Help Settle a Discussion : If You Had To Pick your Preferred Packaging Size

[El Presidente]

We had our poll on preferred vitolas a few weeks back and many thanks for your input

This week let's focus on preferred packaging size.

To recap, the purpose of the polling is to settle a discussion with industry heads as to the preferences of our members. FOH members are a little different to B&M clientele. They are polling their clientele with the same questions and we are set to compare notes at a meeting in the second week of May.

So back to packaging.

The question is.

Assuming the cigar in question is a $10 USD Cuban Premium cigar (without taxes. Aussies if you were to include taxes/currency assume $23 AUD).

There is the same question for a $20USD Cuban Premium cigar (without taxes, Aussies if you were to include taxes/currency assume $45)

Use the poll to let us know your preference

[topdiesel]

I went with the 50 and 20. It would really suck to pay top dollar for a cab and end up with 50 inferior tasting expensive cigars. I wish there were still some corona sized cabs. Sucks that I don't like Punch Punch.

[Eric E]

If I could buy all of my cigars in 50 count cabs, I would. I do not purchase a lot of "premium" cigars, so the latter part of the poll really does not apply to me. However, there are many cigars that fall in between. Even those, I would prefer cabs.

The big difference between here and brick and mortars is that here, we buy boxes. We may buy a single here and there, but I'll bet the majority of your customers buy boxes, and multiple boxes at that. I can't tell you the last time I bought a single.

[zeedubbya]

In the magic fairytale land where money was no object and my basement was a 2,000 sf humidor--I would buy all 50 Cabs always. However if this is a real world poll I vote for 10 Cabs and dress boxes. 10s are easy to handle, look at the cigars in, stack etc., 10 boxes always. If I only want to buy 10 I can, but if I want to buy 100 I can just as easily. No question in my mind. Love to see 10 count PSP boxes up.

[omartout]

I simply voted based on my personal preference of course. I usually don't smoke more than 2 cigars a week. So to me 25 or 50 count last a long time. I usually split them with friends. 10 count all the way for me.

[foursite12]

I find this approach to the issue at hand to be somewhat awkward, for a couple of reasons. First, the voting options presented here ignore the huge number of cigars available at well below $10 USD per. For example, I think we can safely assume that a large constituency of FOHers would be in favor of having all PCs, Minutos, CGs etc. available in 50 cabs, yet that expression of desire from this group is not voiced through this poll, unless I am missing something (which would not shock me in the least today). The poll assumes a minimum cost of $500 per cab, which is a fairly tall threshold entry point. I think setting that gate masks the heartfelt desire in this community for the option to buy 50 cabs of more inexpensive cigars.

Secondly, the poll seems limited in that it only allows for a choice of one packaging or another, and does not allow a vote that would be in favor of offering more than one packaging format. For example--sure, I'd be fine with only 50 cabs available in the cigars I love, but I'd find cabs-only availability to be a challenge for me in new or change of pace smokes. I think that sentiment is not captured in this poll.

[garbandz]

I think it will shake out that folks would like to see more 50 cabs and more 10 count boxes in standard cigars.

the "premium" cigars seem to be fairly well handled.

[qualudecosby]

Would be nice to have some 5 & 10 count of premiums I haven't tried but then if I liked them I would want a 25.

Smaller cigars in a 50 are nice.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KRunch61]

There are just too damn many tasty CCs out there to focus on just this or that, so I'm all about variety. Boxes of 10 are my votes, though 5ers would be ideal. Would love to see 5ers offered on a regular basis with, say, a 10 or 15 stick minimum.

Hint, hint, Rob!

[earthson]

Wot - no cajons of 100???

I went with 50 and 50. What I like, I tend to buy multiple boxes of, anyway. I like when I have a lot of a particularly good cigar saved up!

I actually do wish more smokes came in ten-count boxes. I don't always have time for a lonsdale and don't always like Partagas, but every once in a while, I wish I still had a tenner of the 898s sitting around.

