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Last post 21 years ago by SteveS. 34 replies replies.
The problem with 5 packs
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goldengoose7 Offline
#1 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 10:05 AM EST
Joined: 06-28-2002
Posts: 310
Don't know about the rest of you, but many of the 5 packs I have been trying are suffering from one of two conditions.


1) Too dry / stale to the point that the wrappers are chipping off

2) So overly moise that the draw is terrible!

I have had great luck with buying boxes, but almost all of the 5 packs I have purchased seem to fall into one of the two catagories above. I have tried three Perdomo #4 maduros that I bought at auction and all three were so damp that the draw was equal to puffing on a piece of doweling! :o(

I think I am goin g to stick to boxes from now on. so far, those have all been in perfect condition.
E-Chick Offline
#2 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 10:07 AM EST
Joined: 06-15-2002
Posts: 4,877
Maybe this is how the 'box pass' originated?
rayder1 Offline
#3 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 10:29 AM EST
Joined: 06-02-2002
Posts: 2,226
I just had that experience with a couple 5 packs of Sportsman's Reserve. Variable quality even in the same pack. I think it depends on whether the cello was tight or loose on the individual cigar. I'm going to unwrap the whole mess and give them a few months in the humidor to kick back.
goldengoose7 Offline
#4 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 10:36 AM EST
Joined: 06-28-2002
Posts: 310
Same here! I had some Romeo Y Julietta Belicosos that were very stale, which was a drag at at even the bargain price I paid. I smoked two and they were both horrible. I am going to let the other three sit for several months, although one of them already has a cracked wrapper! :o(
GetYourOwn Offline
#5 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 10:40 AM EST
Joined: 04-05-2002
Posts: 734
I suppose the reason you buy the 5 pack is to try them out and then get a box if you like them. Recieving 5-packs that need humidor time will not bring in those box sales. Sounds like a bad marketing decision on the dealers side. The only 5-packs I bought here were packaged in a plastic bag with a piece of cedar. They arrived hot but at a smokable humidity.
delarob Offline
#6 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 11:24 AM EST
Joined: 06-28-2001
Posts: 5,318
Ya know... I was sucking on a piece of doweling the other day, and I says to myself.. "I hope I never get a cigar like this."
E-Chick Offline
#7 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 11:27 AM EST
Joined: 06-15-2002
Posts: 4,877
Were you at the hardware store or in the garage at home?
melski Offline
#8 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 12:00 PM EST
Joined: 09-22-1999
Posts: 279
goose,

I cannotspeak for the Partagas, but my experience with Nicaraguan cigars in general is that they always arrive too moist (not just from cbid but from everyplace). Ifn' you wanna smoke them Off The Truck, leave 'em sit out of the humidor a couple of days.
cruiser Offline
#9 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 12:47 PM EST
Joined: 06-15-2001
Posts: 739
Goose agree with Number 1 even my gloria cubana maduro had some defects with the wraper on 1 gar and it looked like bugs investet,however they other 4 are ok. and I really own Trish some sluck. So no further complains! forget to mention paid $ 4 a piece.
pebbea Offline
#10 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 12:49 PM EST
Joined: 05-31-2002
Posts: 70
I only buy 5 packs. All have been perfect except for the pimp sticks I got awhile back. The wrappers were all cracked. All the smokes drew just fine.
cruiser Offline
#11 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 12:52 PM EST
Joined: 06-15-2001
Posts: 739
pebea well you know pimps dont care they have other problems like how to pay for their porsche or ferrari!
GetYourOwn Offline
#12 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 1:05 PM EST
Joined: 04-05-2002
Posts: 734
Cruiser, Must have some high class pimps in your 'hood. Around here its Cadillacs and Pontiacs.
cruiser Offline
#13 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 1:07 PM EST
Joined: 06-15-2001
Posts: 739
I am a EURO and in Frankfurt the drive those cars plus mercedes otherwise you,re not a pimp the call you unemployed!
aberdeen Offline
#14 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 7:55 PM EST
Joined: 06-11-1999
Posts: 741
I just figured CB took the cigars out of a box and sold them as five packs. I haven't had any problems with five packs, had a few with boxes.
rayder1 Offline
#15 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 11:29 PM EST
Joined: 06-02-2002
Posts: 2,226
The problem with orders here, as in a lot of places around the country; it's 105 degrees and 15-20% humidity here. My smokes come to the post office and hit a mail truck which runs at 100-110 degrees without much AC. Then they sit in my mailbox which is 120-140? Then I get them inside where itas a nice balmy 80 degrees an dump them in the humi at 75 degrees with 70-72% humidity. I wonder what kind of changes occur in those cigars.
jjohnson28 Offline
#16 Posted: Mon, Aug 12 2002, 11:50 PM EST
Joined: 09-12-2000
Posts: 7,914
I've had exactly two problems with C-bids shipping practices in almost two years and both were taken care of quite nicely.I would undoubtedly expect 5 pks to arrive dryer than boxes,mainly because you've got 5 cigars in a baggie vs 25 cigars in a sealed box.Duh?



