Possible New Customer Idea

[Joe Pelonio]

I happened to be parked directly in front of a smoke shop that been there a year or so and I just today noticed a sign in the window that said "Gifts of all kinds."

I went in to talk to the owner, and sure enough, they have a great selection of laserable items, anodized lighters, wood cigar boxes, knives, glass items and more. He had never heard of a laser before, and after our chat he's anxious for me to go back with samples. I told him I could even engrave on a cigar (anyone tried that, did I lie?)

[Darren Null]

You didn't lie.

[Joe Pelonio]

Thanks Darren! I thought I'd remembered someone doing it before here. I'll buy a couple of cheapies over the weekend and try it. He only sells "top end" cigars.

[Bruce Volden]

Thanks Darren! I thought I'd remembered someone doing it before here. I'll buy a couple of cheapies over the weekend and try it. He only sells "top end" cigars.

I also thought I'd seen Einstein on toilet paper That wuz you now wasn't it Joe??

bRUCE

[Bill Cunningham]

If you cut through the outer leaf wrap of the cigar, does that not make it leak air and hard to smoke? I think I'd rather burn rubber in my shop than smell tobacco ..yuk..

[Joe Pelonio]

I also thought I'd seen Einstein on toilet paper That wuz you now wasn't it Joe??

bRUCE

Yes, but for some reason no one has asked to buy that.

[Doug Bergstrom]

We've done cigars with its a girl/boy engraved on them. Also some cigars come in a glass tube that will etch nicely without having to take the cigar out.

[Jim Dornon]

Do you need the rotary attachment for cigars or are thet done just laying flat ? Jim

[Joe Pelonio]

You can do pens, cigars, and other tubular items without a rotary attachment as long as your image goes down the length of it, in other words a line of text works fine.

For people that have done cigars what do you charge? I'm thinking $10 setup and $2 each?

[Mike Null]

Joe

Cigar smoking is a very pricey habit. These people spend lots on all the accoutrements of smoking. I think nearly all of these can be engraved and personalized. The humidors can go as high as $1000 but lighters, cutters, knives and ashtrays as well as pocket cigar containers can all be engraved.

My son is an aficionado and I purchased what I thought was a nice humidor for him and engraved it. Then I went into a cigar store and saw how much their humidors were.

Well, at least his is personalized.

[Scott Shepherd]

I'd go for more like $8-10 per cigar. Chances are you aren't do it for someone buying their cigars at CVS. You're talking about big ticket items with big ticket spenders. I just finished some inlay work on a humidor that will be in the $2,000 range. Sitting in his shop, he's got about a $15,000 humidor he's finishing up.

It's a status thing as well. Don't undercut yourself on cigars.

[Mike Null]

I must have been in a discount store without realizing it.

[Joe Pelonio]

I just finished some inlay work on a humidor that will be in the $2,000 range. Sitting in his shop, he's got about a $15,000 humidor he's finishing up.

When you work on such an expensive item, will your business insurance cover it if you ruin it, say with a stray vector cut while engraving, or beam head crash into the wood?

I made sure, and did have a claim they took care of when an employee ran a slice through the paint on a van while installing lettering.

[Scott Shepherd]

Luckily, I'm only working on pieces of it, like the lid. It's in an unfinished condition when I do my work. So there's time and material involved from the customers end, but certainly not at the finished product level.

I take a lot of precautions when do work on it, since it's usually some rare hardwood. I usually tape a piece of poster board to it and run the graphic in the paper enough to change the color. I measure it all out and make any adjustments and then I usually watch it while engraving. I don't worry about z crashes, but I do pay a lot of attention to the job when it starts and when it's running.

So far, we're all good.

I went out at lunch and went into a local cigar store. Saw lots of $1000 humidors in there. Probably the same stuff Mike's seen. The stuff I'm doing work on is custom made to order.

[Joe Pelonio]

The finished $1,000 dollar ones are what I was looking at yesterday, and after I spoke to the guy wondered what I might be getting myself into. Something like that due to the risk has to be worth $100 on a $1,000 item. I use your posterboard method sometimes too, great "just to be sure" trick, like measuring twice and cutting once.