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When did Serious Cigars become JR?

Not A Nice Person

Not A Nice Person

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Oct 8, 2008
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I've bought from Serious occasionally for YEARS now, since they're just down the road in Houston and it's another way of keeping my spending at least semi-local. Also they've been great folks with top-notch service.

But . . . order before this last one, I think it was, I noticed their website had been updated. Didn't think anything of it. About a week and a half ago, I ordered a 10-cigar "boutique" sampler and at the same time ordered a bunch of fivers from the "Page." Those got here in a week's time and I realized I still hadn't gotten a shipping confirmation email with tracking # from Serious---so I emailed them, and in poking around the website to find a way to do that, noticed their corporate address was in . . . North Carolina?

The next day they responded. As JR Cigars. Now, they're taking care of me---they lost/dropped my order but are sending it next day UPS---so that's not a problem, but honestly, if I had known I was buying from JR, well, I probably wouldn't have. So it kind of bugs me that they're apparently buying up brick and mortars with websites and using them as storefronts.

Seems a bit sketchy, really.

~Boar
 
This happened in December I believe. At that point is when I received emails/promos about their new website that was coming soon. I just checked their email promos and yep, their address in NC is JR Cigars.
 
Never been a huge fan of Serious.
Their humidor design didn't seem sanitary.

Nothing like having a bathroom attached to your humidor...
 
I'd always had great luck with Serious but ever since the acquisition, their sales & suggestions have veered away from my tastes. When I look through their website, it's obvious they're shifting more toward that J-R/General business model.

Story (linky)
 
Scap said:
Never been a huge fan of Serious.
Their humidor design didn't seem sanitary.

Nothing like having a bathroom attached to your humidor...
Click to expand...

I've never been to their retail locations (Houston's a 3-4 hour drive into horrible traffic for me) but the original Finck's storefront in San Antonio, which is basically a small house turned into a giant humidor, has a glassed in lounge---with a bathroom---in the middle of it all.

~Boar
 
Not A Nice Person said:
I've never been to their retail locations (Houston's a 3-4 hour drive into horrible traffic for me) but the original Finck's storefront in San Antonio, which is basically a small house turned into a giant humidor, has a glassed in lounge---with a bathroom---in the middle of it all.

~Boar
Click to expand...
That's because the clientele is so old, they all have BPH.:rolleyes:

Doc
 
Ok, so I'm a regular at one of the four Serious locations and have picked up some details chatting with staff. Ron, Serious' former owner, sold to Casa de Montecristo/JR in 2016 and the formal switch-over started last summer. New point of sale, new inventory database, new management. The retail arm has been split out under Casa de Montecristo, so if you go visit one of the stores, the new sign will say, "Casa de Montecristo by Serious Cigars". The online presence has been pulled in under JR and is managed through the JR inventory/warehousing/shipping/distribution/marketing systems. Orders/shipping no longer come out of Houston (well, Cypress) and their warehouse of inventory is being liquidated at 40% off (in store only). Buying Serious was seen as a way for JR to get into the smaller brands they didn't previously sell. Re-starting all those accounts, getting the inventory DB updated, the website updated etc has been a long, uphill battle, and obviously not completely worked out.

[edited to protect the innocent]
 
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Their online ordering is total crap now. I placed an order towards the end of the year last year and they sent me the wrong vitola so I emailed them and they tried to get out of sending the correct cigar. I insisted they send the correct one which they finally did and had me ship the others back. Fast forward a few months and I noticed they had the 2015 TAA coffins I was looking for so I bought 2 of them. They sent the 2016 TAA set instead which is not what I ordered. I emailed them a few different times and they never responded. I decided to just chalk it up as a gain of two 2016 sets and opened up one of the sets. It was totally ruined. The wrappers on both cigars were dried, cracked, and coming apart. I emailed one final time and threatened to post all over social media about my experience and someone responded pretty quickly saying I would be refunded and to ship them back with a UPS label they sent. Never ordering from them again especially now that I know they're now run by JR.

What's great is I ended up ordering two 2015 sets from Cigars International later and they were in perfect condition. Never had a problem with those guys.
 
Well, my order arrived yesterday as promised, but I have to say, packaging was on about the same level as the "Page" or even a little sloppier and nowhere NEAR the same quality as the old Serious. Disappointing.

~Boar
 
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