Note: This is only my personal opinion!
I had a recent business trip to the Chicago area and on the way to the hotel near O'hare I stopped by a cigar store that someone suggested I visit. That Store was "Cigar King" in Skokie, IL.
Well let me say that the place was packed. When I walked into the place it kind of reminded me of being more at a bar then a cigar store/lounge. Now there's nothing wrong with that especially because its generally accepted that if a retail establishment of any kind is busy - it must be good.
I couldn't be more wrong. As I navigated through the "crowd" of people surrounding the pool table to the humidor in the back of the Store I began to see what appeared to be a large selection of cigars. However when I actually walked into the humidor and looked a little closer to the cigars you start to see that most of them were covered in dust (at least I think it was dust). Don't get me wrong not all the cigars were covered in dust but a good majority of them were. The humidification system they were using sat on a top shelf along the back wall of the humidor. It was sitting in a plastic container of some sort. The inner lining of the plastic box was covered in some kind of dirty "gook." Looked like it was used to catch some kind of run off water or something and had never been cleaned.
They had the usual Rocky Patels, Illusione, and Altadis brands. The Altadis brands twere in decent shape but you could also see alot of what appeared to be really old cigars covered in dust to the point where I couln't immediately tell what brand they were especially on the lower shelfs and in the corners of the humidor. I also noticed that they were selling some cigars that were very old. For example the Camacho section had several boxes of cigars out that had been sold in years. Now that would be fine if they were being aged properly but these were just neglected sticks. I noticed on the top shelf above the Camacho cigars and open box of cigars hanging off the side so I pulled it down to see what treasures were inside. The sticks were flat out disgusting as they were covered in dust and dirt.
Being the cigar addict that I am I did buy three cigars that did not appear to have any issues and were reasonably priced but I felt like I was taking my life into my own hands!!
They also had cigars in glass cases outside the humidor next to the lounge area. These looked okay but for the most part they too were just no being taken care of. It was a shame. I mean for me Cigars are a passion. Taking care of them and nurturing them along is part of the fun and excitement of smoking them. I just don't understand how someone could ignore them like that.
What was interesting to me was that when the one person who asked me if I needed help was leaning against the counter outside the humidor near the register
