My recent Cuba trip in January 2011

[CanuckSARTech]

So, with Pres' recent Cuban trip thread and a few other recent items, I've realized that I didn't really do a write up at all of my recent trip to Cuba this past January. Now, at this point, it's been two months nearly since my return. But, there's still some interesting stuff to share.

My wife and I went with some friends of ours to the Breezes Bella Costa in Varadero, from Saturday, January 22nd through until Saturday, January 29th. While it wasn't a trip to Havana directly, it was a nice get-away to a decent 4-star for a really great price. And, while I'm the only real cigar buff out of the four of us (my buddy is only a once in a while, playing golf, etc., cigar smoker - when I provide them of course ), I still got some decent cigar smoking in. Unlike other trips for my wife and I, there were no side-trips to Havana or the like, so my cigar shopping was limited to the LCDH at Calle 63 right there in Varadero, as well as at the Caracol shop in the hotel lobby. For the pictures of what I got while on this trip, you can check out where they start on my picture thread here: CanuckSARTech's Cuban Collection.

While there, we generally just had a nice time relaxing, drinking, eating, and being merry. We spent a day or two going through Varadero proper, to just check things out. We spent a day doing a fairly typical excursion, doing the Jeep safari trip (which is neither an actual safari, nor riding in actual Jeeps). But we did have a good time doing that, visiting some local villages, taking a nice boat trip up the Rio Canimar, going to the La Dionisia and having a phenomenal gourmet Cuban lunch spread at the Cafetal there, and meeting and chatting with a bunch of the local farmers/workers. Other than that, most days were just spent at the resort and on the beach, drinking it up royally (I'm the only one that didn't end up needing a mid-afternoon nap most days), and even hitting the Varadero Golf Course for a really nice round (albeit on an extremely foggy morning that was cleared out by a nasty little thunderstorm that rolled through in the very early afternoon). A great time was had, all around.

I got some excellent smoking in too: a 2010 Cohiba Siglo IV that I scored a 93, a lovely set of LGC MdO No. 1 and 2's, some beautifully potent and fresh customs (robustos and piramides, all very strong with the Bolivar/Partagas profile richness to them, with dank forest floor earthyness and meatiness to the smoke, with some leather and bold/burnt brown sugar). I was able to puff down 8 sticks in 6 days essentially - a nice treat, considering I had no other cigars consumed in January prior to this trip, and then only four in December.

Now....

On the liquor front, I found three things of interest that popped up. The first was what I noticed of a new Havana Club offering, the "Seleccion de Maestros", something that Pres brought up and discussed here: Havana Club and New "Seleccion de Maestros"

The other thing that I noted was an issue with supply and demand, which some on here may not like.....I could not find/source/barter for a single bottle of the Legendario Elixir de Cuba. Now, I searched everywhere. I checked out the various Caracol stores at the resorts and malls, I checked out La Casa del Ron, I asked other tourists around. I made good friends with our bartender, Mariella, at the jaccuzi bar of our resort. She got me some **ahem** excellent deals on some coffee and liquor to bring home. But, even with her checking around, and even with her seeing with some family in Holguin and in Havana if they had some stores around them that had it, the word was all the same. None available. I was on a mission - after all of the positive comments from members on here and whatnot, and this really being one of the few items in Cuba liquor-wise that I haven't tried yet, I was determined to get my hands on a bottle or four. I offered her, and everyone else that I came upon, carte blanche when it came to price per bottle. I just wanted some. But nope. The word that I ended up hearing from everywhere was that they apparently had a batch or two at the distillery that went "sour", and it was to be around 6 months before more would be available. Now, this is Cuba - hearsay and rumour is everything, and in Cuba, "time" isn't really finite: six months can mean a week or two years. But, there was no Legendario Elixir available when I was there (again, at least in the Varadero area for sure). That may have already changed by now, but I also had the parents of a friend go at the end of February, and they said the same thing - nothing to be found.

The final thing on the liquor front was that I picked up a bottle of Santiago de Cuba Anejo rum. I must say, that for the price paid (about the equivalent of the HC Reserva), that this rum is wonderful. Probably the best treat from this recent trip. I find that it has the strength and length-on-the-palate of the HC Anejo 7 Anos, but at the same time, it has the profile and flavours almost of the Ron Zacapa 23 (no slight bitterness that the HC stuff can sometimes follow up with). Loads of caramel, burnt/carmelized brown sugar, creme brulee, orange citrus tones, fresh honey-baked bread, etc. Wonderful stuff. I'll have to keep it in my regular rum rotation as well now. Problem is, I only brought home one bottle of it! LOL. I need more!

On the cigar front, I was a bit disappointed honestly.

