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Cigars POS Review 2026: Features, Pricing, Pros, and Cons

Photo of author

Author

Martial A.

Reviewed by

Michael C.

Cigars POS sells point of sale software to cigar shops, smoke shops, and lounges. Our Cigars POS review covers what the sales pitch leaves out: the real cost of each plan, the payment processing agreement every plan requires, which features sit behind higher tiers, and how little independent review evidence exists for the product.

We also cover who owns the company and five alternatives worth a demo. Full disclosure, KORONA POS competes with Cigars POS, so check the facts below against the vendor’s own pages.

Key Takeaways:

  • Every Cigars POS plan requires the company’s own payment processing agreement, so rate shopping later is off the table.
  • Cigars POS is a brand operated by POS Nation, not an independent cigar company.
  • Only the Starter price is public, and loyalty does not appear until the Growth plan.
  • The product has zero reviews on Capterra, no free trial, and the company admits it is not listed on major review platforms.

What Is Cigars POS?

Cigars POS is a cloud-based point of sale system built specifically for tobacco retail, including cigar shops, smoke shops, vape shops, pipe shops, and cigar lounges. The platform runs on Windows touchscreen hardware, stores data off-site rather than on an in-store server, and sells in three tiers: Starter, Growth, and Premium.

The product launched publicly in 2023. At the time of the announcement, the company said the platform was already in use at more than 100 tobacco and smoke retailers, and that it was built by people who had served tobacco shop owners for more than 20 years.

Feature packaging leans hard on tobacco-specific mechanics rather than general retail tools. Age verification, carton-pack inventory tracking, case breaking, cigar label printing, dual pricing, and tobacco scan data reporting all appear in the marketing as core capabilities.

For a cigar retailer, that focus is the main reason to consider the system at all, and it is a legitimate advantage over a general-purpose platform. Where it lands against the rest of the field is a separate question, and one we work through in our roundup of smoke shop POS systems.

Who Owns Cigars POS?

Cigars POS is a brand operated by POS Nation, not an independent cigar-industry company. Three pieces of public evidence establish the connection:

  • Every page on cigarspos.com carries a copyright notice for POS Retail Software LLC.
  • POS Nation’s own Bottle POS acquisition notice tells Bottle POS customers that future charges will appear as POS Nation or POS Retail Software LLC.
  • The Capterra listing for Cigars POS includes a “do you work for Cigars POS” claim link, and that link resolves to posnation.com.

The founder’s story is real in origin. Spence Hoffman began his career selling point of sale technology to cigar stores, and his author bio appears on both cigarspos.com and posnation.com, where the company describes him as having started at POS Nation as a product specialist.

Why Cigars POS Ownership Matters to Buyers

Ownership matters because support, billing, contracts, and product development all sit with the parent company. Cigars POS is one of several vertical brands POS Nation operates under separate names and separate websites, alongside Bottle POS for liquor stores.

Two practical consequences follow. First, reviews and complaint records for POS Nation are relevant to your purchase even though they do not carry the Cigars POS name, so our POS Nation review covers ground this page cannot.

Second, a feature gap in the underlying platform shows up in every brand built on it, regardless of how the marketing is segmented by industry. The pattern is easy to see in Bottle POS, the liquor store brand running on the same software, where the plan structure and contract terms will look familiar by the end of this review.

Cigars POS Review Summary: Pricing, Ratings, and Verdict

Cigars POS is a reasonable fit for a single-location tobacco shop that wants industry features out of the box and does not mind bundled payment processing. The system is a poor fit for retailers who want to choose their own processor, lounges that need native memberships, and multi-location operators unwilling to buy the top tier.

Cigars POS at a Glance
Reference summary of Cigars POS, one attribute per row: starting price, higher-tier pricing, free trial, payment processing, plans, deployment, API access, Capterra rating, support, ownership, the type of store it suits best, and its weakest points. Cigars POS starts at $59 per month, publishes only its entry tier, requires its own processing agreement on every plan, offers no free trial, and is owned by POS Nation, operating as POS Retail Software LLC.
Category Details
Starting price $59 per month on the pricing page
Higher-tier pricing Growth and Premium hidden behind a form requiring company, name, phone, and email
Free trial Not available
Payment processing Cigars POS Processing Agreement required on all plans
Plans Starter, Growth, Premium
Deployment Cloud, on Windows touchscreen hardware
API access Not available, according to third-party directories
Capterra rating 0.0 based on 0 reviews, as of July 31, 2026
Support 24/7 phone, chat, email, and knowledge base, included on all plans
Owned by POS Nation, operating as POS Retail Software LLC
Best for Single-location cigar, smoke, and vape shops that want tobacco features preconfigured
Weakest points Required processing agreement, hidden tier pricing, feature gating, no independent review record

Cigars POS Features

Cigars POS covers the tobacco-specific workflows that break on general retail software, and the entry plan includes more than most competing entry plans do. The gaps are less about missing features and more about which tier each feature sits behind.

