Nothing like coming into a month-old discussion with a couple of thoughts that should've been offered two weeks ago ... but, here goes anyway ... LOL
Let's assume for a moment that Fuente sells OpusX at the same price to all dealers (although I'm sure that's not the case) ... should that mean the retail price will be the same at all dealers? ...
Not at all ... in addition to the taxes varying widely from one area to another, a cigar store in NYC, Chicago or San Francisco does not have the same overhead as a cigar store in a suburb of those same cities ... they're gonna have to mark that Opus up more, just to have the same net profit ...
I don't know the taxes in other states well enough to make a direct comparison, but it's safe to say that the price of any cigar at a store in downtown SF with their high overhead and the ridiculous CA taxes is gonna be substantially higher than the price of the same cigar at a suburban store in a low-tax state ...
even within SF, the downtown store has far higher overhead than a store in one of the neighborhoods, let alone the 'burbs ...
And, after all that is said and done, there's still the question of supply ... and since there is limited supply of a cigar for which there is a high demand, the price will remain high ...
Are they worth it? ... to a great many, it would seem. For me, I think they're one of a number of very good cigars, most of which sell for a lower price. And, given my budget, that translates into my smoking more of those other cigars and fewer of the OpusX ... and frankly, I'm OK with that.