As I've discussed with some members on here before, the cigar offerings at the LCDH at Calle 63 in Varadero were neutral at best. First off, over-humidification was a huge issue. Just going by touch and texture and smells, I'd say that their RH levels, on the two days that I was in there in the walk-in humidor, were easily in the 73%-78% level for sure, if not easily pushing into the low 80's. I honestly really wish I had a digital hygrometer with me, to get a more accurate rating. But it was definitely an issue. I could see that many boxes actually had their warranty seals (the older styles, not really with the newer/holographic sticker ones) slightly peeling up / curling off of the boxes that they were applied to. When I mentioned it to the clerk, she explained to me that they were having an issue with the humidification systems, and they were waiting to have it fixed. Back around New Year's, Cuba had some record-setting low temperatures, hitting freezing in many areas for a number of days. Varadero was hit by this too, and apparently the humidifier system at the Calle 63 LCDH store had gotten frozen up and damaged. Now, when I was in there, it was the last week of January. At that point, it still wasn't fixed yet, and they still had no word as to when it would be sorted out. The upstairs lounge had all sorts of construction going on (jackhammers, drills, etc.), as they were renovating that - but, the humidification systems weren't working properly, and that's more of an issue in my mind.

Anywho, from that, I have no idea if it's fixed now, but if you are going to that store, just have a good long check of any cigars that you're buying. Relatively everything that I got were okay. I did get some Montecristo A's, two of them, in little coffin boxes. When I was in there the first day, they were the one thing that I didn't bother to open up and check over. Well, when I got back to the resort that night, and then ended up checking them all over again the next day, I noticed that they were covered in a TON of mold - blue, green, yellow, you name it. So, when I went back to the LCDH in another day or so later, I brought them back with me, and worked with the same clerk again. She recognized me, and easily worked with me to replace them with some non-moldy stock. So, if you're set to go on a trip there, check everything over. The cigars that I was picking through had only maybe a month's worth at most of high humidity. Not utterly destructive to cigars, providing you care for them properly after that. But, depending on when they got their humidification systems fixed, any stock that's in there now could be excessively saturated with high moisture. Just a buyer beware - ensure you check things over.

Selection at the Calle 63 LCDH was a bit disappointing too, honestly. I mean, they generally had all the usual suspects, and had a decent selection. But the availability of "quality" stock was the disappointing aspect of things. As always, the Cohiba and Trinidad offerings looked lovely - these are generally some of the best offerings in the Habanos portfolio, so it was expected that these would look and smell and feel great there. But, other stuff was a bit all over the place. The Partagas and Montecristo stock in there were very similar - good selection, but nothing that was awe inspiring; little aroma at cold, no abundance of oils/sheen, colours of the wrappers were somewhat dark (as expected), but they didn't have a richness of colour, nor exceptional quality wrappers (lots of little wrinkles, veins, green spots, cracks/tears, etc.) The R&J stock was heavy on the tubos formats, as was the H. Upmann stuff - if you wanted something non-tubos, it was likely to be stuff that's been passed over for years. The LGC stuff was quite nice - everything in there was more or less claro wrappers from the early 2000's, so if that's what you were looking for, you were set. I got some beautiful MdO No. 1's (from 2001, and with the parchment paper nicely discoloured from the lengthy aging the tobaccos have had), and a jar of the Deliciosos RE for Cuba - there were lots of these in stock, and the presentation of the jar, and the quality of the cigars, all look to be phenomenal (haven't smoked one yet, so everything's been at-cold for these for me right now). Cuaba offerings were actually decent, but everything felt to be full of hard-/soft-spots, nothing in that nice middle-ground. The SCDLH stuff was just nasty looking. I've been searching for a nice box of 2008 PSP-/HQ-quality La Fuerza's (standing order in with Lisa for these), but everything that I found in Varadero just looked ugly. Principes, Puntas, Fuerzas, Muerellas - they all just looked like driftwood. No depth of colour or character from them, and just a dull tobacco (with a slight hint of cinnamon spice) nose to them at cold. Hoyo and Bolivar stuff looked a bit sad too - I was looking at a couple boxes of Boli Gold Medals, but the presentation was the nicest aspect of them - greenish/light wrappers, no wow factor at all.

So, things weren't quite as nice as I've found on past trips. Don't get me wrong - I did get some absolutely amazing Cohiba and Trinidad stuff, and the LGC finds I'm happy with too. But it definitely seemed like they've been exporting their best stuff to Czar's!

I'll share some pictures too.

Cheers.

[CanuckSARTech]

[CanuckSARTech]

The view from our room:

The beautiful beach:

A day out for golfing:

[CanuckSARTech]

Out on excursion:

And at La Dionisia:

[CanuckSARTech]

Some other interesting pictures:

[bc8436]

Thanks for the writeup! I've always wanted to visit Cuba, but never had the chance to. I think it's time to stop thinking of excuses, and start thinking of when/how it's gonna happen

[Colt45]

Nice work Knuck

Kind of makes you wish you were there right now, doesn't it?

[beamer]

Fantastic Post! Loved the pictures. Thanks!

[laficion]

Thanks for sharing your photos Keith, glad to see that you had a great time

with wife and friends

Great writeup.

[Wil]

What was the golf course like?

Thanks for sharing!

[thechenman]

Thanks for sharing Canuck. Looks like an awesome trip. Loved the writeup.

