Choosing Your Cigar Merchant

Disgruntled customers from other so called “Havana Cigar Merchants” email us regularly, asking us what to look for in a cigar merchant, so we would like to offer you some tips when you are choosing which cigar merchant to purchase your cigars from. (Although for quality, service and value for money, you really need look no further than AK cigars!)

The following advice and tips apply to UK cigar merchants but they can be considered relevant for other cigar merchants from other countries.

Buying Cigars Online

It’s a difficult thing to buy Havana cigars from the internet. Until you build up a relationship with the cigar merchant, you might find that you are being sold second rate cigars. By doing this, the merchant will be able to keep his best cigars for customers who will buy them in his shop and not online.

AK Cigars does not work this way. As we are an internet mail order company and all of our cigars are of the finest quality and we do not preserve any of them for a retail store. You can rest assured that you will always get the best and finest cigars from us.

Purchasing your cigars on the internet makes life simpler. You can make your order from anywhere:  your home, office etc. We can answer your enquiries quickly and even although you can’t physically see the cigars, we will happily decipher the date and factory codes and do our best to select the correct wrapper for you.

Cigar Buying Tips

Always ensure that the company you are purchasing your cigars from have a physical postal address and a telephone number that is clearly displayed on their website. It is usually suspicious when a company uses a PO box.

AK Cigars believe the English and UK market selection (EMS) cigars are of the premium quality in the world. You can purchase exceptional quality Havana cigars from other countries outside of the UK but always ensure you are aware of which country you are dealing with, as some countries have very little quality control. Hunters and Frankau, the official distributors and importers for the UK, have supplied cigars to the UK and have done so for 200 years.

I would personally never purchase a sealed box because you will not know what you will find inside. The colour of the wrapper could be bad or there could be a tobacco beetle infestation. Hunters and Frankau inspect each box that is imported to the UK. Here at AK Cigars we do a mirror EMS quality control check once they are placed into our humidor.

Some of the questions you should ask before making a purchase with a cigar merchant:

• Will the cigar merchant offer a no-argument guarantee?
• Will they be happy to refund your money if you aren’t completely satisfied with the cigars?
• Will they replace any faulty or damaged cigars?

Always remember that, as with any luxury retail product, you will get what you paid for so don’t fall for lower prices. In the cigar world, low prices tend to mean low quality.

Finally, it is important to find out what methods of storage the cigar merchant uses and at what temperature and humidity they are stored at. Without the proper storage and conditions the Havana cigars will lose their quality.

If you have any comments or questions please email us.