Cigar Pricing?

[Hoshneer]

How is it that a box of Gurkha Beauty's can cost upwards of $750 but sometimes certain places can sell a ten pack with a free Xikar lighter for $40?

Is the manufacturer marking these up by the box or are they being marked up by the shop? I can see paying more money for the fancy smancy box but close to $600, come on now? Someone please break this retarded concept so I can better understand.

 

[Speedbump]

The answer to your question is simply it is gurkha, my suggestion is try a different budget cigar, although you may see pricing differences as well just not that large of a difference

 

[Hoshneer]

Oh, I don't buy Gurkha. I don't know of any that are worth my money. I won't even pay for them at that price. The pricing difference just boggled my mind. I was just simply curious how they price the product and who is overcharging who?

Thanks, though.

 

[njstone]

I know many of my fellow c-bidders will disagree, but I'm pretty certain that they are two different cigars. I can't PROOVE any of the following categorically, but it's what I think is happening. And FWIW, I'm not a "Gurkha hater," I think people should smoke whatever they like, and there are a few Gurkhas that I will smoke on occasion myself.

The cheap one is rushed, bundled, and possibly even made using other ingredients, and they get away with this by having it be a special "exclusive" size. Although the blend may be similar, it's not really he same cigar in a different vitola.

Also, Gurkha does not OWN any cigar manufacturers, factories, fields, or anything else really. They just buy specific crops of tobacco, and pay a factory to roll the sticks. Therefore, by the very nature of their business model, consistency over several years is very, and I mean VERY, hard to come by.

The typical scenario goes like this: Gurkha buys some top-notch tobacco, rolls some very good or even down right great cigars (the original Legend, Centurian, Signature Maduro, Beast, Titan, Beauty, Genghis Khan ... all excellent). They are well-praised, sell well, etc. But when the initial tobacco runs out, the don't cancel the cigar ... they keep making it using "similar" tobacco. But the vast majority of the time, the subsequent cigars just aren't the same.

I think there are plenty of Gurkhas worth $2-$4, and a couple worth $5. But I'd not pay more than that for any, of course that's just my palate talking. Smoke what you like!

Aside: This example is why I'm a very big supporter of Nick Perdomo. When he runs out of the right tobacco for a cigar (or cannot source it anymore to meet the proper quality), he just cancels the line. He has cancelled some of his best-selling cigars for this reason. Now, he typically comes out with something similar shortly thereafter, but he does NOT put out something similar and pretend it's still the same cigar. That kind of leadership earns my respect.

 

[glfgd82]

Look at the packaging and the sizing of the cigar. If you are going to compare them you also need to look at the whole picture, which is twisted a bit by online sites. While they present to you the "deal" in which you get what seems to be an amazing price, the fact is you are getting a cigar which is not of the original release and not in the original packaging. Look at CI's page for the beauty and you will start to understand a bit more about the tactics of sales online which are a form of bait and switch in the end. The original beauty release is only the 6.5x58 in the tubes, the rest are internet versions of the cigar which are contracted by the manufacturer to be "internet exclusives".

Another prime example is Graycliff, if you look further into their product lines from what the company acutally puts out to what they are contracted to make for internet sales sites the cigars are worlds apart, I've visited the Graycliff facilities and enjoy a few of their true product lines, the items they are contracted to make for companies are ok, but far inferior to the actual lines of the company.

 

[njstone]

Look at the packaging and the sizing of the cigar. If you are going to compare them you also need to look at the whole picture, which is twisted a bit by online sites. While they present to you the "deal" in which you get what seems to be an amazing price, the fact is you are getting a cigar which is not of the original release and not in the original packaging. Look at CI's page for the beauty and you will start to understand a bit more about the tactics of sales online which are a form of bait and switch in the end. The original beauty release is only the 6.5x58 in the tubes, the rest are internet versions of the cigar which are contracted by the manufacturer to be "internet exclusives".

Another prime example is Graycliff, if you look further into their product lines from what the company acutally puts out to what they are contracted to make for internet sales sites the cigars are worlds apart, I've visited the Graycliff facilities and enjoy a few of their true product lines, the items they are contracted to make for companies are ok, but far inferior to the actual lines of the company.

In the case of most companies, I think that the cigars themselves are basically the same (i.e. a Graycliff Espresso Lancero from cigar.com and a shop are likely the same cigar). But the so-called "Internet Exclusives" are just that, exclusive cigars (or vitolas ... hence the Gurkha issues) to that online retailer. So the Graycliff 1666 is an internet exclusive, and although not a bad cigar, is nothing close in quality to a Chateau, etc. etc.

That's not to say that all internet exclusives are lousy ... the Graycliff Double Espresso is a great cigar, imvho. And many of CI's AJ Fernandez blends are excellent as well.

 

[bugbear]

I recently went back and forth with gurkha.laura (sales) on facebook about the pricing of the Widow Maker on a well know internet retailer. MSRP was $50 a tick but they were marked down to $12.

