Mouldy cigars @ two shops

[VancouverMark]

Today I decided to go and check out a couple of local shops on my lunch break. What a waste of time. There were two shops on my list to visit and none carry Padron or some of the other sticks it was suggested I try out. To make matters worse, both shops had mouldy cigars in boxes in their humidors. One shelf in this one particular large humidor contained all mouldy Cohibas. I noticed that the mould was more prevalent towards the bottom of the humi where the electric humidifiers were. I know mould of any kind is nasty business due to the way fungus spores travel and spread, so I'm sure even the cigars without noticeable mould would be suspect as well. The lady working at the one shop asked if I needed anything and I told her that her stock was worthless and walked. What a waste of my lunch break and I didn't get anything to smoke.

Mark

[badwhale]

Today I decided to go and check out a couple of local shops on my lunch break. What a waste of time. There were two shops on my list to visit and none carry Padron or some of the other sticks it was suggested I try out. To make matters worse, both shops had mouldy cigars in boxes in their humidors. One shelf in this one particular large humidor contained all mouldy Cohibas. I noticed that the mould was more prevalent towards the bottom of the humi where the electric humidifiers were. I know mould of any kind is nasty business due to the way fungus spores travel and spread, so I'm sure even the cigars without noticeable mould would be suspect as well. The lady working at the one shop asked if I needed anything and I told her that her stock was worthless and walked. What a waste of my lunch break and I didn't get anything to smoke.

Mark

Sadly, a lot of shops keep their humidity too high to try and offset more frequent opening and closing of the humidors. I might have pointed out what the problem was to try and help them fix it.

Will

[craig]

AFAIK, Padron isn't distributed in Canada. Almost the definition of a serious B&M in Canada is one that has some Fuente and Padron.

Anyhow,
1. Get yourself setup with a US receiver in Bellingham; I'm sure that there a few, figure on $5 a box for them to receive your parcels.
2. Call some US online shops to get setup using your Canadian credit card, but shipping to an address in the US. This is a common fraud MO (shipping to an address that isn't the c.c.'s billing address), so expect having to do a test transaction, or a waiting period, or talking nicely to the person, etc. Not all shops will do it, of course.
3. Order Padrons
4. Drive over to Bellingham, pick up your smokes, spend 48 hours in a motel, keep the bill so you can prove a 48 hour absence, and bring back 50 cigars tax and duty-free. Bring a friend/wife who also 'smokes cigars' and have them bring back 50 as well. (You can't legally use another person's exemption, and you have to spend 48 hours in the US to get the exemption.)

If you (and spouse/friend) get 100 cigars, and the cigars come in at $600, then that's about $1000 in duties and taxes saved. More than enough to cover a room and some meals.

Mouldy Cohiba's are probably fakes. There was an issue with fakes in Vancouver a couple years ago. Stick to B&M's listed on the Havana House website to start.

ETA: Havana House's website appears to be down, but you can always call them (they're in Toronto). Also, another indication of a better B&M (in Canada) is if they carry Davidoff.

[VancouverMark]

AFAIK, Padron isn't distributed in Canada. Almost the definition of a serious B&M in Canada is one that has some Fuente and Padron.

Anyhow,
1. Get yourself setup with a US receiver in Bellingham; I'm sure that there a few, figure on $5 a box for them to receive your parcels.
2. Call some US online shops to get setup using your Canadian credit card, but shipping to an address in the US. This is a common fraud MO (shipping to an address that isn't the c.c.'s billing address), so expect having to do a test transaction, or a waiting period, or talking nicely to the person, etc. Not all shops will do it, of course.
3. Order Padrons
4. Drive over to Bellingham, pick up your smokes, spend 48 hours in a motel, keep the bill so you can prove a 48 hour absence, and bring back 50 cigars tax and duty-free. Bring a friend/wife who also 'smokes cigars' and have them bring back 50 as well. (You can't legally use another person's exemption, and you have to spend 48 hours in the US to get the exemption.)

If you (and spouse/friend) get 100 cigars, and the cigars come in at $600, then that's about $1000 in duties and taxes saved. More than enough to cover a room and some meals.

