Buying Cigars in Orlando: What to Expect at the Humidor
No dress code, no secret handshake. Here’s how buying a cigar actually works at our Palm Parkway humidor — prices, sizes, group orders, and keeping them in Florida.
A lot of the people who walk into our humidor have never bought a cigar before. They’re buying for a wedding, a bachelor party, or a trip they want to remember.
Most cigar guides are written for collectors. This one is for everybody else.
Walking in
You can just say you don’t know what you’re doing
The thing that stops most people buying a cigar is embarrassment. They think there’s a code they’re supposed to know, so they look around for thirty seconds and leave.
There isn’t a code. “I’ve never bought a cigar, where do I start?” is a completely normal opening line, and it gets you better help than pretending.
Our staff handle the cigars, not customers
This surprises people, so it’s worth saying plainly: in our humidor, staff take the cigars out. You don’t pick them up off the shelf yourself.
That isn’t us being fussy. Cigar wrappers crack, and a cracked wrapper is a cigar nobody can sell. A room full of people handling stock is a room full of damaged cigars.
Ask us to show you instead
You don’t lose anything by it. Tell us what you’re after and we’ll bring cigars out, hold them up and talk you through the differences, so you can take a proper look before you choose.
Choosing one
Size changes the time, not just the look
A cigar’s length and thickness (the ring gauge) decide roughly how long you’ll be with it. A short, thin one is about half an hour. A big one is well over an hour.
Pick for the time you actually have. Most first-timers choose something too big and put it down half-finished.
Strength is not the same as flavor
“Strong” describes how a cigar hits, not how much flavor it has. Plenty of mild cigars are full of flavor, and plenty of strong ones are fairly plain.
If you’re new to this, say so and ask for mild to medium. There’s no prize for starting at the top.
Tell us what the occasion is
Three groups account for most of the cigars that leave our humidor, and each one needs a different answer.
Weddings. Almost always a group buy, and almost always for people who mostly don’t smoke cigars. That points to mild, mid-size, and the same cigar across the whole order rather than one showpiece. Tell us the headcount and your budget per person and we’ll work backwards from there.
Bachelor parties. Same crowd problem, different mood. You want something that feels like an occasion without overwhelming the two guys who’ve never held one. Mild to medium again, and buy one or two spares — somebody always drops theirs.
Visitors. People marking a trip, usually with no humidor waiting at home. Buy for the days you’re here rather than a box that will dry out before you get through it.
If you’re buying for yourself on an ordinary Tuesday, say that too. It’s an easier question than the other three.
What it costs
Worth saying plainly, because most cigar pages won’t.
Singles start at $8. The most expensive cigar we stock is around $40. Everything else sits between those two numbers.
That matters more than it sounds. If you’re buying for a wedding party of twenty, you know roughly what the order looks like before you drive over. And if you assumed cigars were a $100 hobby, they aren’t.
What we carry
The names most people recognize are in there — Arturo Fuente, Padrón, Montecristo, Cohiba, Davidoff, Ashton, Macanudo, Romeo y Julieta, Rocky Patel, Oliva, Perdomo, Camacho, Drew Estate, My Father — alongside the everyday brands people actually buy on a Tuesday, like Backwoods, Black & Mild, Swisher Sweets, White Owl, Dutch Masters.
Stock moves, so if you’re after something specific, call the Orlando store at (407) 778-1221 before you drive over. Faster than guessing. You can also browse every cigar brand we carry.
Florida storage is its own problem
Our climate isn’t the one the guides assume
Most cigar storage advice is written for people in dry houses in cold places. Orlando is not that. Outside it’s humid most of the year; inside, the air conditioning runs constantly and dries the air out.
That combination is harder on cigars than either extreme on its own.
Our honest advice: buy what you’ll actually smoke
We don’t sell humidors or humidity packs, so take this as advice rather than a sales pitch.
The simplest answer for most people here is to stop buying ahead. A few cigars for the next week or two are fine as they are. Come back when you want more — we’re open until 2:30 in the morning, so it’s rarely inconvenient.
If you do want to keep a stock at home, you’ll need a proper humidor or, at minimum, an airtight container with a humidity pack in it. Both are easy to find online and neither is expensive at the entry level. We’d rather tell you that than sell you a box that’s dried out in a month.
Never leave them in the car
Worth its own line, because it happens all the time here. A car in an Orlando parking lot in July gets hot enough to ruin a box in an afternoon.
Where the humidor is
The humidor is at our Orlando store only. If you’re coming for cigars, come to Palm Parkway.
Orlando — 8526 Palm Pkwy, Orlando, FL 32836 · (407) 778-1221
Open 9:00 AM to 2:30 AM, every day. Free parking. Minutes from Disney Springs and Lake Buena Vista.
Our Kissimmee store on W Irlo Bronson is a full smoke shop, but it doesn’t carry cigars. Worth knowing before you drive out there.
21+ with valid ID.