Higher prices boost pleasure

[ylo2na-cl]

I heard about this article on NPR this morning and it really is very interesting and believable. That is why they have placebos in just about everything they test...just to see if it is the best!
Positive comments about a cigar always go a long way in people accepting them regardless of the price. Yet, I must admit, skepticism reigns very high when a positive comment is made regarding a very low-priced cigar or a low-priced anything. Especially true for me. There is an old axiom in psychology that it takes 7 positives to erase 1 negative experience/comment. Just extend this to a negative comment about a cigar. We probably wont try it, much less, buy it! Think about this, too...there are those on this site that we respect very much concerning their knowledge and expertise regarding cigars. Whenever they make a comment, positively or negatively about a cigar, we probably will respond to what they say. Which is to say, we are setting ourselves up subconsciously to accept what they say because of the way we "feel, and perceive" them to be. Yet, this is very subjective, very intangible....and very hard to measure regarding our feelings. However, I really agree with what happy1 says about a duck...yes, this is very true, too. Taste is the overall equalizer regardless of price, but, there are many factors that influence us, as well. Good marketing knows these intangibles well....CAO is premier at this! So, when we really finally settle in on something we say we like, there are many "intangibles" operating just below the surface to influence us in our choice(s). And, we thought it was just a cigar tasting good!
And, in closing, I want to site a recent experience with me! Don Kikki was recommended by many people and I bought a "Golfer's Special" and started my quest to enjoy a highly recommended stick. My first experience...it was a dog rocket! So, I wrote it on CL and I got several comments that made me rethink my experience. In those comments, there were some written by people I respect and consider their recommendations very valid and positive. They asked me to try it again....so, armed with all the new comments, their positive affirmations about Don Kikki, I tried it again. Perceptually, I had set myself up for this to be a better experience....and, guess what? It was! The taste seemed different and I liked them very much. Now, was it a dog rocket or was it the way I perceived/accepted what CL members had to say after my first poor experience? I dont know, but, I do know, there are "intangibles" that really do influence us! Enough!

[nativetexan_1]

I don't know if y'all are familiar with Dennis Prager (radio talk show host), but he claims some expertise in the cigar world and claims that he is seeing less and less difference in cigars of various price levels. Is it true among cigars that "you get what you pay for"? Or, are some of the Thompson "house" cigars actually pretty good?

[nativetexan_1]

Originally Posted by tx_tuff

I think for me a lot of the time its a 180. I tend to be disappointed when smoking a high dollar cigar. Because of the price I'm thinking this cigar should be one of the best I have ever smoke and most of the time it fars way short of that. But I'm talking about the $20 and higher priced stuff. In the $10 to $15 there is a lot of sticks that live up to the price for me (VSG, Anejo, some Pepins (Tats and others) and I enjoy the hell out of those!

Did you leave out some decimal points? Surely you meant $2.0, $1.0, and $1.5!!! We poor people are gonna have a hard time keeping up with some of you.

[ylo2na-cl]

Or, are some of the Thompson "Or, are some of the Thompson "house" cigars actually pretty good?

Well, for me, have bought some dog rockets from Thompson when I first started out and didnt know what I was doing (not much better now, either), but, I can recommend very highly a housebrand from Thompson's that I like very much....La Paloma Vintage Series Maduro...Churchill's. Smoked one yesterday to the nubbies and wanted more! Price is around $2-3 and they have specials on this all the time...! Would recommend as a "must buy" for an everyday, anytime cigar! That is my opinion and I am sticking with it!

[Shelby07]

I think there are definite differences in some of the more pricey cigars. That's not to say that all pricey cigars are good and all inexpensive cigars are bad, but think about a Padron '26 or '64, a CC Cohiba Sublime LE, a San Cristobal, an ESG, a Diamond Crown... these are cigars that are consistantly good and you'd have a tough time finding a $2 stick that would hold a candle to them.

On the other hand, a stick like an Opus X has never done it for me and I am consistantly disappointed by it. no matter how much they cost.

There are some pricey smokes that taste like crap and some $2 sticks that are some of the best I've smoked. Does perception have something to do with that? Maybe... but smoking a cigar is all about the pleasure you get and if part of the pleasure derived from that "special stick" is due to it's price, then that's just the way it is. But the price of a stick will never turn a good cigar bad or a bad cigar good.

[Pendaboot-cl]

I think that article is an insult to wine drinkers, and a compliment to cigar smokers. My experience, as well as the comments above, show that we experience less of this effect than wine drinkers do. If anything, it works in reverse. Me, I do not like Opus X cigars I have had. Maybe if the price was reasonable I would like them more (I doubt it) but I certainly was not driven to like them because they were expensive. So, pity the poor oenophile, and kudos to us. Maybe it's a man thing (sorry SOTLs) but I think the phenomenon they cite in that article is, well, sissy. (effeminate?)

[alanf]

Studies like this show us that we are all susceptable to influences that are not directly related to the task at hand. There are modifiers to things such as taste and smell that, while having no direct impact, do affect how we preceive what we are tasting and smelling. I remember an episode of Penn and Teller's Bull$hit where they were supposedly serving high-end, expensive bottled water and even had a water sommelier! All the waters had great names and descriptions but in actually, the bottles were filled with tap water from a garden hose outside the restaurant. It was hilarious in that almost everyone thought the water was great and so much better than plain old tap water. Being aware of our influences is half the battle.

An interesting book showing how we justify our thinking and actions, even when completely wrong is: Mistakes were made but not by Me. Highly recommended reading.

[Shelby07]

Originally Posted by Pendaboot

I think that article is an insult to wine drinkers, and a compliment to cigar smokers. My experience, as well as the comments above, show that we experience less of this effect than wine drinkers do. If anything, it works in reverse. Me, I do not like Opus X cigars I have had. Maybe if the price was reasonable I would like them more (I doubt it) but I certainly was not driven to like them because they were expensive. So, pity the poor oenophile, and kudos to us. Maybe it's a man thing (sorry SOTLs) but I think the phenomenon they cite in that article is, well, sissy. (effeminate?)

I wouldn't say it's an insult. It's not like they are saying that people are fools. The study showed that "expectations of quality trigger activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, the part of the brain that registers pleasure" even before the wines were tasted. If this is the case, then it stands to reason that the sensation, or taste, the brain interprets, and thus the higher pleasure derived, will be very real.

Bottled water is a perfect example. Some people swear by it and others think it's a fools game. I have always preferred tap water to bottled water. But I was raised in a time before bottled water was available and have thought of tap water as a gimmick from the first time I saw it. If I had been raised in a time where everyone was drinking bottled water and comparing one to another would I feel differently about it? According to the study and the effect that perceptions have on the brain, probably. And my own gut feeling agrees.

I do believe that perceptions can make anything better. I think it can make a good cigar better. I don't believe it can influence me enough to make a bad cigar good, and it certainly can't get around a cigar that falls apart or burns poorly, which is why the construction of a cigar may be more important than taste. In fact, it's very probable that we all think a cigar tastes better if it burns flawlessly. But just like taste itself, the level of influence that expectations have probably vary from person to person. That would certainly help to explain why some people love certain cigars and others think the same cigar is putrid.

I guess I don't see any reason why this study wouldn't be accurate. It's been long accepted that people with a good attitude and high expectations about anything are more successful than those who expect the worst before they start. I think the results are fascinating.

[tx_tuff]

Originally Posted by nativetexan_1

Did you leave out some decimal points? Surely you meant $2.0, $1.0, and $1.5!!! We poor people are gonna have a hard time keeping up with some of you.

Trust me Jerry my humidor is not full of high dollar cigars!

[GatorMike]

I can prove this guy's theory wrong. Someone give me a couple boxes of Davidoff Dom Perignon for a buck each and I'll enjoy the hell out of them!

[dberge-cl]

Originally Posted by Dogwatch Dale

Thanks for posting that! I often find an inexpensive cigar will taste great, but someone who co-hosts with me will poo-poo it because "it's cheap and can't be made with good tobacco". To each his own, but I'm a big proponent that one can find $2 cigars as well as $14 cigars that taste great and fill all requirements of a great cigar experience.

Those darned co-hosts! Long live the Nic 3000!

[AbeScromsbie-cl]

It should read...."Higher prices boost pleasure, until your wife realizes how much you're spending on your hobby. At which point, it's pain baby, all pain..."

[nativetexan_1]

Originally Posted by tx_tuff

Trust me Jerry my humidor is not full of high dollar cigars!

Please don't take me too seriously. That was intended to be humorous.

[Jonjonmacky]

Originally Posted by tx_tuff

I think for me a lot of the time its a 180. I tend to be disappointed when smoking a high dollar cigar. Because of the price I'm thinking this cigar should be one of the best I have ever smoke and most of the time it fars way short of that. But I'm talking about the $20 and higher priced stuff. In the $10 to $15 there is a lot of sticks that live up to the price for me (VSG, Anejo, some Pepins (Tats and others) and I enjoy the hell out of those!

Took the words right out my mouth frank!