Fosgate Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 Stopped by my local tobacco/liquer/cigar outlet a couple days ago and witnessed a catastrophe. A young friend of mine left the company in December and he was very knowledgeable about cigars, humidification etc and for good reason he managed the cigars. Well he got an opportunity to move up in the world and the owner did not hire a replacement fast enough for him to train and it showed when I was in there a month ago. So the other day I walk in greeted by a young woman and young man, college age. Soon as I walk into the humidor I notice a huge pool of water forming in the middle of the floor coming from a humidifier in the corner of the room. Water was running down the humidifier and onto about five boxes of cigars. I ran out and got their attention and neither had a clue what to do. The guy reached in to turn off a valve but instead bumped a water intake line off causing water to spray on nearly a dozen more boxes. I get the valve shut off for the guy and start looking for assessment. The woman calls the owner telling her to take out the cigars with water on them and wipe them down. We start pulling boxes off the shelf and quickly discovered water had run down three of the bottom shelves with about 20ft long with boxes of cigars on them soaking the bottoms of the boxes. By now the glass separating the humidor is fogged over like a greenhouse. Helping this kids pull box after box, looking at ruined cigars, seeing what is salvageable and what is not. Everything with cardboard packaging was done for and we saved much before water penetrated the cellophane but there were maybe a dozen boxes or more of cigars that the cigar itself got wet. Basically used one of the employees cell phones to take pictures of the damage so the owner can make an insurance claim to replace inventory. Then the girl comes back in the humidor just as we had everything separated with news from the owner. Wipe everything down and put it back on the shelf!! I just looked at her and clarified she wants all the cigars wiped down and returned to the shelf. "Yes!" I just stopped, grabbed my bottle of rum I originally walked into the humidor with, paid for it and told the girl. Don't be surprised if you start seeing mold or cigar beetles spreading through the whole inventory. I certainly will not be back after seeing how much they care for their cigars there. Wish I had taken pictures of the mess with my phone to share.
melies Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 The exact same thing but worse happened with a B&M down here, rain water got in to all of his cigars... i tried to explain to him the horrible situation he was in, but he didn't care. Needless to say, his humidors were badly damaged and almost all of his stock no smells like bad humidity and a lot of his stock has mold in it. He still doesn´t care and sells his stock to lots and lots of uninformed customers down in my neck of the woods. Some people think, that how cigars are supposed to smell.
1LegLance Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 Wow, at least you can spread the word to your local cigar buddies to stay out of those shops. Shame that there are so few "tobacconist" left in the world.
OkieJoe Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 I guess we all like to think that people in the "biz", are as passionate as we are about the leaf. Sad
Pedro2486 Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 Wow. That's really crap. Not only the damage but the fact they put them back on sale, that's shameful NEVER. GO. BACK. I remember when a tobacconist was a smoke shop not a glorified gift store and I'm only 31. Sad times, but at least we've got czars
Carts Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 That's sad. Especially since someone who isn't knowledgeable about cigars won't know the difference if they walked into the store
Munts Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 I can hear it now... "That's not mould.. its bloom!!!" 1
nick87night Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 it's happening a lot at my local b&m's. lots of overhumidification or drastic underhumidification. it's harder and harder to find an actual tobaccanist locally. so sad!
Fosgate Posted February 12, 2014 Author Posted February 12, 2014 It's sad really. The prior manager was a 22yr old finishing college that happened to love cigars. Traveled to cigar shows to tour producers new products and would come back with bags full of samples that he would hand out the next week or two to people coming into the humidor. He would instantly remove any cigar that seemed to have a damaged wrapper or felt too tight compared to others in the box. Constantly trying to expand his knowledge by walking into the humidor talking to smokers giving and gaining insight. A real good salesman. I could walk in there with the intent of buying a single $10 stick and walk out with $100 in a bag. The lady that manages the store and owns it, openly admits she does not know much about them and her husband is the smoker but does not work in there.
finecigar Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 Ouch that sounds like a rough day. I have been to fair share of BMs who also clueless had cigars in water. It's not a business for everybody... Takes lots of fine tuning and attention to details.
BatFastard Posted February 14, 2014 Posted February 14, 2014 Tragic. Threads like these are like car wrecks to me... I know I shouldn't be reading them but just can't stop.
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