Best Sampler Ever
dutyje
Posts: 2,263 ✭
This isn't a post about the greatest sampler in the world... this is my post to describe what I feel would make the best sampler ever.
Looking at the samplers offered on ccom, I am struck by what seems to be a permanent puzzle in constructing a sampler offering. How many of each stick should you put in a sampler? Some people (me) like to sample just one of a cigar, and will buy more based on that experience. Others like to carry two, perhaps for sharing or perhaps to give a stick two shots. Many on here have said they like to have 3 of a cigar (one to smoke right away, one in 6 months, and one in a year). Others like 4-of-a-kind or 5-of-a-kind... etc.
Here's my selfish solution to the above problem: Offer smaller samplers, and only 1 of each stick in the sampler. Am I shutting out the multi-stickers? Not at all.... you want three of each? BUY 3 SAMPLERS!! There. Done.
I don't smoke very often (2-3 times a week). I love trying a new cigar. Given a choice between a new cigar I've never tried, and one of my all-time favorites, I'll almost always choose a new cigar. I love ordering samplers just so that I can try new things, and hopefully enjoy a bit of a discount. The Custom Sampler doesn't do this for me, because I can't bring myself to sample a cheap stick off this fixed-price sampler. If the Custom Sampler offered a fixed-discount (say 20%) off the MSRP, I'd be snatching up custom samplers every month.
As it stands now, I have no interest in purchasing most of the samplers on ccom. I don't buy boxes (although I've considered buying a ccom Cuban Label box). I've never bought a sampler which features multiples of each stick, and I don't buy too many singles unless I can find them for a discount.
If ccom offered me the ability to buy, say, a dozen singles of my choice at a discount of 20% off MSRP, I'd place an order today. I want stuff that gets me in the ballpark of $3/stick and gives me stuff I haven't tried. Then, if I can pick up a half-dozen premium sticks at a 25% discount, I'd buy those as well. Mild discounts of 5-10% just don't do it for me. I considered getting a House Blends sampler, but I don't want a pile of robustos, I want to customize my shape based on the smoke (say a Torpedo for the Purple Label, but a Corona for the Corojo label... etc).
Am I too hard to deal with? There are samplers here that I am probbly going to pick up (Camacho Monarca, Nub Variety, Carlos Torano, Cusano, Padilla), but there are others I would definitely pick up if I could get them with single sticks (mild/medium/full-bodied samplers, DPG Sampler, AJ Fernandez, Toro Sampler, Sol Cubano, Partagas, Punch, etc....)
Am I being too high-maintenance? Should I just buy the samplers and ship all the dupes to people in games? As it stands right now I do most of my purchasing at the B&M, and if I find something I like I look for dirt-cheap auction fivers.
If I had my choice, ccom would get 90% of my business. But the fact is that I can't quite assemble what I want here. Should I call them up? I'm not a phone person. I don't even order pizza over the phone. Help me out. Alex, where are you!
Looking at the samplers offered on ccom, I am struck by what seems to be a permanent puzzle in constructing a sampler offering. How many of each stick should you put in a sampler? Some people (me) like to sample just one of a cigar, and will buy more based on that experience. Others like to carry two, perhaps for sharing or perhaps to give a stick two shots. Many on here have said they like to have 3 of a cigar (one to smoke right away, one in 6 months, and one in a year). Others like 4-of-a-kind or 5-of-a-kind... etc.
Here's my selfish solution to the above problem: Offer smaller samplers, and only 1 of each stick in the sampler. Am I shutting out the multi-stickers? Not at all.... you want three of each? BUY 3 SAMPLERS!! There. Done.
I don't smoke very often (2-3 times a week). I love trying a new cigar. Given a choice between a new cigar I've never tried, and one of my all-time favorites, I'll almost always choose a new cigar. I love ordering samplers just so that I can try new things, and hopefully enjoy a bit of a discount. The Custom Sampler doesn't do this for me, because I can't bring myself to sample a cheap stick off this fixed-price sampler. If the Custom Sampler offered a fixed-discount (say 20%) off the MSRP, I'd be snatching up custom samplers every month.