Mouldy Cohiba's are probably fakes. There was an issue with fakes in Vancouver a couple years ago. Stick to B&M's listed on the Havana House website to start.

ETA: Havana House's website appears to be down, but you can always call them (they're in Toronto). Also, another indication of a better B&M (in Canada) is if they carry Davidoff.

Great info. I recently set up an account with a US company to receive things I order. The hard part for me is finding the time to spend the 48 hours required for exemption. I do have plans to travel down to Seattle for a couple of Mariners games soon, so that will allow me to bring back some cigars and booze. Thanks again.

Mark

[MrJeff]

I hate to be a wet blanket, but for a year or so now it has been illegal to receive tobacco products in the mail in Washington state. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I am nearly 100% sure that that includes cigars. If I am wrong, someone please correct me. If this is the case, you may be hard pressed to find someone willing to be a receiver. It's a felony, if i recall.

[badwhale]

http://www.washingtonvotes.org/2009-SB-5340

[MrJeff]

Looks like large cigars were exempted. Glad I was not right about that one.

[craig]

Nice save. Thanks, Will. :-)

[CptnBlues63]

Again with the excellent information. Craig, you're a gold mine of US/Canada cigar shipping info!

Thanks a bunch!

VancouverMark, here's a link to another recent post of Craigs with information on having cigars sent here from the US. I'd give it a careful read.

http://www.cigarsmokers.com/threads/...ht=#post164590

Read his second post twice so it sinks in! LOL

If you have any friends in the US, you could have them ship cigars to you via USPS. Just a thought!

[VancouverMark]

Again with the excellent information. Craig, you're a gold mine of US/Canada cigar shipping info!

Thanks a bunch!

VancouverMark, here's a link to another recent post of Craigs with information on having cigars sent here from the US. I'd give it a careful read.

http://www.cigarsmokers.com/threads/...ht=#post164590

Read his second post twice so it sinks in! LOL

If you have any friends in the US, you could have them ship cigars to you via USPS. Just a thought!

Thanks. I have read Craig's thread as well as chatted with him via PM. I live within 1/2 hour of the US border and now have an address to receive items there. Looks like I'm good to go. My brother-in-law just got on the plane this morning for Vegas so him and two buddies are each bringing back 50 cigars. He is going to visit the highly recommended smoke shop in Vegas that I found out about by reading this forum! Can't wait for Monday when he arrives back!! Not sure what I'm getting, but I'll be sure to post.

Mark

[CptnBlues63]

Thanks. I have read Craig's thread as well as chatted with him via PM. I live within 1/2 hour of the US border and now have an address to receive items there. Looks like I'm good to go. My brother-in-law just got on the plane this morning for Vegas so him and two buddies are each bringing back 50 cigars. He is going to visit the highly recommended smoke shop in Vegas that I found out about by reading this forum! Can't wait for Monday when he arrives back!! Not sure what I'm getting, but I'll be sure to post.

Mark

LOL

Good deal!

I'm guessing the thread you read may have been one I was involved in. A friend of mine here at work has a couple sisters. Recently one of them and his mom were in Vegas and they brought us back a couple boxes of cigars from that Paiute Tribal Smoke Shop on north Main. Another sister of his is there right now and she's going to bring back a box of Rocky Patel Decade Torpedo's and some RP "The Edge" for us (he smokes cigars too).

I'm heading down for my biannual trip to the Pacific Northwest in June. My wife's from the US and her folks live in WA down by the mouth of the Colombia River. Her daughter (and our grandson) live in Portland, OR and her sis is in Northern Idaho near Coeur d'Alene. I've gotten friendly with the owner of a cigar shop in CDA and have my order in with him for June so all I have to do is show up and pay him for the 100 cigars and put them in the trailer..........lol.

:)

[VancouverMark]

Well the brother-in-law is back! In total he brought me back 41 cigars which completely filled the 50 count humidor I am borrowing until my new 150 count arrives! There is a mix of some cheap cigars and some decent ones. Smoked a CAO MX2 last night and quite enjoyed it with a drink of Macallan 1824 Select Oak scotch.

It was late last night when we met up so I didn't have a chance to go through them all, but I am looking forward to aging some of the duplicates so I can compare tastes between same cigars after aging.

Cheers,

Mark