What You Actually Get for $20, $50, $100 and $500: A Cigar Price Ladder
Cigars are sold from about $10 a stick to several thousand dollars a box, and almost nobody explains what changes on the way up. This does, tier by tier, with the real prices from our own humidor.
The honest answer to "how much should I spend on a cigar" is that it depends on what the money is buying, and that is rarely spelled out. Below $20 you are paying for tobacco and a name. Around $50 you are paying for rarer leaf, longer ageing and a bigger cigar. At $100 you are inside a small club of showpiece sticks. At $500 the smartest move is usually to stop buying sticks altogether and buy a box.
We stock more than 560 premium cigars, so every price below is one we sell today, and every pick has a box or bundle option where one exists. If you would rather have the field narrowed for you, the Cigar Finder does it in a few clicks.
Shop Premium Cigars Find Your CigarHow much do cigars cost?
A premium hand-rolled cigar costs roughly $10 to $25 for an everyday stick, $35 to $55 for a special-occasion cigar, and $90 to $110 for a showpiece single from a luxury house. Boxes of 20 run from about $240 to over $1,800, and a handful of limited releases sit above that. Price tracks the rarity of the leaf, how long it was aged, the size of the cigar and how few were made.
Those bands come from our own shelves rather than a national average. Tobacco tax is set by each state and city, so the same cigar can carry a different final price in two ZIP codes, and any guide that quotes one number for the whole country is guessing. The bands above are what you will see when you browse our full cigar catalog.
| Budget | What you are buying | Typical single-stick price in our humidor | Box or bundle equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| $20 | A well-made everyday premium cigar from an established house | $12 to $23 | $136 for 12 to $407.50 for 20 |
| $50 | Rarer wrapper, longer ageing, larger sizes, luxury-house names | $43 to $48 | $481.50 for 10 to $1,080.50 for 25 |
| $100 | Showpiece singles, extra-large formats, small production runs | $93 to $104.50 | $705.50 for 8 to $990 for 10 |
| $500 | A full box of 16 to 20 from the $25 to $35 band, at a lower per-stick price | $23.80 to $31.50 per stick inside the box | $476 to $510 |
What actually changes as the price goes up
Six things move the price of a cigar, and knowing which one you are paying for is the whole trick to spending well.
The wrapper leaf
The wrapper is the most expensive leaf in the cigar, because only a small share of any crop is flawless enough to be used as one. Shade-grown Connecticut leaf, dark maduro that has been fermented for a long time, and thick oily wrappers on the biggest ring gauges are all harder to produce without tears or blemishes, and the price reflects it.
Ageing time
Tobacco that has rested for years before rolling, and cigars that rest again after rolling, tie up a manufacturer's money for that whole period. A blend built on aged leaf costs more to make than one rolled from this year's crop, and the difference is usually the smoothness you notice in the first inch.
Size and shape
A 6 x 60 gordo simply contains more tobacco than a 5 x 50 robusto, and a hand-shaped figurado, perfecto or salomon takes a more experienced roller longer to make. Within a single line, the bigger and stranger the shape, the higher the price.
How many were made
Limited editions, single-vintage releases and small-batch lines cost more because the run is short and the cost of developing the blend is spread over fewer cigars. This is where the top of the market lives.
Presentation
Acrylic humidor boxes, individual tubes, lacquered cases and gift presentations add real cost. Sometimes that is what you want, especially for a gift. Sometimes the same cigars are available in a plain bundle for less, and we list both wherever the manufacturer offers them.
The name on the band
Established houses charge for their consistency, and a luxury brand charges for its position. Neither is dishonest. A house that has produced the same blend for decades is selling you the certainty that this cigar will be like the last one, and that is worth something.
What does not change
Whether the cigar is hand-rolled. Every cigar in this guide, including the $12 one, is a long-filler premium cigar made by hand. The difference between a $12 cigar and a $100 cigar is not craft versus machine. It is leaf, age, size, scarcity and name. Keep that in mind and the ladder gets much easier to read.
The everyday premium cigar
This is where most people should spend most of the time, and it is a better tier than its reputation. Around $12 to $23 buys a hand-rolled, long-filler cigar from a house that has been making it for years, in a size that lasts 45 minutes to an hour. What you give up against the tiers above is mostly age and rarity, not quality of construction.
Three we would hand you first, each from a different house and a different strength.
