December Cuba Trip Report (1st Time)

[HDGSN]

Havana, Cuba Trip Report - December 22 - 26, 2018

Daily Report

Pre-Trip

After reviewing trip reports and recommendations in this sub and the Cuba Travel sub, I reached out to Jorge ("Yorge") and Alex to make arrangements for a driver and some custom rolls.  I got in touch with both back in September to make sure they would be in town around Christmas and then again about two weeks before the trip to confirm arrangements. Both are easy to communicate with - Yorge through e-mail and WhatsApp and Alex through Facebook.

December 22

Our flight out of Atlanta was delayed because there was a delay in getting the Cuba Travel Visas to the gate and for a while there was only one gate agent.  Luckily, the delay was only 40 minutes or so, and I was able to give Yorge the heads up through WhatsApp.  My wife and I each brought two checked bags that included pillows and bedding to provide to our casa hosts and to provide for space to bring back cigars and rum.  Baggage and customs in Cuba is a breeze.  Yorge was waiting for us outside of customs and also patiently waited for us at the cadeca outside of Terminal 3.  The weather was fantastic.  About as comfortable as it gets - light breeze and 72F.  We stayed in Old Havana and Yorge gave us a mini tour on the way from the airport.  Once checked in at our casa, we walked around Old Havana the rest of the evening to get our bearings.  We also stopped by Old Partagas and Conde LCDHs so I could have some cigars to smoke.  I grabbed a HDM2 and JL2 at Old Partagas and two Reynaldo coronas at Conde.  We had dinner at Al Carbon on Yorge's recommendation.  I had the rabbit, and my wife had the roast chicken.  The meal was delicious but rather pricey with an appetizer, two entrees, two waters and four beers coming out to about $60.  Ended the night with the JL2 and a Reynaldo corona on the balcony overlooking Obra-pia.

December 23

We started the day with the casa breakfast, which was OK - roast chicken, bread, fruit, and a salad that we skipped.  I had the HDM2 after breakfast, and then Yorge picked us up at 11AM for a day of cigar shopping.  We stopped at H Upmann, Habana Libre, Hotel Nacional, Melia Habana, Comodoro, Club Habana (closed), 5ta Avenida, Melia Cohiba, and Riviera.  My summary of the cigar and rum availability is below.  Along the way, we had mojitos at Hotel Nacional, stopped by Fusterland on a whim and had a late langostina lunch at Santy Pescador.  We closed out the night with a sunset at the fort across the bay and then dinner at some bar near Capitolio on Obra-pia for some bad paella and went back to the casa to hang on the balcony where I had the other Reynaldo corona and a Yolanda dalito/corona extra.

December 24

We had breakfast bars for breakfast and took a 30 minute walk from Old Havana to Parque de los Martires in Vedado for the Habana Underground bike tour, which lasted half the day and took us through Callejon de Hamel, Chinatown, Old Havana, the Malecon, and Vedado neighborhoods while also stopping for some coffees and mojitos as well.  After the tour, we walked to Hotel Nacional for jamon y queso sandwiches for lunch, mojitos and cigars on the back veranda.  I had a Trini Reyes and HUHC before we walked along the Malecon as the sun set.  Dinner was at Oh Habana! for a cheap pizza before having another Yolanda dalito, a Reynaldo corona and a Reynaldo robusto on the balcony with some Presidentes while watching the madness that was the Christmas Eve partying.

December 25

This was our "chill" day to hang out around Old Havana.  Breakfast was a huge breakfast at the casa that was actually really good - roast pork, beans, bread, cheese, and fruit with a great mango juice.  We toured the cruise ship area while I had a Reynaldo robusto before heading to the Almacenes and then Cristo Square where we parked for some cafe, mojitos and another Reynaldo robusto.  After more walking, we watched the sun set on top of a hotel overlooking Parque Central, grabbed another cheap pizza at Oh Habana! and closed the night with a case of Presidentes, three more Reynaldo robustos and another Yolanda dalito.

December 26

Had a chill morning before leaving around lunch and coming home.  I packed all of my boxes in our checked bags, and security in Havana simply wanted to match the boxes to the facturas.  The second the bag went through x-ray the lady was asking for the facturas.  For customs, I put a roll in each bag for even disbursement and made sure each was not in the same bags as the boxes.  In the US, customs had nothing to say.  It was a breeze at both.

Cigar/Rum Availability Report

Every LCDH (except for Old Partagas and the first day at Hotel Nacional) had open walk-in humidors.  I bought cigars at Conde, Habana Libre, Melia Habana, Comodoro, Melia Cohiba, and 5ta Avenida.  When buying boxes at those places, all let me inspect the boxes at the counter before buying (no checking in the humidors), and all agreed to provide a factura.  I found it helpful to smile and say hello when entering the store, to ask if you can look in the humidors, and then to disculpa la molestia for needing to inspect the boxes and get a factura.  As I mention below, Conde was my favorite.  Other than the small store in Riviera, Old Partagas had the worst selection.  Habana Libre had by far the best selection.  The first day at Hotel Nacional, the humidor was locked, and the staff would not let me in.  When I asked about Sir Winstons, the guy looked through the glass and just said he did not see any.  I came back the next day and the humidor was opened.  I walked straight to the H. Upmann shelf and beside the Connie As found 4 boxes of Sir Winstons.  I would have bought 2 the day before, but I spent my 2nd box budget when thinking Havana was empty of Sir Winstons.  I had to convince the lady at the counter that I had at least 50 cigars to get her to give me a factura - the only time I had a hassle with facturas.

The first night on the way to Conde, we passed the LCDH Mercaderes right as it was closing.  The guy closing shop asked if I wanted to buy cigars.  I told him yes thinking he would let me take a quick peek.  Nope.  He decided to try to sell me fakes!  Considering it has a storefront in the cruise ship area and Reynaldo's is tucked in a courtyard, I figure this store sees the most casual cigar tourists, but I would not have guessed a Habanos S.A. employee would try to pawn me fakes right when locking his store!!

- The only DC cabs were Punch DCs.  I saw 13 - 8 at Libre, 2 at Melia Cohiba, 1 at Riviera, and 2 at Melia Habana.  All had the same 2017 code, but I can't remember the factory code.

- Habana Libre was the only place to have Fundadores.  There was a master case on the shelf, and I grabbed 2.  All were MUP OCT 18.

- Nacional was the only place to have Sir Winstons.  There were 4 boxes.  All were TRU AGO 18.

- Saw just 1 box of CoRo (Melia Cohiba).  Only Siglo boxes (until the last morning) were Siglo II at 5ta Avenida.  Otherwise, Cohibas were limited to Maduros and Exquisitos.  As for that last morning, I had $50 left and an hour before needing to head to the airport, so I walked to Reynaldo's to buy 12 robustos.  The store was closed for inventory, but they let me in.  In the inventory was a Cohiba 50th Anniversary box, some Partagas ELs and a mastercase of Siglo VI (12/26 morning).

- RA Superiores and HURR LCDH releases were at every store. Comodoro had some RyJ LCDH releases.  Mercaderes had Punch and Bolivar ones. 

- Habana Libre and 5ta Avenida had the best selection of aged stock.  2014 and 2015 codes still sitting there for smaller marcas and even some 2016 and 2017 PLPC.

- PLPC and Connie As at every shop. 

- QDO50 (25s and 10s) at almost every shop.  QDO54 only at Nacional.  

- Vigia and Reyes at almost every shop.  Coloniales at about half.

- Biggest Lusi stashes were at Libre and 5ta Avenida.

- RA Gigantes at H Upmann, Libre, 5ta and Melia Cohiba.

- The stores were ghost towns on Sunday.  I was the only person shopping at every store except for a Dutch guy wanting Siglo VI at Conde and a group of Chinese looking for Cohiba at Comodoro.

- H Upmann had the best rum selection having basically everything except for Santiago de Cuba.

- Melia Habana and Comodoro had Santiago 12.

Takeaways

Yorge is a fantastic driver and comes with my high recommendation - his English is good enough that English speakers can understand him and he can understand English speakers.  Only very few times did we not understand each other - all relating to slang or humor differences between our cultures.  Old Havana closer to Capitolio than the cruise ship terminal is a wonderful location and amazingly authentic place to stay if you can deal with the noise (bring earplugs at night and/or stay up late enough you pass out easily).  We'll be staying in this area when it is just the two of us and probably a house in Vedado if we come with a bigger group.  Conde is probably my favorite LCDH.  The location was obviously convenient to where we stayed, but the staff were friendly, patient, and generally speak English, the custom rolls are plentiful and high quality, and the store itself is quaint and can have two great personalities - the quiet and the crowded.  Ultimately, I can't wait to go back and now want to try to make a trip once a year.

[HDGSN]

 

[NorCalAaron]

Looks like you had a great time!!  I hope to plan a trip sometime in the near future, thanks for sharing your expirence. 

 

[Markspring1978]

Excellent and indeed, very thorough report. Well done. Glad you had a good trip. 

[Lomey]

Looks like a great time.  Thanks for sharing.  I can't wait to go back and spend more time.

[unclepauly25]

Nice pictures ! I’m going to plan a trip someday with my wife, it’s on my bucket list! 

[Optic101]

Great, thanks for sharing.

[houdini]

Bravo. Thanks for sharing

[zappaFREAK]

That’s just about the best description of a trip I have ever read! Sounds like you had a wonderful time! God bless the Mrs. for enduring the cigar expedition. Thanks.

[madandana]

Thanks for the report. Looks like you had a good time.

[Ryan]

Great report! Sorry I didn't know you were there. You would have been very welcome to our barbeque on Christmas Day.

And I would have found out about the Sir Winstons!

Next time!

[Raskol]

Nice trip report... Thanks!

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

[Grateful13]

Nice report, thanks for sharing. Very informative. 

[Derboesekoenig]

12 hours ago, HDGSN said:

The first night on the way to Conde, we passed the LCDH Mercaderes right as it was closing.  The guy closing shop asked if I wanted to buy cigars.  I told him yes thinking he would let me take a quick peek.  Nope.  He decided to try to sell me fakes!  Considering it has a storefront in the cruise ship area and Reynaldo's is tucked in a courtyard, I figure this store sees the most casual cigar tourists, but I would not have guessed a Habanos S.A. employee would try to pawn me fakes right when locking his store!!

- The only DC cabs were Punch DCs.  I saw 13 - 8 at Libre, 2 at Melia Cohiba, 1 at Riviera, and 2 at Melia Habana.  All had the same 2017 code, but I can't remember the factory code.

- The stores were ghost towns on Sunday.  I was the only person shopping at every store except for a Dutch guy wanting Siglo VI at Conde and a group of Chinese looking for Cohiba at Comodoro.

Not surprised about the fakes...

I am, however, surprised about the Punch DCs. They were mentioned back when everyone went in November, and I figured they would be gone by now. WOW!

So Sunday is the day to go huh? I thought everything would be closed on Sunday. I will have to keep note of that for sure.

Ahhh yes, the Chinese. They are obsessed with Cohiba, and the main reason why barely any Cohiba exists in Cuba lol

Thanks for the update! 

[HDGSN]

1 hour ago, Derboesekoenig said:

Not surprised about the fakes...

I am, however, surprised about the Punch DCs. They were mentioned back when everyone went in November, and I figured they would be gone by now. WOW!

So Sunday is the day to go huh? I thought everything would be closed on Sunday. I will have to keep note of that for sure.

Ahhh yes, the Chinese. They are obsessed with Cohiba, and the main reason why barely any Cohiba exists in Cuba lol

Thanks for the update! 

Sunday is the day for someone that does not care to meet Yolanda, Alex or really any of the other rollers. Reynaldo was the only one in shop, but he was just hanging out and running the register - not rolling. I tried to get him to do a demonstration roll for my wife to see, and he wasn’t having it.  I think most of the shops are open 9-6 on Sundays.  Libre was open till 7.

[Fugu]

Some lovely pics there! 

[ac031898]

Great post, thanks for sharing!!

[Hookmaker]

Great report man! Thanks for sharing.

[stogieluver]

Great report.  Love the detail.

@Ryan as a Moderator, it would be helpful, imo, if this was in the Cuba Travel forum. 

[JY0]

Awesome report. I believe it’s ‘Jorge’. He is awesome. We are going again in March. 

[HDGSN]

1 hour ago, stogieluver said:

Great report.  Love the detail.

@Ryan as a Moderator, it would be helpful, imo, if this was in the Cuba Travel forum. 

I was going to double post it but got lazy and figured more eyeballs would see it here. Should probably be moved for posterity as threads don’t slip down the pages so much over there.

[BJRPorter]

Well done on the post.

Sounds like Sir Winstons were what you wanted most? What was your Rum purchase of the trip?

Food sounds like it was a mixed bag?

 

 

 

[inter4alia]

Outstanding post. Thanks much for all the details. Sounds like a great trip. 

[FatPete]

What a great write up of a lovely trip-insanely jealous!

I hope to go maybe next year, mainly to try the customs. Never had one. Which was your favourite? Which regular production cigars do they most resemble? Thanks 

 

[HDGSN]

1 hour ago, BJRPorter said:

Well done on the post.

Sounds like Sir Winstons were what you wanted most? What was your Rum purchase of the trip?

Food sounds like it was a mixed bag?

 

 

 

Yes, Sir Winstons and Fundies were top of my list and budget. The cost difference down there is so significant on those two.

For rum I got Santiago 12, HC7, HC Anejo Reserva (x2) and Mulata. Haven’t tried the Santiago yet, but the Mulata may be the best of the others.

Food is good but pricy in the restaurants. We had trouble finding simple places with cheap sandwiches, beans and rice in Old Havana. There were some small places in Vedado, but all the sandwiches would sell out quick.