By Jeff Bolton

Lined with rows and rows of sticks - some brightly banded with wild shapes and sizes, others with refined elegance and an oily sheen - cigar humidors have an unparalleled ability to mesmerize and enchant the cigar enthusiast. The promise of an experience with a known cigar holds comfort; with a new cigar, excitement. Most of all, the possibility of a few minutes of joy and relaxation as we sit down to enjoy the cigar alone or with friends completes the event.

But what makes consumers buy a certain cigar? To answer this seemingly simple question I cast a wide net among the cigar smoking cognoscenti and asked them a bunch of non-scientific questions. In their answers I discovered that the process was anything but simple; a series of very separate issues and complexities comprise cigar buying both for novices and veterans. The only two things they all agreed on was that if a cigar sucks it will only sell once, and that the process of buying cigars today is not our father and grandfathers' five-and-dime cigar buying experience.

To start the discussion I checked my common sense, which is generally reliable in these situations, and it reminded me that as red-blooded capitalist consumers, we tend to buy both what we can afford and what we like. But we can't necessarily buy what we want without the ducats. Ergo, price point is the most important influence in cigar buying, right? Well, yes and no, depending on who you talk to.

Bottom Line: What's it Cost?
Jimmy Dean is firm in his observations of the cigar buying public from his perch at Habana Smoke Shoppe in Jackson, Mississippi. "For the typical cigar smoker the number one qualifier is price," he notes. "It shouldn't be that way, but it is. In my experience most cigar shoppers look at the price, searching for a lower price point, before they buy the cigar." The idea of buying the best quality cigars for the lowest price is alluring to most buyers, but others take the quality over quantity approach with a fixed budget. Chris Miller, an area sales manager for Davidoff, says that price point does enter the decision process but that it comes well down the list: "Price does enter into the process, more for the novice cigar smoker, but I see it as a less important factor as cigar smokers develop their tastes." With both of these approaches in mind the good news about price point purchasing is that there are good, or even great cigars at every price point from three bucks to twenty. In researching price point influence I also learned that typical cigar smokers buy on two levels, purchasing more affordable "daily" sticks and a few premiums for special occasions.

Another interesting side note about the two-level cigar buyers, price point and brand: I found that their daily sticks and premium sticks were very rarely from the same brand. Smarter marketing geeks than me can wrestle with that observation but it suggests that as cigar consumers, we draw high-end/low-end quality conclusions about brands and we don't choose both from the same line. That fact also strongly suggests that history and experience are significant influence for cigar buyers.

History and Experience
Like the proverbial lost duckling who wanders into the chicken pen and is raised by a hen, the vast majority of cigar smokers are dramatically influenced by both our first cigars and those smoking cigars around us - whether by dad's Roi Tan when we were kids or by a friend who is celebrating a successful business deal with an Opus X or a Cuban. Whether from nostalgia or taste, those first few cigars are tremendously memorable and most of us either accept or reject cigars at that point. If we embrace cigar smoking, those early memories are a powerful determinant of future buying habits. I personally know a number of people who still smoke what they started smoking five, ten, or twenty years ago and are perfectly content.

On the other hand, Phil Windham, owner of CBC-Burns Tobacconist in Chattanooga (and an avid Fuente Fuente OpusX fan) notes that during the boom, people were rolling and selling some extraordinarily horrible cigars, "but today the consumer is much more educated. Experienced cigar smokers with more sophisticated palates are seeking more complex and often stronger cigars than they first smoked, and there are tremendous choices to meet that demand today. New tastes compete strongly with nostalgia and habit." Habana's Dean places history and experience as the second major buying influence he's observed. "A person who smoked a Macanudo first or last time will likely do it again," he notes. "Unfortunately, that myopic approach locks out great cigars that a customer may even enjoy more. We can all stand to expand our horizons." Davidoff's Miller adds, "Experienced cigar smokers are much more sophisticated today and are moving from brand to brand. That's healthy for the industry."

