...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.

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.

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 ...

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 ...

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.

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.

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.

...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.

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)

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.

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 ...

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.

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...."

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)

Delarob ... age the dowel and let us know, would you?