Inventory Management and Case Breaking

Cigars POS handles case breaking. You can receive a box of cigars, sell single sticks from it, and the box count adjusts automatically. The system supports unlimited SKUs, custom SKUs and barcodes, purchase orders, and low-stock alerts.

Intelligent ordering, which recommends reorder quantities from sales history, requires the Growth tier. Those are the right tools for the job, since smoke shop inventory management lives or dies on unit conversions and reorder timing rather than on shelf counts.

Neither feature appears as a line item on the published plan comparison, but the company states in its own March 2026 FasTrax comparison that all tiers include carton-pack inventory tracking and age verification. Case breaking is not named in that statement, so get written confirmation before you sign. A cigar shop cannot operate without single-stick sales.

Inventory management a headache?

KORONA POS makes stock control easy. Automate tasks, generate custom reports, and learn how you can start improving your business.

Cigar Label Printing

Mobile label printing is included on the Starter plan, and labels can be printed from the sales floor on a mobile device. The hardware configurator offers a Dymo 550 and a Zebra ZD410 thermal printer, and the Zebra listing explicitly states that it can print cigar labels.

Label printing on the entry tier is a genuine strength. Most premium cigars arrive in cellophane with no manufacturer barcode, so in-house label printing is the difference between a two-second scan and a manual product lookup on every sale.

Age Verification and Compliance

Age verification is included in all three Cigars POS plans, with ID scanning or swiping at checkout. Dedicated 2D age verification scanners are sold separately in the hardware configurator, in both handheld and presentation styles.

Including compliance tools on the entry plan is worth crediting. Several competitors charge extra for ID scanning, and a tobacco retailer should not have to upgrade a software tier to protect a retail license.

Auto-Ranking and Reporting

All Cigars POS plans include the full prebuilt report library and a mobile back office for remote access. Auto-ranking, which color-codes products from A to D by sales velocity, requires the Growth tier, as do SMS reports delivered by text message.

Reporting depth is one of the areas customers speak most positively about in the vendor’s own testimonials, including gross and net sales reporting for bank reconciliation.

Loyalty, CRM, and Marketing Tools

Loyalty points and rewards require the Growth plan, and back-office customer records require Growth as well. SMS marketing sits on the Premium plan only.

Feature gating is worth flagging here because the marketing does not reflect it. Cigars POS content routinely presents a built-in customer loyalty program as a headline capability, and the homepage promotes building customer relationships through it.

A shop that buys the $59 plan expecting loyalty will need to upgrade. Price that upgrade against what the program should return, because the best retail loyalty programs earn their cost back through repeat visits rather than through the points themselves.

Dual Pricing and Cash Discounting

Cigars POS includes a dual pricing module on the Starter plan, which sets one price for cash and a higher price for cards so that processing costs pass to card-paying customers. Cash discounting is also offered as a configurator option.

Dual pricing is a real cost lever, and plenty of tobacco retailers use it successfully. Be aware of two tradeoffs: some customers react badly to seeing two prices, and the feature exists in part to offset processing costs inside an arrangement where you cannot shop for a cheaper processing rate.

State rules also vary on how a card price may be displayed and labeled, so read up on credit card surcharges before you switch your shelf tags.

Multi-Location Support

Multi-site inventory transfers require the Premium plan, the most expensive of the three. The Growth plan is described as suited to businesses expanding to multiple locations, yet the ability to move stock between those locations sits one tier higher.

The configurator FAQ adds to the confusion by answering yes to whether Cigars POS handles multiple locations, citing multi-location pricing, inventory transfers, and consolidated reporting, without noting that transfers sit on the top tier.

Transfers are not a nice-to-have either, since multi-store inventory management depends on moving slow stock to the store that can sell it. Price the tier you will actually need rather than the tier the sales conversation starts on. A two-store operator who wants transfers between locations is buying Premium, not Growth.

Integrations and the API Question

Cigars POS names a short list of integrations: Bandyworks for tobacco scan data, Shogo for QuickBooks, an in-house ecommerce platform, and Shopify and QuickBooks Online as configurator add-ons. Pointy, which surfaces in-store inventory in Google search results, requires the Premium plan.

