RE availability in Italy, Spain, France

[Frinkiac7]

Hello all,

I'm off to visit the Continent in a few days and am keen to find any brick-and-mortar stores, preferably LCDH, where I would have a good chance of finding any of the Espana, Italia, or Francia REs from recent years. I've no idea what availability is like or where to start looking, so I thought I would turn it out to the boards rather than dig through all the "cigar shops in Spain" results on search.

I'm up for any tobacconist, but as the Europe REs are rather hard to come by in my neck of the woods, I'd be particularly interested in those. I have no idea if they are more generally available or if I want to stick to LCDH or other official channels. Without digging through all of the general country-specific threads, can anyone help me out re: REs

Tentative stops:

Italy,

-Rome-I know there is a LCDH

-Florence, Venice-no idea if/what the Habanos scene is like.

And maybe a dumb question, but can one still find Punch Diademas easily?

Spain,

Barcelona

Madrid

France,

Paris

I'd certainly check out any great shop with a great selection, but I've got a nose for REs at the moment. Any direction or help is appreciated!

[Stalebread]

I haven't been inside a Paris cigar shop for quite a while so I can't help much on the availability of REs.

If you are in one, keep an eye out for mold on the cigars -- many of the shops keep the humidity very high. High as in 82RH.

There are no LCDHs in Paris. Or France, for that matter.

Perhaps the best known and oldest shop in Paris is the Palais-Royal A La Civette. It's on rue St-Honore which is between the Louvre and the Palais Royal.

The other civette (any cigar shop can be called a civette) I used to frequent is Le Lotus on rue de L'Arcade, close to Place de la Madeleine.

The shop in the lower level of Publicis on the Champs Elysées used to have a large walk-in humidor but that has changed and they now have a smallish kiosk on the street level.

Good luck in your search. Have a great visit.

[Stalebread]

I should add that there are other shops in Paris -- Boutique 22 and Tabac George V come to mind. But, as I say, I haven't been in either of those shops for long time. They're probably still worth a visit if you're in the area.

[Chaki]

In Barcelona, go to Gimeno. It is a large and reputable shop where I have found a good selection of Spanish REs.

[Mr. Japan]

Forget Rome/Venice. OK LCDH in Rome but I doubt you will find any RE. Unless you come late in September and tehre will be the new La Esception brand.

[Trevor2118]

..........................the new La Esception brand.

Now what do you know that we don't

[laficion]

WHAT !!!!!, La Esception ?

Gino, Please don't hold out on us;

When, where, how, etc,etc,etc

[ckearns]

Another spot in Barcelona is in the El Corte Ingles shopping centre across from Cataluña Plaza. On the very bottom level, beside a kiosk that sells lotto, smokes, etc., there's a humidor. Now I can't speak to storage quality or provenance because I didn't buy from there, but I do remember being impressed by the selection (it was one of the first places I saw Behikes). Good luck and enjoy your travels.

[aes8]

Forget Rome/Venice. OK LCDH in Rome but I doubt you will find any RE. Unless you come late in September and tehre will be the new La Esception brand.

Don't hold your breath on this one. Trevor doesn't even show it as confirmed.

I'm still waiting on the La Flor De Cano from '10 but I hear that is at least on the way.

[Puros Y Vino]

FWIW. This past September I did see Punch Diademas in a small shop in Rome. I can't remember the street but it was near where we were staying. The Hotel Cicerone. It wasn't a far walk from there. I'm attaching a Google map link Hotel Cicerone & Tobacco

It wasn't one of the standard "Tabbacheria" stores which really are only good for cigarettes and Lotto tickets. This was a proper store. The humidor is a sealed glass room that can be seen to the left of the entrance. There are cigar accessories in the other glass window to the right. The store is narrow and short if this helps. Like I said it is not too far from the Hotel Cicerone. Use the map, try street view and see if that helps.

One thing is for sure. They had the Diademas.

[ajgagnon]

Does anyone know if you can get any reasonable cigars at Charles de Gaulle?

[Smallclub]

Does anyone know if you can get any reasonable cigars at Charles de Gaulle?

I have not traveled outside the EU since long, but I know there is a nice walk-in humidor at Terminal 2F…

[LuciusSulla]

I'll piggy back on this thread since I have a similar question. I am going to Florence, Italy, in May to work for about 4 weeks. We will be meeting our connecting flight at Charles de Gaulle to fly in to Rome. It seems like from what I've read, coming across good smokes in Florence is sketchy at best. Any suggestions where I might pick up something along the way before ultimately arriving in Florence?

[stargazer14]

There's an app for that....

http://itunes.apple.com/se/app/habanosclub/id373766409?mt=8

From experience, i would be a bit wary buying from anyplace other than Gimeno in Barcelona,

tho i'm sure there must be other good shops -

but i did see a few fakes in other stores.

I do have RE's from Rome, there are some nice shops there. Fincato is one.

[Frinkiac7]

Thanks for the good advice, all. I did hit up Gimeno in Barcelona and was pleased with what I found...all REs going back to 2007 still in ample supply, I helped myself as well as to some 2002 Lusitanias and des Dieux...hope they're good!

Tomorrow to Madrid, I will poke around and am sure to find something.

Italy was absolute purgatory for cigars, I wasn't expecting much, but what a let down on the whole. I will pop by Fincato on my way back through and see what I find. I did notice the 2008, 2009, and 2010 RE Benelux cigars at Amsterdam airport that were also calling my name, I might have to consider those if I can find some convincing enough reviews.

Thanks again to everyone!

[michael69]

2 hours from Paris = Geneva if you can make it there MUCH better cigar shopping (LCDH, Davidoff, GestoCigar, Tabac Rhein......)

second only to London (where, by the way, there are still plenty of Punch Diademas around; although to be honest I wasn't that impressed - too much cigar, too little flavour!)

they are, I think, only LCDH, so that would be Teddington (London-ish) for the Punch.