You really do like your avatar, don't you?Originally Posted by ashauler
There has to be a one-liner in this somewhere. Personally, 34C ain't all that big to me, but perhaps I'm spoiled.
Again, I'm good. I'll update the first post after DC.
What follows are just examples - please do not change p/t's.
Yup. Prophetic_Joe wasn't making a rookie error; it appeared that he was doing his p/t within his understanding of equal value in the pass. The whole thing comes down to, "what is value?" This is a highly subjective thing, so we often use $$$ as a proxy for value. If the put comes in at higher $ than the take, then not many will argue. That's why a pricing mechanism is pretty explicitly defined for this first-timer pass. Follow the recipe and everything will be fine, almost all the time. That doesn't mean that one absolutely must follow the recipe.
For example, the initial p/t had a VR Unicos 2008 swapped for an AF Hemingway. First, we ignore the "ISOM"-ness of the VR because the pass host says so. (Almost all passes are ISOM for ISOM. Even when the rule isn't there, many consider it an unwritten rule. Please ignore this guideline for this pass, but keep it in mind generally.)
The AF came in, using current pricing, for a bit less than the VR. If one had looked at the cigars a few weeks prior, the AF would have been a bit more than the VR. This is because the AF is made and sold in US$, but the VR isn't, so exchange has an effect on the VR's price.
That p/t was changed to a RP Vintage, which had a higher price showing in the Comparison Shopper. Can't say anything now, can we? Well, most RP lovers know that the same cigar can be had without a band or a box for about $3. That certainly affects the perceived value of an RP Vintage. Many folks would also say that the AF Hemingway is a better cigar than the RP Vintage (at least, the RP vintage that one can buy now), but that is a subjective appraisal of value. However, the RP (with a band) comes in at a higher price than the VR - that objective measure of value cannot be easily questioned, and everyone's happy.
Another note - the per-stick price of the Secretos was even more affected than the VR - the price of the Secreto went up 20 cents in two weeks. However, the price - for pass purposes - remained at the original put price. Such currency fluctuations could have happened the other way. What the recent changes in exchange rates means (besides the Chinese freaking) is that an equal $ value put actually generates a little break for the person taking the Secretos. That's just the way this pass works. Many passes work on a current-value-only basis. Some have a combination of rules, like this pass. There are pluses and minuses to any of the schemes.
All that to say that pricing is one measure of value. Pricing is a reasonable proxy for value, it is a safe proxy, it is even in the pass rules as the accepted definition of value, but it isn't the be-all and end-all. However, when pricing doesn't agree with value, discussion inevitably results.
As for going up or down in price, if folks want guidelines (a GUIDE, not a RULE), then I'm thinking - for (only) this pass - that ideally we're in a range from 0% to +5% in put value, relative to the cigar taken. Another 5% either way, i.e., -5% to +10%, I'll likely accept with an explanation. More then that may rate a comment, although there is more slack on low-priced and high-priced, e.g., a $2.25 put on a $2.00 take is more than a 10% increase, but is okay. (BTW, it is 0% to 5% instead of +/-2.5% due to (some folks') human nature.)
While I'm here - when the put and take are sold by the same store, you will usually get a better comparison by excluding the merchants that sell only one or the other. For example, let's say the Secretos was sold by 8 stores, and the SD#4 was sold by 10 stores - those eight stores that also sold Secretos, plus two that didn't. To calculate average prices, I would only look at the eight stores common to both sticks.
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