Two integration issues deserve attention.

Scan data arrives through a third party. Tobacco scan data reporting is marketed as a core Cigars POS feature, but it runs on a Bandyworks integration. POS Nation describes the setup as automatic generation and submission of scan data reports for rebates from Altria, Philip Morris USA, and R.J. Reynolds. Ask whether Bandyworks carries its own subscription cost and which plan the connection requires.

API and mobile app status is contested. GetApp and Software Finder both state that Cigars POS offers no API, and Software Finder adds that there is no mobile app. Capterra lists an API among 51 features and lists Web, Android, and iPhone or iPad deployment. Public sources flatly contradict each other, so get a written answer if you depend on custom integrations or phone access.

Cigars POS Pricing: Plans, Costs, and Contract Terms

Cigars POS pricing starts at $59 per month on the pricing page and $69 per month on the build-and-price configurator, and the prices for the two higher tiers are not published anywhere. Total cost also depends on hardware, one-time services, and payment processing, so the monthly software figure is only part of the number.

What the Cigars POS Plans Cost

The Starter plan is listed at $59 per month on the pricing page, with no billing term attached to the figure. The build-and-price configurator shows $69 per month for the same plan, and the company’s own blog posts quote both numbers in different places. No explanation for the $10 gap appears anywhere, so get the term in writing on your quote. Growth, labeled as the most popular option, and Premium both display placeholder characters instead of prices.

Capterra lists the Cigars POS starting price as “contact vendor” and states that a free trial is not available.

Seeing full pricing requires a form. The pricing page opens a lead capture form that asks for company name, first and last name, phone number, and business email, and all three plan buttons remain disabled until the form is submitted.

The company explains the gating in its own pricing FAQ, saying that submitting the form unlocks the full package comparison and helps the team understand your store type. The same page states that Cigars POS has no hidden fees and that pricing is transparent so owners know exactly what they are paying for. Both statements sit on the same page, and readers can weigh them.

For context on what open pricing looks like in this category, TORO publishes every number on its pricing page, including a three-year total cost table and its average processing rate. Cigars POS publishes one of three plan prices. Neither approach is wrong, but only one of them can be compared against a competing quote before you talk to a rep.

What Each Cigars POS Tier Unlocks

Tier selection determines access to loyalty, employee time tracking, multi-location transfers, and marketing tools. Every plan includes 24/7 support, onboarding, inventory setup, age verification, security features, and hardware support.

Cigars POS Features by Plan
Feature availability across the three Cigars POS plans: Starter at $59 per month, Growth with unpublished pricing, and Premium with unpublished pricing. One row per feature, with a Yes or No value for each plan. Every plan includes register and inventory basics such as employee controls, the full report library, mobile back office, purchase orders, discounts, mobile label printing, the dual pricing module, the dashboard, bulk product updates, age verification, and support and onboarding. Growth adds clock in and out, auto-ranking, mix and match discounts, loyalty points, intelligent ordering, SMS reports, customer records in the back office, and a hardware bundle. Premium adds task assignment, multi-site inventory transfers, SMS marketing, Pointy integration, customer reviews at checkout, and webcam integration. A processing agreement is required on all three plans.
Feature Starter Growth Premium
Published monthly price $59 Not published Not published
Employee controls Yes Yes Yes
Full report library Yes Yes Yes
Mobile back office Yes Yes Yes
Purchase orders Yes Yes Yes
Discounts Yes Yes Yes
Mobile label printing Yes Yes Yes
Dual pricing module Yes Yes Yes
Dashboard Yes Yes Yes
Bulk product updates Yes Yes Yes
Age verification Yes Yes Yes
24/7 support and onboarding Yes Yes Yes
Clock in and out No Yes Yes
Auto-ranking, A to D No Yes Yes
Mix and match discounts No Yes Yes
Loyalty points and rewards No Yes Yes
Intelligent ordering No Yes Yes
SMS reports No Yes Yes
Customer records in back office No Yes Yes
Task assignment No No Yes
Multi-site inventory transfers No No Yes
SMS marketing No No Yes
Pointy integration No No Yes
Customer reviews at checkout No No Yes
Webcam integration No No Yes
Hardware bundle included No Yes Yes
Processing agreement required Yes Yes Yes

Three rows deserve a second look before you choose a plan. Loyalty sits on Growth, so the $59 plan does not include the loyalty program the marketing leads with. Multi-site transfers sit on Premium, so a two-store operator is buying the top tier. Case breaking and scan data reporting appear on no tier in the published comparison, so confirm both in writing.

