The Sunk Cost Paradox

[Easyrhino]

My old boss told me never to buy a bottle of wine for under a tenner. The reason for this he said was that to buy a glass bottle, to fill it with the worst swill grape juice, and then to ship it over to the UK, pay the duty for the alcohol content, costs the best part of £5. The thinking is if you buy the wine for £5.50, you are only getting £0.50 of grape, but if you spend £10, you are getting £5 of grape, so 10 times more grape for only twice the price.

I ask you all now, does that reasoning ring true for cigars? My recent experience of purchasing Romeo y Julieta puritos brought this back firmly into my mind. I paid £10 for a pack of 5, however I’m wondering if just the rolling a cigar of the offcuts, shipping it to the UK, and paying the tobacco duty on the weight (around £3.58 per 10grams) means that I’m also in the same situation of I’m
probably only getting 50p of tobacco for my £10?

I’ve already decided this is absolutely true and really Incan forget ever paying under £10 for a single cigar. Happily I also bought Charatan petit corona that I’m looking forward to smoking this weekend.

Do you have a minimum price, or do you have a different measure?

[BullittBoy]

So one of the reasons I love cigars is the subjective nature of them. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ can be a very valid statement in the cigar world.

Just because you don’t like something (and I was always told to buy/try two in case you encounter production issues) doesn’t mean then next smoker won’t bond with that particular stick.

However, I officially entered the cigar world by first having Montecristos and Cohibas and I think my palate enjoys Cuban tobacco more than NW. In my opinion they tend to be smoother and less nicotine heavy in general. In my (I’ll admit still limited) experience The AF Shark is the only one I have tried so far which comes close.

This means of course, my wallet has suffered - and when I purchase cigars on special occasions, the prices for me are at least £20 and up. I have been very lucky to inherit some sticks but when I do make a purchase I am always looking for things I haven’t tried and generally, buy well recommended Cuban smokes to reduce the chance of a disappointing experience.

[ShaazK]

It is a very personal choice based not just in personal circumstance/budget, but also the question of “What do you get from smoking a cigar?” If it’s a means to a good nicotine hit and nothing else, stick to the cheapest you can find and that’s alright.

If it’s about savouring the flavour, nuance and most importantly the peaceful time that you can just relax, unplug and ponder, with a product that’s patiently aged and totally handmade in a mechanical world.. make it the best you can get yourself to buy, and smoke it less often perhaps?

For me it’s simple - stick to the usual CC names and you will likely not get disappointed THAT often.

Also, it’s strange psychology but I somehow find it hard to buy singles because the price sticks in my head. If I buy a box, it’s painful once, but I don’t think about the cost every time I pull a cigar out. Weird, but it works for me.


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[PeeJay]

Good point but I think you need to upscale, you're not getting much of a true cigar experience from a purito which as you've already acknowledged is filled with short filler offcuts. This is not a cheap hobby but you can still smoke some very good cigars at reasonable prices if you keep an open mind.

[Simon Bolivar]

Try to buy Hand rolled, Cuban's start around 22 for Petit Corona's in the UK. Mitchellero Robustos or Corona's are available from Cgars Ltd & are hand made Nicaraguan, for under a tenner. I haven't tried them but they look better than others of a similar price. Anyone tried them?.

[smokey joe]

I smoke a lot of small format Cuban stuff, really love them. 20 minutes to myself is manageable but the 1 or 2 hours for a large format is a rare treat, maybe once a week - if I’m lucky!

[Easyrhino]

Thanks for your posts, very helpful. I got on well with the Charatan Petit Corona, really enjoyed that. I was gifted some Villiger Gold Tube Cigars and Guantanamera decimos, they have been a bit disappointing flavour wise, but smoke well enough. I’ll try some of your suggestions