Went to two local shops today, one is nice but the other was just completely nasty!! Walked into the humi and there was not even a tobacco smell, but there was a pundgent smell of mold. Some of there best gars Ashton VSG were just completely covered in mold. WHAT A NIGHT MARE! The saddest group of good sticks I've ever seen. Has anybody else seen something this bad?

J

Yeah John, It's no fun seeing good cigars gone bad because of mistreatment! I had the pleasure of visiting Manas, Kryzgistan (spelling?) a couple of months ago, and in the air port I was thrilled to find a smoke shop advertising Cuban gars. The first thing I noticed was boxes of Montecristos, Trinidads, Hoyo de Monterreys, etc... The second thing I noticed was a large puddle of water on the floor from their disfunctional humidifiers, then the hygrometer that read into the 90s! Against sain judgement I waded in the water praying that my boots would shield me from electricution, and I looked inside opened boxes. Words cant do justice what I saw, needless to say, the cigars were in real bad shape. Not good.

Joel

Saw the same thing not 3 miles from Robby's house a year ago. An Indian fellow had a "tobacco outlet' and a room full of 100% humidity mold sticks. I am guessing he received a government small business loan and knew nothing about his profession.

The first thing I did was ask to look at the price of the Montecrisco Platinum tin of four at the counter and the counter person did not know what I was asking for and handed me Macanudos, five times I asked before someone else came to assist. Now I don't mind if people don't know name brands, but at least learn how to store them. By the way the price of the little torps were $31.95.

J

There is a Liquor Store - Cigarete Shop in town that has a small humidor in the Cigarete side of the store. I remembered this shop had some very overpriced Opus X Petite Lanceros a couple of years ago. Was also thinking those Opus had a rounded tip instead of tapered like they are made now, making them worth the extra cost. So I paid them a visit about two weeks ago.

The first thing I noticed after sliding open the small walk-in door was dirty cigars. Some with lots of THICK DUST on the cello. I asked if they still had their Opus and this woman came over and pulled them from their hideaway.

I took one for inspection. It had the tapered end and wasn't what I was looking for (especially for almost 4X msrp). On returning it to the spanish cedar tray I noticed about 10 Partagas 150 cigars on the other side of the divider. All 10 Partagas were covered with BEETLE holes!! I didn't comment on that and acted like I never saw the holes.

Needless to say, I wished them well and went on my way.

I know they are supposed to be something special, but the worst I have ever seen was La Casa Del Habano in Cancun, Mexico. Some of the cigars actually had dust and spider webs on them. Others looked like they had been taken out of the box, kicked around the floor, and then placed back in the box. The condition of those cuban cigars was disgusting.

I hope they came to their senses and cleaned that humi up.

El Paso, Texas. Can't remember the name of the place. It was just a couple of blocks from the airport and just around the corner from Ft. Bliss. They had some great cigars in the walk-in but they were covered in dust. It broke my heart to see my beloved HDM "dub-dubs" covered with fine gray-brown dust.I did buy some PAMs from him but they came out of a previously unopened box.
On a side-note I smoked one with 2 grunts from Jessica Lynch's unit in the back smoking room. That story was maybe a week old at the time. They told me some things that have since proved to be true. So, I guess my point is, the quality of the cigar is 2nd to the quality of the company. I still count this as a positive experience. I'd brush the dust off and smoke another with those guys any day.