk? Or does the difference come from the difference in tax for the two regions?

I think the discussion of regional pricing policy is innapropriate (for me).

Naturally when purchases are made in Oz it is duty/GST paid. If purchased from an outside country source it is tax free until the cigars clear cutoms. In the end it is much the same.

If purchasing from a major source who parallel sells into the region it is generally cheaper. Downside is there are no returns, no quality controls.

There are Parallel suppliers who sell 100% legitimate, blend legitimate with Fake or sell 100% fake. All three types supply into Australia.

[JoshMP]

Totally fair call mate, I was more wondering if it (price) was a thing cuba controlled all the way through, food for thought I guess. Interesting point about the parallel importers and quality control too. Thanks.

[El Presidente]

We have two separate storage facilities. None are really huge as we are only a mid size distributor/retailer on a global sense. We put in a monthly order and then when it arrives to us we divide the stock between private client and wholesale (quality assessment).

Simple and effective. It allows us to have a very accurate view as to what to recommend in any given month.

[SethLG]

We have two separate storage facilities. None are really huge as we are only a mid size distributor/retailer on a global sense. We put in a monthly order and then when it arrives to us we divide the stock between private client and wholesale (quality assessment).

Simple and effective. It allows us to have a very accurate view as to what to recommend in any given month.

What is the difference between private client and wholesale, is private client customers in Brisbane and the rest wholesale or am I totally wrong, or is this something that is diffficult for you as a supplier and owner to discuss? If it is, sorry. I know this is probably a tough discussion forum for you.

[El Presidente]

What is the difference between private client and wholesale, is private client customers in Brisbane and the rest wholesale or am I totally wrong, or is this something that is diffficult for you as a supplier and owner to discuss? If it is, sorry. I know this is probably a tough discussion forum for you.

Private clients are FOH members. Wholesale is tobacconists, bars, clubs, liquor outlets, strip clubs etc etc.

[gmoney]

Private clients are FOH members. Wholesale is tobacconists, bars, clubs, liquor outlets, strip clubs etc etc.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........Strip Clubs........

[frenchkiwi]

Private clients are FOH members. Wholesale is tobacconists, bars, clubs, liquor outlets, strip clubs etc etc.

so who at czar has taken up the onerous responsibility of maintaining good clientele relationship with strip clubs?

thanks for your honest replies Rob - informative. Realise you can't comment too much on distributor up the chain, but maybe someone here is not tied up contractually and is in the know...

(or you could use your fake forum ID and evil alter ego to rant about such sensitive issues - what is it again... "Ken Gargett"?)

[Habanos2000]

I always wondered, how do cigars get from Cuba to, say, Oz or anywhere else in the world? By boat I assume? Are they sent in temperature controlled containers, or just big boxes?