Boxes of 10--Opinions please..

[zeedubbya]

I would like to see opinions from the forum on boxes of 10? Myself and@boosted were having a discussion on this subject. The more I consider it the angrier it makes me. $225 plus USD for 10 cigars is pure lunacy. Would you pay $1,000 plus USD for a 50 Cab of the same cigar?

 

This started with me being genuinely ticked off when I found I liked the Mag54. At 7$-$8 USD a stick (price of most Petit Robustos) I would buy 100 of them. However at the prevailing $12-$13 per cigar rate I am out. Am I crazy? (don't answer that just tell me what you think about 10 boxes). Thank you very much.

 

 

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[RazorbackFan]

I've only bought one box of 10 lately. It was a box of Punch Punch tubos. I pulled the trigger because they were on sale and because I figured it was a low risk deal in case they were duds (purchased elsewhere, not here).  

Turns out that they're crackers and now I wish that 10'er was a full 25 box. A classic case of risk-reward, I guess. 

I'm eyeballing a 10 count box of Upmann Mag 50 now for the same low(er) risk reason. 

[ChanceSchmerr]

I'm with you 100%.  Feels like they are trying to condition the consumer to pay the same for a 10 box as they would for a 25 box.  It's the same thing with RE's that come out as a 20-box.  At $600 to boot! Nice try, HSA.  I'm not buying it....literally!

[garbandz]

until Cuba can achieve NC quality, it is blind ignorance to pay for the double banded money gobblers,so many of Cuban cigars are creeping into the ridiculous zone with regards to price.

It is almost childlike for HSA to keep releasing these high dollar cigars and not paying attention to the everyday customers,regardless of from which way it happens,you do not want to alienate your customers ,and from my perspective, that's what they are doing.

Five years age Cuban cigars were a deal price wise. You could stand a few duds in a box.

not anymore.

[JamesKPolkEsq]

Keep in mind, some suckers are snapping up these dollar gobblers. HSA doesn't make more and more of these for no reason. 

Luxury goods don't have to be significantly better to justify the price tag... They just need a good marketing strategy. 

Example : "Top Shelf" vodka

[NSXCIGAR]

Typically the 10-box price is reasonable, and for that reason I'm all for it. Yes, special production 10-box pricing is creeping up and I'm leery of that but regular production and LCDH releases are very well priced and I appreciate the lower risk option.

[madandana]

2 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Typically the 10-box price is reasonable, and for that reason I'm all for it. Yes, special production 10-box pricing is creeping up and I'm leery of that but regular production and LCDH releases are very well priced and I appreciate the lower risk option.

I agree with this. On the ones I have the price per stick was about the same as a 25 box. 

[Philc2001]

If 10s were under half the price of a 25 I probably would be interested in them. As it is, the 10s tend to be regionals and limited vitolas with exorbitant prices.... not for me, thanks! I hate the idea of more packaging to cigar ratio, so it would be prudent to package the cigars in cardboard (i.e. the 2x5, 3x5, 4x5 or whatever). That makes the cigars more broadly available to the consumers, and they wouldn't have to waste all that packaging. Frankly, I'd love it if they got away from dress boxes for all vitolas and went to plain cabs or SLBs.

[Fugu]

55 minutes ago, RazorbackFan said:

Turns out that they're crackers and now I wish that 10'er was a full 25 box. A classic case of risk-reward, I guess.

The tubo only comes in 10ers, so you had no other chance.

[Fugu]

I think this thread is more one about pricing than it is about 10-count boxes. There are decent 10ers even for reg prod., which come at the +/- same price as the larger packs. E.g the above mentioned PPP tubos - why not a 10-count? You can even buy the "meagre" Party Milfs in a 10er dress box. Monte 2, 3, 4, 5, nice! What's wrong about that?!  I particularly like the option of 10-ct SLBs in certain regular or special production. Attractive packaging, I say, with not too much commitment done on a single box. Nothing wrong with that (and the price per stick is more easily calculated... haha).

