When Scott Bendett opened the Habana Premium Cigar Shoppe in the Colonie Center mall in Albany, NY, he could have scarcely imagined where things would go from there. After a few years of selling cigars and pipes to the locals, Scott felt that it was time to reach out to a larger audience, by going into mail order. So in 1999, Pipes and Cigars.com was born. The entire operation was run out of an 8 by 10 room by the staff between waiting on customers in the store.
As Pipes and Cigars grew, so did the retail store, and so it moved to a free-standing building about a quarter-mile from the mall, and the mail order operation took over the basement. It was around that time that some staff was hired to be dedicated to Pipes and Cigars. We thought that we were really taking off, shipping out 60 to 80 packages a day. Boy, were we in for a surprise. In only a couple of years, we wound up having to move the internet/mail order business to a larger warehouse to be able to accommodate the orders. In addition, we had introduced our own house-blended line of tobaccos, Hearth & Home, which took off much faster than we had anticipated.
Habana Premium continued its growth as well, and moved to a larger location, again, about another half-mile down the road. This building had a rather large second floor that could contain the mail order business, and had a conveyor to make it easier to send the packages to the trucks. So, with both operations under one roof, we thought we’d be set for quite a while. Once again, we underestimated the potential for growth.
In the last few years, our expansion has been exponential, due to the faith put in us by our loyal customers. But that brings us to today, and a crossroads. Those of you who have depended upon us to take care of your needs have helped us to grow at an incredible rate, and we recently had to assess our ability to do the job.
Our facilities were rapidly becoming incapable of containing our operation, and our equipment would need to be upgraded significantly if we were to handle demand. The investment in space and materiel would have stretched our resources and would have required a massive overhaul in how we did our jobs.
At the same time that Scott faced this major decision, a possible solution was presented to him. Pipes and Cigars.com could merge its order fulfillment with the facilities and resources of a company that was more than well equipped to do handle it; Cigars International. Since our primary consideration always has to be our customers, the decision was made to make the move. Now, with the ultra-modern facility and work force at our disposal, we can use our resources to save you money, get your shipments out quicker and develop new items and promotions to make your shopping experience that much more rewarding.
When I was presented with this scenario and the opportunity to move with the company and to help Pipes and Cigars.com and Hearth & Home to grow even further, it didn’t take much to convince me that this move would greatly benefit our customers, and afford me, personally, the chance to do more and better things for those of you who have supported H&H from the beginning. You can expect to see an even better selection of products as we work on coming up with better options for you.
As I’ve said repeatedly in recent weeks, if I didn’t believe that this was the best move to deliver the optimal shopping experience, I wouldn’t have made the move with the company. As it is, I’m in it for the long haul. Will there be some fumbles and hiccups as we make the transition? You betcha, but as we move forward, we’ll learn from our mistakes and when we get past this phase, you’ll be amazed at how a company that always put you first will take that philosophy to the next level.
I believe this enough to stake my reputation on it. Give us a chance to show you just what we can do.
Russ Ouellette, blender,
Pipes and Cigars.com
i just wanted to say i do love the Mohawk River, i need to try more of that line “Hearth & Home”,
i want to try some of your virginia flake? i love Erinmore flake do you have any thing close to that i want to try some of your type of BALKAN as well, i good Navy flake, i do like Newmister #400 Superior Navy flake, good room note and taste, the price is goo as well
i have not order form u yet, @ pipeandsmoke.com, but hey man i’m poor on SSD, so a order, well im working on it , have to try and save up!,sucks but let me know fi yeah can, on the other’s
Thanks & Take Care
Mr. Steven Kng, Oregon. age 55
I am so glad to here that you have a new partner responsible for shipping because I was about to give up on Pipes and Cigars after the last three orders I made were incorrectly filled. I noticed the trouble began when my credit card showed purchases billed by CIGARS instead of HABANA PREM. So far it looks like a serious mistake to have them filling orders. On three occasions within the last week or so, items i ordered were out of stock or back-ordered, and the person filling the order took it on themselves to fill my order with a “kinda sorta” close match to the items I ordered. Not acceptable. The one that really aggravates me is my order for a Stanwell B-1 pipe, I love the light finish of the B-1 but was shopping for a 9mm filtered version which is only available in a dark finish. I ordered the dark finish 9mm filtered pipe and was sent a dark finish non-filtered B-1. My first impulse was to return it for a filtered version but I could not resist giving it a test smoke. What a great little pipe! If you have not ordered one yet get one before they are gone. The best $99.00 I have ever spent on a pipe. The sad thing is that every time I reach for my Stanwell B-1 I am not smoking the filtered pipe I ordered and I am not smoking the light finish non-filtered pipe I would have ordered had I wanted a non-filtered version. Like I said, aggravating.
