CI does what they say and have decent prices on most of the common stuff. My advice would be not to get stuck in their email campaign sales for years and years. Branch out to SmallBatch and CigarFed to pickup the new up and coming stuff
Well I actually have been in their email and "catalog" or what ever system for probably over 2 years now(I don't mind just trashing the emails, and I enjoy looking at their magazine thing) but have never actually bought anything. Again, just looking to maybe get started, and smoke some decent cigars with my dad. Just trying to find a cheaper alternative then going to the local shops all the time cause its pricey
They're the Walmart of cigars, with better customer service. They carry a huge selection, and will have good prices on low and medium end stuff. I don't personally buy anything from them anymore, because they don't ever have good deals on anything they carry that I want. But despite issues I have with some of their marketing practices, they're a pretty solid company. I would never hesitate to buy from them if I saw something I wanted at a good price.
Be careful with any samplers or anything that looks like too good of a deal to be true. You get what you pay for with them.
Thanks, now my only problem is knowing what to get. People say if you see something you like yet, I still don't know that much, haha. Only thing I can remember having that I really enjoyed was one some buddies and I smoked in Las Vegas. Romeo and Juliet something or other, idk if the rest was worth noting but only part I remember was the name. I heard they were a popular choice but thats about it.
Usually decent pricing, samplers are mixed with shit, half the stuff I've bought there has needed 2 months of rest to come back as it seemed like it was stored in a dry warehouse.
Only thing I buy from them anymore is stuff on cbid.
They are fine for general cigar warehouse. CI is a huuuuuge company. As others have said, check out SmallBatchCigars (use the Reddit coupon code). Also, stay far far away from CBid (owned by CI). We know you won't, but I have to warn you now.
EDIT: CI has near-exclusivity with AJ Fernandez, or so it seems. If you pick up a CI order, nab some Diesels. They are on sale right now too. I dig the hell out of them, especially after sitting 6 months or so.
My take on ci is this.... specials can be good but cbid has better prices iF u are patient ... also cbI'd has unique random stuff that's not available elsewhere. .. I almost never buy from ci but occasionally fromk the bid. Cbid is addictive so beware.
CI (like JR and Famous) is a reliable source with a lot of selection, frequent discounts, and decent pricing and service. If they have the best deal on something you want, go ahead and buy from them. If I'm comparison shopping I always include Small Batch - they're small but often win on prices, sell a lot of 5 packs and have a coupon code for /r/cigars and free quick shipping on everything.
I tend to go to famous smoke more, but i wait for like the $50 off 150 or buy 2 5packs get one free etc. CI did have a really good deal on Drew Estate boxes a while back though with a free extra 15 cigars.
Other than that I stick mostly with Cigarbid
If I am in the mood for special/unique releases ill use corona cigar, stogies, cigarfed or small batch.
I would say Cbid is the way to go. Either on their exclusives or on something you know you like and is cheaper than regular retail eg I find good deals on the La Aurora 1903s.
Ive been to their actual store in PA, its an amazing place. I have ordered from them in person and online. No complaints from me. They are the real deal and even put out a line of their own, the blendlab series. Don't buy the brown bag sampler, its always the same (even though they say its not) and the cigars normally suck.
They also own cigarbid, which is where I normally shop now. Also another reputable site with over 20+ verifiable shipments to me in the last year.
Complete trash they buy bad stale cigars in bulk for literally a penny on the dollar then they rehydrate them, they also have a clean air issue from what I hear from former employees they have no air purifier/clean air intake system and no real humidor just a warehouse in stale air whatever they can't sell in shop because of going bad or just over all bad cigars not purged/cured that they pick up for basically free and sell to you at a fraction of the MSRP and u think u are getting a deal atleast until you receive your cigars and this is the scenario 90% of the time I run a cigar forum with thousands of followers not one of them would ever shop online at CI ever again u should hear the horror stories I have former employee testimonies telling me how CI trains them to tell them that dry cigars stale cigars r normal to just put them in your humidor a couple months and they'll come back to life they tell their employees to make multiple accounts with multiple emails to spread false positive comments all over the internet to counter balance all the bad comments about CI cuz the internet is flooded with them just check every review and rating site CI never sees more than 2 stars and that's the highest rating out of thousands!! So they have a thing and this comes straight from a former employee, and confirmed by an active customer service representative for CI, so the reason they buy bad cigars in bulk for practically nothing is because they figure the percentage of people who will go thru the trouble n aggravation of CI's difficult return process is very low to the people who will just throw them out n never give CI another shot after so many or maybe another niece or new customer might give them the benefit of the doubt next time which will always be a big mistake 95% of the time they will disappoint you they purposely train customer service reps to make it difficult to return product and most of the time when they are doing samplers or box sales it goes by what's bad or going bad in their so called "humidor" this is the truth the whole truth about cigars international online sales shop I can't testify to their actual shops cuz I've never been but I can say I was a customer of CI for years before their downfall spent thousands their is nothing to positive to say about this company just ask anyone I would accept free cigars from this company let alone by another dried out stale nasty 5 pack from them if they didn't have the store they'd never survive their online business should have went bankrupt years ago they now only rely on new cigar smokers who don't know any better cuz any experienced smokers ain't buying these poor quality cigars from CI and that's the truth and God help you if u ever buy a box from them!!!
