Cigarticles

Cheapskate's Choice: 5 Vegas Series 'A'

Monday January 19th, 2009
by Tom Chapman
 
We've been experiencing some absolutely stupid weather here in southeast Michigan. It's been way too cold and snowy to do much of anything outside, let alone smoke cigars. Unfortunately, outside is where I light up... unless I happen to hit the local watering hole. Everything comes at a price, I guess. Looking on the positive side, such a constraint does benefit a thrifty cigars smoker's budget - at least for the moment! That's why (time for my excuse!) I haven't been doing Cheapskates Choice more often. Don't worry, though. When I can get back on the patio, I'll be kicking the frequency of this column up a notch! 
 
This time around, let's take a look at a really good smoke - the 5 Vegas Series 'A'. I like this one a lot. In fact, I'd venture it's one of the tastiest Maduros going. Medium plus in body and flavor. Great cocoa and coffee notes. Excellent balance.
 

 
These cedar-sleeved beauties are Honduran-made with a Costa Rican Maduro wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and filler leaves from Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. I'd call that a wide range blend for sure! Also (I can't speak to the accuracy of this), some quick internet research reveals that 5 Vegas is a Cigars International brand made by Nestor Placencia.
 
The focus in this article is the Archetype, a perfect 6.0 x 50-ring toro-size Parejo. In addition to this size, they're offered in 8 - you heard it... EIGHT - additional sizes, for a total of 9! If you like good Maduros and can't find a Series 'A' size to your liking, then you need to forget it and take up macramé!
 

 
Let's talk about pricing and sources. Regardless of who owns the brand, these are available from several on-line retailers. As a side note, other than the CI retail stores in Bethlehem, PA, I've never seen them on the shelf of any other B&M store. On-line prices for a box of 20 range from $72.95 to $81.55. CI's price falls in the middle. Adding in a ballpark $6 for shipping, we're looking at about $3.95 to $4.40 per stick. WHOA now, that's not thrifty cigar smoking! 
 
But wait just a second. By checking out some CigarBid action, with patience and discipline, you can win five-packs of these for as little as $7 each, and boxes for a measly $37. Now we're onto something! Breaking this down to a per-cigar price, at $7 and $3.95 shipping for a 5er (who buys only ONE five pack anyway?), we've suddenly got $2.19 per stick. At a winning bid of $37 for a box and C-Bid's $5.95 shipping, you'd pay a slightly better $2.15 per cigar. Now, if you're lucky enough to win FOUR 5ers within the same shipping period (daily or weekly) at $7 per (it has been done!), C-Bid will cut you a deal on shipping - $3.95 for the first one and $0.50 each for the other three, or $5.45 in total. Add this to $28 for 20 cigars (don't need another empty box anyway), and you're now getting these bad boys to your door for a paltry $1.67 each. YEE-HA!!
 
Thanks for reading, and see you on the next round!
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Tom Chapman (tchapchap) is a recently retired mechanical engineer who survived over three decades in the bowels of the domestic car business developing future products. He's been a lover of the leaf for several years, and has been known to go considerably out of his way to make cigar-related visits. In addition to family and cigars, Tom enjoys motorcycles (owning more of them than he needs to!) and, in spite of living, breathing, eating and getting beaten up over cars, still loves them too! He's also an avid fisherman.