Imagine walking through the door at your local cigar shop and being greeted like Norm Peterson. After some light chit-chat, you make your way across the store and enter the walk-in humidor. You’ve walked through this space hundreds, if not thousands of times since your first visit.
You’ve been through this particular humidor so many times you could probably recite the names and locations of every brand carried. Despite this, you’ve grown comfortable. You have a rotation of go-to cigars that you generally stick to unless something new is brought in.
Eventually, you get bored and suddenly find yourself taking a closer look at the selection. You know what is there but perhaps laying eyes on something will reignite your interest. Suddenly it happens, your eyes fall on a brand that you haven’t smoked in a while and you’re doing a double take. That costs how much! How are there still cigars in the box at that price!
For me it was the EP Carrillo New Wave Stella (Corona). Singles were priced at roughly $4.40 and it about blew my mind. To make things even better, as a member of the private lounge I get a small discount on top of that.
To this day two of my absolute favorite Connecticut cigars are the EP Carrillo New Wave and the Oliva Connecticut Reserve. When I can walk out of a local shop with one of my favorites for $4 and change, I’d say that is a good day.
Avo in the old packaging marked down 40%, coupled with my extra 10% member discount. A great deal on some great smokes.
George,
AVO was a brand I never smoked on a regular basis (due to cost) but at 40% off, that would change very quickly.
Out of curiosity, what do you get with your membership? My member discount is 5% but I get a couple of other perks as well. I’m curious what the average discount is – I’m guessing right around 10%
I get 10% off everything there, which includes a full bar. Cost is $50 a year.
Just recently my wife had a training in Pittsburgh and I tagged along figuring it could be a mini getaway. She would work all day and I would find a local lounge and have a cigar or two or three. I found a nice lounge directly across the street from the Sports Center. They had a nice size humidor, but not very organized. I like looking around, especially a new venue, to see what they have and finding those cigars that my local lounge doesn’t carry. After about 15-20 minutes, I spotted an Arturo Fuente Anejo box in the far corner, tucked away from eye level, and behind newer products. I openned the box and found 4 Anejo 48’s with a blue sticker. I went to purchase and the price was under $25.00 for the 4. I questioned the price, and the young tattooed, pierced yopung lady, told me the blue stickers identified them as old stock. Ok…..AGED cigars at a discount. So I did what every seasoned cigar smoker would do…….”Anything else in here with the blue stickers?”. She brought me two Padron 1926 naturals….. “Any interest in these” she asked. I couldn’t get the money out of pocket fast enough. I meandered back to the lounge and smoked a few other purchases before picking the wife up from work. After expalining my good fortune in great detail to my wife and her feigned excitement, it was necessary to share this story with others that could appreciate it.
4 Anejo 48’s for under $25…. that is a story I’d be telling to my grandchildren!
Some original shipment (may not be original release) Ortega Serie D Maduros, 30% off. Yes please.
Wow, thats a great deal. Is Buckhead discounting those? I might have to give Mike a call and place an order but that is one very slippery slope…. LOL
Yep. But only one or two sizes that don’t sell. I don’t think I can talk about what just I paid for an AGED box of Serie D Maduro No. 6’s. LOL Mike maintains a couple of discount sections, one at 30%, one at 40%. There have been some great cigars on both.
My local B&M has a “Kill Shelf”, they have a walk in humidor with limited shelf space…any cigar that hasn’t been selling good over the last month gets put on this shelf AT HALF PRICE! There are usually 3-7 brands on this shelf every week, they get new stuff in as fast as it goes out. So when I get to the shop that is the first place I look, I picked up the 2014 Quesada Oktoberfest for $4! Nestor Miranda Corona Habano $4! The list goes on and on but the trick is to get there right when they open becase you never know whats there and for how long!
Charlie,
There is a shop in my area that does something similar. They have a discount table and the premise is the same. Limited space means anything that isn’t moving gets turned over at a discount for something that will sell.
They don’t do 50% off but I’ve seen some very good deals.
Thanks for the comment
Walt,
Glad to see you back on SR, and posting like a mad man again! Keep up the great work, brother!
Frank,
It has been a lot of fun. My only problem at this point is that I don’t have enough post ideas to keep up with this pace.
Thanks for the comment
My B&M used to have a $2 bin. One time I found a bunch of CAO Gold Double Coronas in there. The best overall deal I can remember involved a penny bid cigar site gifting me 20 free bids to encourage me to check out the site. Using 6 free bids I ended up winning a 5-pack of My Father Le Bijou toros (in a white wooden gift box). I paid $5-6 for shipping and so ended up paying about a buck per stick.
Anthony,
Was the site Cigar Sniper – or something along those lines? I remember getting an invite some time ago for a penny auction cigar site. At that time I was a recovering Cigar-Bid addict so I steered clear.
Yep. Cigar Sniper.
I don’t usually look for deals since the one local shop I go to has one hell of a great member discount (double George’s and quadruple Walt’s). Just cant beat it.
Here is a follow up question….Even with the great discount, we still cant get it on Opus or Liga, is it the same at your shops?
My shop almost always has a good Opus selection and has Ligas sitting on the shelves.
No Opus at my local (He can and does get Anejos). Last time I heard he didn’t quite make the sales cutoff needed to get Liga in the store