Buying Cubans duty free

[Smokin Joe]

Hi all

I've heard some horror stories about fake Cubanos flooding the market and being stung with duds from B&M cigar shops.

Can anyone provide their experience buying CC from airport duty free stores? Especially coming throught stop overs in the Middle Ease and SE Asia. I assume they have good quality control but would value the advice.

[Rustyman]

Just had my in-laws bring me some RyJ's from Holland which they bought at Schipol and they look good.

[Smokin Joe]

1 hour ago, Rustyman said:

Just had my in-laws bring me some RyJ's from Holland which they bought at Schipol and they look good.

Good result Rustyman. Let me know how they go.

[Rustyman]

Will do.  Hope you buy some good ones in the duty free in Asia.

[Auspaul]

Dubai duty free is quite good lots of variety

[ebhead]

Istanbul duty free is good, for regular stock (most CC brands are in stock - Partagas, RA, Cohiba, LGC (4s), VR, Monte, etc.). There are three shops in international departure and two in international arrivals, after passport control and before the exit door. All of them are walk in humidors. The only thing I can say is that the cigars are most likely from Germany as the boxes contain the Quality Assurance slip from the German distributor. 

My only complaint of the airport is that it is a mess of humanity...

There's also a pretty good alcohol choice too.

[BrightonCorgi]

The last three places in your requested locale, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Singapore all had good Duty Free with decent prices.  Out of those three, Dubai was the most impressive with good staff on hand.  Boxes are open and the Emarati Bolivar sure look nice; I should've bought a box the last time.  

The big duty free's are managed by a parent company and I don't think they are in the business to sell fake anything beyond 1st Growth Bordeaux, lol...  All current made products are sourced from legitimate distributors as the those brands would raise high hell if the duty free was selling fake perfume, chocolate, liquor, etc....

Duty Free's put these products on the world stage.

[mrretrohale]

As mentioned above, no worries about fakes in duty free shops. Some duty free shops run by a company called Nuance. Stock might be limited and you may have to go from store to store in the same terminal to find what you want (probably can just ask them to hunt it down). In SE Asia I can only speak for Singapore which has a collection smaller than a B&M. They'd have the standard fare (MCs, RyJ, Partagas, Cohiba, NCs) not too sure if they stock up on ELs and ERs

[BrightonCorgi]

Singapore is light on the EL's and RE's.

[NSXCIGAR]

8 hours ago, Smokin Joe said:

I've heard some horror stories about fake Cubanos flooding the market and being stung with duds from B&M cigar shops.

I've not heard any such stories related to international airport Duty Frees. These stores are licensed, pretty high-profile and are very expensive to maintain, and are visited by many people. A licensed Duty Free selling fakes is really unheard of. Also, Duty Frees sell many packaging formats that simply would never be counterfeited like petacas, tins, 5s, 10s, etc. Quality, storage conditions and price is another matter, but authenticity in international airport Duty Frees shouldn't be questioned unless there's some overwhelming reason--a reason I've never seen up to this point. Also, Duty Frees sell a vast array of other products that could also be faked for much higher profit than Cuban Cigars. And these stores just have too much traffic. If word got out that inauthentic products were originating from an international airport Duty Free there would be pretty much immediate consequences. 

[Smokin Joe]

1 hour ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I've not heard any such stories related to international airport Duty Frees. These stores are licensed, pretty high-profile and are very expensive to maintain, and are visited by many people. A licensed Duty Free selling fakes is really unheard of.

Thanks NSX. It's comforting to hear you and the other FOH members haven't had any issues at Airport Duty Frees. I'm not at a stage where I'd recognise a fake by sight so I'm trying to learn which vendors to trust.

[Smokin Joe]

8 hours ago, ebhead said:

Istanbul duty free is good, for regular stock (most CC brands are in stock - Partagas, RA, Cohiba, LGC (4s), VR, Monte, etc.). There are three shops in international departure and two in international arrivals, after passport control and before the exit door. All of them are walk in humidors. The only thing I can say is that the cigars are most likely from Germany as the boxes contain the Quality Assurance slip from the German distributor. 

My only complaint of the airport is that it is a mess of humanity...

There's also a pretty good alcohol choice too.

Cheers ebhead. As airports go it sounds like Istanbul is a good spot to kill a couple of hours looking through the walk in humidors.

[ebhead]

It would be actually. They're the emptiest spots in the whole airport. When I said a mess of humanity, it really is. Packed to the gills everywhere. Oh and no air conditioning that I noticed. 

[Fuzz]

Steer clear of the cigar store in KLIA. Cigars are over-humidified and I noticed a bit of mold on a lot of the open boxes.

P.S. Maybe it was just me, but I was told they don't open boxes to allow you to inspect.

[Frozen North]

I was inquiring about the duty free in Frankfurt just the other day. They were nice enough to send me their inventory list. Although, not a lot to chose from. The prices were pretty good(IMO) 

[MrGlass]

I've picked up cigars from duty free stores throughout the Middle East and Asia and I've never seen any indication these stores are pushing fakes.  But as others have mentioned, the storage conditions often present a bigger issue.  I remember the humidity being too high in Malaysia and Singapore (with the Singapore prices being fairly high as well), but the Middle East stores seemed to be much better managed.  I went through Doha late last year and their stock was pretty limited, but I saw this as a positive (in a sense) as what they did have was consistent with what was available elsewhere.  I've never had any issues with the Middle East stores allowing me to open and inspect a box before purchasing either.

[Smokin Joe]

1 hour ago, Fuzz said:

Steer clear of the cigar store in KLIA. Cigars are over-humidified and I noticed a bit of mold on a lot of the open boxes.

P.S. Maybe it was just me, but I was told they don't open boxes to allow you to inspect.

Thanks Fuzz

I've just posted another question about avoiding mould in my own humidor.

[gcman68]

I came through a Duty Free in Mexico a few years back (maybe 8-10) and got a very good fake Sig VI tubos. I even sent it to someone who is well known on the boards who opened it up and confirmed it was a well done fake.  It happens or happened but regardless be happy you can take care of the collective knowledge of the Board here to help you out. 

[Smokin Joe]

1 hour ago, gcman68 said:

I came through a Duty Free in Mexico a few years back (maybe 8-10) and got a very good fake Sig VI tubos. I even sent it to someone who is well known on the boards who opened it up and confirmed it was a well done fake.  It happens or happened but regardless be happy you can take care of the collective knowledge of the Board here to help you out. 

Thanks gcman. If I want to show a photo of a CC for appraisal in the future is there a thread I should send it to?

[PapaDisco]

Hong Kong is all legit Duty Free, but it's expensive and until last year, not well cared for stock.  I remember rummaging around for 2009 Punch Punch tubos and the lady helping me was all fine with mixing and matching boxes to get a full box of cigars, regardless of box codes!   Until a couple years ago they didn't humidify their warehouse/storage.  And if you double Rob's prices you'll come close to Hong Kong Duty Free prices.

In town, the Red Chamber has a fine, curated collection and I've bought from them albeit for a pretty penny; but Hong Kong Duty Free is only good for desperate souls.