Premium cigars?

[piperdown]

So, excluding cc's what are considered premium cigars?
I know the Opus is talked about and I've seen lots of outstanding reviews of the Padron 1964 but what else? I have both but haven't smoked them yet. So far I would consider the Kristoff maduro and San Cristobal outstanding cigars but am unsure if they would be labeled "premium".

What constitutes a "premium"?
What would YOU consider a premium cigar?

[thebayratt]

I would say anything over $10 a stick to me is "Premium". I have paid $17 for an Opus; which is the most I have spent on a single. I usually pay around the $7 mark at B&Ms. I have a few I have aquired that are worth over $10. But maybe my $7 sticks are "Premium" and the $10+ are "Ultra Premium" Since there are numerous $1-3 sticks.

I guess it depends on everyone's budget and tastes. I have had superb cigars that cost me $2 and disliked ones that cost $8. Beauty is in the eye of the punch holder

[ca21455]

I have always thought of a premium cigar to be one that is hand rolled with long leaf tobacco. A non-premium would be machine made which has chopped up pieces of tobacco for a filler.

Now you could get into a long discussion of which premium cigars are really premium, but I will leave that up to the review posts.

[Tarks]

Padron 1926
Opus X
Davidoff
My Father

Are a few that come to mind.

[nativetexan_1]

I agree. Premium can't just mean so expensive only high rollers can afford them. The cost of hand rolling and using long leaf tobacco will increase the cost, but that won't necessarily make them ouitrageously expensive.

Take cars for instance. What constitutes a luxury car? Does it have to be a Rolls Royce or Lincoln Town Car? I don't think so, but it has to have the bells and whistles that are understood to be in a luxury car. We might agree on curb appeal, leather interior, shoulder room, leg room, muti-CD player, navigational system, even Bose speakers. (Heck, by those standards, I'd never accept the Vet as a luxury car, yet it'll cost you $50,000.) You can find all that in cars from (maybe) $15,000 to $400,000+. Is the $15,000 NOT a luxury car just because it's cheaper? I don't think so.

The point being: we might discuss what constitutes "bells and whistles" in the cigar world. But the price is not a bell or whistle and has nothing directly to do with whether or not a cigar is a premium. Let's see, premium might include hand rolled, long leaf tobacco, well designed band, ... I'll stop there. Everyone can feel free to add their requirements for "bells and whistles", just not price, else I'll offer you a Ritz Square for $12 each.

[piperdown]

Originally Posted by nativetexan_1

I agree. Premium can't just mean so expensive only high rollers can afford them. The cost of hand rolling and using long leaf tobacco will increase the cost, but that won't necessarily make them ouitrageously expensive.

Take cars for instance. What constitutes a luxury car? Does it have to be a Rolls Royce or Lincoln Town Car? I don't think so, but it has to have the bells and whistles that are understood to be in a luxury car. We might agree on curb appeal, leather interior, shoulder room, leg room, muti-CD player, navigational system, even Bose speakers. (Heck, by those standards, I'd never accept the Vet as a luxury car, yet it'll cost you $50,000.) You can find all that in cars from (maybe) $15,000 to $400,000+. Is the $15,000 NOT a luxury car just because it's cheaper? I don't think so.

The point being: we might discuss what constitutes "bells and whistles" in the cigar world. But the price is not a bell or whistle and has nothing directly to do with whether or not a cigar is a premium. Let's see, premium might include hand rolled, long leaf tobacco, well designed band, ... I'll stop there. Everyone can feel free to add their requirements for "bells and whistles", just not price, else I'll offer you a Ritz Square for $12 each.

Thank you Sir! You explained what I was thinking but couldn't find the words the other day.

[Sigarz]

well for my bells and whistles I would include, first of course complexity and smoothness of flavor, then construction and draw which is a function of tobacco quality, age, roller skill level and humidity and temperature conditions. surely I don't judge all cigars by this but I love to see long (1.5 inch plus) light gray ash, i had some fantastic cigars that don't exactly qualify but I have rarely had a bad cigar that does. and last there must be no artificial flavoring or coloring, the quality of the wrapper is a very important whistle for me. box and band selection isn't important since it tells nothing about the cigar itself. jmo

[Herf N Turf]

Generally speaking, the term premium refers to any cigar that is rolled of long filler and constructed entirely by hand.

I have three catagories I use:

1) Super Premium: Expensive and hard to find; limited release.

2) Premium: See above.

3) Crap, I wont smoke.

[e-man]

I view premiums to mean a "Leading Brand". There is a certain level of brand recognition associated with them, but it doesn't necessarily mean that their quality is any better than an unknown brand.

There are plenty of Premium Brands from the 90's that have fallen from favor and are now discount brands. Most non-Cuban brands come from the same three companies anyway, so it's more of a marketing ploy than anything. This is not to say that all products from a manufacturer are the same. The blends are different for every line, as are the specifications and tolerances.

The super premiums are usually the flagship line from a respected label. For instance, Opus X are Arturo Fuente's top offering.


Then there are Boutique brands like Gurkha. They buy tobacco that is rare or well aged, and make small batches. They are roughly equivalent to Micro-Brews. You may or may not like them, but many perceive an added value in the materials used.

[Bhobnine]

Originally Posted by thebayratt

I would say anything over $10 a stick to me is "Premium". I have paid $17 for an Opus; which is the most I have spent on a single. I usually pay around the $7 mark at B&Ms. I have a few I have aquired that are worth over $10. But maybe my $7 sticks are "Premium" and the $10+ are "Ultra Premium" Since there are numerous $1-3 sticks.

I guess it depends on everyone's budget and tastes. I have had superb cigars that cost me $2 and disliked ones that cost $8. Beauty is in the eye of the punch holder

Seven bucks and over is a premium smoke to me. At this price your usually fairly safe (usually,but not guarenteed) in finding decent tobaccos crafted nicely by somebody who knows how to roll. Ultra premiums are your fancy pants, OpusX types that you buy for special occasions cus who the hell (other than those who dont know the value of a buck) wants to blow fifteen dollars on a cigar when there are good smokes out there for cheaper? For that kind of investement, you had better recieve one 'mind blowingly tasty' hour of pure 'smoke it down to the friggin nub' enjoyment.

[ToJo]

I would say PREMIUM requires the following:

Hand Rolled
Final Quality Inspections (some cigs should not make it out the door)
Distinct binder/filler/wrapper leaves
Properly matured tobacco throughout

That's without getting into any subjective considerations. If you wanted to do that, you could talk about requirements when it comes to burn, taste, feel, look, cost, etc, but I wouldn't do that.

[guy g]

I have been dying to say this... Premium..... Tarks avitar! Other wise Padron 1926

[Cigary]

Originally Posted by nativetexan_1

I agree. Premium can't just mean so expensive only high rollers can afford them. The cost of hand rolling and using long leaf tobacco will increase the cost, but that won't necessarily make them ouitrageously expensive.

Take cars for instance. What constitutes a luxury car? Does it have to be a Rolls Royce or Lincoln Town Car? I don't think so, but it has to have the bells and whistles that are understood to be in a luxury car. We might agree on curb appeal, leather interior, shoulder room, leg room, muti-CD player, navigational system, even Bose speakers. (Heck, by those standards, I'd never accept the Vet as a luxury car, yet it'll cost you $50,000.) You can find all that in cars from (maybe) $15,000 to $400,000+. Is the $15,000 NOT a luxury car just because it's cheaper? I don't think so.

The point being: we might discuss what constitutes "bells and whistles" in the cigar world. But the price is not a bell or whistle and has nothing directly to do with whether or not a cigar is a premium. Let's see, premium might include hand rolled, long leaf tobacco, well designed band, ... I'll stop there. Everyone can feel free to add their requirements for "bells and whistles", just not price, else I'll offer you a Ritz Square for $12 each.

Good post on this and I have to agree with your viewpoint only because it makes perfect sense to me.

[Phantom57]

Premium generally means high priced. That said, in almost 40 years of smoking cigars, I currently like cigars only in the $7 and up range. That is not to say all cigars above that figure are automatically good, but most below that I do not like. The higher price will usually get you a higher grade of tobacco, and that is usually entrusted to the better rollers.

I have been in search of the silver bullet, ie the cheap cigar that equals the high priced ones all my life. I am here to tell you it does not exist. You pay the high price or you settle for something less.

[bimmian]

Maybe I'm a simpleton, but I generally define "premium" as pretty much anything made "totalmente a mano"... Machine-made cigars are "cheap" cigars, in my definition.

Anything hand-rolled and long-filler is considered "premium". And then, within "premium", I have "super-premium", which includes limited edition runs, or hard-to-find, super-expensive smokes... Anything ISOM is automatically "super-premium", based on my nationality.

Cut-filler, hand-rolled cigars are in-between. Great bargain smokes if they're good (Tatuaje Ps, and hopefully my JLPs I just bought), but just as undesirable to me as "cheap" smokes when they're not.