Budget Box Pass

[craig]

Hope everything is ok my friend.

Rich

I've heard from Jamie via PM; he is okay, but is busy with more important things in his life than cigars, and may not be in a position to do any timely p/t.

<teaching mode on>
If something comes up and push comes to shove and there are just other priorities, then it is perfectly acceptable to just leave the pass unopened, slap a new mailing label on the box, and send it onwards to the next person. Sometimes another solution can be found.

As always, timely communications is key. It can be via PM or e-mail with the host; it doesn't have to be in the pass thread.
<teaching mode off>

[ashauler]

Pass has landed...all looks in fine shape. Just waiting on address confirmation and it will be on its way to prophetic_joe.

[craig]

Pass has landed...all looks in fine shape. Just waiting on address confirmation and it will be on its way to prophetic_joe.

Thanks!

For the record, your squares are E2 and B4.

Prophetic_joe, you can post your preliminary p/t .

[prophetic_joe]

K. I'm working on it but I got sick while on vacation so it may be tomorrow yet before i post.

[ashauler]

Am I good to send the pass?

[craig]

K. I'm working on it but I got sick while on vacation so it may be tomorrow yet before i post.

It looks like you hopefully will have the pass over the weekend, so you've got a bit of a breather - and I don't expect you to do p/t Friday night.

Hope that your illness wasn't swine flu, and that you're well on the road to recovery.

Pass has landed...all looks in fine shape. Just waiting on address confirmation and it will be on its way to prophetic_joe.

Am I good to send the pass?

I don't know.

<lesson mode on> For others - compare and contrast:

"I'll assume that the address in your profile is good unless I hear otherwise from you."

and

"Please reply confirming that the address in your profile is the correct address."

The first sentence is more polite, and is a commonly-used phrasing. However, it doesn't explicitly confirm the address, unless there is a response that the address has changed.

Every once in a while one will read a horror story about a pass left on a doorstep for weeks, returned-to-sender, or sent to a previous address or just plain gone missing (or stolen by pirates).

In this pass, primarily because it is a first-timer pass, there are rules to hopefully minimize the chances of the above occuring, and also, a rule on who is responsible during transit. Usually there are no such explicit rules.

Detailed rule #6 says that the sender (Ashauler in this case) has to PM the recipient (Prophetic_Joe) to get the address, and detailed rule #1 states that the recipient (Prophetic_Joe) has to respond by PM'ing his address to the sender (Ashauler). The pass flies only after this two-way communication. This is not the only way to do it, but the two-step assures that:

1. the recipient is aware that the pass is coming, and thus, should be ready and waiting for it; and
2. the sender has a good address.

Yup, more harping on communications by yours truly . While speed on the pass is highly desirable, effective communication, especially concerning movement of the pass, is fundamental.

As always, never assume, as that makes an "ass" out of "u" and "me."
<lesson mode off>

[prophetic_joe]

Address is correct sir.

[ashauler]

Address is correct sir.

On its way Nate. I'm out of the office today and will post the DC tomorrow.

[ashauler]

Dc# 9101 0105 2129 7911 6639 52

[prophetic_joe]

Arrived today guys. I'll post my puts and takes momentarily.

[prophetic_joe]

I would like 26 D-Long Bolivar Simones RE Canada Nov 07 but I am not sure of it's value.

Take 36 D-Long Cohiba Maduro 5 Secreto 2008 $7.87 for #44 Partagas Serie D No.4 $7.92

Take #28 D-Long Partagás Short Cab Aug 06 $4.78 for #45 Camacho Coyolar Super Toro $4.87

Take #34 34 C-Big Vegas Robaina Unicos 2008 $7.60 for #46 Hemingway Classic Nat $7.50

[craig]

Thanks Joe. You've picked the best-smoking cigar in the pass starting line-up. That Party Short is ready-to-smoke!

For the Simones, look at the prices from the first couple of pages returned from a Google search. Use the cached pages when necessary.

Due to fluctuating currency conversion, it is better to take the value in the original currency from the selling website and convert to US$ yourself using one factor for all sites. This is especially true for cached pages, which are all over the place with their conversions.

Class is now back in session! I am expecting comments from the floor .

[mrtr33]

Nice swaps, Nate. Those P/T's are very close in value.

I took craig's advice, and looked up a couple of sites via google, and found an average price of $19.71 for the Bolivar Simones RE Canada, but I may have done something wrong, I don't know. Anyone else get anything different? I know nothing of ISOMs.

I can't come up with the $7.92 avg. on the PSD#4. I threw out the lowest two prices and still get $7.69.

T #28 I came up with an average price of $3.90, but maybe I did my math wrong/P #45 is dead-on.