to Guy Davis
Hello
good to know the info, as i did have a real hard time getting a return e-mail form them did after 5 times,
i have been ordering from smokingpipes.com and have NEVER had any bad times from them at all! some FYI for yeah,
i even did mail orders and they held my order till they got the MO got there, very cool! , returning sucks takes to long some times and it should have not happened in the 1st place! lol as spock would say : it is just not logical! to do
Take Care , & peace and long life
Mr. Steven King, lol yeah im a old nerd from 1966 lol
I every time emailed this weblog post page to all my friends,
for the reason that if like to read it next my links will too.
Russ you foks there are AWESOME. For instance, recently I placed a small order by phone then dropped a money order in SNAIL MAIL on a Tuesday and to absolute surprise the order was at my door that same Friday! Now THAT is service! I would have expected similar service from the former crew and probably would have gotten it. But I want anyone who reads this to know that Pipes and Cigars is still on point, and maybe better. I must admit thought i’m gonna miss Sarah’s personality when I contact P&C though. Thank you
I apologize for any problems people have had in the lasy few weeks. We had to move tens of thousands of items to a new location, get them on the shelves and into the computer system, restock and reorder, train people on our systems, etc. As I said in the blog post, there are going to be some issues, but in the long run, this move will benefit our customers in terms of selection, pricing, turnaround time and new product development. Change is hard for everyone, and this situation is no different. I ask you to be patient and give us a chance. In a relatively short time you’ll come to see a lot of positive things as a result.
Russ
Hey King, take a chill pill. Be Grateful you are even here man. I mean Russ is a busy pup. if he misses and emai/ or something so be it. Wishing you and AMAZING Day!
hey don’t act like you hot crap buddy, you go take a chill pill and shut up this is not about you, i really dont care but don’t answer his e-mail you are not mr cool pompous ass
so shut your pie hole thai is not for you to say go away!! lol lol i really dont care but he needs to know that they his customers are not getting A back on there e-mail and with 6 times that si not good for his company!!!! got it duh LOL LOL
“be grateful im even here’ ???,is that some type of a big man threat?? say that crap again and the FBI will be up your ass understand!! that !! fool, who the hell do you think you are !!! MAN!!
LOL, i think i know LOL LOL your a pompous ass!!
some he needs to know or his business will be in bad shape so watch your mouth punk,
be REAL carfull who you threten!!!!!
hey im done with this place ,
Have nice day Steven. I’m still with P&C as my main etailer and have been for a good three years runnin’ . Best prices and service on the internet in my experience.
Hello Russ,
Congrats to you, Scotty & the whole gang at P&C for your immense success! I trully hope that you guys contine to trend upward because I love using your website.
But ever since the aquisition, I’ve noticed that you no longer offer certain brands of cigars; like Viaje & La Palina to name a couple. It’s like they were erased from the website right after you guys went public with the big news. Do you guys plan on offering those brands again in the future, or is there some kind of conflict with their distribution through CI?
Not wanting to sound redundant, Russ, but how can you “deliver the optimal shopping experience” to international customers when all i a sudden you (the company) refuses to ship internationnally.
I simply cannot say anything bad about you guys; been a happy client for the start…untill
the takeover. And now, i am wondering where the hell I am goong to buy my tobacco from….
Don’t want to sound mean, but this move was certainlynbot made with the slightest consideration for international clients, which also contributed to your success story in the past….
Hope you all the best,
Gianni