Oliva Serie V 135 Anniversary Perfecto (5.75 x 54), $12 a stick or $136 for a box of 12. A full-bodied Nicaraguan blend under an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, hand-shaped into a perfecto, which at this price is unusual. We hold this one in real depth, so it is the cigar we reach for when someone asks for something serious without a serious bill.
Ashton Cabinet #6 (5.5 x 50), $15 a stick or $354.50 for a box of 25. The opposite end of the spectrum: Dominican filler and binder under an American Connecticut shade wrapper, mild to medium, and about as consistent as a cigar gets. If you are buying for someone whose taste you do not know, this is the safe answer. Ashton is the house most people mean when they say "a classic Dominican."
El Septimo Sable Shamash Toro (6 x 50), $19 a stick or $340 for a box of 20. A maduro toro from the Gilgamesh Collection, rated 4 of 5 on our strength scale, and an inexpensive way into a luxury house that most people only meet at $50 and up. Inside the box it comes down to $17 a stick, one of the sharpest per-stick prices on this page.
Just above the band, the Cohiba Connecticut Robusto (5 x 50) at $23, or $407.50 for a box of 20, is a very good place to spend the extra three dollars. Just below it, the Perdomo 20th Anniversary Maduro Robusto at $11, or $245 for a box of 24, is proof that a well-aged maduro does not have to cost much. The whole tier lives in our best-selling cigars.
Step up when: you have found the strength and wrapper you like and want to know what a rarer version of it tastes like.
The cigar for an occasion
Between $40 and $55 the houses change. In our humidor Oliva, Perdomo and Ashton have all stopped well below this line, and El Septimo, Atabey, Alfonso, Zino and Davidoff take over. What you are paying for is rarer wrapper, longer-aged leaf, larger and more difficult formats, and in several cases an individual tube or acrylic box. This is the cigar you buy for the closing dinner, the birthday, the evening that was planned in advance.
El Septimo Excepcion Esmeralda Gordo (5 x 60), $45.50 a stick or $816 for a box of 20. A short, very thick maduro rated 4 of 5 for strength, and one of the shortest, thickest formats in the El Septimo range. The 60 ring gauge means a slow, cool hour and a half. Inside the box it comes down to $40.80 a stick.
Atabey Ritos Toro (6 1/8 x 55), $43 a stick. An Ecuadorian Connecticut shade wrapper over a Dominican binder and Peruvian filler, rated 3 of 5, so it is the medium-bodied option of the three. Atabey is a small-production house, and we carry eight of its sizes.
Zino Platinum Crown Series Barrel Gran Toro, $48 a stick or $481.50 for a box of 10. Zino comes from the same house as Davidoff, and the Crown Series comes individually tubed, which makes it the easiest cigar in this tier to carry, gift or keep in a jacket pocket for a week. The Zino collection is small and worth reading through.
If you want the aged-leaf angle specifically, the Alfonso Extra Añejo No. 3 Toro Extra (6 x 54) at $47.50 says so in its name, and that is the idea of it.
Step up when: you have smoked a few of these and want to know what a line's flagship, rather than its core, is like.
The showpiece single
Very few cigars cost $100 a stick, and in our humidor almost all of them are El Septimo. That is not an accident. We hold more than 150 El Septimo products, and the top of that range is where the house puts its largest formats, its darkest wrappers and its longest-aged blends. This is the cigar you buy once to find out, or the one you keep for the night that deserves it.
El Septimo Fabuloso Dark Ruby (6 1/4 x 70), $95 a stick or $900 for a box of 10. A 70 ring gauge is enormous, and the point of it is time. A maduro this thick can burn for two hours or more, and rated 4 of 5 it has the body to carry that long.
El Septimo Mirifico Sapphire Gordo (6 3/4 x 58), $100.50 a stick or $954 for a box of 10. Long, maduro, Dominican binder, 4 of 5 for strength. If the Fabuloso is about width, this is about length. It is the most elegant of the three to hold.
El Septimo Vartan The Dragon Gordo (6.75 x 58), $93 a stick or $705.50 for a box of 8. The strongest cigar on this page, rated a full 5 of 5, with a maduro wrapper over a Dominican binder. It sits in the Emperor Collection, and it is not a first El Septimo. It is the one you graduate to.