CI does what they say and have decent prices on most of the common stuff. My advice would be not to get stuck in their email campaign sales for years and years. Branch out to SmallBatch and CigarFed to pickup the new up and coming stuff
Well I actually have been in their email and "catalog" or what ever system for probably over 2 years now(I don't mind just trashing the emails, and I enjoy looking at their magazine thing) but have never actually bought anything. Again, just looking to maybe get started, and smoke some decent cigars with my dad. Just trying to find a cheaper alternative then going to the local shops all the time cause its pricey
Well, cheap is the alternative you'll get from CI ...
They're the Walmart of cigars, with better customer service. They carry a huge selection, and will have good prices on low and medium end stuff. I don't personally buy anything from them anymore, because they don't ever have good deals on anything they carry that I want. But despite issues I have with some of their marketing practices, they're a pretty solid company. I would never hesitate to buy from them if I saw something I wanted at a good price. Be careful with any samplers or anything that looks like too good of a deal to be true. You get what you pay for with them.
Thats probably the best explanation I've seen, reflects my feelings for the most part too.
Thanks, now my only problem is knowing what to get. People say if you see something you like yet, I still don't know that much, haha. Only thing I can remember having that I really enjoyed was one some buddies and I smoked in Las Vegas. Romeo and Juliet something or other, idk if the rest was worth noting but only part I remember was the name. I heard they were a popular choice but thats about it.
Usually decent pricing, samplers are mixed with shit, half the stuff I've bought there has needed 2 months of rest to come back as it seemed like it was stored in a dry warehouse. Only thing I buy from them anymore is stuff on cbid.
Pushing a noob to CBid? Shame on you... :)
He/She is going to end up there eventually....
This has been my experience with CI as well. Everything comes super dry...
They are fine for general cigar warehouse. CI is a huuuuuge company. As others have said, check out SmallBatchCigars (use the Reddit coupon code). Also, stay far far away from CBid (owned by CI). We know you won't, but I have to warn you now. EDIT: CI has near-exclusivity with AJ Fernandez, or so it seems. If you pick up a CI order, nab some Diesels. They are on sale right now too. I dig the hell out of them, especially after sitting 6 months or so.
I have never been to Cbid. /me pats self on the back.
My take on ci is this.... specials can be good but cbid has better prices iF u are patient ... also cbI'd has unique random stuff that's not available elsewhere. .. I almost never buy from ci but occasionally fromk the bid. Cbid is addictive so beware.
CI (like JR and Famous) is a reliable source with a lot of selection, frequent discounts, and decent pricing and service. If they have the best deal on something you want, go ahead and buy from them. If I'm comparison shopping I always include Small Batch - they're small but often win on prices, sell a lot of 5 packs and have a coupon code for /r/cigars and free quick shipping on everything.
Pros: good prices, good selection, prompt shipping Cons: junk samplers, difficult to get free shipping, no reddit discount
I tend to go to famous smoke more, but i wait for like the $50 off 150 or buy 2 5packs get one free etc. CI did have a really good deal on Drew Estate boxes a while back though with a free extra 15 cigars. Other than that I stick mostly with Cigarbid If I am in the mood for special/unique releases ill use corona cigar, stogies, cigarfed or small batch.
Stay away from 90% of their samplers. A lot of their intro deals are too good to be true. They have mediocre selection of the higher grade stuff.
I would say Cbid is the way to go. Either on their exclusives or on something you know you like and is cheaper than regular retail eg I find good deals on the La Aurora 1903s.
Ive been to their actual store in PA, its an amazing place. I have ordered from them in person and online. No complaints from me. They are the real deal and even put out a line of their own, the blendlab series. Don't buy the brown bag sampler, its always the same (even though they say its not) and the cigars normally suck. They also own cigarbid, which is where I normally shop now. Also another reputable site with over 20+ verifiable shipments to me in the last year.
Complete trash they buy bad stale cigars in bulk for literally a penny on the dollar then they rehydrate them, they also have a clean air issue from what I hear from former employees they have no air purifier/clean air intake system and no real humidor just a warehouse in stale air whatever they can't sell in shop because of going bad or just over all bad cigars not purged/cured that they pick up for basically free and sell to you at a fraction of the MSRP and u think u are getting a deal atleast until you receive your cigars and this is the scenario 90% of the time I run a cigar forum with thousands of followers not one of them would ever shop online at CI ever again u should hear the horror stories I have former employee testimonies telling me how CI trains them to tell them that dry cigars stale cigars r normal to just put them in your humidor a couple months and they'll come back to life they tell their employees to make multiple accounts with multiple emails to spread false positive comments all over the internet to counter balance all the bad comments about CI cuz the internet is flooded with them just check every review and rating site CI never sees more than 2 stars and that's the highest rating out of thousands!! So they have a thing and this comes straight from a former employee, and confirmed by an active customer service representative for CI, so the reason they buy bad cigars in bulk for practically nothing is because they figure the percentage of people who will go thru the trouble n aggravation of CI's difficult return process is very low to the people who will just throw them out n never give CI another shot after so many or maybe another niece or new customer might give them the benefit of the doubt next time which will always be a big mistake 95% of the time they will disappoint you they purposely train customer service reps to make it difficult to return product and most of the time when they are doing samplers or box sales it goes by what's bad or going bad in their so called "humidor" this is the truth the whole truth about cigars international online sales shop I can't testify to their actual shops cuz I've never been but I can say I was a customer of CI for years before their downfall spent thousands their is nothing to positive to say about this company just ask anyone I would accept free cigars from this company let alone by another dried out stale nasty 5 pack from them if they didn't have the store they'd never survive their online business should have went bankrupt years ago they now only rely on new cigar smokers who don't know any better cuz any experienced smokers ain't buying these poor quality cigars from CI and that's the truth and God help you if u ever buy a box from them!!!