Stogie Guys Friday Sampler No. 506

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other items of interest. Below is our latest Friday Sampler.

1) Sam Leccia (pictured above) of Leccia Tobacco has launched an online store where consumers and retailers can purchase his products directly. “Since taking over the distribution of my products, I wanted to offer both retailers and consumers a user-friendly experience for buying Leccia Tobacco cigars,” said Leccia in a press release. The release provides further details: “In addition to Leccia tobacco, the store offers other boutique cigar lines to which Sam has a personal affinity, signature Leccia gear, and cigar accessories. A Roll-Your-Own kit is in the works for those who want to try their hand at rolling cigars. New items arrive in-store regularly… [along with] limited small batch cigars… [and] one-off blends.” The store can be found at Leccia-Tobacco.com. Sam Leccia is best-known for pioneering Nub—a concept that was copied widely—and, before setting out on his own, working with Oliva, Toraño (his former distributor), and General Cigar.

2) Here’s some random advice: Don’t order from CigarStorehouse.com. The site features unbelievably low prices—as much as 50% lower than what you’ll normally find at other sites. But it has a “low trust rating” from ScamAdviser.com. Cigarstorehouse.com has been around for a while and has generated complaints and warnings on cigar forums. Although it lists a U.S. address, questions have been raised about possible links to a Chinese operation. One of the biggest red flags: requesting payment via Western Union. That’s a sure sign, say scam-watchers, that you’re unlikely to get what you ordered. We haven’t gotten a reply to an email sent through the site’s contact form. We’ll let you know if that changes.

3) From the Archives: Almost everyone likes to save a buck at least every now and then. We’ve been helping cigar smokers make wise tobacco purchases for years. Here are five tips that are just as relevant today as when we published them back in 2010.

4) Deal of the Week: Limited quantities of our StogieGuys.com-selected sampler are still available at Cigar & Pipes. Included are cigars we enjoyed years ago that still remain staples in our humidors. Just $58.49 gets you 10 cigars, well below MSRP, including some high-end smokes from Padrón, Fuente, and Oliva.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Leccia Tobacco