Cigars POS Hardware, Add-Ons, and One-Time Costs

The Growth and Premium plans include a hardware bundle, and Starter does not. Bundled hardware consists of a widescreen touch PC, thermal receipt printer, barcode laser scanner, mini keyboard, 16-inch cash drawer, and the inventory import service.

Bundling hardware into the subscription is common, though it makes cross-shopping harder, and our POS pricing comparison breaks down what a full station usually costs when the two are priced apart.

Priced separately in the configurator:

  • PAX A920 wireless pinpad, with optional embedded cellular service at $20 per month
  • Age verification scanners, both handheld and presentation style
  • Dymo 550 and Zebra ZD410 label printers
  • Surveillance camera with transaction replay from the POS station
  • Rear touch LCD and pole-style customer displays
  • Priority rush configuration, which moves your order to the front of the queue
  • Shopify and QuickBooks Online integrations

Warranty terms differ by plan in a way worth noticing. Starter lists a lifetime warranty, while the Growth and Premium bundles list a two-year hardware warranty. The configurator does not define what the lifetime warranty covers, so ask. The setup and inventory import service is described as a one-time service included with a full system purchase.

The Cigars POS Processing Agreement

Every Cigars POS plan requires a Cigars POS Processing Agreement. The requirement appears on all three tiers in the company’s own build-and-price configurator, and the Growth and Premium tiers include a free pinpad as part of it.

The payments page states that the system supports integrated payments without the need for third-party processors. Reading that line correctly matters, because a POS and a payment processor are two separate products, and bundling them into one agreement is a commercial choice rather than a technical requirement.

FTx POS proves the point inside this same category, since it sells the identical software two ways: $0 per month if you take its payments, or $99 to $179 per month standalone.

National Retail Solutions does the same thing more bluntly, publishing one price with its processing and a price $10 to $30 higher per month without it. Both vendors put the choice in the retailer’s hands and charge for it. Cigars POS does not offer the choice at any price.

Four consequences follow for a cigar retailer.

Software and processing become one decision. You are not selecting a POS and then selecting a processor. You are accepting both from the same vendor at the same time.

Rate shopping is off the table. If your effective rate rises, you cannot move processing to a cheaper provider and keep the software. Leaving the processor means replacing the system.

The advertised monthly price is not your monthly cost. Processing typically dwarfs software cost. A shop doing $60,000 a month in card volume pays far more in processing than in the $59 or $69 software fee, and a difference of a quarter point in the effective rate outweighs the entire software subscription.

Tobacco is a high-risk category. Bundled processing has real value here, since some processors decline tobacco merchants outright. Any shop that has been dropped mid-month knows the cost of that. The alternative is not going without, but placing the account yourself, and high-risk merchant accounts can be arranged through a provider you keep the freedom to replace. Cigars POS also offers interchange plus as an option, which is a more transparent rate structure than a flat blended rate. Anyone quoted that structure should understand how interchange fees are set, since the markup above interchange is the only part your vendor actually controls. Credit both points, then weigh them against the loss of leverage.

One inconsistency belongs in the record. The standing call to action at the bottom of Cigars POS blog posts promises no complex integrations and no contracts, and the company’s TORO comparison promotes month-to-month flexibility. A required processing agreement is a contract.

To be fair to the vendor, the requirement is disclosed plainly on its own configurator rather than hidden, and the Growth and Premium tiers do state that there are no long-term contracts. The Starter tier does not carry that line. Confirm what “no long-term contract” covers before you sign, because early termination fees usually sit in the processing agreement rather than in the software terms.

Why Processor Flexibility Changes Long-Term Cost

Processor-agnostic software separates the two decisions. KORONA POS is processor-agnostic, so a retailer selects the software and then negotiates processing independently, and can renegotiate or switch processors later without replacing the point of sale.

Worth asking Cigars POS directly: POS Nation, the parent brand, is generally sold as allowing retailers to keep an existing processor, use a third party, or take its integrated processing. Cigars POS is the same company and does not offer that choice on any plan. Ask a rep why, and whether an exception exists.

Retailers who already have a processor and rates they are happy with have a whole category to shop from, which we cover in our guide to processor-agnostic POS systems. Run your current statement through a processing fee calculator first, since the gap between your current rate and the quoted rate is what determines this purchase.

Calculate your total processing fees

Your total processing fees:

Cigars POS Reviews: What Users Actually Say

Cigars POS has almost no independent review record. The product carries 0 reviews on Capterra, none on Software Finder, and none on its company Facebook page, so a buyer cannot verify quality through ratings the way they could for an established platform.