[skalls]

25 count $10 box--ideally slide lid box for the mini-cab type of storage.

10 count $20 box.

[Notsocleaver]

For the cigars I really like, 50 count or whatever gets me the best bulk rate pricing. I'd buy them on 200 count crates if it saved me enough $$$.

For every now and then cigars, 10 count is perfect. Its not about price, its just that there are some cigars I just don't want 25 of so I haven't bought another box, even though I might be in the mood for them occasionally.

[PapaDisco]

If it's a cigar I know and love, then 50 count cab all the way. I'd get two or three per year in order to have a deep selection as they age.

If it's a cigar I don't know, then 10 count boxes are obviously a great introduction.

If it's a cigar for a gift (business or personal) then 10 count works the best, but 20 and 25 are fine too (for these larger boxes the issue isn't the cost, it's more the uncertainty of potentially giving too much of the wrong vitola/marca/flavor)

I would not mind getting two 25 count cabs instead of 50 count cabs for my own use. I'd just prefer the cabs to the dress boxes for long term aging. The dress boxes are nice for gifts, but SBN boxes are pretty good too.

[TheGipper]

This poll made me think of something I've never thought of before - a 50 cab of Behike 56.

[Habana Mike]

I'd prefer cabinets of 50 in the $6-$8 range for these in that price point, would buy all day. $10-$15 I buy in the 10-25 range. Anything above that 10 is most likely though those Eslavos in the 50 cab tipped my hand........

[PapaDisco]

This poll made me think of something I've never thought of before - a 50 cab of Behike 56.

You might have to have your household foundations reinforced and issue a T-Bill to bring such a behemoth home!

[Duxnutz]

I voted 10 cts of each. With taxes creeping up globally (absolute anal raping in AUS) I think it'd be nice to offer ever cigar avail in 10cts.

At the same time, I've always wondered why more sample packs aren't available directly in a pack? A pack of robustos/Churchills/Torpedos/Coronas/Short or wide fatties in a fiver or 10 ct presentation similar to the LCDH selection presentations.

If HSA are to crack the US market down the line I think these would be highly popular.

[joeruby]

I wish rob had included a 15 count box in the survey I think 10 or 12 is just not enough especially wh

I voted 10 cts of each. With taxes creeping up globally (absolute anal raping in AUS) I think it'd be nice to offer ever cigar avail in 10cts.
At the same time, I've always wondered why more sample packs aren't available directly in a pack? A pack of robustos/Churchills/Torpedos/Coronas/Short or wide fatties in a fiver or 10 ct presentation similar to the LCDH selection presentations.

If HSA are to crack the US market down the line I think these would be highly popular.

I totally agree with Dux, but I would even go just one further and say a 15 count box for both would have been good to include in the survey.

You can certainly sample with a 10 count or fewer, however if they're good, you just want the box to stretch that little bit further..

[PigFish]

As usual my friend, I did not vote! Why, you ask? No it is not just another reason for me to be difficult…

What is a $20.00 cigar? I mean what makes a $20.00 cigar different from a $10.00 cigar?

Anyone?

I will proffer the answer… The box!

You see mate, while your question was simple, the answer is not. It really depends on some trust, trust that Tabacuba knows what a $20.00 cigar is, or a $10 cigar for that matter and acts upon its goals and promises and delivers a good product, worth whatever it costs. It really has little or nothing to do with the box.

Frankly, my position these days, is that Tabacuba is in the ‘box’ business more than the cigar business.

A cigar is a combination of things. I represents some risk, labor and raw materials. Of course there are also holding costs… and of course profit. Holding costs are only legitimate to me, a consumer, if they are intentional and designed to improve, and then successfully improve the finished product.

The box then, is simply resources spent on labor and materials that have little to do with the actual taste of the cigar. While they increase the cost surely, they do nothing for the quality of the cigar inside!! The box therefore, is simply to identify the cigar and keep them off the humidor floor.

