London, England

[Justmi]

Bingo. Except during the winter, I'd prefer to smoke my own stock in pub beer gardens, street coffee houses etc. In the winter or if the weather is dire, this is where the COSA's (Cosy Outdoor Smoking Areas) come into their own, as warm and dry recluses - or otherwise a good idea to "sample" in a cigar shop.

On the positive side, which is often ignored, the high prices mean there is plenty of well aged stock and LE/RE's that you cannot otherwise find virtually anywhere. Also same goes if you are orderring online from a major UK merchant as I had a PLPC single that was out of this world and seemed welll matured.

Me too, I smoke in a cigar lounge on an exception basis when with friends and otherwise smoke at home with large online orders. The most outrageous thing I saw the other day, 25 Monte 4 Grand Reserva in Boisdale for £875. That the same price per stick as a Cohiba 1966 online.

[Ryan]

My experience with cigars in London (so far); if you buy cigars online in the UK, you're paying the highest prices (and tax) in Europe. If you buy cigars in a store (using JJ Fox as an example) you pay a 50% mark up on the online price. Fair enough, they have to maintain the staff and pay the rent. Also, the stores and online websites differ tremendously in price. If you go to a cigar bar like Boisdale, you are paying a 50% mark-up on the store price. Using a bit of approximation, a stick outside the UK costing £5 will cost £10 in the UK online, £15 in the UK store and finally £20 in a cigar bar like Boisdales. Mega mark-up.

Have you guys experienced the same thing?

That's not too far wrong, UK (and Irish) taxes are high and with most of the well known London shops in the St, James/Mayfair area, rent isn't cheap. It's probably some of the most expensive in the world.

However, there are a couple of things about London cigar shops. There aren't many places in the world where you can buy a 15-20 year old example of a cigar you like for little or no markup on the price of current stock, plus you can smoke that cigar in the shop. Fox is the example you give and it's a good one but I won't go on about them, it's no secret that I happen to know the owners.

Not too long ago, I went into Dunhill in Mayfair and bought '02 Ramon Allones coronas for £8 each off the shelf. Try buying that onlne.

Not long before that I got a couple of Dunhill Malecons in the same shop.

There are some great cigar cities. Geneva's good, Havana is Havana. I hear great things about Hong Kong, Singapore and Madrid. Dublin can throw up surprises.

But for browsing 4 or 5 cigar shops, all within a square mile and getting your hands on very reasonably priced vintage stock, London's hard to beat.