MSRP

[CigarStone]

I couldn't sleep so I have spent the last couple hours reading threads here and surfing the net regarding cigar MSRP.

Here is the question I am left with:

Is MSRP a functional gauge for “super premium” cigars only?

You can often buy cigars at 25% or even 15% of MSRP. I recently bought a Gurkha sampler for $49 which had a $308 MSRP. Granted I probably got a good deal at Cbid but this same sampler was available at CI for $95. Ever buy OpusX, VSG, Anejo, etc. for 14% of MSRP or even 70% of MSRP?

So is the relationship between MSRP and “market value” close on “super premium” and ever widening as you go down in price? Or is MSRP a joke for all cigars other than “super premium”?

Inquiring minds want to know. And so do I.

 

[Jonesy]

This is obviously a question that I need answered also after my Opus X split debacle yesterday. :laugh:

 

[Dave]

There are two things I can gather from a cigar's MSRP.

1) How much the manufacturer thinks the cigar should be worth. This is a good marketing tool. Everything needs a first step, otherwise you or I would be scratching our heads thinking "How much is this cigar, or that cigar or this cigar?"

2) How reputable the manufacturer is. Gurkha for instance. If these cigars go for $30 each at msrp yet they can be had for $5 fairly consistently through other sources, that tells me that Gurkha is full of it. However, just because a manufacturer is full of shit doesn't mean the cigars suck. You can look at it from the other side and if you see something such as Opus X selling for way above msrp, you'll wonder why? Much debate about a secondary gray market, but honestly, if Fuente wanted to stop this, it would.

MSRP might have different meanings to other people.

 

[moki]

MSRP = Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price

'nuff said... right?

 

[CigarStone]

MSRP = Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price

'nuff said... right?

I understand......I suggest that my 1800 square foot house on half an acre in Seville Ohio is worth $2,000,000......the real estate agents are all full of shit.

But...............Is there rhyme or reason to why some cigars hover in the +/- 10% range and others are so far off? Is it marketing hype, i.e. in the case of a lesser known cigar?

Even with jewelry you know that the "market value" is somewhere in the 30% to 50% of MSRP range.

 

[Infinity]

MSRP = Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price

'nuff said... right?

I understand......I suggest that my 1800 square foot house on half an acre in Seville Ohio is worth $2,000,000......the real estate agents are all full of shit.

But...............Is there rhyme or reason to why some cigars hover in the +/- 10% range and others are so far off? Is it marketing hype, i.e. in the case of a lesser known cigar?

Dream on. Your home is not artwork. If it were, the collector will pay whatever he has to because he has to have it.

Cigars have an MSRP which is determined by the supplier. The vendor usually wants to make 100% but this means nothing, meaning vendors can sell them for any price they wish. In the same token, if you really want a stick that is HTF, you will pay whatever you have to.

So, is MSRP hype? No! It is just a gauge in which to base the cigars worth.

Brian

 

[BlindedByScience]

The long and short of it is that there are plenty of retailers that will sell premiums at or sometimes below MSRP on a regular basis. Where this gets muddy is when you throw hard to get sticks, like Opies, in the mix. I have a local B&M that sells Opies at MSRP plus the Oregon tax, when they get them. They limit folks to two per vitola, per day. They are good enough to send out an e-mail telling folks that they are in. I always make a beeline and buy all I can; I've managed to get a few put away and I get to add to it, several times a year. I may never see a whole box of Opies, but I do have a few and I can enjoy one now and then. At MSRP.

Sure, they could probably sell them all for double, even triple the MSRP, but they choose not to. As such, they get my business. I have a hard time with folks that gouge the consumer, even though it's their right to do so. It's also my right not to patronize them and point out to folks they are getting gouged.

A store like Casa Fuente, in Vegas, has another problem, if you will. Not only do they have some of the most desirable and hard to find smokes on the planet but probably some of the most expensive retail space there is. A walk into their humidor is like a look at the promised land; boxes and boxes of the stuff many folks will never even see....at prices that would make you heart stop. Hmm.....now what? I always buy a couple of impossible to get smokes from them while I'm in Vegas but I will admit, not boxes, to be sure. In fairness to the Fuente folks, I'm told a large portion of the proceeds from that store go to their charitable works, so I guess it more or less comes out in the wash.