I suppose I have to wonder, if it is the box that contains the $20 cigars, or the cigars ($2 cigars) are contained in a $180.00 box??? Which is it?

The box, in my mind, separate from its function as a vessel represents marketing and not much more. Since Tabacuba has a spotty reputation for consistency, the box, is in my opinion, a facade at best, and a downright fraud, more than likely…

In my 30+ years in smoking cigars, it has yet to be proven to me, or by me empirically that I get a better cigar out of a $180.00 box! Frankly, the contrary has been proven to me time and time again. $20 cigars are for experimenters, image seekers and the foolish! You simply don’t need to spend $20 on a cigar, or $180 for a box to get a good cigar. People flock to these cigars for many reasons, all their own and legitimate to them. I find all the reasons boil down to folly… (no insult intended, just my humble opinion). The $20.00 spent on one cigar will net me a higher likelihood of a great smoking experience by smoking 4 tested and proven $5 cigars, where 75% of them could be flops (but likely won’t). Any percentage applied to the one cigar can be expanded. I could pay $200 for a box of 10 unproven cigars (and their packaging) or I could get 50 PC’s from two different periods and two (ostensibly different) brands.

Sure, I don’t get the experience nor the bragging rights (of the $20 cigar). What I get is 50 potentially fulfilling experiences for a great cigar. That is what I am about and what I am after!

So I reject the premise of smaller boxes for any other reason than convenience. The smaller count box does not create opportunity for me as a smoker, it creates an overpriced parallel product…! It is a marketing guise and nothing more. It is a means to spend more on marketing (the enclosure) and less on the tobacco inside. It is not a means to a better cigar.

So what comes first I ask, the box or the cigar? Me, I am about cigars, not boxes. I want a great smoke, regardless of the size that I select, and a fair evaluation of the materials and costs to produce and hold it, and of course the risks (to the maker) for creating it, plus profit.

The 10x box, beyond making some decent regular production cigars more affordable to people with less disposable income, is simply a means to make a $5.00 cigar, appear to be something more than it really is. There are no $20.00 cigars!!! There are only more expensive and then less expensive boxes!

Cheers! -Piggy

[joeypots]

The survey lists boxes. I go for SLBs, I just like them and the absence of box press is a plus. How much cost difference is there for a varnish or non varnish SLB over a cardboard box? I vote 50 box for less expensive, 10 box for the more expensive.

[RijkdeGooier]

50 and 50 for those I like.

Others I'll sample along the way ?

[jmg]

for $10 and under, 50 works, especially for something that's consistently good.

when it starts hitting $20+, im not buying more than 10, due to the fact that i rarely smoke $20+ cigars. im willing to buy a box of 10 for special occasion smokes.

Coin is always a factor.

[JohnS]

50 and 50 for those I like.

Others I'll sample along the way

Yes, I'd love more options in 50 cabs for the smaller cigars. We only have this option for Partagas Shorts, Por Larranaga Petit Coronas and Punch Punch (and any H.Upmann Magnum 46's one can find from 2014 and perhaps 2015).

[FalseCast]

I love the 50 cabs for stuff like shorts and PLPC. For $10 sticks, 25 boxes are fine but 50 cabs would be nice for some stuff. The premium special occasion sticks are definitely nice to purchase in smaller quantities; at least I think.

[MrGlass]

I opted for the 25 count in $10 and the 10 count in $25.

I get that this is not a cheap hobby, but it's basically impossible for me to justify spending over $1000AUD on a box. That doesn't mean I don't want to try those sticks, but I simply cannot afford to play at that point. 10 count boxes provide me that opportunity.

There is also a convenience factor. I have been travelling a lot with work recently and typically grab a box while passing through Dubai. Even though I'm smoking these while away, because of the ridiculous Duty Free allowance when returning to Australia it's easier to finish what I have before coming home. For this purpose, the 10 count boxes work better for me. This has actually resulted in me typically buying the LE releases while I'm away, simply because they were one of the few options available in a 10 count.