The Third-Party Review Record

As of its July 31, 2026 update, the Capterra listing for Cigars POS showed an overall rating of 0.0 based on 0 user reviews, with 0.0 scores for ease of use, value for money, and customer service. Capterra also noted that no reviewer feedback on the support experience was available, so no patterns about response speed or helpfulness could be identified.

Software Finder’s listing states that there are no reviews yet. The official Cigars POS Facebook page shows no rating and no reviews.

Cigars POS confirms the gap itself. Its February 2026 TORO comparison states that neither TORO nor Cigars POS is listed on major review platforms and that buyers will have to rely on testimonials instead. An earlier December 2024 post described the company as not yet listed on Trustpilot while claiming a 5-star Google rating across more than 50 reviews.

An empty review record is not evidence of a bad product. Cigars POS is a young brand, and young brands have thin review histories. What it means practically is that ratings cannot do your diligence for you on this purchase.

What the Parent Company’s Reviews Show

POS Nation reviews are the closest available proxy, and they cut both ways. The company holds a 4-star TrustScore on Trustpilot across roughly 1,495 reviews as of mid-2026, a large volume of largely positive feedback that should not be dismissed. Note that a 4.7 figure circulates in tobacco POS content, including in Cigars POS’s own 2024 blog post, and it no longer matches what Trustpilot shows.

Other sources are less favorable. Better Business Bureau complaints against POS Nation include billing disputes, refund refusals, and difficulty cancelling. PissedConsumer shows a low average across a small number of reviews, with recurring themes around billing practices and cancellation.

One BBB review is directly relevant to tobacco retailers. A customer reported being charged $50 per month for an advertised scan data cigarette promotion, having a customer success manager configure it, and learning roughly six months later that the system was never compatible with the promotion. POS Nation responded that a refund was issued and the complaint resolved.

Support is the feature Cigars POS markets hardest, so weigh one more data point. A Trustpilot reviewer in July 2026 described waiting more than five hours for a live person while their store was down. Most POS Nation reviews praise the support team by name, and both experiences appear in the same review pool.

Treat parent-company feedback as context rather than as a verdict on this product. Support teams, contracts, and billing systems are shared, but the software itself is packaged differently.

How to Read the Cigars POS Testimonials

The video testimonials on the Cigars POS site are named, specific, and more credible than anonymous quotes. Three cigar retailers appear by name and business:

  • Keith Brick of F&M Cigars describes customizing the customer database to run paid membership tiers with different perk levels.
  • Corey Grant of Tobacco Town Cigar Lounge credits the system with saving back-office time and giving usable data.
  • Jason Rudolph of Scenic Cigars highlights the ability for lounge guests to keep adding to a tab instead of ringing out repeatedly.

Named testimonials with store details are worth reading. They are also selected and published by the vendor, which is a different category of evidence from a verified third-party review. Both are useful, and neither substitutes for the other.

Is Cigars POS Good for Cigar Lounges?

Cigars POS handles lounge tabs well but appears to treat membership tiers as a configuration workaround rather than a native module. For a retail humidor the distinction barely matters. For a membership-driven lounge it matters a great deal.

Memberships and Locker Rentals

The evidence points to membership tiers being assembled rather than built in. The F&M Cigars testimonial describes customizing the customer database to create tiers with perks, and the company’s own cigar lounge guide notes that some POS systems do not natively support membership tiers, then recommends selling a custom membership product tied to a loyalty account as a workaround.

Locker rentals and recurring member billing are not documented anywhere in the public feature set. If your lounge rents lockers, bills members monthly, or carries stored member credit, treat all three as unconfirmed and demand a live demonstration.

Lounge Tabs and House Accounts

Running tabs is a documented strength, supported directly by the Scenic Cigars testimonial about guests adding to a tab over a long visit. Lounges that primarily need open tabs and a loyalty program will likely be satisfied on this front, provided they buy at least the Growth tier for loyalty.

Humidor Environment Monitoring

No humidor temperature or humidity monitoring appears anywhere in the Cigars POS feature set, pricing tiers, or hardware configurator. Shops that want environmental monitoring tied to the system should ask directly rather than assume it exists.

What Lounge Owners Should Demo

Ask a rep to perform these five tasks live, in this order:

  1. Create three membership tiers with different discount levels and show where they live in the software.
  2. Bill a member’s monthly dues through the system.
  3. Assign a locker to a member and record the rental term.
  4. Open a tab, add items across an hour, then close it out.
  5. Sell one cigar from a sealed box and show the resulting box count and margin.