Wet cigars/overhumidified? I find most Maduros to be a bit overhumidified when I get them but! I almost always put them in a well stocked.well established humidor for at least a few days before I judge them.
RICKAMAVEN Offline
#17 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 1:07 AM EST
Joined: 10-01-2000
Posts: 33,248
i once had a 5 pack that was dry. i put it in the humidor for a while and it was fine.

i once had a 5 pack that was too moist. i left it out on the table for a day and put it in a humidor for a while and it was fine

don't sweat the small stuff.
Slimboli Offline
#18 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 1:36 AM EST
Joined: 07-09-2000
Posts: 16,139
What Jim said ...

I've only had a few 5-packs come to me that were a little dry.

No big deal with a little humi time ...
Fubar69 Offline
#19 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 7:13 AM EST
Joined: 04-02-2001
Posts: 325
Most of my 5-packs go into the humidors for a few days before I will try them. That way I can judge them for their merits. I tend to buy 5-packs or samplers of the brands that I want to buy boxes of eventually.

Remember...Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things....69
goldengoose7 Offline
#20 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 8:56 AM EST
Joined: 06-28-2002
Posts: 310
Obviously I wasn't referring to smokes that could be resurrected with a few days in or out of a humidor.

Did I mention I have been a cigar smoker for 26 years? ;o)
mhollowa Offline
#21 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 9:24 AM EST
Joined: 10-03-2001
Posts: 517
...a lot of retail sites don't offer 5-packs or similar reduced-quantity packages. It's a box, bundle or nothing. I think those sites that do offer the smaller package know their customers better. A 5- or 4-pack lets me taste a particular brand or size of cigar without paying for a whole box. I purchase singles locally. It doesn't make sense to mail order a single cigar. I've noticed that when I like a cigar I won on CBid 5-pack, I look for a box among the new Boxes lots. When one doesn't come up after a while (yeah, it will eventually come up for bid) I order one. I guess that's part of the problem with CBid 5-packs. Five can be too few.
goldengoose7 Offline
#22 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 9:32 AM EST
Joined: 06-28-2002
Posts: 310
P.S.

Rayder1,

You have put your finger on what I think is the biggest cause of the problem. Also, the farther from CBID you live, the longer the smokes must endure the extremes you pointed out on their way to us.
SteveS Offline
#23 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 9:40 AM EST
Joined: 01-13-2002
Posts: 8,751
goose, rayder, like you and me is a West Coast resident ... shipments leaving PA on Thursday of last week will not arrive at my house for two more days ... unless they foul it up and it comes on Fri or Sat, which would not be unheard of either ...

I routinely plan on at least 3 weeks in the humi before anything is remotely smokeable in the summer time and cross my fingers that not too many of them are hopelessly ruined ...
Slimboli Offline
#24 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 10:23 AM EST
Joined: 07-09-2000
Posts: 16,139
Like I said ... I have been ordering (winning) 5-packs for years here, and have only had a couple that were less than satifactory, and not one have I had to send back.

I don't understand all the problems the rest of you are having ... and I live in California.

Go figure ...

I will say they did make one mistake on a bid I won though. I bid on and won two identical humidors (for $19 each), and one was the correct one, the other was not. The other turned out to be the one that CI sells for $89, that had the cutter, three-finger case, hygrometer, etc. included.

