So I went in to a local B&M earlier. They are a big fancy place with tons of wine and a lot of good cigars at average prices. I look back in the back of the walk-in and there is this door, secured with a thumbprint lock. So the lady lets me in to the back and there are the usual overpriced suspects, those 125.00 Gurkhas, 25.00 Opus. But what really surprises me is they have the entire Liga Privada line for 25 bucks a pop. I mean really? They were only 18.00 in Hawaii, where taxes are insane... 25 bucks in Alabama? For Serious?

Could they be buying these retail and reselling them or something? I can't imagine why anyone would ask 25.00 for a LP. Much less pay 25.00... Has something changed since I saw them selling at a shop in Atlanta for 13.50-15.00? Some tobacco plague destroyed all but a small supply? Who would drop 1/4 of a c-note on a LP9 or T52? FFP maybe, but it's still a stretch.

I guess I'm just wondering if it's remotely normal for a B&M to charge that much?
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Nope. That's more than twice what I pay in Illinois and we have some high tobacco taxes.
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They have to pay for that thumbprint security somehow.
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Sounds like the shop has very high prices across the board.

Certainly possible and it happens more often than you might realize, most commonly with Fuente Opus X cigars. Like Fuente, Drew Estate has a tiered account system, so not all accounts can get the high end cigars (Fuente account VS Opus X account; Drew Estate VS Liga Privada account, etc.), and as a result, some retailers resort to trading with other shops or even outright buying the cigars then reselling them at a higher price to cover their costs.

This is an undesirable practice that hurts the image of any/all cigars that sold this way, but unfortunately, there's really nothing that the manufacturer can do. Since these shops aren't accounts, they can't be told to lower their prices.

Normal? No.
Does it happen? Yes. I've seen $22 Macanudo Hyde Parks and $12 AF Curlyheads at some shops. :-)
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Dayuuuum!!! I would have laughed and turned around and left.
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It does happen. A local shop here got 1 box of Anejo Sharks. He is asking $20 a stick. Way over priced.
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Welcome back to Alabama! Lots of small shops think their HTFs are the only ones left in the world! Alabama doesn't have a large number of true cigar shops to start with, so the lack of competition gives some of our shops the idea that they can charge double, triple prices. Because of this, those HTFs are usually sitting for a long time, and are more likely to be dry than not, in my experiences (cause only a few of the Bama shops I've been in truly keep close eyes on their humidity).
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That's a deal compared to one shop in my city. They want $25.99 for one. I think they've had that box for 2 years and it's still 3/4 full
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Send the name of that shop to Jonathan Drew...........
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Ouch. I can get boxes of T52 robustos for $199 shipped.
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Ouch!! Plenty of other places to send your hard earned cash brother. :-)
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I've seen some crazy prices, but that pretty much takes the cake.
If B&M's are in short supply and you like to go there to smoke, you may need to buy something, but you sure don't need to get raped.
I'm sure it's tough to keep places going nowadays with the taxes as they are, but there have to be better ways to keep the lights on.
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Overpriced cigars isn't shocking to me but a thumbprint lock on a humidor makes me el-oh-el.
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Well I won't be going in there again, they had a lot of standard stuff and all their high end sticks were crazy overpriced. I'm sure they won't miss me as a customer, someone has to be buying those 25.00 sticks secured by thumb print, and I ain't desperate enough. If anyone is ever in Huntsville and wants a good laugh stop by "Vintage wine and Cigar", in the big yuppy mall. "Bridge Street", I think it's called.
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I had already guessed the shop even before you dropped the name. Nick is unapologetic of his prices on the Liga Privadas among other sticks. I was in there 3 weeks ago and the Robustos were 25.00 and the Toros were 30.00. I just had a shipment come in for 10.80 a stick for Robustos and 11.60 each for Toros. He explained that this is where he made his money and knows they are 2.5 times the price. His rent is OUTRAGEOUS so you can expect his prices to be.

You need to visit the Cigar Room at 7407 Hwy-72 W in Madison. He doesn't have LP's but he knows how to treat his customers. Donny Muse is the manager and Donald Waddell is the owner. You'll not find a better group of guys in the cigar B&M world.

I live 50 miles west of there and I go there quite a bit since I don't visit our local B&M anymore.
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Awwwww..... I thought this thread was about Vinyl :-)
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^^^ lmao...that was funny
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I stopped in the cigar room a week or so ago, the proprieter was friendly but the selection was pretty general, CAO, LGC, some rocky Patel, a ton of Gurkha. It looked like a nice place to stop in for a cigar but there wasn't really anything I was interested in beyond just something to smoke while I'm there. I like to support B&Ms but it looks like it'll be hard here in Alabama. There is a shop in Florence that stocks a few semi HTF sticks, OSOK, EPC, a few others. But it's a long drive there. If I take a cigar finding expedition I'll probably just make the drive to Atlanta. There is a shop there with insane selection, although it isn't particularly well kept from what I saw.
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