Thompson Cigar

Full review
Thompson Cigars has been in business since 1915. I used to get their catalogues for some odd reason. I've never been a cigar smoker, but I always liked their T-shirts and accessories, such as ashtrays. So when Nick decided to take up the hobby of cigar smoking, I sent him to the on-line store.

The website is very eye-catching. A combination of masculine browns and tans. The left menu has various choices such as Accessories, Favorites, Flavored, Humidors, National Brands, Premium, Samplers, Specials, Thompson Exclusives, and Values. You can also order a hard-copy catalogue, join the mailing list, become an affiliate, or contact customer service.

The main part of the main page has pictures and links to current specials and events in the cigar world. In other words, this is a very easy site to navigate and you can quickly find what you want here.

Ordering is extremely easy, with the usual name, address, CC number, etc. The problem here is two fold...

1) Be careful on what you order. Thompson has some ok prices, but they also have some things that are way higher than you can find elsewhere. Nick is an almost obsessive comparison shopper and has found the majority of the cigars that Thompson offers much cheaper on other sites... most notably: http://www.jrcigars.com For instance, a box of Excalibur Merlins sell for $114 here, while JR's has the exact same box for $60. Do your homework before ordering.

The incentive for making this particular order with Thomsons rather than JRs was comparable price on this cigar (Classic Combos - $29.95) plus a free travel humidor, plus a free one-layer desk-top humidor. They also had a Humidor (The Winchester) that lists for $400 on sale for $129.

2) Slow shipping. One week after placing the order, we received an email saying it had shipped. One Week. That's like a year in Internet time! Have we gotten too spoiled with next day shipping at most places? A week just seems excessive to me. A company as old and well established as Thompsons should be more on the ball.

The humidor arrived 3 days after the confirmation letter, double-boxed with plenty of care in the packaging. I expected no less for $22 in shipping charges! However, it came locked. The key was inside. How cute. Luckily, we have a different item that has that type of key so were able to get inside... but this could have been a major problem. Also, two items were missing.. it was supposed to come with a cigar cutter and a cigar tube.

We're still waiting on the cigars themselves, which were ordered separately but on the same day. The humidor was in good shape and is gorgeous, but the foam it was wrapped in was sticking to it.. it appeared as maybe it had gotten damp? Or even glued on? The finish is slightly marred becuase of this. We called them and they are reimbursing our cost to return the Humidor, and are shipping out the replacement today..which is to say cross-shipping. They aren't waiting for this marred one to arrive back to them. This impresses me. The missing items are also on their way.

Update 6/21/03:The cigars arrived almost two weeks after the order was placed. These are the Thompson brand and arrived in good shape, along with the previously missing items. The desk-top humidor freebie is actually quite nice and included the hydrometer. The free travel humidor was leather and also much nicer than we had expected. I have to say that I DO advise ordering this introductory $29.95 special. The cigars aren't as sweet as he likes, but he still liked them ok... he is going to join Epinions and review them soon. I'll add a link to this when he does.

The bottom line is, do look at their site, but realize you can get a better deal the majority of the time. DO order the introductory set, but be aware that they aren't real fast to ship. If you find a killer deal, like this humidor, and are not in a rush, then by all means do order... just make sure to tell them you would like to be able to get to the dang key! The reason I give them 4 stars yet do not recommend them over-all is that since posting this I have heard from numerous folks who say they received their boxes of cigars dried out with cracked wrappers more than half the time. Apparently we got lucky, or they make sure that intro package arrives in good shape t get you to order again. Again, get that set, then order the rest from JR's Cigars after that.


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This was brought to you by the most manliest of men, hawgwyld and joubert, in celebration of their joint third anniversary here at good ol' Epinions.

Links to other participants can be found here:
http://www.angelfire.com/mb2/mypageontheweb/page9.html