I think everyone should determine for themselves what their spending limit is for a particular cigar. One should also bear-in-mind that the rarer the cigar and the higher price, the more likely that it's a beautiful counterfeit.
Cuban Davidoffs always come to mind. You can find them at many sites on the web. In that Cuban Davidoff production ended in 1991, and sales have never ceased, it has always been curious how so many cigars are still around. Keep in mind that Davidoff stopped Cuban production because Zino Davidoff got into a fierce battle with Cubatabaco over the inability of the Cuban factories to produce quality cigars. Some of you may remember when in 1987 Zino Davidoff went on French television and condemned Cuban quality control. He publically burned 130,000 cigars in a bonfire on French TV.
Now "aficianados" are paying $150+ per cigar for what they believe are vintage Davidoff cigars. Zino, himself, said they were crap.
That said...there is a market for vintage Davidoffs. And there are many, less than reputable, vendors who will invest a few dollars to make certain you get a vintage Habano with a Davidoff habano band. The problem, of course, is that it's a rebanded Partages, RyJ, Punch, etc. Yes, it is a beautifully rolled, well-aged Cuban cigar, which would sell for $30.00 with its own band. With the Davidoff band, the price tag is $150.00, and it's virtually impossible to distinguish the fraud. The cigar may have been made in the same factory as the Davidoff, and have a very similar taste profile. The aging process plays games with all cigars as they mellow. Many cigars that began with very distinct flavor profiles, become far more similar as the years go by.
Consider the vendor...a fellow in Asia, perhaps, whose customer base is in the U.S. He buys a box of aged Cuban Partagas for $700.00. With a touch of magic, and a quality printer, using aged paper stock, he has Davidoff bands produced. At $150.00 per cigar, the cigars are now retailing at $3750 for the 25. That's more than a little incentive to create more Davidoffs than Cubatabaco. And the fraud is so very hard to prove and impossible to prosecute.
Re: The Dominican Partagas 150. I'd have to think twice about paying more than $10.00 a stick, if that. I always hold a cigar suspect that for years was promoted by Thompsons.
