Cigar Purchasing Dollar Trends Poll

[El Presidente]

Cigar Purchasing Dollar Trends Poll:

 

Pre Cigarmageddon ( - 2022 )  Approximately what % of your cigar purchasing dollars was Cuban. 

V

Post Cigarmageddon (2022 +)  Approximately what % of your cigar purchasing dollars are Cuban

 

 

Will discuss/post  the reasoning for this poll tomorrow 

[HarveyBoulevard]

100% pre was all Cuban

90% post comprised of Cubans and Nudies.

Nudies percentage will go up with more releases...

[Low]

I was a singles buyer for a long time. Never saw the need for entire boxes since I didn't have the patience for aging, and I was willing to pay a singles premium for something I enjoyed as a special occasion smoke.

When Cigarmageddon happened, I pivoted heavily into boxes. I know, as of right now, within the next year or so I will be completely priced out. Basically get while the getting (relatively speaking) is good.

[Bagman]

90% pre

0% post.

And that is forever.

Lucky for me, that 90% was a LOT of boxes

So miss the days of coming back from Cuba with 35 boxes.  Thoughts of  bringing back 5 boxes of fundandores for 261 each, things of dreams

[Arabian]

90% pre 

90% post

a good Cuban is irreplaceable, the 10% goes for Fuente, Davidov...

However, I started targeting short format cigars and 10 sticks boxes. 

[Islandboy]

90% pre, 90% post, but overall my cigar purchases also dropped by about 90%.

[El Presidente]

[Greenhorn2]

I haven't bought any non cubans (except for some N1 and N3) since 2018. When prices started inching up in the fall of 2020 when covid hit and the world shut down, I heavily purchased boxes until the spring of 2022 when HSA lost their minds. I think I have purchased one box since. Either the markets of the world will reset themselves to some sanity or Cuba can keep their cigars. Nudies are not bad cigars, I can smoke them.

[Çnote]

I was just shy of 100% CC purchases from 2017 going into 2020; when my budget came back end of 2021, I bought a few boxes going in 2022. I've been shopping 2424 regularly for about a year, swung and missed for the most part, but was watching prices creep up faster than my rational $/c could allow. I was hard at $12, then $15, then $18. It's really hard to splash a 25ct $20+@ when there's other options available and it's a 80-120% increase in two years.

Looking at today's 24:24, I'm pretty done shopping. I bought maybe 10 boxes a year 2017-2019.  I'll buy at least 6 Nudies & 6 esoteric NC instead and maybe 1 or 2 CC if my budget allows and the exact thing I want is available and fair considering the rest of what is available in the market. 

I love CC, would prefer to smoke CC, but simply can't afford them. I'll buy n3 and whatever other Nudies vitolas make sense for me when budget allows. I was shopping regularly for about 10 different CC, now it's 4 looking at prices, and my budget doesn't always allow the timing of 2424, which was and still is the best deal in the market, and the best level of service.

For the nonce, I've been here before. I collected wine when you could get top Napa and BX for less than $100, then moved to Burgundy and Barolo, then to Champagne and esoteric Beaujolais. I got into liquor when BTAC/PvW were common disco items (if you knew the right people) and Priess's American whiskey bottlings gathered dust. I don't even drink anymore, much less collect.

Unless I have a serious health concern, I'll keep buying and smoking cigars. I just won't be a CC buyer if this is the market. I hope for an adjustment, but I look at Sotheby's and Christie's HK wine and liquor auctions and see what Habanos must be seeing as well. Top end luxury products don't drop in price in the long term, they only go up.

 

 

 

[Duxnutz]

Complicating matters is the lack of stock. Our host prob has more supply than anywhere; I’ve been looking online for a few boxes for quite a while and the major retailer in HK and the Swiss just don’t replenish their supply. I think this will also cause people to give up and order some NCs that turn up in a couple days. 

[Rhinoww]

I’m still 100% and 100%, but they are very different. In the before times, I stocked up. My last box of cigars was a box of D4’s last September I think. I continue to buy Cuban farm rolls when I can find them, but that’s getting trickier these days. 
It will be a long time before I start buying NC in boxes. I don’t have the need and still enjoy pretty much every cuban I smoke. 
Given trends though and all of the bad news from the island, my guess is that prices across the board will continue to spike. There will be a point, perhaps in the next year, when I stop my buying altogether and just smoke what I have. 
I’m keeping a detailed smoking log for a lot of reasons, but among them is to see how much I’m really smoking. Turns out with vacation, schedule and work travel where I don’t have time to sit and enjoy a cigar my burn rate may be less than I thought …. so for now still 100% cuban although at a sharply lower frequency. 