The widow maker is a solid smoke (for the record) but $50?

Her response was Gurkha does not control what retailers list as MSRP. I let it go but the M in MSRP does stand for Manufacturer.

 

[twenty5]

I have not had a Gurkha I have even remotely enjoyed. I honestly doubt that there is a premium and a regular or shitty version of the expensive Gurkha sticks. People pay big money for a cigar and guess what, it tastes better, smells better and if you don’t agree it’s because you can’t afford to have tastes like they do. It’s a lot easier to be tough on a stick when you are paying a couple of bucks for it.

If you want to see a review of a gurkha from a reviewer that is relatively unbiased, look at this Brooks review: http://halfwheel.com/?p=9401

He reviewed a 750$ cigar, not an 11$ version. I have read a ton of accounts of people saying it is one of the best premium cigars in the world and that it is worth the entry fee. I guarantee if they started selling a 5 for 25$ version, more reviews like Brooks' would show up and the guys that claimed they were the best would be saying that there is a different tobacco or whatever used. I suppose that was not the best example due to the Louis XIII Cognac.

Why are they so expensive some times and not others then? Because a fancy box sells whether it is alligator lined, comes with a tactical knife, carbon fiber, or whatever. Bundle the same cigar and make people think they are getting a deal on a super expensive stick and it flies off the shelf. I know I bought a Gurkha or two when I started (50$ cigar for 6$ ea! How could anyone pass?!?!) so the scheme works.

To say one Gurkha is inferior to another is like comparing one shit to another, they all stink, just different ingredients.

 

[njstone]

^ opinion, lol. Smoke what you like

But I agree that ALL smokers have biases. Some give a benefit of the doubt to expensive cigars, assuming that since they're pricey, they're great. Others are the opposite ... if it's expensive, it better freakin' blow me away or it's crap! Others are biased towards Cubans, LEs, new sticks from their favorite manufactures, etc. etc. This is why I love blind reviews so much. Cuts out the bull and lets you just smoke a stick and see what you think.

 

[Gotee7]

Aside: This example is why I'm a very big supporter of Nick Perdomo. When he runs out of the right tobacco for a cigar (or cannot source it anymore to meet the proper quality), he just cancels the line. He has cancelled some of his best-selling cigars for this reason. Now, he typically comes out with something similar shortly thereafter, but he does NOT put out something similar and pretend it's still the same cigar. That kind of leadership earns my respect.[/QUOTE]

I agree 100%. There are alot of Perdomo haters for some reason. I have always liked Perdomo.

 

[BrooksW]

^ opinion, lol. Smoke what you like

But I agree that ALL smokers have biases. Some give a benefit of the doubt to expensive cigars, assuming that since they're pricey, they're great. Others are the opposite ... if it's expensive, it better freakin' blow me away or it's crap! Others are biased towards Cubans, LEs, new sticks from their favorite manufactures, etc. etc. This is why I love blind reviews so much. Cuts out the bull and lets you just smoke a stick and see what you think.

I'm biased against crappy cigars.

 

[Gravity]

I'll admit I've bought several Gurkha's in the past, and a few of them aren't what I would call a bad cigar, and if you factor in that I paid $2 for it, then it's surprising how good it was. There are a lot of guys that just hate on the company, and I'll also admit I don't really purchase them anymore. BUT, I have had a couple of good cigars from them. $50/ea good? Nope, but definitely $5/ea good. That's also not to say that most of the Gurkha's that I paid $2 for when I first started smoking were even good, because they just weren't. But, there are a couple of decent smokes out there with the gurkha band wrapped around them.

 

[Cigary43]

Gurkha is just another company that will sell product for what it can get...if there are buyers that want to spend $$$ on Her Majestys Reserve and feel like they are smoking the best...who's to say they aren't? Cigars are subjective...I prefer good ones that I know about and have smoked and don't rely on advertising to tell me what I like.

 

[njstone]

Gurkha is just another company that will sell product for what it can get...if there are buyers that want to spend $$$ on Her Majestys Reserve and feel like they are smoking the best...who's to say they aren't? Cigars are subjective...I prefer good ones that I know about and have smoked and don't rely on advertising to tell me what I like.

Here here!

 

[Cigar_Boss_App_Sonny]

It's all on the manufacture...they are lowering their brand value and hurting retailers at the same time. The only one that wins is the online retailer. I wish more retailers would stop carrying entire lines that do this, instead of just not bringing in a single cigar like the Beauty, but keeping other lines.

 

[sean]

Gurkha is just another company that will sell product for what it can get...if there are buyers that want to spend $$$ on Her Majestys Reserve and feel like they are smoking the best...who's to say they aren't? Cigars are subjective...I prefer good ones that I know about and have smoked and don't rely on advertising to tell me what I like.

I think this is the first time we have ever agreed on something!!