I also had a question about T #34/P #46. Even if the Hemingway Classic Nat is $7.50, how is that an equal or greater trade than the Vegas Robaina - $7.60? Just curious. I came up with $7.34 as the price for the Hemingway Classic Natural.

I'm not pointing fingers or accusing at all. I'm asking questions.

[badwhale]

I didn't do any homework on the puts yet. Maybe tonight.

As far as the Bolivar Simone, I found two sources at $1059/box of 50 that comes out to $21.18.

I'll edit this post tonight with more info if I get to it.

Ahh screw it. I just did it now.
Here's my analysis:

(Nate's puts / takes):
Take 36 ~ Worth:$7.88 Put 44 ~ Worth: $7.48
Take 28 ~ Worth:$4.78 Put 45 ~ Worth: $4.88
Take 34 ~ Worth:$8.36 Put 46 ~ Worth: $7.34
Take 26 ~ Worth:$21.18 Put 47 ~ Worth: $Not called out yet....

I'm not getting this under / over-lier stuff. I'm not sure why my average for the Party D is off.
Will

[FactoredReality]

LIMITS: You can take a maximum of two cigars from any one tray

If Nate wants to take the #26 D-Long Bolivar Simones RE Canada Nov 07 he would need to revise one of his other tray D swaps to be from a different tray correct?

[mrtr33]

Take 36 ~ Worth:$7.88 Put 44 ~ Worth: $7.48

I'm not getting this under / over-lier stuff. I'm not sure why my average for the Party D is off.

Will,

I got your $7.48 average price when I originally did the math: =((175.15+223.95+172.25+198+171+173.6+229.4+194.3+ 164+168.75)/25)/10

I then threw out the lowest value ($164). I probably, for fairness, thrown out the highest value ($229.40). Where I got my number, I actually threw out the lowest two prices, but still didn't come up with the $7.92. I was just wondering how that number was arrived at. If I understand correctly, the whole thought behind throwing out highest or lowest prices found is that they are not a true reflection of what the cigars can realistically be bought for. In the above case, I would think that the higher values (the $220+) would be tossed out if anything, because they are the only values which are above $200 - all the rest of the values are relatively close to each other. I may have misunderstood this train of thought, however.

I did take the price of the Vegas Robaina at the value it was traded in, which was $7.60, when Rich put it in the pass. I thought I remembered reading something somewhere in this thread where craig mentioned the ISOM sticks going into the pass remain at the price they were traded in at - that's why I kept the VR at a static value. Ultimately, however, the host has the final say.

[prophetic_joe]

Nice swaps, Nate. Those P/T's are very close in value.

I took craig's advice, and looked up a couple of sites via google, and found an average price of $19.71 for the Bolivar Simones RE Canada, but I may have done something wrong, I don't know. Anyone else get anything different? I know nothing of ISOMs.

I can't come up with the $7.92 avg. on the PSD#4. I threw out the lowest two prices and still get $7.69.

T #28 I came up with an average price of $3.90, but maybe I did my math wrong/P #45 is dead-on.

I also had a question about T #34/P #46. Even if the Hemingway Classic Nat is $7.50, how is that an equal or greater trade than the Vegas Robaina - $7.60? Just curious. I came up with $7.34 as the price for the Hemingway Classic Natural.

I'm not pointing fingers or accusing at all. I'm asking questions.

The PSD #4 price was the price I found for single currently on one of the only ISOM sites I know. I have not found a very good way to average those sticks. I can find something closer that I know the exact price of, I was attempting to keep as many ISOM for ISOM ttrades as possible though.

As for the Hemingway Versus the VR the reasoning I had was that it was .10 and we had a discussion previously of trying to not keep upping the value of stick so as some of the newer participants could still participate without breaking their bank. I just figured value for value a dime was close enough. Vegas Robaina price is directly from the first post. It says there $7.60 so that's what I went with.

[ashauler]

The PSD #4 price was the price I found for single currently on one of the only ISOM sites I know. I have not found a very good way to average those sticks. As for the Hemingway Versus the VR the reasoning I had was that it was .10 and we had a discussion previously of trying to not keep upping the value of stick so as some of the newer participants could still participate without breaking their bank. I just figured value for value a dime was close enough.

Vegas Robaina price is directly from the first post. It says there $7.60 so that's what I went with.

On the comparison shopper, there is an international version a little lower on the page from where you access the domestic version.

[prophetic_joe]

On the comparison shopper, there is an international version a little lower on the page from where you access the domestic version.

DOH!! And now I know, and knowing kids is half the battle.

[EGQ]

Just an FYI -- I'm off to Detroit for business (hopefully only a day or two). I should be back before Nate gets the package to me.