[ckearns]

Great post, Canuck! Looks like you guys had an awesome time. Thanks for sharing.

[Peter11216]

Thanks very much for the detailed and thoughtful post. It was great to read. What was with the Canadian flags on the bass and guitar? Also, you got a really nice sunset!

All the Best,

Pete

[Scdalak]

So when visiting Cuba, can you pretty much go anywhere you want? Say, walk right into the Partagas or Bolivar factory, buy cigars, get the tours, see the manufacturing floors etc?

What about visting the tobacco fields and watching a harvest? Curious...

[Dbone]

Sounds like you had a great trip there. Very disappointing to read your paragraphs on the cigars. Well not only the selection of cigars but the storage!! Outrageous. I know you headed to the island without other cigar lovers, yet you still found time to go hunting. But with the poor quality and selection... geesh what a bummer man. You did manage to score some choice cigars though, congrats.

It wasn't all about the cigars, so rest of the week sounded eventful, relaxing, and enjoyable with some good company. Thanks for sharing your stories and pictures.

[Tarks]

Looks like you guys had a good trip! Can't wait to get back to Cuba in Nov!

[CanuckSARTech]

...Kind of makes you wish you were there right now, doesn't it?

Oh, completely Ross. Man, I'd love to get back there, even for just another few days right now - this weather sucks.

What was the golf course like?

You know what? It was nice, but not. We didn't bring our own clubs. Knew about the course, but just decided to get rentals, rather than fly with clubs for only one round. If we were planning on four rounds or so, then that'd be different. But, the course design was amazing. One hole, the 14th or 15th, was a 4-part island green. Hit from the tee, onto a little island (surrounded by lagoon and streams), onto another little island, then onto the island green. Challenging. The whole course was amazingly laid out (relatively), and the scenery was top notch, but the groundskeeping was lacking. They've started to fill stuff in with a crushed-coral-like sand, not a proper sand/dirt mix. So, the conditions are fairly rough and hard. But, it was the experience that counted. We had a blast! And I stayed under the "course average" dozen-balls-lost-per-round! LOL.

What was with the Canadian flags on the bass and guitar? Also, you got a really nice sunset!

They were playing to their audience. About 50-70% of the tourists in Varadero are Canadian (rough guestimate). So, some of the bands that go around, they have Canadian flag stickers or shirts/hats/buttons/pins. It "shows the love" for Canada....and no doubt gets them higher tips! Even at the plantation we went to, he had the notion of playing to Canadians' affections down to an art!!!!

Thanks all - glad you enjoyed the blurb!

Cheers.

[CanuckSARTech]

So when visiting Cuba, can you pretty much go anywhere you want? Say, walk right into the Partagas or Bolivar factory, buy cigars, get the tours, see the manufacturing floors etc?

What about visting the tobacco fields and watching a harvest? Curious...

I definitely recommend checking out Pres' "Ultimate Visiting Cuba Guide" thread.

Generally, yes. You can go pretty much anywhere as a tourist/foreigner, but some spots you have to have special access / invitations to go to. You can travel around the country and do your thing just the same as in some other areas/countries. Most of the cigar factories do tours, so going in and seeing the manufacturing floors is not a problem. Same idea with trips to some tobacco plantations. Some are open and some are closed, just simply that some do not want tourists bothering them sometimes. But, for the most part, Cuban people are generally the most open and inviting citizens you can come across (aside from Canadians! ).

[terrantheman]

Those pics are absolutely stunning!!! Very nice job, thank you.

[JohnnyC]

Nice Pics and Great write up Carts. I feel your pain about the Legendario. I was in Veradero in December and looked everywhere for it with no luck. When I was there in 2009 I had picked up 4 bottles and love it....great with a cigar. I guess I'll have to check next time I go.

Congrats on your article

[CanuckSARTech]

Nice Pics and Great write up Carts. I feel your pain about the Legendario. I was in Veradero in December and looked everywhere for it with no luck. When I was there in 2009 I had picked up 4 bottles and love it....great with a cigar. I guess I'll have to check next time I go.

Congrats on your article

Yeah, it seriously sucked to not find any of it, especially after I had high hopes for picking up a bottle or two after hearing everyone raving about it.

So, open offer to all.....

To whoever goes to Cuba next, and is able to find the Legendario Elixir de Cuba (7 years?), if you're able/willing/wanting to (depending on your own limits/desires/bottle availability), please pick me up a bottle or two, and I will cover all costs to ship to me (plus a decently generous reward)! If some generous soul were to sort this out, please PM me, and I will gladly pay you on Tuesday for a hamburger today!

[Scdalak]

(aside from Canadians! ).

You obvioulsy dont mean French Canadians!!!!!

[Tarks]

There was lots of Legendario to be found in Havana in Feb.

[mazolaman]

Great post Canuck.

Lovely photos,particularly the sunset....took me right back there.There's no nicer sunset than a Carribean Island...

[jerseyjay]

Looks like you guys had a blast. Thanks for sharing your experience. Great pix !