Class 34 Sumatra Blend No. 26

Well-constructed, good looking, smooth, medium-brown colored Sumatra wrapper with nice sheen. Right down the middle of the fairway, a nice all-day, any day smoke.... medium in body and flavor intensity with a nice creamy sweetness. Some tongue spice, but overall quite pleasant, balanced and smooth smoking with some citrus notes.

About Class 34: 
A customer called Class 34 cigars the Dollar Shave Club of cigars. I think that nails it. The question is, why do some good cigars cost so much – and why so much variation in costs between blends? The answer is strictly brand name. There’s still art to cigar making but at this day in age the production itself is more science. Established, accepted processes for growing tobacco, fermentation and pre-industry, and cigar production are more uniformly followed than at any point in history. Innovations are only incremental at this point, as fewer barriers exist with less hidden knowledge than ever before. So any factory that wants to meet the threshold of making quality cigars can.

There are bad or inexperienced cigar makers, corner-cutters, or factories who choose to specialize in cheap cigars for the “barely premium” value market. Set those aside for a minute. For the rest, with any volume it costs a dime more at the factory level to make a good premium vs. a basic handmade….which after taxes landed here stateside is about a 20-cent difference. With each additional cent of cost put into the production of a cigar, there’s a quickly diminishing - if not vanishing - incremental increase in quality.

So back to cost, why is it $10, $12 or more a cigar on the shelf? 75-cents might be import taxes and shipping cost. Then there are middlemen markups. Then there are often pricing policies where brands mandate that retailers double the price. There are also sales taxes. But it comes down to some brands simply charging more – they count on their marketing spending to capture that premium price, not because it’s better. These brands often pay retail stores co-op money and other fees for placement in their store. These costs and markups are all passed to you, and what you get in return is zero. What's the difference between a $2 cigar and a $12 cigar? Answer: “10 bucks.”

Today there is no reason for that. Better cigars really shouldn't cost much more. Class 34 cigars are straight from factory to you. No middlemen, no inefficiencies, no needless markups.

Want some other great blends from the Class 34 line? Try: Class 34 Box-Pressed Connecticut Blend No.35, Class 34 Nicaraguan 4x60 Blend No. 06, Class 34 Habano Blend No. 03, Class 34 Maduro Blend No. 38