At this price the box question is worth doing out loud. Ten Mirifico Sapphires in the acrylic box cost $954, or $95.40 a stick, against $100.50 for the single. That is a saving of just over five percent, plus a proper container to keep them in. On a $100 cigar, buy the box only once you know you love the blend. Buy the single first.
Step up when: you already own a humidor and want cigars that will still be improving in it a year from now.
Stop buying sticks, buy the box
Here is the part most price guides get wrong. Five hundred dollars does not buy one $500 cigar, or at least it should not. Five hundred dollars buys a full box of 16 to 20 cigars from the $25 to $35 band, at a per-stick price six to ten percent below the single, in a container built to keep them in condition. It is the point on the ladder where you stop paying retail per stick and start owning a supply.
Three boxes we would put in front of you at this budget.
| The box | Box price | Per stick in the box | Single-stick price | Strength (our 1 to 5 scale) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Septimo Empress Sheba Maduro Gordo (6 x 60), box of 20 | $476 | $23.80 | $26.50 | 4, maduro |
| El Septimo Yao Connecticut Torpedo (6 1/2 x 60), box of 20 | $510 | $25.50 | $28.50 | 2, Connecticut |
| El Septimo Rebelde Blue Toro (5 1/2 x 54), wood box of 16 | $504 | $31.50 | $33.50 | 4, maduro |
The Empress Sheba box is the one we would start with, and it comes in three edition colours. The Yao Connecticut is the mild option, and the only one of the three you could hand to someone who has never smoked a cigar. The Rebelde Blue, from the Luxus Collection, comes in a wooden box of 16 rather than an acrylic 20, which some people prefer on a desk.
And above $500
The ladder does keep going. The Vartan The Dragon is sold in a bundle of 50 at $4,165, and the El Septimo Mi Familia Limited Edition sampler box is $1,900. Those, and the rest of the El Septimo limited editions, are collector purchases rather than spending advice, and the sensible way to approach them is one stick at a time first.
One practical note. Ground shipping is free on orders of $250 or more, so every box in this section ships free, and on any box we recommend having a humidor or at least a sealed case ready for the day it arrives.
Is a more expensive cigar better?
Usually, but not in the way people expect. A more expensive cigar is typically made from rarer, older leaf in a larger or more difficult format by a house with more to protect, so it is more likely to be smooth, complex and consistent. It is not more likely to suit your taste. A mild Connecticut at $15 will beat a full-strength $100 maduro every time for someone who does not want a full-strength maduro.
So the price question is really two questions. First, what strength and wrapper do you enjoy, which costs nothing to find out with a sampler. Second, how much of the rarer, older version of that cigar do you want to pay for. Answer them in that order and you will never overspend.
What we tell customers deciding how much to spend
Buy the $20 cigar in the wrapper and strength you think you like. If it was right, buy the $50 version of the same style and notice what the extra money bought. If that was right too, you now know exactly what you value, and the $100 stick and the $500 box are informed decisions rather than guesses. Current reductions across every tier sit in our special offers.
The four tiers side by side
| $20 | $50 | $100 | $500 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you are paying for | Construction and a proven name | Rarer wrapper, older leaf, bigger formats | Extra-large formats, small runs, a luxury house's flagship | Quantity, a lower per-stick price and a proper container |
| Houses in our humidor | Oliva, Ashton, Perdomo, Cohiba, El Septimo's entry lines | El Septimo, Atabey, Alfonso, Zino, Davidoff | El Septimo, almost exclusively | El Septimo boxes of 16 to 20 |
| Best for | Every week, and finding your taste | A planned evening or a gift | The night that deserves it | Owning a supply you already know you love |
| Buy the box? | Yes, once you know the blend | Yes, if it is your regular | Only after the single | That is the point |
| Our picks | Oliva Serie V 135, Ashton Cabinet #6, El Septimo Sable Shamash | El Septimo Esmeralda, Atabey Ritos, Zino Platinum Crown | Fabuloso Dark Ruby, Mirifico Sapphire, Vartan The Dragon | Empress Sheba, Yao Connecticut, Rebelde Blue |
The bottom line
Twenty dollars buys a real hand-rolled cigar from a serious house. Fifty buys rarer leaf, more age and a luxury name. A hundred buys a showpiece you will remember. Five hundred, spent well, buys twenty cigars you already know you love and somewhere to keep them. None of those is the wrong tier. The wrong tier is the one you bought without knowing what the money was for.
