Financial Crisis Puts Cigar Nubs in Fashion

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Mar 8th 2009 at 4:02PM

You know the market's tough when cigar smokers talk about cutting back. The crisis is real when they actually do so. With the sale of boxes, humidors and high-end cigar accessories dropping (I have anecdotally) – not to mention a cigar tax increase that has moved quickly from specter to materialization – retailers are scrambling for ways to keep customers in their stores.

When I met with Don Pepin Garcia back in November to discuss his new release, My Father's Cigar, he mentioned the need to keep prices reasonable, citing long-term relationships with his customers as taking priority over short-term measures. But, it looks like this may not be enough – as evidenced by the "nub club."

Discount cigar retailer Famous Smoke Shop has put together a selection of six-cigar samplers, consisting of "nubs," and is pricing them favorably to keep cigar smokers engaged. This new program is intended to allow customers to try nubs without requiring them to shell out for full boxes. Each sampler has three pairs of cigars, each with different wrappers: Habano, Connecticut and Cameroon. Prices range from $27 to $34.50 per pack.

Promotions like this one drive home the fact that we're all in it together. The manufacturers and retailers don't want to see us curtail our smoking experiences or trade down to "lesser" cigars. They want us to smoke what we know we enjoy. At the same time, smokers realize that we have to do our part and continue to buy the sticks we like.

Cooperation is better than any bailout program.

[Photo by Steve Zak]

Tags: cigar, cigar accessories, CigarAccessories, cigars, financial crisis, FinancialCrisis, humidor, humidors, smoke, smoker, smokers, smoking, tobacco

Filed under: Cigars

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Paul Mar 8th 2009 4:43PM

Um, that's some pretty weak reporting. Nub is a brand (no quotation marks needed) of short cigars that comes in different blends. They aren't super cheap, and samplers aren't anything new. Online retailers are getting heavier into samplers to compete with local stores that sell cigars one at a time, not to keep from losing customers that want to buy boxes.

Oh, and the Don Pepin brand you mentioned is called My Father, not My Father's Cigar, they were blended by his son, and named "My Father" in honor of Pepin.

I appreciate that Luxist has increased their cigar coverage of late, but maybe someone with a little bit more industry knowledge should be handling these stories.

el chefe Mar 9th 2009 8:07AM

Second that, and now our host talks "us" and "our" ...lol

Since a few weeks ago this blog is becoming Cigar Aficionado luxist.....filled with last years news and decades old known secrets...what is next? warm water perhaps?.

Adam Mar 10th 2009 12:43PM

Glad someone caught the shotty reporting on the Nub's. Not worth the money IMO. The article not only implies the are a DPG stick, they're not, it also implies their cheap, also not.

It seems the author had intended to mention Ambos Mundos, by Tatuaje a bargain DPG rolled stick, but forgot.