Blue Smoke Dallas= Casa Fuente Prices?

[txaggie9307]

So yesterday I stumbled into Blue Smoke in Dallas off of Mockingbird. They have some really HTF sticks in stock such as the Don Carlos Lancero, Opus X, Anejo, Tatuaje Wolfman, etc. However, I think I know the reason these sticks are all still in stock; THE PRICE! I felt like I was in Casa Fuente in Vegas because of the prices! They want $49 for the Don Carlos Lancero, $29 for XXX Opus X, $22 for Anejo Robusto, and $29 for the Tatuaje Wolfman! If I am not mistaken, do you get into trouble with Tatuaje if you sell above MSRP?

 

[Herfin' Harg]

Last time I was in there I spoke with the owner briefly about the shop (which was new at the time) and some of the HTFs he had in there. He said something about how, as a new shop, he was buying HTFs at retail (or above) from other shops in order to bring them with small (if any) margins simply to get people come in and take a look around the shop. This was back in... August, maybe?

I can't tell you what may or may not be in his retailer/vendor agreement or whatever other agreement he may be a party to, but I'd bet you that even if he is subject to such a thing, it's unlikely to cover products he's purchased from other retailers/vendors at or above MSRP.

Whenever it was, I picked up Ligas in there at maybe a buck over MSRP (a handful of other things that the shops in Austin don't carry) at what I felt was a fair price. Also, after bullshitting with the guy for a little bit, he gave he the 10% membership discount off of my purchases and a gratis copy of the Whisky Advocate I was reading in the lounge.

 

[Alwayslit]

Those are steep prices.

 

[Xingpao]

Fifty bucks for a don Carlos lancero? Holy moly.

 

[veeref]

Last time I was in there I spoke with the owner briefly about the shop (which was new at the time) and some of the HTFs he had in there. He said something about how, as a new shop, he was buying HTFs at retail (or above) from other shops in order to bring them with small (if any) margins simply to get people come in and take a look around the shop. This was back in... August, maybe?

I can't tell you what may or may not be in his retailer/vendor agreement or whatever other agreement he may be a party to, but I'd bet you that even if he is subject to such a thing, it's unlikely to cover products he's purchased from other retailers/vendors at or above MSRP.

Whenever it was, I picked up Ligas in there at maybe a buck over MSRP (a handful of other things that the shops in Austin don't carry) at what I felt was a fair price. Also, after bullshitting with the guy for a little bit, he gave he the 10% membership discount off of my purchases and a gratis copy of the Whisky Advocate I was reading in the lounge.

I think Jay is just trying to figure out what people in the area are looking for, so that makes sense that he's picking up some limited sticks to get people to look around. When I was there last summer, he said his most popular stick was the Gran Habano :eyequiver I thought he had a little bit of everything, but nothing eye-popping. It was nice to see some Liga Privadas No 9's considering they're hard to come by.

Maybe he's trying to capitalize on the infrequent shopper looking for gifts, hence the aforementioned prices on those sticks. He did mentioned he was going to get a Viaje account with all their HTFs, but I don't know if that panned out or not.

He does have a decent lounge in the back and the regulars are good guys, but I wouldn't even put the place on the same level as CF in Vegas.