The U. S. Postal (dis)Service
Back on December 8, 2023, I ordered some of my favorite cigars, a fiver of La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Belicoso’s, and one Kentucky Fire Cured “Fat Molly” by Drew Estate. I’d never tried a Kentucky Fire Cured stick, so I thought I’d see what it’s like just for grins.
The order’s tracking number revealed the normal progression in the chain until… nothing. Huh? Okay. I’ll give it a couple days. Nothing. Well, damn. Days went by with no scans recorded, so by December 23, I called the local post office and spoke with the very friendly and accommodating Postmaster. He confirmed that the tracking had stopped dead in its tracks and stated that the package was officially considered lost. Oh no.
I was disappointed, of course, and called Best Cigar Prices Customer Service to inform them of the lost package. After they looked at the tracking info, they agreed that the package had been lost and offered me a replacement. But – the wonderful LAdC sticks were out-of-stock. Great. So, I agreed to a refund.
I was heartbroken that those beautiful handcrafted pieces of art were lost and would never be enjoyed. What a waste. I did console myself thinking that perhaps someone had found the package, likely with a destroyed/illegible label, and either smoked the cigars himself/herself, or had given it to an acquaintance who is a cigar smoker.
Fast forward almost 4 months: Yesterday the package arrived! At first, I thought it was a recent order placed at JR Cigars for, guess what, a fiver of LAdC Mi Amor Belicoso’s. But it arrived 3 days early. ?? I then looked at the label. It was from Best Cigar Prices. I scratched my head wondering what I’d recently ordered from them. When I opened it, there were 5 beautiful Mi Amor’s and a Fat Molly. Huh? Upon closely examining the label, sure enough, it had been shipped on December 8. YAY! FINALLY!
I then called Best Cigar Prices to let them know that the once lost package had finally arrived, and that I’d agree to reverse the refund and pay for them. The person at BCP Customer Service (who just happened to be the one with whom I’d spoken regarding the lost package and who refunded the price of the order) was flabbergasted that the package had finally arrived, and was struggling to stifle her laughter as I was chuckling at the whole mess.
After a few moments on hold, she returned to the phone and informed me that they would gladly not charge me for the long-lost order, and that my honesty was unusual and refreshing, and that I could enjoy the sticks – on them. Cool!
I explained that my conscience wouldn’t allow me to keep the package without informing them, and that I consider cigars sacred and in keeping with their sacredness, I had to honor those hundred or more souls that went into making them – from planting, to curing, to blending, to rolling, to labeling, to boxing, to shipping. All of them.
No worse for wear, but having been un-humidified for almost 4 months, the 6 cigars now reside in a humidor that contains sticks that have been resting since September and won’t likely see fire until September of this year. My “one year” humidor.
All’s well that ends well. Thank you, Spirit of Tobacco.
Cheers!
Comments
100 TommyH2sT
(8 months ago)Wow amazing story. You are a great person for calling them up and they made it right by not charging you. It makes me wonder where the package was lost all these months. During highschool I worked at UPS shipping and unloading warehouse and sometimes little boxes get tossed aside and sit there in plain sight for a long time. Or one gets buried at the bottom or mixed with other stuff and just gets set down and forgotten too. Totally on USPS. BCP is a class act. Awesome story. Glad to hear they finally came. During holiday season (Dec 8) you said. It's quite common for packages to get lost in transit. Stop to stop. Especially if traveling far. I'm lucky I live right by Holts and a few other brick and mortars. I do however order online from CI from time to time. But not often. Maybe once a year. But man I love this story. Thanks for sharing it. Cheers!
100 chipc73
(8 months ago)I’m glad you enjoyed reading the story, my brother, and I’m humbled by your kind words. Thank you. And thank you also for relating your experience working for the USPS. That is so interesting! I suppose that with millions of pieces of mail, the rare occurrence of lost/misplaced packages and envelopes is inevitable. To say that I was relieved that the beautiful cigars suffered no damage throughout their little mis-adventure is an understatement.
Yes, you are fortunate to live right by Holt’s (how cool is THAT?!) and other brick and mortar shops. Due to the scarcity of them here, and due to my reluctance to expose myself to Covid and other viruses (my wife is extremely high risk and could die from even the flu), ordering stogies online is my only option. You mentioned “CI,” which I assume is Cigars International. Funny, out of the blue I received a catalog from them yesterday. To my knowledge, I didn’t sign up for their mailing list, nor have I ever purchased anything from them. Their catalog is interesting, and some of the prices are attractive. I’m finding that some of the online retailers really shine in the sampler department.
For example, I recently got a fabulous deal at Thompson Cigars on a group of 4 different samplers of 5 cigars each -- with free shipping. Dig this: $4.00 per stick for 5 Macanudo Hyde Park Café’s, 5 San Cristobal Revelation Legend’s, 5 LAdC Reserva Robusto’s, and 5 Alec Bradley Prensado Robusto’s, and a free $10.00 gift card. Are you kidding me?! And, as karma would have it, yesterday BCP had a freekin’ unbelievable deal on a (one remaining) box of La Aurora 1903 Edition Ecuador Robusto’s (way below MSRP) with a free variety sampler of 10 La Aurora gems, a free Xikar Xi2 La Aurora cutter, and a free $30.00 gift card – with FREE SHIPPING. I snagged it! Have I died and gone to Heaven???
Cheers!
100 shortstackz
(8 months ago)Kind of makes you wonder where they were 🤔
100 chipc73
(8 months ago)Really. How? Why? So many questions...
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