So.... I am not a person that writes reviews. Usually if I have a bad experience I just let it go because i just don't really care that much. This case is a little different. I kind of have a passion for cigars. For the last few years I've been a collector and a smoker. Done some traveling and picked up a few unicorns along the way, both Cuban and brands readily available in the United States. I'm traveling through Pa right now on a work trip and found this place online. Having already exhausted the CI stores in the area, I hit this one up as the pictures showed great potential. With $600 in my pocket, I walk in.
First impression: When I walked in, my first impression was "whoa... alright". The pictures on here are misleading. The entire middle section is just open boxes of cigars stacked upon open boxes of cigars. Not only was it a mess but he is risking damage to cigars by placing boxes on top of them. It was not neat and orderly like I was expecting in the pictures. I was greeted by the older man with a beard and accent. Presuming he was the owner. He asked if I needed any help. I don't want to sound arrogant or anything, so don't take this like that, but do not need any help with cigars whatsoever but thank you.
The store: After walking in and trying to make rhyme and reason out of everything that was stacked on top of each other, I spotted the humidifier just to the right of the front door.. hmm... not really what I was expecting but if it works... to me, it seemed to put out TOO much humidity.. but I'll circle back to this. Walked through to look at the selection. He had some Opus X and Don Carlos that I was interested in but wanted to look at the rest of the store before making final selections. This is where it got a little more... interesting. In the middle section of the store toward the cash register, I spotted a box of moldy cigars. Like I said, too much humidification. This was a huge red flag for me. Of all the places I've places Ive been all over the world, I've only seen this once before many years ago. Being that this is my first time in the store I didn't say anything, I thought about it, but didn't. I didn't want to hear the BS pitch of "that's not mold it's plume!" Uh huh. Yea right... it's straight Petri dish.
Post mold discovery: After finding the box, I proceeded to look around some more. The owner, I heard someone say "George" assuming that was his name, was helping other customers in the store. I went through and spotted a few Atabeys. Great cigars. Not cheap as they are $30-$35 per. I pick one up and look at it, I was interested in those too. George comes over to me and says "hey can I ask a favor... because of the pandemic I want to ask you to not pick them up unless you're going to buy them" Ok. That's fine. I can understand that and it's respectable. The kicker is though, after just finding a moldy box, I am not going to buy anything in here without inspecting it first. I don't want to get home to find out it's unsmokeable garbage and I would have just spent money on it.
Interaction with the owner, "George": After the other customers in the store leave, he walks over to me asking if I am ok. Uh, yes.. I kind of have a lot cigar knowledge.. To make it more unnecessarily awkward, something I've never experienced in any lounge or shop before, he asked why I was just walking around looking.. Do you not want customers looking at the product you are trying to sell to make a livelihood? I laughed on the inside. Dude, first off, you are situated between two Cigar International stores within 30 min of your store. There is a third CI store south of Bethlehem. Second, your quality control is atrocious. I have no idea on earth how people are rating this guy/shop 5 stars. There are a lot of uneducated "cigar guys" out there. No, the cigars are not supposed to taste like that. No, they're not supposed to burn like that. No, they're not supposed to feel like that when you press them between your fingers. Either "George" has no idea what he doing in managing his store/stock or he just doesn't care about inspecting and rotating. Either way, it is worrisome. I suggest staying away from this store and going somewhere else. It's not worth spending your hard earned money here to only get home and find out you bought unsmokable hot trash. I ended up turning around and walking out and not buying anything. Shame. It had potential as he does stock some ultra premium sticks. Stuff that is not easily found. I would have spent a few hundred dollars in there too. Instead I feel it is my duty to inform others that while the pictures look great, I would deeply advise against this store. I do have a lot of cigar knowledge and experience. I know what they are supposed to look and feel like and it's not here. Cigars International in Hamburg and off Nazareth Pike are fine places. I love to support small business too but I also don't want to needlessly flush my money down the toilet at the same time. read more