Now it is a whole different thing for me with simply overbearing the price with double- or triple banders, or the most recent "foot-banders".... Well, easy to avoid: be selective in your buying.

[archosaur]

I actually like 10 count boxes, but I think that is largely because 1) I don't smoke that much and 2) I like diversity in my collection.

It is also a less costly way to try a new cigar, without going the singles route.  So in general I am in favor of 10 counts as well as petacas, tins, etc.

 

[Guest RobeAndSlippers]

Only 10ers I've gone for consistently are the Cohiba Secretos and even so, knowing the inconsistent quality in CCs, even from Cohiba, I put that last box down to age. I'll occasionally pay out the nose for customs, but there's no damned way that I'd pay $20 a stick for whatever triple-banded limited-regional-Instagram-sexy stick makes the rounds regularly. 

[foursite12]

The 10-box price-per-stick premium is offset in many cases by the benefits mentioned by others here.  I appreciate a 10 box as an option to having to buy a 25 for all those reasons; what I do not like is not having an option to purchase a standard 25 box. RACA comes to mind. Lots of us went deep on this cigar, and had to do so in 10 stick increments, presumably paying that per-stick premium 10 times when we could have gotten to the same place with 4 25s at a per-stick savings, on top of which the packaging waste is unconscionable.

[jay8354]

Not that relevant (since it is not HSA pricing but our government) but personally I think everyone in the world have it pretty good.

If you buy in Australia, the duty and taxes makes the cigars at least triple the US price.

If I could buy in US pricing, I would be buying at least a 25 count box every month.

Back on topic, the normal release are around the normal pricing. Regional and limited releases are priced higher as expected (doesn't necessary mean that they are better).

The 10 count does make the price point easier to approach though.

 

[Lotusguy]

I personally like the concept of 10er boxes - gives me a chance to try something without having to get 25 sticks of them. Even better when the same cigar is also available in 25ers at a similar per-stick price.

Current pricing on RE, LE, et cetera is a whole other discussion, however.

[Guest Nekhyludov]

I agree with what most folks have said here. I like 10 ct boxes of regular production and wish there were more. For me, it's the perfect size for smoking stock. For anything I want to age, 25 or 50 works better. 

REs and LEs at $25 aper stick are tough to justify in any packaging. 

[fabes]

1 hour ago, Lotusguy said:

I personally like the concept of 10er boxes - gives me a chance to try something without having to get 25 sticks of them. Even better when the same cigar is also available in 25ers at a similar per-stick price.

Current pricing on RE, LE, et cetera is a whole other discussion, however.

Sums it up for me too. Especially for cigars like le hoyo San Juan where, I like the cigar as an occasional treat, but it would take me awhile to get through those ten massive cigars anyway. The entry price is more appetizing than a full 25 on those. 

And as stated above, if this is just about 10ct boxes, no problem. Talking about current pricing trends... no bueno. 

[BrightonCorgi]

In high tax countries, 25 box is quite a purchase.  I don't mind the 10 counts actually as long as per stick is not far off from the 25.  10 box makes for easy gift if one is needed and don't take up a lot of room in humidor.

[Buck14]

Seems the OP is focusing on PRICE elevation using the format of the 10 ct box rather than on the actual 10 ct box price in and of itself.  I don’t really focus on box count numbers but on price.  Once I get over $10 a stick my pain threshold goes down immensely - I become much more selective as prices go north of this number regardless of the format or production: regular, RE, LE, LCDH.

It does seems to me that HSA might be using the RE line, which is primarily packaged in 10 cts, to jack up the price and profit margin. But, there also seems to be a great demand out there for REs and that market is willing to pay premium pricing.  

[zeedubbya]

Original intent of this post was to have a broad discussion about 10 count boxes, so I appreciate all the feedback. I see many different opinions here. The high tax idea makes sense and I agree that a lot of the older reg production 10 counts are a decent buy.

