Price increase.....

[Vortigan]

Supply and demand, oh wait . . .

I find it comical that HSA is deleting lines due to sales, but decides to raise prices 10%. Who else can run a business model that way? "Yes, Mr. Consumer I know you aren't buying our products in the volume you did a couple of years ago, so here is what I am going to do . . . I'm going to cut the amount of product available and increase prices every year to motivate you to buy more. What do you think about that?"

Crazy

Stated perfectly

[chr0nic]

Tax here is $433.53 per kilogram of tobacco content for Australians... I haven't done the sums on cigars, but I am a tobacco pipe smoker as well and a tin of Dunhill Nightcap here is $55, and is $15 in the US. I looked at bringing a tin in.

50g of tobacco taxed at 0.43c per gram = $21.68

Subtotal $36.68 + shipping to Australia

$50+

When I was over in Atlanta I was smoking a non-Cuban EVERY day. I asked the tobacconist what he recommended, cost not an issue, and he said something along the lines of "well if you have tons of cash, you COULD spend it on an '1926 Padron Anniversary'". It was, I think, $26. Before I found FoH I spent this much on pretty much anything bigger than a petite corona.

[El Presidente]

To be fair I don't think HSA has had a price increase since 2008?

Currency wise I suspect the price increase follows the correction in value of both the Euro and USD. Both currencies are used internationally in the cigar game.

[Wil]

Tax here is $433.53 per kilogram of tobacco content for Australians... I haven't done the sums on cigars, but I am a tobacco pipe smoker as well and a tin of Dunhill Nightcap here is $55, and is $15 in the US. I looked at bringing a tin in.

50g of tobacco taxed at 0.43c per gram = $21.68

Subtotal $36.68 + shipping to Australia

$50+

When I was over in Atlanta I was smoking a non-Cuban EVERY day. I asked the tobacconist what he recommended, cost not an issue, and he said something along the lines of "well if you have tons of cash, you COULD spend it on an '1926 Padron Anniversary'". It was, I think, $26. Before I found FoH I spent this much on pretty much anything bigger than a petite corona.

Well said...

To put it in perspective, a padron 1964 exclusivo is $30 here, a principe about $22

[ramon_cojones]

Nobody likes a price increase including myself but not like us americans can complain really.

[nick17]

i think rob is right, but the Canadian dollar is gaining value and yet our price went up...

[Fuzz]

International shipping costs have gone up recently. Costs me a bloody fortune to bring in containers nowadays.

[El Presidente]

i think rob is right, but the Canadian dollar is gaining value and yet our price went up...

It would be unthinkable that a distributor would take advantage of the situation

[Smallclub]

I find it comical that HSA is deleting lines due to sales, but decides to raise prices 10%.

Who told you HSA was raising prices 10%? You are confusing HSA and internet retailers…

In France and Spain, HSA's two largest markets, no price increase planned (as far as I know).

[IcedCanuck]

10% Ontop of what you allready have to pay up in Canada is just ludacris!!!

150% tax on top of that so yeah a 10% increase in base price makes a big difference here for sure.

[CanuckSARTech]

150% tax on top of that so yeah a 10% increase in base price makes a big difference here for sure.

We still have it pretty good if we buy from the right source!!! Its those poor Aussie bastards that have to deal with the domestic tax crap, that's who's at the crap end of it....

[Wil]

In the States Padron Principe $16.00

Interesting. Thought they retailed for around the $10 mark.

[Ghabanos]

Is there any truth to this? Whats the window we have to buy before being hit?

[Smallclub]

Is there any truth to this?

ONE (1) internet vendor raises his prices by 10%, and warns its customers by mail, and BOOM!, instant rumor spreads: HSA increases prices! Hurry! Run! Buy! Complain!

I just love internet communication…

[Vortigan]

ONE (1) internet vendor raises his prices by 10%, and warns its customers by mail, and BOOM!, instant rumor spreads: HSA increases prices! Hurry! Run! Buy! Complain!

I just love internet communication…

In fairness the opening sentence of the said email does state that "Habanos" is raising "its prices".

[bazookajoe]

of course this happens when i get into cc's. but then there are plenty of nc's that are pretty expensive also

[joshb]

ONE (1) internet vendor raises his prices by 10%, and warns its customers by mail, and BOOM!, instant rumor spreads: HSA increases prices! Hurry! Run! Buy! Complain!

I just love internet communication…

Also to be fair, I had read in the last couple weeks prior to this email (can't remember the source, sorry) that Habanos was raising prices. If my memory is serving, that rumor stated that the price hike would be focused around the premium brands. Fwiw.

Best,

Josh

[jedipastor]

To put it in perspective, a padron 1964 exclusivo is $30 here, a principe about $22

In the States Padron Principe $16.00 and Davidoff Aniversario #2 $21.00

on the east coast, NY area.

Interesting. Thought they retailed for around the $10 mark.

Retail for the Padron Principe (a cigar which I adore) IS actually $10 USD. But every state has it's own tobacco taxes. So in Washington DC or Kentucky you'll pay about $10, in Minnesota you'll pay $16. Of course, if you buy online, you can get them shipped from another state and not pay the extra taxes (most states are trying to change that, and send you a duty sheet in the mail like you'd get if the package came from another country).

But aside from Padrons, you can often find most of the premium NCs at a discount (maybe 20%, maybe more) here and there, at least a few times per year. Then of course there are the cigar auction sites (an admitted weakness of mine). I just won an auction for a box of NCs that retails for $225 ... won it for $76. Very good cigars, too, ones that people happily pay retail for.

So overall, the concept of NCs being more expensive than CCs across the board in the US is silly. Sure, if you buy from a shop in a high-tax state, then yea you'll spend CoRo prices on a nice Padron or Fuente. But there are smarter ways to buy. In the same way, you can go to a LCdH and pay crazy prices (depending on where you are) for a box of CoRos or you can order from FOH and possibly save. And of course if you're talking about a limited edition product, etc. al bets are off regardless of country of origin.

--But as far as this price increase goes ... it just makes me hate HSA all the more. Stupid business move. I've more than doubled the amount of Habanos I smoke this year, and would smoke even more if it weren't for price. And now prices are going UP? I hope their sales just tank this year, seriously. Not FOH sales, of course, just HSA as a whole

[thechenman]

Interesting. Thought they retailed for around the $10 mark.

It depends on where you are in the states. NYC I believe may actually have the highest tobacco taxes in the U.S. on both cigars and cigarettes. A pack of cigarettes in CA that costs $6 costs $15 in NYC. The price difference is due tot he tobacco tax that is levied here...not just the state tobacco tax, but city as well.

[Ghabanos]

It depends on where you are in the states. NYC I believe may actually have the highest tobacco taxes in the U.S. on both cigars and cigarettes. A pack of cigarettes in CA that costs $6 costs $15 in NYC. The price difference is due tot he tobacco tax that is levied here...not just the state tobacco tax, but city as well.

15 dollars for a pack of cigs... my have times changed.

[winelover]

I got the e-mail too and believe there isn't some big price rise imposed by Habanos SA and it was my understanding that the vendor in question procured from a variety of sources. If Rob is confirming prices haven't really moved since 08 then if a competitor is putting prices up, it makes Rob's smokes more competitive if he can hold.

[Hash]

I do not think that the problem is only with HSA, local governments are increasing taxes on Tobacco products to discourage smoking.Dubai is doubling the tax on tobacco,and going to introduce anti-smoking laws soon.We are being squeezed out of all smoking areas.

Cigar Smokers Of The World Unite.

[MoneyPit]

I got the first email that was discussed, but I also just received this second email from another source...

Following the recent Habanos meetings,  they  decided  to raise the prices to all distributors. You are the first to find out about this since you are our customer.

Our  supplier has already increased our prices, but we have not passed that  on  to you yet as we decided to keep the prices the same for the stock  we already had in the warehouse. But new stock will arrive soon and  we  will be forced to increase our prices. We will do our best to keep

our prices as low as possible.

[oliverchang514]

Bump.. I got that email as well from that vendor. So, is FoH also bumping 10%?

If not, (as previous poster mentioned) Rob's rates become even .. Speaking of smokes.. we need a best of May! so we can put in some orders.

[jedipastor]

Bump.. I got that email as well from that vendor. So, is FoH also bumping 10%?

If not, (as previous poster mentioned) Rob's rates become even .. Speaking of smokes.. we need a best of May! so we can put in some orders.

Best of May SAMPLER!