Product News
City Life Cigarillos Climb to $1.69 Pre-Price, the Line's Fourth Increase in Two Years
City Life cigarillos have officially climbed to a $1.69 pre-price, marking the fourth cost increase for the Good Times USA value brand in just two years. New packaging for the Diamond flavor reached A2Z Tobacco and three major online wholesalers on October 2, 2026, replacing the $1.59 pouches that debuted only nine months prior. You can find these new arrivals alongside other value brands in our cigarillos and small cigars collection. This update details the latest price hike, the specific flavors affected, and how the brand's wholesale costs have shifted since 2024.
What Arrived
The first flavor to show up at the new price is Diamond, City Life's unflavored natural-wrapper cigarillo. A2Z received City Life Cigarillos 15 Packs of 5 ($1.69 Pre-Priced) on October 2 and lists the 75-count box at $15.99. Tobacco Stock, Tobacco General and Prime Wholesale added the same Diamond box the same day at $15.75.
The rest of the line still ships in older packaging. A2Z currently stocks nine City Life flavors at the $1.49 pre-price, including Napa Grape, Sweet, Mango, Mix Berry, Green Sweet, Classic Green, White Grape, Black Sweet and Diamond, at $14.25 a box. Wholesalers also carry $1.59 versions of Vanilla, Watermelon, Classic Green, Sweet, Green Sweet, White Grape, Napa Grape, Mango and Mix Berry that arrived between January and June of this year.
Because the price is printed on the pouch, each change creates a new SKU rather than a shelf-tag edit, so three price generations of the same cigarillo can sit in distribution at once.
The Price Ladder
Wholesaler listing dates make the trajectory easy to trace:
- $1.29: December 2024 (Diamond, Sweet, Blueberry Cream)
- $1.49: July 2024 to November 2025 (Black Diamond, Vanilla, Watermelon)
- $1.59: January to June 2026 (Mix Berry, Mango, Diamond, Vanilla)
- $1.69: October 2, 2026 (Diamond)
Measured per cigar, City Life has gone from about 26 cents to about 34 cents in under two years, a rise of roughly 30 percent. The box price at wholesale moved less, from $14.99 to $15.75, because distributors absorbed part of the earlier increases.
Good Times has not announced the change, and it did not comment publicly on the earlier steps either. Retail copy for the $1.59 generation simply noted that the "popular $1.49 line has gone up in price."
Part of a Pattern at Good Times
City Life is the third Good Times USA line to take a price step this season. In August the company's Sweet Woods natural-leaf two-packs moved from $1.49 to $1.69, and in September the three-count Good Times Minis went from $1.19 to $1.29. The 4K's four-packs already carry $1.29 to $1.49 pre-prices.
The company, which says it sells roughly a billion machine-made cigars a year, is responding to the same squeeze as its larger rivals. Swisher Sweets Classic pouches now carry $1.39, Swisher BLK Tip pouches moved to $1.69 this summer, and Game's foil pouches list at two for $1.29. Rising leaf and freight costs, state excise increases and shrinking cigarillo volumes have pushed almost every pre-priced brand up a notch in 2026.
City Life's distinguishing feature has always been count. Five cigarillos in a pouch at a price most competitors charge for two or three gives the brand the lowest per-stick cost in A2Z's cigarillo collection, and that remains true at $1.69.
What it Means for Shoppers
- The $1.49 boxes A2Z still lists are the better deal while they last, and the store's inventory will not be replenished at that price.
- Expect the other City Life flavors to arrive in $1.69 packaging over the coming months, following the same flavor-by-flavor rollout the brand used for $1.59.
- Pre-prices are the manufacturer's printed suggestion, not a legal maximum, and state and local tobacco taxes still apply on top.
- Flavored cigarillos are restricted in a growing number of jurisdictions, so the unflavored Diamond that leads this rollout may be the only City Life some customers can buy.
The Bottom Line
A dime a pouch is small, but City Life has now added four of them since late 2024. The brand still sells five cigarillos for less than most rivals charge for two, which is why it keeps a loyal following, and the October rollout of $1.69 Diamond boxes shows Good Times intends to protect its margins without walking away from the value positioning that built the line.