Rob's latest Poll - One members CC journey ...

[GVan]

This morning with my usual good cup of coffee, I read and answered Rob's ( @El Presidente ) poll - State of the Cigar Nation.  Yes, my CC spending is way down from 2021 --  I'm sure like many of you -- but, by how much?  How much did I spend on cigars in 2021 and how does that compare to today?  

Throughout my adult life, I've smoked cigars.  Mostly it was just single NC's after or during golf outings or when hanging with friends.  My first NC boxes were purchased around 2002 after attending the US Open at Bethpage Black - there was a lot of drinking and smoking in the evenings during that tournament.  At that point, I had a small desktop humidor and my collection was less than 50 cigars.  My career has taken me all over the world and I often would purchase a "fresh" CC to either smoke there or take the label off and bring back home.  One of my fondest memories is when you could buy and still smoke a CC at Harrod's in London at the small café just outside the LCDH.

In 2017, I was again introduced to properly aged CC's and "caught the bug" -- I found FOH and other reputable retailers and seriously started collecting with the intent of letting some of the CC's mature / age.  I've always been an organized person, some might say a little OCD.  Of course, I started a spreadsheet to track my growing collection; really it was just to track my smoking, and figure out how many CC's I needed to have enough properly aged for myself and my friends to smoke in future years.  I still have the print-outs of FOH threads from @El Presidente and @JohnS on how long it takes certain CC's to reach their proper smoking time!  Rob's poll got me to look backwards at the spreadsheet and assess what has happened over the past 5.5 years ...

From 2018 through August of 2023, I've spent > $32K total on > 4200 cigars.  I smoke or share with friends > 400 cigars per year (since 2019).  I've had a few FOH posts about when my son, two son-in-laws and friends are here for Christmas in Florida, we can go through > 50 cigars in a week.  The current collection as of today stands at 772 NC's and 2777 CC's. These numbers do not include boxes that have been fully smoked and eliminated from the spreadsheet or cigars friends have shared with me.  Some fascinating statistics from the spreadsheet:

•  .5% was spent in 2018 ( when the CC bug really hit me ) 
•   4% was spent in 2019 ( my first coolidor, I found FOH, did a lot of research and created a CC collection plan )
• 23% was spent in 2020 ( lots of two box deals mostly on RGPCs, RGPs, Boli PCs and CJs - remember those? )
• 31.3% was spent in 2021 ( the year of Rob's poll question. Found BBFs, JL 1 & 2s, PLPCs, Lusi's just as the prices started increasing )
• 26.3% was spent in 2022 ( filling holes in the collection of what I liked and bought many boxes of discontinued SPNPs and PLPs )
• 8% has been spent through the end of August in 2023 ( can't bring myself to buy CC's and focused on finding good NC's again )

Some sub-statistics buried in the spending numbers:

• In 2020, my spending on CC's increases by > 500% and I only bought 2 boxes of NC's.  I think that's the definition of getting the bug!
• By 2021, my highest year in total spending - up 38% from 2020 but, already 8% of total spend was becoming NC's.
• By 2022, prices are increasing and total spending drops > 16%.  Of that years spend, 61.5% was chasing specific boxes of CC's and  38.5% was now being spent on NC's.
• 16% of the total 2022 spend was on Nudies and these are some of my most reached for NC's today.
• In 2023, I only bought one box of SCdlH Principe's (which is my favorite morning coffee smoke) and all the rest - 92% is on NC's.
• 31% of my 2023 total spend was on Puro Desnudo's and these will continue to age and get better.

My income, work life and personal life were pretty much consistent through many of those years.  I have retired as of April 2023 which probably accounts for why the higher prices of CCs are really bothering me and I'm not buying.  Your perspective on prices does change somewhat when you're on a fixed income.  However, I've always been value conscious in my purchasing habits.  For better or worse, FOH was a big influence on my collecting habits and I followed the advice to focus on regular production.  I have very few LCDH specials (I do have a few PUNCH 48s and RA Superiores aging away that I have not touched) and no Regionals,  I own no Cohiba's; as I could never justify the price differential as I was building the collection (I recognize that as a mistake now - although I'd likely be selling them at these prices - even though I've never sold a cigar and never intended too).

I offer the above as just an insight into one FOH Members collecting and buying habits when he "caught the CC bug" and what has happened since "Cigar Armageddon".   This was triggered by Rob's question from the "State of the Cigar Nation" poll.  

My take-away from this -- early on I developed a cigar plan based on FOH members advice and actually seemed to follow it for most of the purchases.  Along the way I found some surprise / unplanned purchases that really payed off.  As an an example, my love for SCdlH Principe's caused me to explore SCdlH La Punta's.  I bought 6 boxes early in 2021 when prices were less than half of what they are now -- these are turning into awesome CC's -- Thank God!  Lastly, probably like most of us, I sure wish I'd bought more CCs in 2019, 2020 and the beginning of 2021 -- but my wife probably would have killed me !!!!

[david9985]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. It's really interesting to get a specific insight into the numbers behind someone else in this hobby!

[El Presidente]

Brilliant write up mate 

[JohnS]

Indeed, great write-up. Thank you! 👍

[Mr. Japan]

Super interesting.