[BrightonCorgi]

My annual box buying will still be around 100% Cuban, but the volume will go back to the 1990's before I knew of any online vendors.  Memento boxes on vacation for sure. 

[gormag38]

Pre I was 100% CC. I was buying roughly 10 boxes a year. Post I am at about 80%, however I may only be purchasing a box or two a year of CC. I have a stash for personal use that should last me 10+ years of CC but I've been venturing into some of the more well known NCs. A.Fuente, Davidoff being the main two I've been buying singles of from my local B&M. 

So while the % isn't that different the volume is WAY different in regards to CC. As 25 cnt of robustos are starting to crack $500 and the threat of even more price increases/decreased supply loom, I imagine my box buying days will be over within the next year or two. 

[El Hoze]

My purchasing is way way down as I was in the building phase for many years now I’m smoking them. More buying boxes here and there. 

[mbflash80]

I was a 90% CC guy before prices got silly...now I am more like 50/50...with the 50% of CC going to "customs".  I still buy an occasional box here or there but nowhere near what I used to.  As a side note, I am trying many new NCs that are really making me think I can live the rest of my life with the CCs I have put away and be perfectly happy with smoking NCs on a regular basis...

[havanaclub]

Glad I stocked up for years prior to covid. Mainly from Rob and the rest from the island.
I went through a NC splash of mainly Tatuaje in 2013-2016 but after that is was pretty much 100 percent CC.
Post I am buying nudies and haven’t bought a box Of CC for over a year. Minus the few boxes I got in Cuba in January.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LizardGizmo]

70% Cuban prior, 50% now.

My overall buying volume is down about 80% as I went a little wild during COVID. I’m smoking more unbanded stuff these days while regularly rotating the usual suspects in and out. Plus with doing the podcast I’m scratching the itch of trying new stuff without having to buy in quantity.

[Lfhard]

So before things hit the fan I was at 90% Cubans. Now I just haven’t really bought any cigars. I’ve bought like 2 boxes since. I have enough to last me my lifetime so I’ll enjoy what I have. Unless I find some that I’ve been wanting and need to have or try.

[TobaccoRoad]

100% Cuban to 0% Cuban for me. Having a couple of boxes I'd manage to snag on 24:24 cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances really capped it off for me. The sort of slap in the face that wakes you up to the reality of the oft repeated mantra "They are only cigars". As long as I am able I will smoke everyday. At some point cuban cigars will not be in that mix unless conditions change drastically.

[99call]

I think it all depends on how big peoples stash was pre 22.   

I think if you had a decent collection, it's relatively easy to take a break,  smoke Nudies and NC and get a bit of perspective. 

I feel really sorry for people that just got into the passion in 21, must feel like a massive kick in the nuts

[Blakes]

100% pre

Probably around 40% Cuban last year when I was exploring NC alternatives.

However the biggest change is in volume. Pre around 20 boxes a year give or take.. all Cuban. Last year, 1 box and a dozen singles, this year zero boxes, zero singles - The last CC I smoked was on NYE.

[BoliDan]

Spending has been on a precipitous decline since covid. Somewhat related to prices, but I just don't need any right now. 

 

NCs just aren't the answer for me.

[Kaptain Karl]

1 hour ago, 99call said:

I think it all depends on how big peoples stash was pre 22.   

I think if you had a decent collection, it's relatively easy to take a break,  smoke Nudies and NC and get a bit of perspective. 

I feel really sorry for people that just got into the passion in 21, must feel like a massive kick in the nuts

Spot on here! I went heavy in 2020 and early 21 before the price increases. I have enough now that I can buy 2-4 boxes a year for the next 10 and never get close to running out.

[Bijan]

15 minutes ago, Kaptain Karl said:

Spot on here! I went heavy in 2020 and early 21 before the price increases. I have enough now that I can buy 2-4 boxes a year for the next 10 and never get close to running out.

I resemble this comment.

[Guest Nekhyludov]

I've bought exactly one box of CCs since the end of 2021, and zero in the past year. I have plenty to last over a decade at my current burn rate. But I won't smoke them. They've become too valuable and the smoking experience is no longer worth it. I've sealed every remaining box, and I expect it will make a significant contribution to my kids college expenses in 15 years.

I've bought 11 boxes of NCs over the same time period, all of which I enjoy every bit as much as a CC. All of my consumption going forward will be NCs, farm rolls, and the odd leftover singles.

I had a good run with CCs in the late-'90s, then they went to garbage. I happily smoked NCs for 12 years. Had another good run with CCs for about 8 years, now things have gone to hell again. Maybe it'll come back around, maybe it won't.