Ode to the small batch:
I gotta weigh in here brothers to put in a good word for the Batchers. In my book, their value has almost nothing to do with the ridiculously protective packaging, rapid shipping, or great customer care. In fact making those claims as their selling points is a complete distraction from what I see as their most important strengths and benefits to customers. Their value is more about the small batch approach to business and cigar production.
I’ve been an avid smoker for 25+ years and a pretty hardcore collector for the last 10 and have to say that this is probably the single best place to get the hardest to find, small batch, boutique releases out there. I’ve shopped at dozens and dozens of B&Ms, receive emails from all the primary vendors, and regularly scour the internet looking for the best deals I can find for a want list of about 20 brands and specific releases. Since getting married and moving abroad recently, I’ve done my damnedest to whittle down the time sink of my main hobby/obsession and Batch has remained in my top 5 places to purchase the entire time. There r only a few places in the world where u can find so many of these small cigar brands in one location, so these guys r worth their weight in gold... IF that’s ur interest.
Unlike any other vendor, they DO provide real, substantial discounts on brands that rarely EVER see any discounts beyond mayb 10% on occasion, and they do so on a daily basis, pretty much always starting at minimum 15% off, frequently going well beyond that. They rotate sales according to 2-3 brands at a time, rarely provide sitewide discounts, and don’t allow advance orders or holds - so I do wish they’d make things alot easier to save me time. BUT they have a few thousand cigar nerds vying for stuff that’s super limited and “ultra boutique” from brands that can only provide each vendor with very small amounts in order to stay afloat and that can only afford production runs at a tiny fraction of the general competition in numbers well below demand.
Yes, it’s a massive pain in the ass to deal with and incredibly frustrating when they run out of something before I even see the damn email, but that’s the nature of the beast when dealing with such small scale economies. It’s a business model mainly for the ultra boutique brands and small batch cigar nerds who r passionate about this insanely complex human/nature ‘product’ - so it doesn’t work so well for the rest, but these guys do the best job I have ever seen at trying to satisfy those less OCD types as well. There r just limits endemic to this industry that will simply never completely satisfy everyone, esp if u want the larger brand releases, but I think u’ll benefit from giving them a fair shake, keeping them in your search rotation when possible, and consider stretching your interests a bit more into the experimental and innovative areas of tobacco cultivation that they support.
Batch is an amazing resource for entering that world for those who might appreciate exploring the more unusual, albeit admittedly abit more expensive, world of tobacco, but it can b an amazing ride if ur not expecting them to outcompete the big distributors. Despite saying that, u can still find good deals on at least some of the standard or popular stuff if u r patient, but u also can’t find a much better place for exploring the other, less known side of the cigar scene, anywhere. I’m definitely NOT saying that there isn’t value to b found elsewhere, but it’s unwise to expect the same thing when dealing with such a different type of company that has a different focus on a smaller, niche market. Sorry for alI the wind, but I care about this stuff. Rest assured, I get nothing for this ‘advertisement’ on their behalf, other than the satisfaction of addressing what I think was an unfair comparison/ assessment of a rare company that I really respect. Dad used to end our arguments with “apples ain’t oranges, at least not yet.”
