Purchasing Question

[jwa44]

Best/most reputable place to purchase Habanos online?
I know the site is sponsored by Cuban Lou's & Cigars of Habanos, but I've also seen Puroexpress on here.
Who is the most reputable?
Who has the best quality inventory?
Who has the best value for the spend?
Who is the best priced?
How good is the delivery guarantee?
Who do you guys trust for delivery, quality, etc.?

Sorry for all the questions, but this is the first time I'll be buying online and I don't want to get taken to the cleaners.

Thanks in advance.

Email me or PM me if you'd rather.

 

[GuyMcBeerdrinker]

man, so many questions that don't really have a cut and dry answer.

Who is the most reputable?

there are a lot of great vendors. in general they go out of their way to please their customers. instead of searching for the most reputable, it would be better to straight up avoid the crooks or less-than-honest guys (cigartrading, anyone?)

sticking with the ones you mentioned -- cuban lou's, puroexpress, cigarsofhab..., and our "friends" -- is a pretty safe bet. take it from personal experience: stay away from hong kong, but not because of authenticity issues or anything out of the sort.

Who has the best quality inventory?

do you mean oldest stock or "prettier" cigars?

there are guys that still have some old boxes stashed away that are very reasonably priced. good luck trying to get someone to give those up, hahaha.

Who has the best value for the spend?

I still haven't seen a vendor that beats everyone else in pricing across the board. although ravi (cigarsofhabanos) is very competitive.

one vendor might have better deals on a particular box, while another beats that vendor on a brand, etc. you just have to shop around and compare.

now, there are some that have awesome prices but then you have to factor in shipping costs then the overall price isn't as great as the guy that has inclusive shipping.

Who do you guys trust for delivery, quality, etc.?

here's who I'd trust (in no way is this in order of preference):

trevor at strictlycuban

ravi at cigarofhabanos

rolf at puroexpress

kevin at cubanlous

all of these guys guarantee delivery. I can personally vouch for trevor and ravi making good on that.

herr wolters at LCDH hamburg is another GREAT vendor.

hope that helps you get started.

 

[Legends of the Playground]

I'll go right along with The Dude here. I would have said that Ravi was the man but the recent issues with ordering from Hong Kong make me sad.

However, I did order a box from him earlier this year after all that madness developed. It came in good shape and was what I ordered.

 

[jwa44]

Guy,
The questions were really to get you to think a bit this morning! :wink:

Seriously, I don't want to shell out a few $$$ to someone that is not on the up and up.

Thank you for the info; it is very thorough.

Answers lead to more questions, so can you tell me what the issue was/is with Hong Kong?

Also, I noticed that puroexpress has some type of referral service. Is it necessary to be referred to order from them?

 

[GuyMcBeerdrinker]

look for my thread that was posted here about "the letter". bj (legends of the playground) and mikes have a lot of info on the subject, as well. in short, the MAN has started an investigation into alleged cuban cigar purchases online that have originated from hk. it appears they were investigating an owner for evasion and stumbled upon a cache of american customers. the unraveling of the string led them to another vendor from the same country.

as far as we know they haven't targeted vendors based in other countries.

I got such letter. now you know why I state that I cannot do the buy when group buys are tossed around

hmm, didn't know puroxp has started a referral process :dunno:

 

[Anastasis]

Is there a consensus on best method to transfer payment? Obviously credit card, but any thoughts on which company. I vaguely recall VISA being brought up in the discussion a while back as cooperating with some of the investigations.

 

[GuyMcBeerdrinker]

I'm out of the loop as I haven't made a purchase in almost a year.

 

[Rutkus]

i wouldn't want to start dabbling in habanos right now IMHO.

Please note that due to increased security by US customs we are presently unable to ship your order intact. We have not completed the authorization of your charge on our side so we can either cancel your order or ship it to you bandless. Please let us know how you would like us handle your order.

pulled from another forum...

 

[GuyMcBeerdrinker]

like I said, best to avoid hk for now.

haven't heard of anyone having trouble from another country.

but it would be wise to order rebanded if you had to have your habanos.

 

[williegstyles]

I personally prefer Kevin at Cubanlous. .....Before all of the drama in the Far East I would've said Ravi at CoH....hands down!