Recent visit to Havana: report on what was on the shelves

[treberty]

Just got back from a short stay in Havana.

Met some FOHers on the plane - we had a good time.

Here's the 411 on what I saw in the main shops:

1) Partagas: no gems. Lots of the usual - RyJ, Cohiba, Montecristo - not even that many boxes of Partagas - only a few of Lusis... A few cabs of 50 Punch Punch though.

2) Conde de Villanueva: not much on the shelves - I expected the store to be more stocked given the fact that the festival is only 3 weeks away. The custom robustos were great! They now make a 70 RG cigar - looks like a baseball bat... Looks ridiculous. The courtyard was busier than usual, but still awesome.

3) Club Habana: sooooooooooooooo disapointing!! Service at the store was terrible - nothing like when Mons was holding the fort. Selection was thin - not many smaller marcas like I used to find (handful of Punch, RA, no SLR nor LGC, some 2011-12 Juan Lopez #1 though). Some boxes of Partagas E2, P2, D5 & 6 I will admit. Only 4 monsdales in stock and they were not good. Even the big chairs at the back of the club (facing the ocean) were not even there. Either the store is going downhill or the planets were just not aligned this time around. It'd be interested to know if other members had more luck there lately.

4) 5ta Ave: shelves were bare. Nothing exciting. Lots of Montecristos, R&J, Cohibas... everything that can be found near a resort.

5) Melia Cohiba: better! Some Libertadors, one box of Sir Winnie, lots of nice Cuabas, Mag 50 & 56

6) Casa del Ron y del Tabaco: I go there every time I'm in Havana because cigar hunters usually overlook this small store. That's were we saw the first boxes of Dip Excelencias however. Otherwise the selection was thin.

7) Hotel Parque Central: meh. Highlight was the few boxes of Monte and R&J Anejados.

8) Palacio de la artesania: bingo! 8-9 boxes of RA Superiores, even more Super Allones, cab of 50 of Punch-Punch, dozens of boxes of Dip Excelencias (even more in the master cases that we combed), boxes of 12 Trinida Vigia, beautiful boxes of 2011-12 SLR Regios, some nice Quai d'Orsay Corona, Bolivar Super Coronas, R&J Piramides Anejados, Monte Anejados, 3 boxes of H Upmann Noellas - only place I saw them... that was a fun store to visit and the manager (Alexi) was great as usual - I recommend to go only when he's there. We purchased pretty much all of our boxes from this store.

9) Habana Libre; my first time there in 15 years. Great selection of singles, including all the Behikes and the Fundies (I had one for the first time in at least 10 years and it was pretty average). Humidor was not bad at all, but not great either.

10) Hotel Nacioal: meh. Less selection of singles than what I remembered.

We had dinner at Abel Diaz's paladar: it was dead, but the food was really good. If you're into aged/rare cigars you may want to visit his small humidor. It's near the Deauville hotel.

The other restaurants we went to were Sia Kara (near Partagas - cheap and tasty food), Esto no es un café (great service and really good food, near Plaza de la Catedral), Abel's place and El Bohemio in Vedado (beautiful restaurant, cheap and the food was great).

All in all it was a great trip despite the fact that my expectations were a bit higher in terms of inventories...

That's it folks!

[shortsqueeze]

Nice report.

[Ryan]

Thanks for that. Good to hear there are some more Excelencias out there.

[CanuckSARTech]

Nice report - thanks so much for sharing!!!!

Club Habana - surprised to hear your comments about that, as it's always been the exact opposite nearly for every time I've visited there, going back to 2008 or so. Just recently in November, still the same, as far as I experienced.

Casa del Ron y del Tabaco - yes, myself and Marc liked to hit this one too. It's a favourite of mine, for a lot of the same reasons you stated. That said, this past November when John and I went in there, there was more than a dozen college-aged American kids all squeezed in and trying to barter the ladies behind the counters on the small mickey-sized bottles of rum and single-stick cigars they were grabbing. Needless to say, we didn't feel like it would be prudent to harass the ladies about going into the walk-in humidor, as they seemed pissy enough on their own. And, the humidor didn't appear to be holding anything worthwhile, and was even being half-used for general storage of boxes of rum and trinkets, rather than cigars.

