Brand New Cigar Illusion2

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MartinPens

MartinPens

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Joined
Apr 3, 2010
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1,814
Location
Medford, Oregon, USA
I made another Upper Cut label Cigar Pen. This one is for the Brand Manager of Upper Cut cigars. :biggrin: He would like to have one and would like me to quote a price and quantities. So, I want to hear from people what they think about pricing something like this. Most of my commissioned work at this level starts at $250. This will have a custom case and can also come as a fountain pen. I'm thinking $300. I'm open to opinions.

Any and all comments are welcome. Thanks, Jonathon, for the reminders and resources for hidden clips. I like the way it turned out, but improvements can be made.

Not sure if I should add the white ash outline on the "lit" part of the cigar. I need to get down to my local cigar shop and find out what a smoked cigar looks like. I'm not a smoker. My wife is a physician.

Martin
 

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You havn't told us how much work is involved in 'the look' of the end, but I'd think you want to make these HIGH end items. Unless these are easier than they look... Do you really want to make these at $250 and have them order 20, 50, 100??? I'd say start HIGH on price and lower on qty, but thats me. You have a great looking niche here and may have an in... go for it while you can!
 
Glad I could be helpful Martin! I'm happy that I had those pdfs saved on my computer bc I could have really confused you trying to explain it in my own words:confused::eek: I think those are awesome! I agree that maybe raising your price some if the work that goes into those tiny details won't be worth the time you put into it. You can always leave a little wiggle room for negotiations.
 
I do some cigar pens for a cigar distributor here in Tampa, yours look better I think, but conceptually they are the same. I only get $125 per pen, but that is just me. I opted for selling more for less. I don't think they would have paid much more for them.

I segment on a piece of grey metalic blank to the burning end to resemble ash, but i like your treatment better. If you don't mind me asking, how do you do it? Do you hand paint it before you finish in or what? I like the end of this one better than the first one you posted.
 
Martin I think your price is fair at 250, but I also dont know (like someone else said, how much you have in each one). You need to consider all of it; feel good about your price, and then present your offer to the guy. I also think you have to consider how many you may be doing and are they worth your time at a lower cost. Just my .02
 
$250 sounds good, $300 with a custom box sounds good, too.

My pricing formula:

Charge enough that you are happy to make the pens, even if they order 100. You'll get very tired of making 100, but it will be MUCH worse if you're unhappy about the price.
 
Very cool, I think a FP $300 with a nice box like spanish cedar is a good price. The look is awesome but I think a larger "ash" without the blacked end would suit the cigar better. The blackend end looks like the cigar has died out, it should be a grey and a good cigar will hold a longer "ash". If I remember corectly....

Is the end actually charred? or painted????
 
Appreciate all the feedback so far. There are a few factors that I have to take into consideration. The ash end is a combination of natural characteristics of the wood, a little work with the Dremmel and, yes I have charred the end, sealed it and added some white ash coloring and then resealed.

The wood is a fairly rare wood - it's Cuban Mahogany with the spalted sapwood on one end. I got it here on the forum and will try to get some more if I can. I wish the pieces were longer. I have to use two blanks and can't always get the grain to match up well.

If I were to make 100 of these, I would make them at my own pace. There's too much detail and fine tuning involved to go fast. Also, I have two kids who are on summer vacation and since I work at home - I'm the goto guy for fun these days!

With a custom case and on a commissioned basis - I don't think anything less than $300 would make it worth my time. I'm using the higher end kits to stay with all metal parts. I hate shorting the higher end kits - but with that price I think I can take it. : )

I could also offer laser engraving for a little extra or built into the price.

I'm going to send this one off as a gift to the Brand Manager with some pricing and commissioning info and hope for the best. Working on the case/box next.

Martin
 
Don't cut yourself short. Remember, there is basically no economy of scale on a handcrafted pen such as this so the price should not go down due to quantity. Just my opinion.
 
hiharry626 said:
were the clips necessary?
Click to expand...

MesquiteMan said:
Don't cut yourself short. Remember, there is basically no economy of scale on a handcrafted pen such as this so the price should not go down due to quantity. Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

hiharry626, - seems like clips are favored. I have one style of pen that I never put a clip on, but all the rest have clips. A person browsing in a cigar shop might walk right past it - but with the clip it makes one stop and take a second glance.

MesquiteMan, I completely agree. No quantity discounts on this one.

Martin
 
MesquiteMan said:
Don't cut yourself short. Remember, there is basically no economy of scale on a handcrafted pen such as this so the price should not go down due to quantity. Just my opinion.
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In fact, there will be added complications in finding quantities of wood that will be close to the original. Nothing quite like the heartache of finishing the last pen and having a laser problem or two and remaking those pens.

+1 on the no discounts.
 