I didn't complain ...
SteveS Offline
#25 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 10:31 AM EST
Joined: 01-13-2002
Posts: 8,751
Slim, the 'problem', such as it is, has nothing whatsoever to do w/C-Bid ... it's the time/conditions for transit. If I drove across the country with a cardboard box full of cigars in zip-lock bags, I'd not expect them to be in any better shape than mine arrive in from CB ... perhaps not even as good. I know for a fact that they are doing everything possible at their end ... I just also know from my experience, that a few cigars will not fare well and all will require some recovery time in my humi ... I'm not saying this is a problem ... it's just a fact of life.
Danno114 Offline
#26 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 10:41 AM EST
Joined: 03-01-2002
Posts: 395
As a general rule for me, with few exceptions, all new smokes go in the humi for at least a month. As described in the posts in this thread, I don't want to think about what the cigars are subject to on the way to my house.

All my Cbid purchases have arrived in great shape.
goldengoose7 Offline
#27 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 11:13 AM EST
Joined: 06-28-2002
Posts: 310
Hmmmm..Generally, all of my CBID shipments take a full 7 days to arrive after shipment, They are almost always via UPS ground and items shipped on Wednesday or Thursday arrive the following Thursday or Friday here in Seattle.
mhollowa Offline
#28 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 11:26 AM EST
Joined: 10-03-2001
Posts: 517
...haven't had a problem with 5-packs or boxes. CBid does a nice job packing. And it sounds like I don't get shipments here in Houston any sooner than those to the West coast. I have weekly shipping and get those Friday shipments the following Friday on the early side and the second Monday on the slow side. Like Rick, I get the cigars out of the ziplock and into the right humidity as quickly as possible. Houston humidity can ruin a perfect cigar in less than an hour. I might be missing the problem, however. I don't smoke new arrivals right away but age them for a couple of months. I'm still drawing from the high tide mark I reached during an overspending attack late last year.
goldengoose7 Offline
#29 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 11:34 AM EST
Joined: 06-28-2002
Posts: 310
The 5-packs I was referring to have been in my various humidors for the past 2-3 weeks before I tried one. From the posts here, it looks like they need a lot more TLC than I would have figured before smoking --- I don't blame CBID for the problems, more the reality of ground shipments and the WARM temps encountered during the summer. --- This thread was more of a heads-up than anything, but personally, I plan to stick to buying boxes of my long time favorites of the past two decades from now on. :o)
aberdeen Offline
#30 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 11:50 AM EST
Joined: 06-11-1999
Posts: 741
goose you can have your cigars sent by USPS priority, it doesn't take a week, and that way UPS won't have the chance to beat the hell out of your box, UPS is probably half your problem.
SteveS Offline
#31 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 12:08 PM EST
Joined: 01-13-2002
Posts: 8,751
I've become quite frustrated with UPS in recent weeks ... if I monitor the progess of my shipment, their records indicate that it tends to spend two days in Northern CA before being delivered to me on the third day (AFTER arriving in CA from PA) ... when I called them on this, they first said I should complain to the shipper (CB) ... then, they said that the arrival scan was not a physical one and that the package had not in fact been received at all ... 'we ANTICIPTATED it' they told me ... I said that amounted to their doing no more than BSing me about it's progress ... bottom line is that I never see them until the 8th day, sometimes the 9th and once in a while the 10th ... perhaps the only solution IS to pay them more and (hopefully) get it quicker ...
goldengoose7 Offline
#32 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 1:56 PM EST
Joined: 06-28-2002
Posts: 310
I agree with Steve! UPS does leave much to be desired when dealing with what can be considered perishable merchandise.

I didn't realize that you could specifiy the type of shipper you wanted to use? Seems CBID sends small orders via USPS and larger orders (I usually order a couple of hundred bucks worth at a time) via UPS ground. ???

Guess I need to read the fine print on my account and find the place you can specify the shipping method you want them to use.
delarob Offline
#33 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 4:24 PM EST
Joined: 06-28-2001
Posts: 5,318
So now I'm thinking.... "I wonder if this piece of doweling, will have the same draw as that last piece, and should I age it longer...."
goldengoose7 Offline
#34 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 5:07 PM EST
Joined: 06-28-2002
Posts: 310
You like that dowel reference don't ya? LOL!

Couldn't think of a better analogy than comparing a plugged cigar to trying to smoke a brookstick handle! :o)
SteveS Offline
#35 Posted: Tue, Aug 13 2002, 7:38 PM EST
Joined: 01-13-2002
Posts: 8,751
Delarob ... age the dowel and let us know, would you?
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