What this is

This server implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP) specification, giving any MCP-compatible AI client direct structured access to the CigarFinder retail pricing dataset. Instead of scraping web pages, an AI assistant can call typed tools like search_cigars or get_best_price and get back clean JSON with live pricing from all 15 partner retailers.

Clients that currently work out of the box: Claude Desktop, the Claude Code CLI, VS Code with any MCP extension, any OpenAI GPT Action, and any custom agent built on python-sdk or typescript-sdk.

Tools exposed

search_cigars — Search 58,000+ cigars by name, brand, shape, strength, wrapper, country of origin, or price range
get_best_price — Return the lowest current price for a specific cigar across all 15 retailers
compare_prices — Side-by-side comparison of a single cigar's price at every retailer that stocks it
get_coupons — Active coupon codes and promotional offers from partner retailers
get_categories — Browse the category tree (premium cigars, machine-made, accessories, tobacco, samplers) with product counts

How to connect from Claude Desktop

Add this block to your Claude Desktop config file (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS, %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cigarfinder": {
      "url": "https://mcp.cigarfinder.com/mcp",
      "transport": "http"
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The tools show up under the cigarfinder server and can be invoked on any prompt — e.g. "find me a full-bodied Nicaraguan cigar under $10" or "what's the cheapest place to buy Padron 1964 Anniversary?"

Endpoints

POST /mcp — primary MCP JSON-RPC endpoint (tool calls, tool listing, initialize handshake)
GET /mcp — SSE transport for streaming tool responses
GET /health — health check, returns JSON with uptime + DB size
GET /docs — machine-readable tool catalog as JSON
GET /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server — OAuth 2.0 metadata for MCP clients requiring auth
GET /api/v1/* — REST proxy for GPT Action schemas and non-MCP clients

Authentication

Two options. Most users don't need auth for public read-only tools.

Anonymous — all search_cigars, get_best_price, compare_prices, get_coupons, get_categories tool calls work without any key. Rate-limited to protect backend.
OAuth 2.0 / Bearer token — register at POST /register, follow the OAuth metadata endpoint. Required only for future write tools (saving a wishlist, creating price alerts).

Rate limits and fair use

The server is free to use. Reasonable fair-use limit is roughly 60 tool calls per minute per IP. Need more volume? Email admin@cigarfinder.com and we will whitelist you.

Data freshness

Product prices are refreshed on a rolling daily schedule across all 15 retailers. Brand pages, coupon codes, and category metadata update within minutes of changes on cigarfinder.com.

Related resources

CigarFinder.com — the public price comparison site
Dataset description page — full scope, variables measured, methodology
Editorial Team — mission, editorial standards, corrections policy
Brands directory — 199 brand pages on the main site
Current coupon codes
modelcontextprotocol.io — MCP spec and reference