That is pretty darn awesome work. I think Lupe is correct on the ash though. Gray at the end and I'd make a little darker ring where the ash is burning on the cigar. I can't even guess how you do that, so I fell silly suggesting anything. But I do smoke a cigar once in a great while, just to ponder what the ash looks like, of coarse.
 
looks great.
I have had that cigar a couple of times.
No need to go to the cigar shop to see how they burn, you have on right there in the 3rd pic. Just bite the end off, light it and see what it looks like in 6-8 puffs. Dont inhale. I would never tell someone to bite the end off a good cigar but you not smoking for enjoyment, you are smoking to see the looks of the ash. With doing this at home you also have the cigar to look at if you have any troble remembering it. Light it up, puff and place it down it will go out on its own and the ash should stay on unless you are trying to knock it off.
Make sure the one you light is not all dried out.
 
Well, just an update to this thread after a long while.
I sent the Cigar Illusion pen to the Brand Manager of the cigar company as a gift. I sent it in a small travel humidor and the presentation was great! I offered to make more of them as a specialty item at the price of $350 each, which includes the humidor case. He was very appreciative to receive the Cigar pen and said he was getting many comments but found the price a sticking point. He inquired about an inexpensive option for promotional sales - price and quantity a factor. I let him know I would look into a less expensive version.

Hoping for a few specialty orders, but haven't heard back from him in a while.

I enjoyed making the pen. I was inspired to make it as my submission into the Penturner's Guild - which was successful.
I have enjoyed seeing a little surge in other cigar look-a-like pens. Not sure how many of them were inspired by this pen but have enjoyed the variety. If I make any more I will post them. Thanks for all of the encouraging comments.

Martin
 
I think you are on the right track with those prices, but what i don't understand is why do you have/need two cigar labels on each pen? I think it throws off the pen and the way real cigars are.That is just my opinion. Here in Illinois I get over $90.00 for a celtic3 with snake wrap. or Fish skin pen.
 
Definately talented. Those cigar pens look OUTSTANDING!!! I don't think I would change anything if I had the talent, but if I were to sit and ponder a might, maybe, and you're definately talented and obviously skilled enough that if you could figure out a way to turn the burnt ash a more smokey grey with maybe even tiny flecks of red to represent hot ash on the tip. I'm not a cigar type person but those are awsome Martin!

Mark
 
clips and ash

EmersonMA said:
Definately talented. Those cigar pens look OUTSTANDING!!! I don't think I would change anything if I had the talent, but if I were to sit and ponder a might, maybe, and you're definately talented and obviously skilled enough that if you could figure out a way to turn the burnt ash a more smokey grey with maybe even tiny flecks of red to represent hot ash on the tip. I'm not a cigar type person but those are awsome Martin!

Mark
Click to expand...

Mark,
Here is a link to the followup to this pen - another cigar with more realistic ash. http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=64679
The clip is a hidden clip. There is a tutorial on hidden clips in the resource section.
The cigar that I patterned these after had the exact labels in the same location that these labels are located. I just took the labels off the real thing and put them on the pen.

Thanks for the comments.
 
martin, these pens would be very hard for me to price, I have never seen anything like them. They are unbelievable, beautiful and the workman ship is supurb. I wish I could even come close to making one . I can not say enough about your work. GREAT
 
WOW! Thats a GREAT looking pen!

It's been several months since this was posted. How did you do with the order?
 
New Humidor Case

I have recently found a travel humidor that works great with my replica cigar pens. If I can find them on sale it adds a nice touch to the total package.

While two pens are in the photo here, my thought is that the owner would have room for a pen and an actual cigar. He would just have to make certain he/she doesn't light up the wrong one! :wink:

Enjoy

Martin
 

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Great looking pens!

The only thing I've thought when I see them is you should reverse the ends and put the cap seam just below the label so you don't see it. The other reason I think you should reverse then is when in use your holding the ash end, which isn't how a smoker would naturally want to hold it .

AK
 
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flip the ends

Andrew_K99 said:
Great looking pens!

The only thing I've thought when I see them is you should reverse the ends and put the cap seam just below the label so you don't see it. The other reason I think you should reverse then is when in use your holding the ash end, which isn't how a smoker would naturally want to hold it .

AK
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AK,

That's a great idea. Don't know why I didn't think of that. I'll give it a try and see how it feels. Thanks for the suggestion.

Martin
 
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I've decided to begin pricing the Cigar Replica pens starting at $199. What do you think? That's for a basic rollerball and it comes in a cedar tube with MartinPens engraved on the tube. From there I can go into the fountain pens in a fancier leather humidor like the one mentioned above, but I need to look into switching out the standard nib with a higher end nib if I'm going to attempt to get in the $300 price range.

What do you think? I need to start a different thread and begin asking what nib to use as a replacement nib.

I'm currently using the Cambridge Hybrid fountain or the Roman Harvest Fountain
 
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