Keep exploring
Shop Every Tier in One Place
More than 560 premium cigars, from a $12 everyday stick to the El Septimo limited editions, shipped from humidified storage in Woodland Hills, California. Free ground shipping on orders of $250 or more.
Shop Premium Cigars Explore El SeptimoFrequently asked questions
How much does a good cigar cost?
A good hand-rolled premium cigar costs about $10 to $25. That range covers established houses such as Oliva, Ashton, Perdomo and the entry lines of El Septimo. Prices climb from there for rarer wrapper leaf, longer-aged tobacco, larger sizes and limited production, reaching $90 to $110 for the showpiece singles.
How much should I spend on a cigar?
Start around $15 to $20 in the strength and wrapper you think you like, then move up only once you know that style suits you. Spending $100 on a cigar before you know whether you prefer mild or full-bodied is the most common way people waste money on cigars.
What makes a cigar expensive?
Six things: the rarity and grade of the wrapper leaf, how long the tobacco was aged, the size and difficulty of the shape, how few were made, the presentation it comes in, and the position of the brand. Whether it is hand-rolled is not one of them, because every premium cigar is.
Is a more expensive cigar better?
Usually it is smoother, more complex and more consistent, because it is made from older, rarer leaf by a house with more to protect. It is not more likely to suit your taste. The right strength and wrapper matters more than the price, and you can find those out with a $15 cigar.
Is it cheaper to buy a box of cigars?
Almost always. On the El Septimo boxes in this guide the per-stick price inside the box is roughly six to ten percent below the single, and the box itself is a proper container for storing them. Compare per stick, not per package, and include shipping, which is free on our orders of $250 or more.
What is the best cigar under $20?
It depends on the strength you want. For full-bodied, the Oliva Serie V 135 Anniversary Perfecto at $12. For mild to medium, the Ashton Cabinet #6 at $15. For a maduro from a luxury house, the El Septimo Sable Shamash Toro at $19. All three come in boxes as well as singles.
What is the best cigar under $50?
The El Septimo Excepcion Esmeralda Gordo at $45.50 if you want a thick, full-bodied maduro, the Atabey Ritos Toro at $43 if you want medium-bodied Connecticut, and the Zino Platinum Crown Series Barrel Gran Toro at $48 if you want it tubed for travel or gifting.
What does a $100 cigar get you that a $20 cigar does not?
Mostly size, age and scarcity. The $100 cigars in our humidor are extra-large formats, 58 to 70 ring gauge, built on longer-aged leaf in small runs by a luxury house. They burn for two hours or more. What they do not get you is better construction, because the $20 cigar is hand-rolled too.
What is the most expensive cigar you sell?
By the package, the El Septimo Vartan The Dragon in a bundle of 50 at $4,165, followed by the El Septimo Mi Familia Limited Edition sampler box at $1,900. By the single stick, the top of the El Septimo range sits just above $100, with the Kolosso Amethyst Gordo at $104.50. These are collector purchases, and we suggest trying a single first.
Why do El Septimo cigars cost more than most brands?
El Septimo is positioned as a luxury house and its range is built around large formats, dark long-fermented wrappers, acrylic humidor boxes and limited runs, all of which add cost. Its entry lines start at $13.50 a stick, so the brand is not only a $100 cigar, but its flagship formats are priced accordingly.
Why does the same cigar cost different amounts in different states?
Tobacco tax is set by each state, and in some places by the city or county as well, and it is applied on top of the cigar's price. The same box can therefore carry a noticeably different final price in two locations. Compare the delivered price, not the shelf price, when shopping across state lines.
Should I buy a box or a sampler first?
A sampler first, unless you already know the exact blend you want. A sampler gives you several cigars for the cost of two or three singles, tells you which strength and wrapper you prefer, and turns the box into a confident purchase rather than a twenty-cigar guess.
Do I need a humidor if I buy a box?
You need somewhere stable, which the acrylic El Septimo boxes provide for a while on their own. For anything longer than a few weeks, a desktop humidor or a sealed case with a humidity source keeps a box in the condition you paid for. An open drawer does not.
For adults 21+. Please enjoy responsibly.
Cigar Inc. · 21900 Burbank Blvd UNIT 265, Woodland Hills, CA 91367 · 1 818-719-9885 · Info@Cigarinc.com · Monday to Friday, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm