Opening Boxes in Havana LCDH’s

[Hotboxx]

Was in havana may 2018. Open the boxes.   Haaaa.  Havana libre and Partagas factory.  No way they were letting me open them. I speak fluent Spanish. When I went to conde Villanueva and told Reynaldo that I couldn't open boxes at Partagas he said " hard to get anyone to let you open boxes". I didn't care, bought a bunch of stuff and there all awesome.  10 boxes total.  Bought a bunch of custom rolls from Reynaldo and they are great.  

[westg]

Suddenly you have 10 20 50 boxes of cigars opened 10 20 50 times....then 10 20 50 boxes...of cigars looking shitty horrible and not really fit for sale....some of you need to take your head from out your arse....you don't have the right to walk in....and open boxes at will....no matter how many times  you have been there....or who you think you are...get some manners and ask...you may be surprised 

[Fugu]

5 hours ago, westg said:

Suddenly you have 10 20 50 boxes of cigars opened 10 20 50 times....then 10 20 50 boxes...of cigars looking shitty horrible and not really fit for sale....some of you need to take your head from out your arse....

Sorry, and with all due respect westy, but that's plain nonsense. Absolute standard procedure here in Europe: You inspect the box you are interested in. And certain boxes might get opened a 25 times, when up for single's sale. To no harm.

BUT - and that may be expressed hazily by some here in this thread - you never open boxes by yourself (customer), it is always the owner or shop assistant taking them off the shelf and opening them for you.

Even though I am long-standing patron, well-aquainted with my hometown B&M-owners, and have been allowed to select boxes from the humidor myself, I tend to not do it and always ask, out of behaviour and respect.

Siding with @BrightonCorgi here. Opening and inspecting boxes has always been and needs to be the norm. And were it just for checking if the box is complete.... . Can't really see why they are making such a fuss in Havana - unless they are intentionally trying to hide crap.

[Nino]

3 hours ago, Fugu said:

Sorry, and with all due respect westy, but that's plain nonsense. Absolute standard procedure here in Europe: You inspect the box you are interested in. And certain boxes might get opened a 25 times, when up for single's sale. To no harm.

BUT - and that may be expressed hazily by some here in this thread - you never open boxes by yourself (customer), it is always the owner or shop assistant taking them off the shelf and opening them for you.

Even though I am long-standing patron, well-aquainted with my hometown B&M-owners, and have been allowed to select boxes from the humidor myself, I tend to not do it and always ask, out of behaviour and respect.

Siding with @BrightonCorgi here. Opening and inspecting boxes has always been and needs to be the norm. And were it just for checking if the box is complete.... . Can't really see why they are making such a fuss in Havana - unless they are intentionally trying to hide crap.

Absolutely agree - standard norm here in Europe.

Nothing more beautiful than having 15-20 boxes to select from, be it wrapper colour or smell or box date.
Absolutely standard procedure at Portmann Cigars in Switzerland, my cigar merchant of choice, but also here in Germany anywhere you go.

As for Havana - it is absolute laziness and the "superior socialist" attitude that they are doing YOU a favour by selling a box to you ( in general terms, exceptions exist when they know you well ). Having seen boxes with beetle holes being sold there I also insist on opening a box or more.

Another crap lazy excuse in HAV is not giving you a Factura if you buy only 1 or 2 boxes.
Sure way to lose my business ...

[rabidraccoon]

Thanks for the info.. really helped me buy there. I just got back and only bought one box which was a 10 of RA Superiores from the 5th & 16th LCDH in Miramar. The lady let me open the box to inspect and it looked good. I did insist on getting a factura but she wouldn't give me one. She said its only if you buy a box of 20+. Most of what I bought was customs and a few singles of stuff I haven't tried yet.

[BrightonCorgi]

4 hours ago, Fugu said:

Sorry, and with all due respect westy, but that's plain nonsense. Absolute standard procedure here in Europe: You inspect the box you are interested in. And certain boxes might get opened a 25 times, when up for single's sale. To no harm.

BUT - and that may be expressed hazily by some here in this thread - you never open boxes by yourself (customer), it is always the owner or shop assistant taking them off the shelf and opening them for you.

Even though I am long-standing patron, well-aquainted with my hometown B&M-owners, and have been allowed to select boxes from the humidor myself, I tend to not do it and always ask, out of behaviour and respect.

I would not open them myself either.  It's their show; let them present the boxes to me. 

[Smallclub]

13 hours ago, Fugu said:

Sorry, and with all due respect westy, but that's plain nonsense. Absolute standard procedure here in Europe: You inspect the box you are interested in. And certain boxes might get opened a 25 times, when up for single's sale. To no harm.

The first time I went to Andorra, the young employee and me have opened something like 20 cab50 of Lusitanias; not one to my taste; then about 15 dress boxes, and I found one great, then I wanted some 898, we opened about 10 or 12 cabs of 25, bleh, then we tried the cabs of 10 but the clerk said: "forget the 898" and I said "ok, let's try these boxes of '02 Party coronas", etc etc. The whole process for my 12 boxes (quota for 4 persons: me + gf, my brother + wife ) took several hours + several glasses of rum courtesy of the shop…

[Canoli]

Great read. Best advice is to go in knowing you will open boxes and not ask. 

[JY0]

I was in Cuba last week and had no issues when asking to open boxes before I purchased in 6 LCDH's.

Edited to add: The best experience I had, was with Alex. I had a list of what I was looking for. He read the list and off he went looking for the best boxes for me. He even looked in his back-stock, opening everything before he put it on my stack for me to look at. He was awesome. So was Reynoldo.