I thought about his lately, more than I care to admit.
Back in the late 00's my favorite stick (padron 1964 exclusivo natural) was easily had for 9$ per stick by the box, currently a 14-15$ by the box cigar... It was never a daily, but more of a Friday night stick. That being said I feel like there were more options in the 5-10$ per stick by the box and over the years that has become less and less with the last 2 years really feeling the crunch. On a positive note, it's made it easier to justify smoking newer stuff more often and purchase more selection... but that has come with an obvious increase in prices. I used to call a "daily" a 5-7$ cigar and had a never-ending selection (by either buying favorites by the box or looking for deals). Currently anything under 13$ I would call "daily eligible", and that's almost solely due to price increases and maybe a little because of favoring more expensive things/brands over the years.
Milk, eggs, meat, etc will always fluctuate and be indicators of inflation/ cost of living.... cigars are not one of them. I don't see any price decreases ever. period. Best case scenario inflation drops, and the world returns to normal with cigar manufacturers waiting another 5-8 years before needing addition price increases vs a yearly increase. But more likely we will just sound like old guys complaining about how cigars used to be cheaper and that things aren't made like they used to be
And this is all with the "pending" FDA requirements just sitting there like they have been since 2012... if anything other than a complete drop in regulations we will be looking at even more frequent, and larger price increases.
atlanticcigar.com
