Locker at My Local B&M

[Buck14]

So Santa came a few days early today and I got me a Locker at my local B&M.  One year rental price was reasonable and they had a holiday deal where you could receive half of the locker purchase price as a credit toward cigars in their humi. Not a bad deal at all. I got some AF Chateau Chateau Kings and a 4 pack of Davidoff Gran Cru Robustos to try out - neither of which I probably would've bought otherwise.

I loaded my locker up with a nice wide sample of some CCs and while I was loading it up I dropped a handfull of sticks that fell hard to the floor - cracked the shit out of a few VR Famosos and JL2. Some major wrapper tears too...oh well eff it!

This place allows you to bring in your own alcoholic drinks (aka BYOB) and alot of people store bottles of this and that in their lockers.  Really a wonderful place and the locker allows me to smoke what I want when I want without the need to buy smokes I don’t want. Peace of mind, the local gets my $$$ up front and I can smoke my preferred sticks. WIN WIN.

Buck

[GotaCohiba]

The ones in my area only allow you to store cigars bought in their shop

No thanks 

 

[stinkhead]

I did this once... never again. My locker at the B&M ended up being over humidified and everything was ruined by mold. 

Since I did not purchase my CC’s there they would not offer me a credit or refund so ended up losing about $1k in sticks.

It was after that I ordered my aristocrat so that I would never not be in control of my storage. 

[bman75]

I did it for a couple of years at a good rate.  Out of respect (and suspected expectation) of the owner (great guy), I felt obligated to buy at least one NC per visit that I really didn't want.  Then my storage needs well outsized the locker and I went to coolidors. 

[GotaCohiba]

16 hours ago, stinkhead said:

I did this once... never again. My locker at the B&M ended up being over humidified and everything was ruined by mold. 

Since I did not purchase my CC’s there they would not offer me a credit or refund so ended up losing about $1k in sticks.

It was after that I ordered my aristocrat so that I would never not be in control of my storage. 

Maybe a gift request for my 50th birthday 

[Buck14]

21 hours ago, stinkhead said:

I did this once... never again. My locker at the B&M ended up being over humidified and everything was ruined by mold. 

Since I did not purchase my CC’s there they would not offer me a credit or refund so ended up losing about $1k in sticks.

It was after that I ordered my aristocrat so that I would never not be in control of my storage. 

Yeah, the private lockers are not in the main humidor and have a separate humidification system. I put a digital hygro/temp gauge in my locker and when I left last night it read 64F/69rH which is almost exactly the reverse of my set-up at home. Pig Fish’s Cigarette Tabacco Chart has the Moisture content of the cigars at this level approaching 20%. So I’m hopeful that his chart doesn't transpose exactly to cigar tobacco. I took out some cigars last night to ease the pain of possible mold...we will see.  But, I am happy to risk it with the amount of cigars I have in there - I’m going into this eyes wide open.

21 hours ago, bman75 said:

I did it for a couple of years at a good rate.  Out of respect (and suspected expectation) of the owner (great guy), I felt obligated to buy at least one NC per visit that I really didn't want.  Then my storage needs well outsized the locker and I went to coolidors. 

Yeah, the new owner of my local revived a dying old cigar lounge and turned it completely around.  It’s a great space. Given the $$$ I dropped on the Locker I feel no obligation to buy a stick each time I go in at all. I will grab one from time to time out of respect. And if/when I feel that my would-be single cigar purchase per visit aggregates to the amount paid for the locker, I will up my cigar purchases there to be fair - small price to pay for a winter smoking lounge. I also plan to do all my accessory purchases there even though it’ll cost me a few bucks more as I want to support them.

I’ll report back after a few months and see how it’s going.

 

[canadianbeaver]

Sounds interesting, charming and efficient. Hope you have a great time and we meet again for an afternoon sometime.

Happy Holidays bourbon brother!

CB

[Danimalia]

19 hours ago, Buck14 said:

So Santa came a few days early today and I got me a Locker at my local B&M.  One year rental price was reasonable and they had a holiday deal where you could receive half of the locker purchase price as a credit toward cigars in their humi. Not a bad deal at all. I got some AF Chateau Chateau Kings and a 4 pack of Davidoff Gran Cru Robustos to try out - neither of which I probably would've bought otherwise.

I loaded my locker up with a nice wide sample of some CCs and while I was loading it up I dropped a handfull of sticks that fell hard to the floor - cracked the shit out of a few VR Famosos and JL2. Some major wrapper tears too...oh well eff it!

This place allows you to bring in your own alcoholic drinks (aka BYOB) and alot of people store bottles of this and that in their lockers.  Really a wonderful place and the locker allows me to smoke what I want when I want without the need to buy smokes I don’t want. Peace of mind, the local gets my $$$ up front and I can smoke my preferred sticks. WIN WIN.

Buck

Especially a nice thing in Chicago, right, where the winters are super cold and the summers super hot? This place sounds a lot like my local B&M here in the Bay Area. I've been thinking more and more about getting a locker. 

Hopefully, those damaged cigars can be fixed with a bit of glue.

[gcman68]

I used to go to a place very similar that unfortunately closed. The best part was meeting some great guys I would have never met otherwise which was worth more than just the cigar benefits. Good luck hopefully you have the same experience.  

[Buck14]

3 hours ago, canadianbeaver said:

Sounds interesting, charming and efficient. Hope you have a great time and we meet again for an afternoon sometime.

Happy Holidays bourbon brother!

CB

Absolutely. Happy Holidays Lisa.