Going to Cuba next week

[dgixxer252525]

Ok so I am going to Cuba from Tampa to visit family next weekend and I have a question for anyone who is in "the know"...

Am I allowed to buy 10 of one cigar, 10 of another cigar, and bring them back like this? Or does it have to be in boxes of 25? 

I don't know if I want to buy whole boxes...I'd like to bring back more variety...thanks in advance!!

[AlohaStyle]

Yes you are allowed but I wouldn't... you are more likely to get fakes unless you are careful, even in the LCDH shops.  Only way I would buy singles is by opening sealed boxes and taking them directly.  

 

You should be okay but know there are fakes. 

[dgixxer252525]

Wow so even fakes in legit shops? That's crazy

Will LCDH allow you to take from sealed boxes?

[Inthestix]

Can't believe you would still have that issue.


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[LLC]

I normally buy full boxes to bring back but for cigars I smoke while I'm there I prefer to buy 3 or 5 packs to avoid issues. Prefer not to buy singles in Cuba. If your with a group you can buy 20 or 25 boxes to split and smoke or bring back.


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[Troels]

Bought a lot of tubed singles from hotel nacional that was all great and legit some years back. Last year I was back and while there I bought singles from various shops/casas in different cities - and was rather disappointed with most of them - didnt expect them to be fakes, but maybe not stored too well. 

No difference in price pr stick between boxes and singles - so if you find a shop you rely on, buying singles makes a lot of sense 

[dgixxer252525]

Yea thats the issue...I wanted to keep it diverse. Now I'm kind of freaked out about buying singles. When I went to LCDH in Tijuana a couple years ago I bought a variety of legitimate cigars in bundles of 5 and it was great but expensive haha

Maybe they'd be more willing to Crack a box open if I'm buying in 5s

[AlohaStyle]

1 hour ago, SenorPerfecto said:

 

Uhmmmm... I would find it hard/impossible to believe that you'd find fake cigars from an LCDH in Cuba.

 

Okay then

 

And to expand on me saying you should be okay...  you will be an educated buyer and shouldn't have an issue buying singles.  If you can, buy from sealed boxes.  If not, don't let the cigars leave your view after picking them out. 

[gusto616]

A newb buddy of mine brought back some raging fake Coro's from the Nacional even though he bought 2 full boxes
shame shame shame


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[AlohaStyle]

Numerous people have... I haven't as I never bought singles.  Probably could even find discussion searching this forum, I can't remember if it was discussed here. 

[Fuzz]

I wouldn't bother with regular production. Buy custom cigars instead.

[oliverdst]

I remember some months ago a discussion about a Cohiba single bought in Melia Cohiba.

The band was ugly, very ugly. Many said it wasnt fake. I am pretty sure it was. 

[dgixxer252525]

Well the good thing is that I am a somewhat educated buyer with all that I have learned here on this forum. It sounds really like luck of the draw no matter what

[gusto616]

Now, what in tarnation would come over a shop keeper at a LCDH to take it upon themselves to swap out real product with fake? I guess you could roll the dice and take your chances that your mark wouldn't know what a fake Cohiba looked like...? But what if they caught you??? Get fired? Go to jail??? Does not seem even close to being worth it. Why not just sell the fakes directly, outside the shop?? That's how most scammers do it!

 

 

 

And then, what are you going to do with the real Cohibas you have now replaced on the shelf? Smoke them lol? Sell them for what you could have sold your fakes for?? Makes no sense at all.

 

I'm sorry. I just have a lot of trouble believing this "I bought fakes at an LCDH" line. More than likely your buddy bought fake Cohibas AT the Nacional but not FROM the Nacional... or he pocketed your $400 and bought boxes (which he may have thought were real) for $75 from the proverbial "guy on the street"...

 

 

That's my story & I'm sticking by it.

He & his wifey were staying at the Nacional for what that's worth.

He was/is a newb like I said & I guess the clerk at the hotel's store serving him at the time sniffed that out quickly & correctly. No one said the clerk replaced real cigars from real boxes on the shelf - the boxes he received were fugazzi as well.

 

 

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[AlohaStyle]

Right, because LCDH shop workers haven't sold boxes under the table, or custom rolls under the table, or anything else that could land them in jail. 

 

Believe what you want, it's happened before and can happen again. 

[oliverdst]

10 hours ago, SenorPerfecto said:

 

I get what you're saying. It simply makes no sense that that's what happened.

 

Let's say the clerk had 2 boxes of fake Cohibas that she brought to the LCDH. She puts them on the shelf alongside the other, real stock? Or replaces every box of CoRos with fakes? Which means she is entering the hotel and walking through through the lobby and downstairs with a big box full of stuff that would get her fired and likely jailed if she were caught.

 

She gets to the shop, ignores the other employee or gets them in on the scam, and removes the real CoRo boxes from the shelf, placing them behind the counter, and puts the fakes in their place in the humidor.

 

Then she banks on the fact that anyone buying stuff that day is not going to know a fake. She sells your friend two of the fake boxes. He pays her and she puts that money in the drawer, or keeps it (a much bigger offense now, cash theft).

 

Then she either puts the real boxes back on the shelf or just keeps selling the fakes all day.

 

End of shift, she either sold all the fakes or leaves them there so she can maybe get caught tomorrow, or she swaps the real ones out for the fakes again on a 1 for 1 basis, and keeps the real ones that she sold fakes for, plus any remaining fakes.

 

She again makes the journey out of the hotel with her illegal fakes and her now stolen real CoRos.

 

And now she does what with the real cigars?

 

OR

 

Your newbie friend bought some fake Cohibas from some guy who told him they were real, somewhere in Havana, perhaps near or even inside the Nacional somewhere.

 

?

 

I think I know which story I'm going with

I wont go into this discussion because there is no right or wrong but, believe me, you are being extremely naif.