Cigars POS Pros and Cons

Cigars POS Pros

  • Tobacco-specific workflows out of the box. Case breaking, carton-pack tracking, and cigar-focused inventory are core rather than bolted on.
  • Cigar label printing on the entry plan. Mobile label printing is included on Starter, which solves the non-barcoded cigar problem from day one.
  • Age verification on every tier. Compliance tools are not paywalled behind an upgrade.
  • Support and onboarding included on all plans. 24/7 in-house technical support, onboarding, and unlimited training are listed as included rather than as add-ons.
  • Inventory import service. Setup and inventory import are included with a full system purchase, which lowers migration friction.
  • Hardware bundles with a two-year warranty. Growth and Premium ship a complete station rather than a list of parts to source.
  • No long-term contract language on bundled plans. The Growth and Premium tiers advertise no long-term contracts.

Cigars POS Cons

  • A processing agreement is required on every plan. Software and payment processing cannot be separated, and rate shopping later is not possible.
  • Two of three prices are hidden. Growth and Premium pricing require a form submission on a page that promises transparent pricing.
  • Core marketing features are tier-gated. Loyalty needs Growth. Multi-site transfers and SMS marketing need Premium.
  • No free trial. You cannot test the software before committing, per Capterra.
  • API and mobile app status is contested. Two directories report no API and one reports no mobile app, while Capterra lists an API and mobile deployment.
  • Scan data runs through a third party. Bandyworks provides the scan data connection that the marketing presents as native.
  • Almost no independent review evidence. Zero verified reviews on the major directories for the product itself.
  • Parent-company complaint history. BBB and consumer-complaint records for POS Nation include billing, refund, and cancellation disputes.

Cigars POS vs. KORONA POS

The core difference is payment processing. Cigars POS requires its own processing agreement on every plan. KORONA POS is processor-agnostic, so you choose your processor and can change it later without replacing your software.

Cigars POS Compared With KORONA POS
Side by side comparison of Cigars POS and KORONA POS across 13 points: payment processing, published pricing, free trial, Capterra rating, Capterra ease of use, Capterra customer service, multi-store features, API access, customer management, industry focus, G2 rating, support, and contracts. Cigars POS requires its own processing agreement and publishes only its entry price, while KORONA POS is processor-agnostic, publishes all three plan prices, and offers an unlimited free trial with no contracts.
Comparison point Cigars POS KORONA POS
Payment processing Cigars POS Processing Agreement required on every plan Processor-agnostic, you choose and can change your processor
Published pricing Starter price only, Growth and Premium hidden All three plans published at $59, $79, and $99 per terminal
Free trial Not available Unlimited free trial, plus a 15-day money-back guarantee
Capterra rating 0.0 across 0 reviews, as of July 2026 4.7 across 80 reviews
Capterra ease of use No rating, 0 reviews 4.5
Capterra customer service No rating, 0 reviews 4.7
Multi-store features Transfers on the Premium tier only Individual store prices on the $99 Plus plan
API access Reported as unavailable Included on the $59 Core plan
Customer management Back-office customer records on Growth and above Customer management from the $79 Retail plan
Industry focus Tobacco retail only Multiple specialty verticals, including smoke and vape shops
G2 rating Not listed 4.7 across 58 reviews
Support 24/7 phone support on all plans 24/7 in-house support on all plans
Contracts Processing agreement required, no long-term contract on Growth and Premium Flat rate, no contracts

One caveat in fairness. Tier gating is not unique to Cigars POS, and KORONA POS gates features too, with inventory management on the $79 plan and multi-store pricing on the $99 plan. The difference is that all three prices are published, so you can work out which plan you need before a sales call rather than after one.

Where Cigars POS holds an edge: a single-vertical product means every default is set for tobacco, dual pricing is included on every plan, and buyers who want processing handled in the same contract get a simpler purchase. KORONA POS reviewers, for their part, describe a dated interface, product search that is harder than it should be, and some bugs that persisted across releases. Those criticisms are fair and worth weighing.

Cigars POS Alternatives

Five alternatives cover the realistic range for a cigar retailer, and every one of them sells into tobacco or lounge retail rather than general retail. Pricing models differ more than the monthly figures suggest, since two of the five tie software cost to payment processing and one charges a percentage of sales. Match the choice to your store model.