As it stands now, I have no interest in purchasing most of the samplers on ccom. I don't buy boxes (although I've considered buying a ccom Cuban Label box). I've never bought a sampler which features multiples of each stick, and I don't buy too many singles unless I can find them for a discount.
If ccom offered me the ability to buy, say, a dozen singles of my choice at a discount of 20% off MSRP, I'd place an order today. I want stuff that gets me in the ballpark of $3/stick and gives me stuff I haven't tried. Then, if I can pick up a half-dozen premium sticks at a 25% discount, I'd buy those as well. Mild discounts of 5-10% just don't do it for me. I considered getting a House Blends sampler, but I don't want a pile of robustos, I want to customize my shape based on the smoke (say a Torpedo for the Purple Label, but a Corona for the Corojo label... etc).
Am I too hard to deal with? There are samplers here that I am probbly going to pick up (Camacho Monarca, Nub Variety, Carlos Torano, Cusano, Padilla), but there are others I would definitely pick up if I could get them with single sticks (mild/medium/full-bodied samplers, DPG Sampler, AJ Fernandez, Toro Sampler, Sol Cubano, Partagas, Punch, etc....)
Am I being too high-maintenance? Should I just buy the samplers and ship all the dupes to people in games? As it stands right now I do most of my purchasing at the B&M, and if I find something I like I look for dirt-cheap auction fivers.
If I had my choice, ccom would get 90% of my business. But the fact is that I can't quite assemble what I want here. Should I call them up? I'm not a phone person. I don't even order pizza over the phone. Help me out. Alex, where are you!
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Comments
Two things thus far have kept me thus far from pulling the trigger on several samplers listed above (Camacho, Torano, Cusano, Padilla). These are:
1. I already have or have had at least one of the sticks in the sampler (although I would love another 1962 Robusto)
2. I'd rather try a sampler with many different brands, rather than all the brands offered by a single manufacturer.
OK.. there it is.. I've been thinking this for weeks, and I'm just about ready to place an order, and I just don't see what I want and I'm frustrated.
Second, if you'd posted this a bit sooner, the BBS would have been even boffoer; I'd have sent all singles.
Third, I don't think you're being unreasonable, necessarily, but I do think you're an unusual consumer. As you acknowledged, most people prefer to get multiples of a cigar. You know the old story about Willie Sutton: somebody asked him why he robbed banks, and he said, "Because that's where the money is." Retailers aim the product where the customers are. If most people like multiples, that's what the samplers feature.
All that said, I thought the ccom custom samplers wouldn't let you include more than one of a given cigar/size. Not so?
In the same respect he's saying if he's buying singles, why can't he get a bit more of a discount for buying bulk...
Hence, he's suggesting a "choose your own sampler" that would be based on a discount.. In other words, you buy 24 single sticks and it just deducts 20% off the single stick price of all your selections... But you get the discount BECAUSE you're buying 24 sticks, not just 3 or 4...
I'm not going to add any cigar to the Custom Sampler that doesn't cost $5 or more by itself. I can't bring myself to do it. The percentage discount for buying in quantity (say 12, 15, 20 cigars... whatever) would motivate me immensely.
Urby, I understand that most customers like to buy in multiples. I generally only stock really nice cigars or favorites in multiples, because I like to share those with my friends. However, if a customer likes to buy things in pairs, he woudn't be interested in a sampler which has 3 of each. Vice versa for the customer who likes to buy things in 3's. If it's all smaller single-samplers, each of those customers can be satisfied. In fact, you could even offer a discount on multiple purchases of the same sampler.
Also, Urby, if there are multiples in the BBS, I'm actually going to be relieved, because if it was all singles I would have had to buy something nice to share with my father-in-law, who will be visiting in a few weeks. I'm going to wait for a nice deal to pop up on ccom before I place my next order.