What concerns me most of all isn't the high price of ELs and REs in 10 boxes. So be it, take them or leave them. At prices bordering on Vintage Winnie prices I'll leave them. What concerns me most is the creeping up of prices on the new release reg production 10 count boxes. Mag54 is my original and perfect example. The 10 counts should be well under $100 USD. Also I went through and did the math on the last 7 years LCDH releases and the price per 25 is high. Is this what we are destined to be served up? Most new releases to be released in 10 counts and if you happen to like that cigar you're going to have to pay the around 50% premium over a comparable reg. production similar vitola? Doesn't sound like a recipe for long term customer retention to me. I suppose I should realize HSA has really never focused marketing to current smokers though.


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[dominattorney]

I agree with you on a lot of the more recent 10-count only box releases.  However, I love the Partagas Salamon, which comes in the 10 counter, and love this stick.  I don't think that the 15-17 dollar per cigar price tag on such a cigar is unreasonable.  And in addition, a 25 count box would be cost prohibitive to me, since the Salamon is a once in a while cigar for me.  Same thing with the Cuabas.  However, on the Mag 54, I agree.  No way to justify the 12-13 dollar price point per stick on a petite robusto. 

[jackupster]

I don't mind paying a bit more per stick to try something out. Especially with larger pricier smokes. I bought a 10ct Lusi's since I had never had one. 25's are $350+ so that's a lot of scratch for something I may not like. I got a hand picked 24:24 10ct for $150ish. I loved them and would consider a 25ct now. Really want a cab but that's $$$ and a storage problem. The LCDH's are priced fine but the RE's and EL's have been crazy. The RACA's were $160-180 depending on Rob's grade and those are epically good! the RG88's and MC Dantes are over 200. I haven't been so hot on getting a box of those where I got 2 boxes of the RACA's.

[NSXCIGAR]

On 10/5/2017 at 4:02 PM, Fugu said:

I think this thread is more one about pricing than it is about 10-count boxes.

Exactly. As long as pricing is within ~10% why not offer as many packaging options as possible? No downside as far as I can tell. 

And people are bringing up the ELs and ERs but the models still released in 25s are priced in line with the 10s, i.e. the prices for all ERs and ELs have been rising regardless of packaging. I think HSA knows this and has started offering the 10s more frequently to lower the price point and risk for them while still getting high margins on the sticks.

[oliverdst]

95% of the time I buy 25 Boxes. It's not about price, it's about aging. 

And If they do not develop Well I can live with some shitty cigars. 

On 05/10/2017 at 8:02 PM, Fugu said:

I think this thread is more one about pricing than it is about 10-count boxes. There are decent 10ers even for reg prod., which come at the +/- same price as the larger packs. E.g the above mentioned PPP tubos - why not a 10-count? You can even buy the "meagre" Party Milfs in a 10er dress box. Monte 2, 3, 4, 5, nice! What's wrong about that?!  I particularly like the option of 10-ct SLBs in certain regular or special production. Attractive packaging, I say, with not too much commitment done on a single box. Nothing wrong with that (and the price per stick is more easily calculated... haha).

Now it is a whole different thing for me with simply overbearing the price with double- or triple banders, or the most recent "foot-banders".... Well, easy to avoid: be selective in your buying.

 

[westg]

On ‎6‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 5:36 AM, zeedubbya said:

 

I would like to see opinions from the forum on boxes of 10? Myself and@boosted were having a discussion on this subject. The more I consider it the angrier it makes me. $225 plus USD for 10 cigars is pure lunacy. Would you pay $1,000 plus USD for a 50 Cab of the same cigar?

 

This started with me being genuinely ticked off when I found I liked the Mag54. At 7$-$8 USD a stick (price of most Petit Robustos) I would buy 100 of them. However at the prevailing $12-$13 per cigar rate I am out. Am I crazy? (don't answer that just tell me what you think about 10 boxes). Thank you very much.

 

 

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Come and live in Australia... problem solved