Cigars POS Alternatives
Five alternatives to Cigars POS for tobacco retail, one per row: TORO Cigar POS, FTx POS, National Retail Solutions, Quickvee, and KORONA POS. Columns give the type of operator each system suits best, the reported starting price, and the notable limitation to weigh against it. Three of the five tie their lowest price to using their own payment processing, while KORONA POS publishes flat per terminal pricing and leaves the processor choice to the retailer.
Alternative Strongest for Reported starting price Notable limitation
TORO Cigar POS Cigar retail that wants every feature included $5,000 one-time plus $119 per month $5,000 due before you open
FTx POS Multi-store operators who want a pricing choice $0 with FTx payments, or $99 to $179 standalone Loyalty, age verification, and scan data cost extra
National Retail Solutions Budget-conscious shops chasing scan data rebates $19.95 to $79.95 per month with NRS Pay Costs $10 to $30 more per month without their processing
Quickvee Shops adding online ordering for pickup and delivery $0 per month with Quickvee payments Free software is conditional on using their processing
KORONA POS Retailers who want to keep processor flexibility $59, $79, or $99 per terminal per month Inventory management starts on the $79 plan

TORO Cigar POS

TORO is the most cigar-native option on the list and the only one that openly publishes its full cost. Software is $5,000 one-time plus $119 per month, with no tiers at all: unlimited users and products, free training, unlimited support, free updates, SMS marketing, and ecommerce integration all come at that single price.

Card processing averages 2% in a quoted range of 1.8% to 2.2%, and a fee passthrough option shifts that cost to the customer. TORO puts its own three-year total at $9,284 for a shop selling $50,000 a month. The $5,000 due upfront is the real barrier, and we found no third-party reviews. Best for shops that can fund software outright.

FTx POS

FTx POS publishes two routes, and the choice between them is the flexibility Cigars POS does not offer. Take FTx payments and software starts at $0 per month with processing from 2.59% plus $0.10, or run the software standalone at $99 per month for Core and $179 for Pro, with Enterprise quote-only.

Read the add-on list closely, though. Loyalty, age verification, manufacturer scan data, dual pricing, and handheld scanners are all paid extras rather than included features, and Cigars POS includes dual pricing on every plan.

Multi-store support and store transfers arrive at Pro, the middle tier. Hardware is quoted separately. Best for multi-store operators.

National Retail Solutions (NRS)

NRS publishes the most detailed pricing of the five, and the most revealing. Four tiers run $19.95, $34.95, $49.95, and $79.95 per month with NRS Pay, and $29.95 through $109.95 for those same tiers without it, so keeping your own processor costs $10 to $30 extra every month.

Scan data is the real draw, with monthly buydowns from Altria brands and R.J. Reynolds plus up to $0.10 back per carton. Study the add-on grid before you commit, though.

License ID scanning costs $4.95 per month until the $49.95 tier, and loyalty is extra below it. Hardware starts at $499, or $0 on your own Android tablet. A contract is required. Best for convenience stores with large tobacco sections.

Quickvee

Quickvee is purpose-built for smoke shops, vape stores, and cigar lounges, and it runs one plan at $0 per month. Coverage includes carton- and pack-level inventory, native ID scanning, scan data reporting, loyalty and store credit, mix-and-match promotions, multi-store dashboards, unlimited licenses per location, an owner’s app for iOS and Android, and API access.

Online ordering for pickup and delivery is the real differentiator. Read the condition carefully: Quickvee states there are no monthly software fees with Quickvee Integrated Payments, so free software depends on using their processing and the effective rate is the number to negotiate. Reviewers report heavy setup work with a large catalog. Best for shops adding online sales.

KORONA POS

KORONA POS is the option for retailers who want processing kept separate from software. The system is processor-agnostic, so you pick a processor, negotiate the rate directly, and can change providers later without replacing the point of sale.

Three plans are published openly at $59, $79, and $99 per terminal, with an unlimited free trial, a 15-day money-back guarantee, no contracts, and API access on the entry plan. Note the tiering, since it applies here too: inventory counts, stock management, and shelf labels begin at $79, and multi-store pricing at $99.

Reviewers rate it 4.7 on Capterra across 80 reviews and 4.7 on G2, while flagging a dated interface and a real learning curve. Disclosure: KORONA POS is our product.

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Who Should Use Cigars POS, and Who Should Not

Cigars POS Is a Good Fit If

  • You run a single-location cigar, smoke, or vape shop and want tobacco features preconfigured.
  • You are comfortable with bundled payment processing and would rather not manage a separate processor relationship.
  • You value 24/7 phone support included in the subscription.
  • Your compliance needs center on ID scanning and case breaking rather than lounge memberships.
  • You are replacing a general retail system that has no tobacco features, and case breaking plus age verification alone justify the switch.

