How do you guys justify UK prices?

[Gus Fring]

Hey, you guys.

I'm just back from visiting my mum in Spain and for a full week I was herfing on Partagas Shorts. It was my first experience with Partagas and I enjoyed them immensely, so I made a mental note to look them up when I came back to the UK.

In Spain, they cost ?3.14 each (using today's exchange rate). In the UK, they're ?9.69. Each.

Now, I'm fortunate enough in that I'm not a poor man (I'm not rich either!) but this is a considerable difference in price. Considerable enough for me to have vowed never to buy from a UK store again unless I'm in a desperate hurry. The saving on buying a single box of Partagas Shorts in Spain is enough to cover the cost of the flight so in essence, I could book a day trip to Spain, stock up on my favourite cigars, see my mum, be home the same day and still be better off.

Do you guys buy from UK stores? How do you justify the huge ripoff? I understand that the price is controlled (more or less) by a very greedy importer and it's absolutely galvanised me in terms of my future purchases. How come they haven't been taken to task thus far?

[PeeJay]

l
Do you guys buy from UK stores? How do you justify the huge ripoff? I understand that the price is controlled (more or less) by a very greedy importer and it's absolutely galvanised me in terms of my future purchases. How come they haven't been taken to task thus far?

Its a bit difficult to answer this one fully within the rules of the forum Gus. Lets just say we try to stock up on holidays

[Shaun]

I never buy in UK, just too expensive.

[Gus Fring]

Lets just say we try to stock up on holidays

This is precisely what I'll be doing in future!

[PeeJay]

I never buy in UK, just too expensive.

Sometimes you have to Shaun, it was the only way I was going to get my Bolivar Lonsdales and Partagas Serie du Connaisseur No 3s

[Shaun]

Sometimes you have to Shaun, it was the only way I was going to get my Bolivar Lonsdales and Partagas Serie du Connaisseur No 3s

True, its a good place for old and discontinued stock.

[Gus Fring]

Sometimes you have to Shaun, it was the only way I was going to get my Bolivar Lonsdales and Partagas Serie du Connaisseur No 3s

I admire your dedication to your favourite brands. I'd just move on to something else.

[SHAMZ84]

If I can avoid buying in the uk...I am fortunate that I have plenty of friends and family traveling which make my life much Easier if I want a box or purchased.

I'll buy the odd if it's for a occasion or herf at a lounge though. The odd treat isn't bad I suppose.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[sheppsea]

The only cigars I buy in the UK are UK regionals, even if herfing in a shop here I try not to buy cigars I can get cheaper overseas

[PeeJay]

The only cigars I buy in the UK are UK regionals, even if herfing in a shop here I try not to buy cigars I can get cheaper overseas

Yep, with you all the way there Sean but that's what got me into the Lonsdales! And you giving me a Gold Medal of course.

[SHAMZ84]

The only cigars I buy in the UK are UK regionals, even if herfing in a shop here I try not to buy cigars I can get cheaper overseas

Can you take yours own in to a shop? I've only popped in to jjfox and the other one on the same road...I think it was the dun hill shop. So not actually had a smoke in one....I just assumed you can't.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[PeeJay]

Can you take yours own in to a shop? I've only popped in to jjfox and the other one on the same road...I think it was the dun hill shop. So not actually had a smoke in one....I just assumed you can't.

You have to buy there to smoke there, whether you smoke the one you bought is a moral issue for your own conscience

[SHAMZ84]

You have to buy there to smoke there, whether you smoke the one you bought is a moral issue for your own conscience

O ok fair enough.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[WDave40]

Hey, you guys.

I'm just back from visiting my mum in Spain and for a full week I was herfing on Partagas Shorts. It was my first experience with Partagas and I enjoyed them immensely, so I made a mental note to look them up when I came back to the UK.

In Spain, they cost ?3.14 each (using today's exchange rate). In the UK, they're ?9.69. Each.

Now, I'm fortunate enough in that I'm not a poor man (I'm not rich either!) but this is a considerable difference in price. Considerable enough for me to have vowed never to buy from a UK store again unless I'm in a desperate hurry. The saving on buying a single box of Partagas Shorts in Spain is enough to cover the cost of the flight so in essence, I could book a day trip to Spain, stock up on my favourite cigars, see my mum, be home the same day and still be better off.

Do you guys buy from UK stores? How do you justify the huge ripoff? I understand that the price is controlled (more or less) by a very greedy importer and it's absolutely galvanised me in terms of my future purchases. How come they haven't been taken to task thus far?

Yep - as most people have been saying the short answer is: "you don't justify them" in most cases.
The exceptions for me, being a relative newcomer to the hobby, are buying singles to try with the intention of picking up a box when I'm next able to.

[Niela]

Hey, you guys.
I'm just back from visiting my mum in Spain and for a full week I was herfing on Partagas Shorts. It was my first experience with Partagas and I enjoyed them immensely, so I made a mental note to look them up when I came back to the UK.

In Spain, they cost ?3.14 each (using today's exchange rate). In the UK, they're ?9.69. Each.

Now, I'm fortunate enough in that I'm not a poor man (I'm not rich either!) but this is a considerable difference in price. Considerable enough for me to have vowed never to buy from a UK store again unless I'm in a desperate hurry. The saving on buying a single box of Partagas Shorts in Spain is enough to cover the cost of the flight so in essence, I could book a day trip to Spain, stock up on my favourite cigars, see my mum, be home the same day and still be better off.

Do you guys buy from UK stores? How do you justify the huge ripoff? I understand that the price is controlled (more or less) by a very greedy importer and it's absolutely galvanised me in terms of my future purchases. How come they haven't been taken to task thus far?

I sometimes buy a single in a shop, but that's it. The rest I usually get from trips to my parents in Germany. Your calculation with saving money by flying to Spain is correct. We'll see how that changes if the government ever gets around to trigger article 50. Inflation due to Brexit will do the rest.

How to justify all this? Cigarettes and I guess cigars to a part as well do harm our health. There's no denying it. Bad health = high healthcare costs. So I guess to a certain degree it is fair to have people pay more for something that will cost society in the end, should they get sick. I myself gave up smoking cigarettes before I went to study in Sydney, many many years ago. The reason was that tobacco was really expensive there and I didn't have much money, so I quit. A year later they raised tobacco tax in Germany and I know of many personal friends that did quit because it became more expensive.

So I think it is fair to say that taxes do work in general. To what amount they should be raised is debatable and in the case of cigars, I think we all know that it doesn't really keep anybody away from it. We just find other legal ways to get our hands on them. Kids don't smoke cigars or pipes. They are the collateral damage.

I would actually say, we should add more taxes to other unhealthy things, like sugar. People being too fat is a far bigger problem then smoking, but then again, I think we are probably looking at a vast majority of the population being sugar addicts, so that would be a very unpopular measure.