This information was originally stated in the long, long ago buried in the lower strata of the posts. That, as some of you have pointed out with varying levels of kindness, is not the most convenient place to have such information. So here it is, at the top level and pinned for easy access on the main menu drop downs:
HOW REFILLS WORK
You may have noticed that on your Black Blood of the Earth bottles there are several blank lines on the cigar band label to the right of the central graphic. These blank lines are for me to write in additional batches of BBotE that your bottle has been filled with as you explore the different flavors and proudly display your fortitude through consumption. I also like to encourage people to reuse the bottles and original shipping boxes with refills because no sense in making more waste unless we have to.
Of course, what’s your incentive to do this? A discount of course! For online refill orders, I will give you a 20% off coupon code for your order. When you hit the last refill line on the bottle, that one is on me; I’ll give you a different 100% off coupon code.
(In the long long ago post, the coupon code was only good for 10%. I realized that for much of the country, the shipping costs for getting the bottle back to me would wipe out any refill savings and then some. So, I did the math and figured I could improve it to 20% off.)
To do this, you will need to contact me before placing your order to get the coupon code. This is also when I’ll give you the address to send your bottle, assuming you don’t already know this because it’s on the label on the shipper your bottle originally came in. This also functions as my heads up that there’s a refill on its way back to me. The discount codes are handed out on an individual basis and I know who has what. If you share them with others, well, that isn’t really going to work for them as they have no refill bottle for me to fulfill the order with.
When you ship the empty bottle back, please give it a rinse before you send it back my way. Also, just because I shipped it to you priority mail to preserve the precious BBotE in the bottle, that doesn’t mean the empty glass needs to return to me at that speed. I recommend doing parcel post if you can, though if you’re in the western continental US you don’t save much money to go much slower. International folks, there is no particularly cheap way to get a bottle back for refill, I’m sorry. You’re welcome to place a refill order whenever you like, just know that I won’t fulfill it until your bottle is back. If you would like to send multiple bottles back at once and then leave some staged with me on the racks for refill later, that’s fine by me but I only have so much room. After six months on the racks with no refill order, I reserve the right to toss a bottle to make room for other people. This time limit had been one year, but there just isn’t enough room for a mountain of forlorn bottles.
When you make you refill order, you’re aren’t constrained to refill it with what you originally purchased. Branch out, have an adventure and try something new.
The only item I can’t refill are the sampler vials. I recommend cleaning those out and turning them into scientific spice jars, candy holders for your purse, or a way to wrangle change for tolls/parking meters.
For local refills, so this pretty much only applies to people in the SF Bay Area, drop me a line so we can arrange a hand off, and I’ll knock a flat $5 off the 750ml & 1000ml bottles, $3 off the 375ml, and $20 off the Jug of Madness. Yes, I realize you’re not getting as good a discount as the people doing online orders, but you also aren’t paying for shipping so you’re already making a handsome savings there alone.