Would you order cigars through a AI driven, self-service portal?

[JohnS]

What do we think of this? CLE CIgars has released a press release this month stating that Retailers will now have access to a self-service AI driven Portal to do business. Is this the way to go? Do you miss the old days whereby you could interact with a real person? Or am I getting old?

CLE Cigars Launches AI-Powered Self-Service Ordering Portal for Retailers

by Premium Cigar Association - Mar 2, 2026 - Press Releases

CLE Cigars has launched a new AI-powered Self-Service Portal designed to help retailers streamline purchasing, reduce inventory pressure, and keep shelves consistently stocked — all at no additional cost.

The platform analyzes a retailer’s purchasing history, studying order cycles dating back to 2022, and generates week-by-week suggested orders based on historical trends and current buying patterns. According to the company, beta testing that began in May 2025 showed the system to be 92% accurate. In most cases where adjustments were needed, the recommendations were conservative — underestimating growth rather than over-ordering.

Full Article: https://premiumcigars.org/cle-cigars-launches-ai-powered-self-service-ordering-portal-for-retailers/

[BrightonCorgi]

Mazel tov to them if they have so much business that AI solutions are required to keep operations optimal.

[WestCoastSmokin]

No thanks. The less AI, the better! 

[Chibearsv]

12 hours ago, WestCoastSmokin said:

No thanks. The less AI, the better! 

Sorry, your doomed to be affected by it whether you participate or not.

[El Presidente]

Awful digitisation of what should be normal every day mammalian social discourse.

 

......get onto it Steve 

[zacca]

Operational efficiency gains like this are some of the most practical use cases for AI in business. Analyzing numbers and trends at this level is something most larger companies have Excel jockeys for, but the average cigar retailer isn’t in a position to employ someone to handle it. For the level of complexity you’re talking about here (not much), this is barely considered AI so it would likely be very inexpensive. 
 

[Chas.Alpha]

Well, let’s see…

”Rob” posts daily offering.

I send email.

“Di” arbitrarily sends rejection letter.

I’ve been AI shopping cigars for years! 😀

[Malt]

10 hours ago, Chas.Alpha said:

Well, let’s see…

”Rob” posts daily offering.

I send email.

“Di” arbitrarily sends rejection letter.

I’ve been AI shopping cigars for years! 😀

That sums it up!  Like buying lottery tickets and never winning!

[WestCoastSmokin]

11 hours ago, Chibearsv said:

Sorry, your doomed to be affected by it whether you participate or not.

Oh no doubt. I’m just sad that I’m so damn young I’m gonna have to see all of this stuff affect me and my family forever. 

I will still avoid and be against AI as much as possible. 

[ha_banos]

Well AI has been Uber stupid for me today. It's chewed up 10% of my monthly allowance in half a day and still hasn't managed to get a few services set up and talking to each other. Waste of money...Hang on...Clearly I'm the dummy 🍀💸💸💸

Happy Paddy's day!

[LizardGizmo]

Sounds just like when Gmail suggests phrases and words while you're drafting; moderately useful but not too exciting. Probably helpful for a shop owner who isn't super tech (or business) savvy and will keep their CLE faces relatively consistent with minimal effort.

On the consumer side, a good bit of the fun of this whole thing is actually sourcing/shopping and buying the cigars...it might be the only thing in life I actually enjoy shopping for! AI coming into the picture would just be one more enshittification of a small bit of bliss that remains on the internet for us.