Buying Cigars in Cuba
When I visit Havana, one of my greatest joys is walking through the humidors of a Casa del Habano and taking a look at the selection of cigars. On my last trip a few weeks ago, I found that many of the shops were in decent supply.
With the (notable) exception of the Montecristo Gran Reserva, which I didn’t see on sale anywhere, and Cohiba Behikes, which were hard to find in most stores save for that in the Habana Libre Hotel, there were plenty of good cigars from which to choose.
The 2011 Edición Limitadas were in good supply, including plenty of Cohiba 1966 (they scored 94 points in a recent Cigar Insider; wonderful smokes), plenty of Hoyo de Monterrey Short Hoyo Piramides EL 2011, and Ramon Allones Allones Extras. The regular production new smokes from last year’s Festival were also there, such as the Partagas D5s and E2s.
I shot this video inside the humidor of the always superb Casa del Habano at Club Habana. Take a look at the stock in the video below.
There were tons of Montecristos, and a huge amount of one of my favorites, the Montecristo Petit Edmundo, including some 2008 production.
The shop had every size of Cohiba, but the Lanceros and Esplendidos were in short supply. There were also low stocks of Cohiba Maduro Genios and Secretos (no Magicos in stock). There was also a very large number of Cuaba Salomones in stock.
Most of the box codes were from 2009 through 2011, great years for Cuban cigars. I found a few 2007s, including a box of Cohiba Siglo Is, and even found some older items in the back left corner of the humidor, where the less popular brands such as Rafael Gonzalez are put. (Poor Rafael Gonzalez—never gets any respect. Always flip these boxes over, as you’re likely to find one with five or even ten years of age.)
To give you an idea on prices, the Montecristos ranged from 90 cuc for a box of No. 5s up to 190 cuc for the Monte 2. Cohibas were 130 cuc for the Siglo I up to 383 cuc for the Siglo V, and 449 cuc for the Esplendido. The Cohiba 1966 was 241 cuc for a box of 10, and 475 cuc would get you a gorgeous cabinet of 50 Hoyo Double Coronas.
