Cigar auction sites

[IamWD]

I'm familiar with cigarbid.com and cigarauctioneer.com, but I hear mostly about cigarbid. I have an account at both places, but have only used cigarbid so far. Is it the superior of the two sites, or is my seldom hearing about cigarauctioneer merely a coincidence?

Also, is there any other place to pick up great deals? My cigar purchases in the past were very sporatic and I'm looking to step it up in the near future. Three cigars in a cheap humidor just won't cut it for long, as I'm sure you all know. Any advice on expansion of my collection?

[CthulhuDawn]

Look for bundles and samplers from places like holts.com and famous-smoke.com. Check back often, as famous-smoke has lots of "one week only" type deals. A couple weeks ago I got a sampler of 15 premium cigars for only $29. Pretty good since some of the MSRP on them was in the $7-$10 range. I know famous smoke also has an auction, but I have yet to use it.

Happy collecting.

[IamWD]

I didn't know about Famous Smoke's auctions. Thanks for the tip.

I do have an account with Holt's and have made purchases from them in the past. Being from Philadelphia, it's hard not to discover Holt's.

[LT Rich]

My advise is to stay away. Nothing good will come from messing with the powers of the devil. Dont tempt your fate... it is a long slide to the bottom. Stay away at all costs, soon your humidor will be bigger than the box you live in under the bridge because you sold your home to buy it at a great price on auction.... BEWARE!

LT

[kansashat]

Cigar auctioneer "is" Famous. I have found cigarbid to have the better deals, but you can find some different brands at the Famous site.

[tech-ninja]

I have bought from both, and as long as you keep an eye on what the retail cost is and don't bid over that, you can get good deals on both. You can get Famous Nic's and RP Sungrown seconds on cigarauctioneer and you can get RP Vintage seconds from cigarbid. Cigarbid does seem to have a wider selection in general.

[IamWD]

Originally Posted by LT Rich

My advise is to stay away. Nothing good will come from messing with the powers of the devil. Dont tempt your fate... it is a long slide to the bottom. Stay away at all costs, soon your humidor will be bigger than the box you live in under the bridge because you sold your home to buy it at a great price on auction.... BEWARE!

LT

You make it seem like this is a bad thing. Maybe I'm misreading...


And, thanks for the advice to all. This will all help greatly in my ongoing struggle to convert my savings from cash to tobacco.

[txmatt]

Cigarbid is best used for slightly off brands or older brands. The newest cigars and big labels like Fuente, Padron, etc go for well over regular internet prices. A box of older Indian Tabac Corojos can be won for 1/3 of retail though. Don't bid on anything that the copy states is a boom leftover or "isn't half bad"

Above all when bidding on Cigarbid.com DON'T look at what they say the MSRP is. Instead, check cigarsinternational.com in a separate browser window for the product you are bidding on.. Very often people pay more than the regular mail order price because they get caught up in bidding and think they are getting a deal because they see the inflated MSRP. Choose once weekly shipment option on Cigarbid to save big money on shipping costs.

Get on the specials lists for every mail order/internet vendor out there. This is an easy way to see specials, and more importantly closeouts.. Some of the best deals I get on cigars are on discontinued lines; not only are they inexpensive but they come pre-aged..

I have been buying a lot of Tabacalera Tropical's products lately - 6 boxes this month so far. T.T. decided they want to be a retail only brand, so many online vendors are clearing out the remaining inventory. Holts has great deals on Buena Cosecha, Condega, Lempira, Mombacho. Fuller's Puller's may have a few Don Juan SCB boxes left - they marked 25% off all remaining inventory and sold amost everything over a weekend. I found out about both of these by being on their email lists..

Buy yourself a cooler at Wal Mart and a pound of humidifcation beads at BargainHumidors or Heartfelt Industries to store the many boxes that will soon be in your hands.

Welcome to the disease..
-Matt-

[Corona Gigante]

Originally Posted by txmatt

Don't bid on anything that the copy states is a boom leftover or "isn't half bad"

Also, "a great deal at the price" almost always isn't.

JR cigars offers a weekly special. Very often they're so good that they sell out within hours and they have to offer a substitute. (Yes, yes, I know it's a gimmick. It's still a fantastic deal if you get in quick enough)

JRs has pretty good prices generally and their own brand "JR Ultimates" is a good budget smoke.

[IamWD]

Wow. Some excellent advice. Thank you all very much.

Now, for an unrelated question:
If I was going to trade with someone, how do I properly ship a cigar? Is a humidification device necessary?

[donp]

>>I know famous smoke also has an auction, but I have yet to use it.<<

The Famous Smoke auction is a zoo, especially compared to CBid. There is no auto bid function and you find yourself getting overbid by some dweeb who hasn't a chance. Theres lots of bidding up without rhyme or reason, and too often you would wind up bidding (and hopefully not winning) way beyond MSRP. IMO, not worth the time.
I also tried the auction site over at JR cigars and wasn't impressed there either.

[DriftyGypsy]

I bid/buy from both cigarbid and cigarauctioneer. Cigarauctioneer does not do auto bid on all it's products. Also cigarauctioneer will warn you if you are bidding more than what you can buy it for on Famous. Some people on both sites do not pay attention and will bid more than retail or MSRP because they get caught up and do not pay attention. When i use either site I have two browsers open with the store in one and the auction site in the other so I can check prices.

I am not impressed by JR's aution site.

[SHOE]

There are good deals to be had on C-BID if you do your homework. Don't go in blindly or you can or will get burned. Many of the samplers usually bid out reasonably. Box prices can be very good (5 Vegas is one that stands out most to me) if you know what you're doing and you avoid bidders bumping just so they can win. Some bidders just want the easy way of shopping and don't watch prices and they end up jumping the final price way out of line. I've seen bidders jumping fivers well beyond what you pay MSRP per stick in your local B&M. Study the market and then bid smartly.

[FatBoy]

A couple years back, I saw a guy pay over $80 for a box of Onyx Reserve Mini Belicoso's...that sell for $60 on Cigars International...

[kansashat]

www.lilbrown.com has some nice sales just about all the time.

I also use www.cheapercigars.com quite a bit too.