Nice to hear about all the other. Like Andy said, it's nice to know there are other Dip RE's coming out to the stores then!

Thanks again for sharing!

[riazp]

Thanks for the Report, i'm headed there tommorow. Can you tell me where the palacio de la artesania is located exactly?

[CanuckSARTech]

Thanks for the Report, i'm headed there tommorow. Can you tell me where the palacio de la artesania is located exactly?

Riaz, I think it's over at 64th by Cuarteles or something like that, over in by the bay, southern half of Habana Vieja, a bit further down from the waterfront market - I'll have to check my notes, or someone else will chime in.

[treberty]

I was at Club Habana 10 days ago. It is under renovation. the Old Man told me they where building a VIP room like partagas Where anyone and their dog is a VIP. I'm suprised you didn't notice. Jorge is off with a bad hand and some old guy is in there rolling.

my picture is too big to load. I'll blog about it tomorrow. They have added a piece to the side of the building where the motorcycle was always parked. nothing special, just another room

I cabbed there grabbed my monsdales and left

Hi! Yes we did notice the renos... looked almost completed. As for Jorge I thought it was his day off or something. What did you think of the Monsdales?

[CUBANO]

Thanks for the info.

[ElPuro]

I would love to get a 50 of punch punch.

[Nino]

treberty,

thanks for your report, very interesting.

I share your views on Club Habana's "service" as it happened to me last November - the lady in charge was more interested in buying her hair shampoo Keratine from other people than in her customers ... not just on one occasion but basically every day I was there.

Very frustrating ...

But Jorgito is a good guy and alwasy a pleasure to meet.

[Pilsner14]

Was there in Havana in Dec 2015 and your account would be very similar to what I would have seen. I ventured to most of the shops you mention. I was excited to visit Club Habana but it turned out to be a disappointing......same with Conde de vill. ( no stock, boxes on the floor taking up space, and dead) . I would say the shop at 5te was the most stocked......minus cohiba when I was there. I did stop in the Hotel Palco to pick up some house cigars that look and smoke nice. Melia cohiba was a let down as well stock wise except for Juanitas power bombs.

After multiple trips to Havana I definitely would not venture out to club habana again......only if Santy's is on the docket. It sure is a hell of lot of fun running all over Havanas landscape chasing cigars........sometimes I wonder what the hell am I doing???????? Then I crush another mojito and light another one up!

Btw....

Where exactly is the casa del Ron y tabaco?

Joel

[busdriver]

Great report......take me back!!!

[Troels]

Hotel nacional and villa conde.. Was quite well stocked when I was there first week of january - partagas was pretty much empty - except from tourist looking for something to buy!

[Ryan]

Btw....

Where exactly is the casa del Ron y tabaco?

Joel

2 doors east of the Floridita, up the stairs. To be honest I've never been too impressed by the cigar selection there. There is usually a house roller though and she's nice.

[Guest rob]

2 doors east of the Floridita, up the stairs. To be honest I've never been too impressed by the cigar selection there. There is usually a house roller though and she's nice.

Can't believe I missed it....I was at Floridita last time, and dint have a clue there was a shop just a stones throw away.

How has the shop near Prado 109 been lately? It's a nice small place to sit down that I always enjoyed, but the range was limited.

[Ryan]

How has the shop near Prado 109 been lately? It's a nice small place to sit down that I always enjoyed, but the range was limited.

I don't know it. It's on the Prado?

[Pilsner14]

2 doors east of the Floridita, up the stairs. To be honest I've never been too impressed by the cigar selection there. There is usually a house roller though and she's nice.

Ah yes. I recall now.

Cheers.

[Diamondog]

I did a mix of varadero and havana...was able to get mag 56s, alfonsos, royal robustos, hc's and a box of robusto supremos in varadero....in Havana was able to stock up on reynaldos

[shortsqueeze]

Slightly off tangent, but anyone seen Caney in any quantity?

[cigcars]

Hmmm - ya think it could be due to the "new crop of brand new 'visitors' from a not so distant land, now being allowed to visit the island a little more easily that could be clearing off these shelves?????