Data Sources

Where RingGauge's pricing comes from — and how we keep it honest.

Approved retail listings

Current retail prices are collected from a curated set of established cigar retailers, normalized to a per-stick basis, and converted to USD. These feed the Average Retail Price (ARP).

Realized auction data

Tens of thousands of completed auction lots (hammer price plus buyer's premium, per stick) power the Average Market Price (AMP) — the closest thing to a real, transaction-backed market value.

Canonical product catalog

Every cigar is matched to a canonical SKU derived from the established Cuban Cigar reference classifications, so prices for the same product line up across sources and over time.

Historical price evidence

Source-backed historical retail prices (including archived listings) underpin box-code-year baselines and longer-term valuation work. This evidence base is actively expanding.

How we treat the data

  • The normalized database is the single source of truth. Spreadsheets/Sheets are export and reporting only — never the master.
  • Data coverage varies by SKU. Some cigars have deep auction and retail history; others have thin coverage, and the page reflects what's actually available.
  • We don't invent prices. If we don't have a confident value, we show "N/A" rather than a guess.
  • Source coverage and matching are continuously improving.

More on how prices are calculated: Methodology.