Premium Cigars Wholesale: value, core, and luxury.

Brand examples in each tier.

MDC carries 60+ premium brands. Here is where some of the best-known names we stock fall - keeping in mind that most brands make lines across more than one tier.

Value and everyday core. Perdomo and CAO both make consistent, well-constructed cigars that wholesale in the $3-$7 range on their entry lines. Macanudo and Romeo y Julieta carry the kind of name recognition that sells itself to a guest who only knows a few cigar brands - which is exactly what you want at the value price point.

Core premium. This is the engine of a working humidor. Oliva and Rocky Patel are two of the most reliable reorder brands in hospitality - full lineups, steady supply, and price points guests accept without blinking. AJ Fernandez gives you boutique-level blending at core pricing, and My Father brings genuine critical acclaim to the $8-$12 wholesale slot.

Luxury and ultra-premium. The top shelf is where reputation does the selling. Padrón and Arturo Fuente are the two names most guests will recognize as "the good stuff." Ashton and Diamond Crown cover the refined, Connecticut-leaning end of luxury, while Tatuaje earns its shelf space with serious cigar smokers who read reviews. For a deeper look at the top tier, see our guide to the top ultra-premium cigars, or browse every brand we carry.

The margin math, tier by tier.

Premium cigars retail at roughly 1.8x-2.5x wholesale, and the multiple usually runs higher at the bottom of the menu than the top. A $4 wholesale value cigar sells for $9-$10 without resistance - a 2.4x markup. A $10 core premium sells for $18-$22. A $22 luxury cigar sells for $40-$45, closer to 1.9x, because sticker sensitivity grows with the price tag. In dollar terms, though, the luxury sale still puts the most in the register - which is why you carry the top shelf even though it turns slowest.

Hospitality venues - steakhouses, casino floors, resort patios - reliably hold the top of those ranges, because the guest is buying the moment, not comparison shopping. Retail shelves compete harder on price and tend to live nearer 1.8x-2x.

The honest mix: mostly core, one value anchor, a few luxury flags.

Here is the advice we give every new account, and it hasn't changed in 14 years: a working humidor is 60-70% core premium. That's where the volume is. Add a value anchor - two to four SKUs in the $3-$6 wholesale range - so the guest who wanders in curious has somewhere to start. Then plant two or three luxury flags at the top. They won't be your fastest movers, but they do two jobs: they give regulars something to celebrate with, and they quietly make your $18 retail cigar look like the sensible choice.

The mistake we see most is building top-heavy. A humidor full of $25 cigars looks impressive and turns slowly - and slow-turning inventory is dead money. Because every MDC account includes our no-risk exchange, a tiering mistake isn't a sunk cost: if a SKU doesn't move, we swap it for one that will. That's also why we'd rather curate the right 20-40 SKUs for your clientele than hand you a catalog. When you're ready to see how the buying process works end to end, our guide to how to buy cigars wholesale covers minimums, licensing, and first orders.