Cigars POS Is a Poor Fit If

  • You want to keep your current processor or shop rates in the future.
  • You run a membership-driven lounge with tiers, lockers, or recurring member billing.
  • You operate multiple locations and do not want to buy the top tier for inventory transfers.
  • You need an API or custom integrations.
  • You want to test the software before you commit, since no free trial is offered.
  • You need a verifiable review history before signing.

7 Questions to Ask Before You Sign With Cigars POS

Get every answer in writing, not on a call.

  1. What is my effective processing rate, all-in? Ask for the total percentage plus per-transaction fee, including monthly, PCI, statement, and gateway charges. If you already process cards, work it out from your current paperwork first, since reading a merchant statement gives you a real number to negotiate against.
  2. What happens to my software if I leave the processor? Confirm whether the subscription survives a processing change or terminates with it.
  3. What do Growth and Premium actually cost? Get both figures for your station count, and ask whether the $59 rate carries an annual commitment.
  4. Which tier includes case breaking and scan data? Neither appears on the published plan comparison, so confirm in writing.
  5. Does the Bandyworks scan data integration carry its own fee? Ask who bills it and how much.
  6. Can I export my full product, customer, and sales history if I leave? Ask for the file formats and whether the export costs anything.
  7. Can I speak with two current customers, including one who switched away? A vendor confident in retention will find both.

Frequently Asked Questions About Cigars POS

How much does Cigars POS cost?

Cigars POS lists the Starter plan at $59 per month on its pricing page and $69 per month on its build-and-price configurator. Growth and Premium prices are not published and require a form submission. Hardware, add-ons such as pinpads and label printers, and payment processing are all additional.

Does Cigars POS require you to use their payment processor?

Yes. All three Cigars POS plans require a Cigars POS Processing Agreement according to the company’s build-and-price configurator. You cannot run the software on an outside processor, so software and processing are a single decision.

Is Cigars POS the same company as POS Nation?

Cigars POS is a brand operated by POS Nation. Pages on cigarspos.com carry a POS Retail Software LLC copyright, the same entity POS Nation names in its Bottle POS acquisition notice, and the Capterra listing claim link points to posnation.com.

Does Cigars POS offer a free trial?

No. Capterra lists Cigars POS as having no free trial available. Buyers evaluate the system through a guided demo instead, so ask the rep to run your own workflows rather than a scripted walkthrough.

Does Cigars POS have an API or a mobile app?

Public sources conflict. GetApp and Software Finder both report no API, Software Finder reports no mobile app, and Capterra’s feature grid lists an API. Get a written answer before you commit if integrations matter to your store.

Is Cigars POS good for cigar lounges with memberships?

Partly. Lounge tabs are a documented strength, but membership tiers appear to be built by customizing the customer database rather than through a native module, and locker rentals and recurring member billing are undocumented. Loyalty also requires the Growth plan.

What are the best Cigars POS alternatives?

TORO Cigar POS for shops that want every feature included and can pay upfront, FTx POS for larger multi-store operations, National Retail Solutions for budget buyers focused on scan data rebates, Quickvee for shops that want online ordering, and KORONA POS for processor flexibility and published pricing. KORONA POS is our product.

How many reviews does Cigars POS have?

Almost none. Capterra shows 0 reviews and a 0.0 rating as of July 2026, Software Finder shows none, and the company Facebook page shows none. Cigars POS itself wrote in February 2026 that it is not listed on major review platforms. Its parent, POS Nation, holds a 4-star TrustScore across roughly 1,495 Trustpilot reviews.

Cigars POS Review: The Verdict

Cigars POS is a competent tobacco-specific point of sale with a real advantage over generic retail software. Case breaking, carton-pack tracking, cigar label printing on the entry plan, and age verification on every tier reflect a product built by people who understand what happens behind a cigar shop counter. Support and onboarding included on all plans strengthen the offer further.

Two issues should be resolved before anyone signs. The required processing agreement makes software and payment processing a single, hard-to-reverse decision, and processing will cost far more than the subscription over any realistic time horizon. The near-total absence of independent reviews means you cannot lean on other buyers’ experience, so reference calls and written answers have to do that work instead.

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Written By

Martial A.

Martial Amoussou has over 5 years of writing and content creation experience in the POS, retail, and payment processing industry. He has interviewed and consulted with hundreds of business owners across liquor stores, vape/smoke shops, convenience stores, museums, attractions operations, dispensaries, and many more, giving him a ground-level understanding of what operators actually struggle with day to day. Reach Martial here.