There are a lot of things to consider when shopping online for anything, especially for cigars, as there are a number of problems you may encounter.
I live in an area that has at least 9 smoke shops within 20 minutes of my home, so I normally don’t have to shop online for cigars. I do check out several of the online cigar sites for reviews and upcoming cigars from my favorite brands. A lot of time, the sites just copy and paste the information from their vendor’s websites or sales literature, but a few have real reviews from real cigar smokers. A lot of times my local shop will price match the prices I find online for my favorite smokes, so most of the time my online research pays off. Cigar smokers normally don’t haggle on the prices of their smokes, as cigars are luxury items, but we won’t pass up a great deal if we can get one.
So, what should you be cautious of when shopping online for cigars? I would have to say the first thing to be cautious about is where they are coming from. Is this a real smoke shop, do they store their cigars in an optimum environment, are they wholesalers competing with their own brick and mortar clients? These are all things to consider, especially if they are a wholesaler competing with their own clients, which in my opinion is a very unfair business practice! Unless they are selling their cigars at full suggested retail prices, this is very unfair to the stores who have helped them build their brands before the internet came along.
The other caution when buying your cigars online is how they process your order. I don’t want to scare you from shopping online, and I can assure you that most online e-commerce sites are very safe and have secure server licenses, but there is something scarier than a hacker getting your credit card number. You see, most credit card merchant accounts in the U.S. will not process cigar or any tobacco products online. I bet you didn’t know that. So, a lot of the online cigar sites use offshore banking to process your credit card! I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I would trust an offshore bank with my credit card, especially since these banks are not FDIC insured.
I would request that whoever you are purchasing your cigars with share this information with you. If you ask them, they should be required to disclose this information to you, but if you catch them in a lie or if they are hesitant to answer you, then shop elsewhere.
I am not saying that you should not shop online for cigars. Not everyone has the luxury of having a smoke shop in their town, so sometimes shopping online is your only option. I would want to know who I am doing business with and deal only with an online smoke shop who is a reputable company like Tinder Box or Thompson Cigars. Just because a website says their secure, doesn’t always mean they are protecting your purchase. I would question any business that would jeopardize your credit card information just to make a sale, or that wouldn’t disclose their credit card processor.
One last thing to be concerned about when buying your stogies online is how, and from where, are your cigars shipped. You are purchasing boxes of cigars that can easily be valued at $100 or more, so you don’t want to risk getting a box that wasn’t stored properly. Be sure to ask about their return policy and how will they be shipped. Some guarantee freshness and a lot of them do not! Sometimes you don’t know a cigar is bad until you light it and they may have a policy about returning open boxes.
I would expect them to ship in a sturdy box with some sort of humi-pack to keep them humid, but there is no way to guarantee that they will travel at the proper temperature, so that’s why I would ask where they are being shipped from.
Other than that, buy your cigars from whomever you feel comfortable with, but do some research before purchasing. Always support your local smoke shop, as they were the ones who helped build the brands we smoke today. If you find a good deal online, ask your local shop if they will price match. Unless they are competing with a wholesaler selling online, they should be able to give you a little bit of a discount to keep your business.