Branding
Has any cigar - or almost any consumer product in the world - ever enjoyed a greater branding advantage than the "hand made in Cuba" cigar? Not many, and not only does that branding mystique apply to today's Cuban cigars (despite inconsistent quality in recent years), but also to a huge number of non-Cuban "Cuban seed/Cuban inspired" sticks on the market. Almost everyone in the cigar business makes at least some reference to their Cuban heritage as it seems to serve as the universal hook to attract consumers. Clearly branding is a major influence for buyers, but how much of an influence? And do Cuban cigars deserve their mystique today? Bill Makens of Flor de Jardin, a newer entry to the cigar market says, "Most of the time newer cigar smokers don't even glance at unknown brands because the selection is overwhelming. So, since they've seen a popular, known brand somewhere they feel they can trust they're getting a good smoke for their money - even if they don't enjoy the cigar that much, their subconscious tells them it is a good cigar."

Windham says of Cubans, "Look, there's always been mystique to Cubans because you can't get them legally in the U.S., but I believe the truth is that the non-Cuban cigar offerings of today are better than Cubans in many ways...the real indicator of the downward trend in Cuban cigar quality was when Zino Davidoff pulled out of Cuba and it only got worse after that. Certainly the mystique isn't what it was." That may be true, but the red faced counterfeit Cuban chasers will argue the point with anyone in their never-ending battle to stamp out fake Cubans around the world. How many different bogus Cuban Cohiba bands have you seen lately? Speaking of bands...

Banding
Oh, the artistic cigar bands of yesteryear! The laced, voluptuous woman with the sultry look. Where do you think the modern beer advertisers got the idea for the Swedish Bikini Team? Bands that were once tiny works of art have exploded in a gazillion different approaches. Pictures vs. no pictures. Words vs. no words. Bands vs. no bands. Color vs. no color. Animals vs. no animals. And so on. So how much influence does an interesting band have? My buddy Randy, full-time spook and sometime photographer sidekick says, "When I'm looking for a new cigar to try the last thing on my mind is what the band looks like. Create a great product and it will sell itself because for every cigar that is sold by a print ad, display or pretty bands, ten more are sold by referral because cigar people are chatty by nature."

With a manufacturer's perspective, Makens says, "Banding and overall package presentation is very important and is where new companies like us have to compete and can distinguish ourselves. For instance, our new line, Smokin' Toad, has a very unique package and is a new and different concept. A lot of people love the idea, others may think it is a joke or just a gimmick, but whatever they think they still want to try it so they can say they have." The Fuente Fuente OpusX band is a model of drama and allure; the Davidoff white label a clean sophisticated signature. Windham points to banding influence as less important by noting the terrific sales of the non-banded Rocky Patel Edge saying, "it is a great cigar and that's why it sells: not because of a pretty brand or marketing."

Another newer cigar brand, Tatuaje, has a very simple band with cursive writing and is somewhat reminiscent of Cuban Montecristos and Upmanns in color. Is it effective? Who knows? Regardless of the band Tatuajes are terrific cigars. I discovered them from a well informed cigar retailer well before they hit everyone's hot list, which brings us to the local cigar store.

The Cigar Retailer
The oasis of leather, cigar smoke, wi-fi connections, and nuclear coffee - otherwise known as today's local cigar retailer - still holds significant influence in the buying habits of cigar smokers. Personally, I've never been burned by advice from a cigar retailer and my experiences with them have been uniformly good. "People like to know the characteristics of cigars before they smoke them and they depend on their personal tobacconist for that advice," says Davidoff's Miller. "That's why brick and mortar stores succeed, even in the era of the Internet, because the direct connection and personal touch from a human is so important. Also, branding may be the second biggest influence for cigar buyers but that still comes back to the knowledgeable tobacconist." The role of the well-informed retail tobacconist is also increasingly important in the cigar "era of plenty." According to Jeffrey Stone, a successful long-time cigar retailer in Houston, we are enjoying a "Golden Age" of cigar smoking where selection, quality, and availability are extraordinary compared to other eras, making guidance in this environment more important than ever.

So is there a clear set of influences that drive people to buy a cigar? Certainly yes: price, history, branding, banding, and informed guidance are major factors, but as in all things cigar smokers discuss, there is scant agreement on the exact importance of each. I'm headed for my own humidor now for relaxation because my brain is hurting from wrestling this article to print. But what to smoke?