Some B&Ms like boards are like that. I urge you to keep trying. When you find a good one, the owner will make sure you get introduced and accepted.
CI: good or bad for the cigar-buying experience?
- Thread starter TheKidCigar
- Start date
there isn't another B&M within 30 miles of my house. TO me its just not worth it.......hang out on my porch with a 6 pack of beer, rum, whatever that i bought at a decent price and smoke a cigar that would cost me $8 in a shop that i found for $4 online and pop on my webcam to BS with a few BOTL sounds MUCH more appealing than wasting $8 in gas plus paying the premium for the drink/cigar in search of a good B&M.
I just think that in this day and age younger smokers just view it a little differently. Not to age generalize because i am sure there are plenty of younger smokers that appreciate the B&M experience, but i doubt that many of them went looking for it after being treated oddly a few times.
First of all, if you're gonna smoke in a B&M you damn sure better have bought a cigar there. I've brought something from home a couple times but I light it only after making a comparable purchase from their stock to take home with me. I know of plenty of places that charge a cutting fee to bring in your own smokes or forbid it altogether, which is a completely fair policy IMO. I understand that "the customer is always right" is a good mentality to live by, but if people bring in their own stuff they're not a customer anyway so to hell with them. Tell them to put it out and buy something or get the f*** out. Just my 2 cents.
Personally i love going to my local B&M the guys there are great. I love the suggestions i get especially if im in the mood for something new. Plus i love the i pay and have it now. But the prices are killer with the NYS taxes. It adds easily 4-5$ more a stick and that's even before sales tax. Last week i grabbed an opusX for 25$ where my buddy in NH couldget it for 20$
An acid Kuba Kuba is like 13$ at the shop... So in some cases its silly not to buy online. Even when the shop does 20% off a box deal its still almost 280$ ish a box where from CI its 160$ ish with shipping.
You cant beat the experience at a good B&M but to stock a humidor online is my go to.
Sent from my Galaxy S3
An acid Kuba Kuba is like 13$ at the shop... So in some cases its silly not to buy online. Even when the shop does 20% off a box deal its still almost 280$ ish a box where from CI its 160$ ish with shipping.
You cant beat the experience at a good B&M but to stock a humidor online is my go to.
Sent from my Galaxy S3
I wish I could shop a B&M . In my area there was a shop that opened but when your price for a La Duena is $20 your going to loose out to online sales. The shop closed after 2 months. The closest shop in my area is 100 miles away but when I get to that town I always stop in. I would love to shop local but you can't expect me to pay 2-3 times the online price for the same stick
I am a big believer that you should support your local B&M but at the same time it isn't BLINDLY that you should do it. If the B&M that is near you has horrible customer service or doesn't carry what you want, why would you support them. Find a B&M in the area that has the service you want, the atmosphere you desire and a decent selection and settle in. A good B&M is like a second home or a buddies place you hang at a lot. It should be comfortable, full of friends you like to hang with, a place you aren't afraid to be yourself and have a good time. That experience trumps buying cigars online any day of the week.
Like has been said previously, once you establish that relationship, you will find often times that you get tossed a freebie now and then, discounts might get applied and you can get pretty close to what your paying online for cigars. Sure it will probably never be as cheap as buying online, but the experience and friendships you make far outweigh the savings.
Also, what a lot of people tend to forget is, a lot of times, what you buy in the B&M and what you buy online are two different animals.
The B&M sells the cigars that are reviewed in magazines, the cigars that actually GET the 90+ ratings
The online retailers sell those but never push those. They seem to always push their own brands that do NOT sell at the B&M's or offshoot lines from brands you know that just are not the same quality.
For every EP Carrillo Short Run 2013 you see in the B&M, there is equal parts EP Carrillo Short Run Vintage and EP Carrillo Short Run Cubra online. They may look the same, may sound the same, but they are NOT the same, and that is why they are cheaper.
Buyer beware comes into play MUCH MORE when you buy from online retailers. That is NOT to say that all of those products are garbage, some are very good. But more often than not, the great deals online, are not on the same cigars your B&M carries. It is like the equivalent of buying the "sounds like" records from the 70s (yes I am aging myself). You can buy a record from a band called the Meatles that sure sounds like the beatles, but it just isn't them.
Obviously there are some great deals to be had online on the same cigars you see at the B&M's too, but often times, when I bring those prices to my local b&m, they get darn close if not right on those same prices, deal for deal. Meaning, if CI has a deal for 10 cigars at a certain price, the B&M will match the price or get darn close, but I have to buy 10, not 1. So I buy my 10 at the B&M, sit down with a nice glass of scotch, and talk shop with the guys at the B&M and have a grand ol time.
One mans opinion.
Like has been said previously, once you establish that relationship, you will find often times that you get tossed a freebie now and then, discounts might get applied and you can get pretty close to what your paying online for cigars. Sure it will probably never be as cheap as buying online, but the experience and friendships you make far outweigh the savings.
Also, what a lot of people tend to forget is, a lot of times, what you buy in the B&M and what you buy online are two different animals.
The B&M sells the cigars that are reviewed in magazines, the cigars that actually GET the 90+ ratings
The online retailers sell those but never push those. They seem to always push their own brands that do NOT sell at the B&M's or offshoot lines from brands you know that just are not the same quality.
For every EP Carrillo Short Run 2013 you see in the B&M, there is equal parts EP Carrillo Short Run Vintage and EP Carrillo Short Run Cubra online. They may look the same, may sound the same, but they are NOT the same, and that is why they are cheaper.
Buyer beware comes into play MUCH MORE when you buy from online retailers. That is NOT to say that all of those products are garbage, some are very good. But more often than not, the great deals online, are not on the same cigars your B&M carries. It is like the equivalent of buying the "sounds like" records from the 70s (yes I am aging myself). You can buy a record from a band called the Meatles that sure sounds like the beatles, but it just isn't them.
Obviously there are some great deals to be had online on the same cigars you see at the B&M's too, but often times, when I bring those prices to my local b&m, they get darn close if not right on those same prices, deal for deal. Meaning, if CI has a deal for 10 cigars at a certain price, the B&M will match the price or get darn close, but I have to buy 10, not 1. So I buy my 10 at the B&M, sit down with a nice glass of scotch, and talk shop with the guys at the B&M and have a grand ol time.
One mans opinion.
