VERDICT
Each person that has posted has made a valid point. When you get into rare, or HTF cigars, it's hard to come up with a concrete dollar for dollar amount on this type of trade. In any pass I've ever been in, a Casa Fuente has never garnered any extra dollar amount for rarity. I've seen them go for ESG"s, DCM Stanford's 90th's, Padron 40th's...etc. When you hit a certain plateau value wise it's hard for a cigar to go any higher without putting it completely out of range of being able to trade another cigar for it i.e. a Padron Millenium usually can only be taken with an OR Anejo or OR Opus....but a trade is still there. An OR Opus Perfexcion X might only have a MSRP of $12 while the Millenium has an MSRP of $34, but you're looking at around a $60-$100 + on a straight out buy for either one.
This pass isn't about one-upmanship, trying to outdo one another, or anything else along those lines. It's about learning how to handle yourself in a pass, make a few friends, and get to try out a stick or two that you've been wanting to try or don't have access to. Danny is not trying to set a precedent here with his puts, he's simply making a trade for some cigars that he has absolutely NO access to and trading the only cigars he has in his stash that would permit a trade for the cigars he wants. This trade doesn't bother me because it's taking three "rare" or HTF cigars out of the pass and replacing them with three cigars that will be able to be traded for fairly easily. Now, if he were putting in the 2 CF's for a couple of PAM's then I would have nixed the trade. Even if he couldn't get PAM's at his local B&M, there are plenty of vendors here or online that he would be able to purchase these from....unlike the Opii or Anejo.
Someone stated that if this happened latter in the pass that it wouldn't have the consequences this trade brings at the beginning of the pass....yes it does. It might not effect the majority of the people of the pass but it would effect the pass and the passers itself. Do you realize how many people seem to drop from the face of the earth after their turn is done in a pass? The thinking then becomes, "I'm done, there's no need to keep up with the pass anymore. How many people would have learned from this if it had happened 3 people from the end instead of the beginning? Would the line of thinking be the same then as it is now?....I don't think so. I realize that the "proposed" reading I gave you in the link doesn't answer the questions, but it does give you insight as to how some experienced members look at these things. Someone also mentioned where other passes wanted the P/T's to stay within $.25-$.50 of each other....that is rediculous. I know the pass you're talking about, I'm a part of it. To ask someone to stay within a fifty cent range without going under is almost unattainable. Go to the main list of cigars, pick 4 randomly, then go look in you humi and see if you can make the trade and stay within that twenty five to fifty cent range. I know I can't because the majority of cigars in my humi's are $10+. I'm not saying I'm better than other people by making that statement, I'm saying I like to smoke good, quality cigars when I get the chance to smoke them. So for me to make a trade for a $7 cigar, I would need to go to the B&M and buy one...and I'm not going to do that.
I realize that I haven't answered every question or concern with this post, but hopefully you understand where I'm coming from now. The statement below was one of the best at explaining what we're dealing with:
"It's been my understanding, through my research in other passes that rarity doesn't mean an increase in value, but is instead a limiter on what can be traded for it. So you should still strive to match/come close to matching MSRP AND rarity, not use rarity to counter an MSRP difference."
Sometimes the only thing suitable for a trade is a cigar with a higher dollar amount because the amount of "rare" cigars out there are usually only limited to some Fuente products such as Opus, Anejo, Hemingway maduros, where you normally have to trade one to get the other.
With all this being stated, I know that I can't keep everyone happy with my decision, but it's my decision to make as the host of this pass. Therefore, I deem DesertRat's P/T's good.
