zigarren-online.ch celebrates cigar enjoyment on 11 June 2022 at the 15th anniversary open day. There will also be plenty of culinary delights. But wait, isn't this an online shop? Yes and no, you've been able to visit the cigar seller on site since 2014. But, one thing at a time!

habanos original intertabak 2022 — The „Habanos Original 2022“ series is supported by the official importer of Cuban cigars, Intertabak AG. You can find the whole series here >

Staying true to yourself in

In 2018, I asked Christoph Läubin (owner of zigarren-online.ch) about the future of his company. These three words were his answer at the time: „Quality, variety and speed.“ That is his motto. No, it's much more than that. It is his deepest conviction that these three points are the key to the success of his company. He follows this conviction to the letter and adds: „Stay true to yourself!“

He stably and continuously expands and grows his company. And the company never grows so quickly that this philosophy suffers as a result. „Staying true to myself is important to me,“ he told me a little later. The company was founded in 2007 with a 4 m2 walk-in humidor.

ZO Retail GmbH — Welcome to zigarren-online.ch, please come in!

Shop at zigarren-online.ch on site in Regensdorf

Customer reaction to the limited availability of Cuba cigars

Christoph blows his top when we come to this topic. „Although it did get a little better in the period from December 2021 to March 2022. I'm talking about standard products here. We hardly get any specialities any more, but every now and then something trickles into the warehouse.“ He emphasises the long-standing and stable partnership with the importer Intertabak AG. And how do customers react to the issue? „Asians buy what they can. But we take our regular customers into account. We limit specialities to a few individual cigars per customer.“

Experiences with customers and the reluctance to write reviews

„There are customers who have been shopping with us for 15 years and have never had a complaint,“ Christoph tells me. „New customers complain now and again, that's interesting.“ -„What do they complain about and why are they mainly new customers?“ I want to know and already suspect the answer. „The draw resistance is poor,“ Christoph begins to list the points, „the cigar is too hard or too dry. This has to do with the knowledge of new customers. They don't know how to handle a cigar and what characteristics it can have.“ That's why there are YouTube Chanel from zigarrren-online.ch short and long clips so that customers can acquire knowledge.

Of course, an online shop should not be without a rating tool. „How is it used?“ I'm also very interested in his answer. „The Swiss don't like to rate cigars, they tend to be more reserved and don't want to write much about a cigar. However, the reviews are read very often. So, dear customers: Write your reviews, it works at digitec too!“ laughs Christoph.

„zigarren-online.ch is celebrating its 15th anniversary!“ replies Christoph. „Visitors can buy their Genuss-Pass online for just CHF 54.00 (or CHF 69.00 at the box office on the day), and they're in for a marvellous experience: Now that the events are finally allowed to start again after the pandemic, well-known importers with various brands have very quickly registered with us as exhibitors.“

Baumann Selected Cigars, Best Taste, Cigarmundi, cigar.ch, Charles Hofer, Compania de Tobaccos, Hartl Premium Tobacco, Importadora Corazza, Intertabacco, Lateltin, Oetttinger Davidoff, Royal Cigar Company, cigars.zone (oops, that's me...)

„It will be a really great day of enjoyment from 10am to 4pm. Visitors will of course be able to get advice at the exhibitors“ stands and experience our new walk-in humidor. We now have two of them, totalling 156.5 m2. So, buy your ticket now, we're all really looking forward to seeing you!"