I heard that prices (because of taxes) is set to drive stogie prices way up in the US... Is that true?

I just placed a 3 box order from Atlantic and the prices seemd low as always.

What's the story morning glory?

W
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They were suppose to go up but I haven't seen it yet personally. In fact some stuff I always buy actually went down 20%.
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It seems like prices are going down, not up, which has surprised me.
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I think it might be a while before the price increase/tax will show up or be noticeable. Most vendors are trying to keep the sales volume up and passing on the tax increase immediately might slow down their sales. Also the pre-tax stocking up some cigar smokers did might have made the vendors think about how fast to pass on the increase..To keep sales up.
Of course this is just one mans opinion, I could be wrong...:-)

Does anyone know how much, if any, cigar sales have decreased since the tax increase?
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A few vendors I have chatted with have not increased the price on existing stock.. I can't imagine they are going to eat the tax forever...
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Considering the general state of the economy, they all have to hurting volume-wise. The normal response to that would be to have a sale, which is what they are doing. Considering the margin they make on hand-rolled cigars, this is not surprising. The tax increase will be passed along in due time, I'm sure.
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The B&M I go to has been increasing as the new stock comes in that haws been subjected to the new federal & state increases.
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It has not been nearly long enough to tell IMO. I think a lot of manufacturers will eat the cost for a while, and I think a lot of house blends on some of the bigger sites, CI, famous etc.. will hold their prices. Basically, we are still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
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Ditto on Ryan's remark.

It happened immediately at some B&Ms but some limited it to new stock only as that is what it was intended to be applied to.

Although, the increase isn't all that drastic..... 15%ish?
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Both local B&M's here in by me on LI,NY have jacked their prices UP!
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Yup. James and Sons on Broadway has a sign on the door of their humi explaining the new taxes and why their prices have gone up.
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I know a few manufacturer's have also added a price increase in hopes to hide it from the consumer with the new tax increases. I know Drew Estate did this on the ACID's. Some of there sticks went up $3 between all the new taxes and their price increase. Luckily I can't stand ACID cigars so it does not bother me at all.
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yeah, as I understand it the tax increase does not affect their existing stock, only new inventory purchased after the law went into effect. As somebody else mentioned some B&Ms began raising their prices on everything including existing stock once the bill went into effect. On the other hand, some manufacturers and retailers are trying to absorb all or part of the increase themselves. I think Pete at Tatuaje said in an interview that they were not going to be raising their cost to retailers.
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The sign on the counter of a local B&M states that the effective tax on cigars now stands at 158%.


:-)

Ron
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I wonder where they got that figure from? :-)

My B&M owner hasn't touched his prices, but he figures his markup on the price he pays... If the price goes up when he restocks, He'll raise the price on the new sticks. I think that is fair, personally.

It could be worse, I guess... the folks that roll their own cigarettes were paying around $6.00 a pound + sales tax - now the same bag of baccy is going for around $30-$40 a pound! :-)

:-)
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The new tax is only on cigars imported after April 1, 2009 so any cigars already in stores should not have risen but do expect it in some of the new stock. Certain companies have chosen to eat the increase while others passed it along to the consumer.
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