In the end, it's up to you. Point being that there is no need to subsidize your common "gouger" as OpusX's can be purchased at or only slightly above retail if one looks around a bit.

Regards - B.B.S.

 

[CigarStone]

MSRP = Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price

'nuff said... right?

I understand......I suggest that my 1800 square foot house on half an acre in Seville Ohio is worth $2,000,000......the real estate agents are all full of shit.

But...............Is there rhyme or reason to why some cigars hover in the +/- 10% range and others are so far off? Is it marketing hype, i.e. in the case of a lesser known cigar?

Dream on. Your home is not artwork.

Brian

The obvious doesn't get by you does it?

 

[Infinity]

MSRP = Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price

'nuff said... right?

I understand......I suggest that my 1800 square foot house on half an acre in Seville Ohio is worth $2,000,000......the real estate agents are all full of shit.

But...............Is there rhyme or reason to why some cigars hover in the +/- 10% range and others are so far off? Is it marketing hype, i.e. in the case of a lesser known cigar?

Dream on. Your home is not artwork.

Brian

The obvious doesn't get by you does it?

You mean this thread?

Brian

 

[CigarStone]

MSRP = Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price

'nuff said... right?

I understand......I suggest that my 1800 square foot house on half an acre in Seville Ohio is worth $2,000,000......the real estate agents are all full of shit.

But...............Is there rhyme or reason to why some cigars hover in the +/- 10% range and others are so far off? Is it marketing hype, i.e. in the case of a lesser known cigar?

Dream on. Your home is not artwork.

Brian

The obvious doesn't get by you does it?

You mean this thread?

Brian

Uhhhhhh No

 

[bchem]

The only cigars I can consistantly get at 70% off of MSRP is Cuban Cohibas. Wanna trade?






















:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 

[CigaryGuy07]

The way I see it, it's just a function of supply and demand. If supply is higher than demand then prices go down and vice versa. So just because the MSRP is $10/stick (for example, Gurkha often has high MSRPs) it doesn't mean they are gouging. It could be because they are a new label and not as well known. This is also illustrated by Opus X. They are released very infrequently thus pricing is high. But if they were available all year round, pricing would probably be less.

 

[monteclaro]

I think it all comes down to supply vs demand. The higher the demand the closer to MSRP they will be when supply is low. Also over head costs come in to play. It seems like smaller retailers in a high rent district tend to have higher prices - closer to MSRP, where retailers that do a lot of online business have better prices. Think of MSRP as a guage for generalizing a cigar's worth.

 

[Saxjazzman]

The way I see it, it's just a function of supply and demand. If supply is higher than demand then prices go down and vice versa. So just because the MSRP is $10/stick (for example, Gurkha often has high MSRPs) it doesn't mean they are gouging. It could be because they are a new label and not as well known. This is also illustrated by Opus X. They are released very infrequently thus pricing is high. But if they were available all year round, pricing would probably be less.

I am not an economist, but supply and demand do seem to play the key role. It is sort of like IPOs, initial public offerings. They start out at a MSRP but then the market forces take over. I enjoy looking at some cigar catalogs and see brands that in the 1990s during the cigar boom that sold for $200 a box now go for $59.99, and even then they can't sell them.

 

[CigarStone]

The way I see it, it's just a function of supply and demand. If supply is higher than demand then prices go down and vice versa. So just because the MSRP is $10/stick (for example, Gurkha often has high MSRPs) it doesn't mean they are gouging. It could be because they are a new label and not as well known. This is also illustrated by Opus X. They are released very infrequently thus pricing is high. But if they were available all year round, pricing would probably be less.

I am not an economist, but supply and demand do seem to play the key role. It is sort of like IPOs, initial public offerings. They start out at a MSRP but then the market forces take over. I enjoy looking at some cigar catalogs and see brands that in the 1990s during the cigar boom that sold for $200 a box now go for $59.99, and even then they can't sell them.

Okay.....supply and demand it is.......that's my story and I'm stickin to it.

Thanks guys for the input.

And my 1800 square foot house on 1/2 acre in Seville Ohio is worth $2,000,000....... I guess all those real estate agents must have transposed a decimal point. :whistling: