The Cigar “Deal” Is Dead!

Or at least it is tired. 

Or at least when it comes to in-store events. 

Wait…what are you talking about? 

Let me back up. Just before the Christmas holiday, I was on a year-end industry Zoom call when the topic of cigar events came up. No names. No callouts. Just a casual comment that landed harder than expected.

So

meone asked, almost offhand, if the traditional cigar event still works. Actually, it started as a shout-out to how much hustle it takes to travel the country (or the world) and do all these events. 

It stuck with me.

For a long time, cigar events were simple. You showed up. You bought cigars. You got a deal. Buy three, get one free. Buy a box, get a cutter. Sometimes you met a Rep, sometimes you met the brand owner. Sometimes you liked the person, sometimes not so much. Either way, you had some stories and some cigars to smoke.

That model worked because events were rare.

A shop might host one every quarter. Maybe fewer. When it happened, it felt like something special.

People planned around it. They saved money to spend. They showed up early, and they stayed late.

Then something changed. It seemed math mattered more than the moment.

Shops got busier. Brands got louder. Calendars filled up. One event per quarter turned into one per month. Then two. Then even four in some cases. In some markets, you could bounce from one event to another every weekend without much effort.

Deals became predictable.

Consumers started chasing the offer, not the brand*.

*Side Note: I believe this to be a key shift in consumer choices (both good and bad). 

Loyalty shifted from shop to shop depending on who had the better math that week. A customer might show up for the discount, shake a hand, buy the minimum, and disappear until the next flyer hit their inbox.

At that point, the deal stopped being special.

That does not mean events stopped working. It means the reason people show up had changed.

But, like my “Animal Style” phase at In-N-Out Burger, some things don’t last. 

Price alone is no longer enough.

Today, cigar reps, brand owners, and marketing teams are being forced into a different role. They are no longer just there to sell boxes. They are there to create an experience. Yes, that word gets overused, but it matters here.

An experience gives the cigar smoker a reason to stay. A reason to listen. A reason to remember the night after the receipt is long gone.

That might mean storytelling. It might mean access to a special blend. It might mean a guided tasting or dinner.

It might mean a casual conversation that feels real instead of rehearsed. And this is the part where nuance matters.

The cigar industry has both an education problem and an education opportunity. Some consumers want depth. They want to know how fermentation works. They want to talk about soil, primings, and aging. They love that stuff.

Others are brand new. They are still figuring out how to cut correctly and why their cigar went out three times. They do not want a dissertation. They want to enjoy the night without feeling lost.

A good event gives a nod to both – and that isn’t easy.

That is the challenge moving forward. You cannot build everything around the “deal” anymore, but you also cannot assume every room wants a master class. Experiences have to be layered.

How do you do that?

Welcoming on the surface. Interesting if you lean in deeper.

The deal is not entirely dead. It just cannot be the headline anymore. A fair price still matters. People notice value. If all someone remembers is the discount, you did not really win anything in the long term.

The shops that figure this out will stand out fast. Not because they run fewer events, but because their events feel different. Worth showing up for even if the math looks the same as last month.

That Zoom call did not answer the question. It just raised it.

And that just might be the right place to start.