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Mystery Samplers 1 of 4
My review of the cigarpage "20 cigar mystery flight "
James Hemingway
7/5/20244 min read
Before I get started…CHATGPT has something to say about cigarpage.
CigarPage.com is an online retailer that specializes in selling cigars and related accessories. The company was launched in 2015 by the original creators of Cigars International. Despite starting from scratch with a near-empty warehouse, Cigar Page quickly grew by leveraging established relationships with factories and suppliers and embracing the challenges of the modern cigar retailing landscape. CigarPage offers a wide range of products, including cigars from well-known brands such as CAO, Caldwell, and Camacho, humidors, lighters, cutters, and other smoking accessories. They pride themselves on providing excellent customer service, fast shipping, and competitive prices, often featuring daily deals and promotions. They also have a rewards program where customers earn points on purchases that can be redeemed for future discounts.
Me
Now that you have a generic intro, I identified five retailers from which to order a mystery sampler. I didn’t contact them and ask them to put it together or try to notify them why I was ordering them. I ordered as a consumer. The product I ordered has been taken down due to being out of stock for that sale of $69.99 plus free shipping, but it was titled “20 cigar mystery flight.”
What does that mean to you???? To me, what I interpret as an industry standard is that when I order, I get 20 cigars, guaranteed value in relation to the price I paid, and, of course, variety! I tell you from my time as a tobacconist that making recommendations and picking cigars is fun, and I followed a specific rule….. NEVER give the same cigars. The consumer is trusting you to deliver a sampler with 20 different sticks and I wouldn’t take the opportunity lightly to impress and retain a customer. See the photos below for what I received for 75 dollars shipped.
Now, I'm not saying these are bad cigars, as these are from all legit companies with hits in their portfolio. What I will say is that I didn’t get a true mystery sampler, and I was limited to 5 choices, with 2 of the packs being cigars that I don’t smoke or like, the Remington brand made by Gurkha and the Camacho Ecuador. The La Palina brand and Oliva Melanio have always been good to me, but it was five churchills, and they are the ones I least smoke. Value as far as price was there on the surface since I did receive 20 cigars LOL and for icing on the cake …a tiny Boveda was tossed in the cardboard box ..unable to fulfill its purpose …yikes.
Taken back, I called and spoke with a manager, just wondering if the packers were cigar smokers or not. I was given the opportunity to provide feedback on what a product description like “20 cigar mystery flight” means. The manager was very receptive to my simple suggestion of changing the list to reflect four random five packs or ensuring the mystery sampler is a mystery sampler. Anyway, palates are different, and I told the manager I would gift them to a VFW or a deployed unit to guys I know who would smoke and appreciate them instead of sending them back.
Overall, I've been a customer of Cigarpage for almost eight years, and yes, the sales are hard to beat, mainly the box deals! With that, I have noticed they stopped shipping to the military in the Middle East, and when asked about it, the reasons they gave to me weren't valid, especially considering the other dozen or so retailers that will ship FPO AE, which reads as the USA to the post office. Its fine, within the USA, shipping and customer service response is good. They are one of the few retailers modernizing how they engage customers, now using Discord, an app that allows you to build communities and push sales other than what they would email to subscribers. After this sampler fiasco and speaking to the manager about what I believe is the industry standard for a mystery sampler and the issue with the poor Boveda pack just lying in the cardboard box, I definitely hope those issues were a one-off.
Drop some feedback or comments below on what mystery samplers mean to you and if you have ordered one from Cigarpage before
