Punta Cana - Dominican Republic (Don Lucas Factory, Our Hotel and Duty Free)

[MattW]

Been meaning to post this for a while but been a bit busy. Anyway, the Girlfriend and I spent two lovely weeks in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) at the start of June, we had a great time and there was time for plenty of cigars. So I thought I'd share my cigar related thoughts and pictures from the holiday!

Took a good supply with me in my newly purchased Xikar 10-count travel humidor which worked fantastically for the two weeks.

We took a visit to the Don Lucas factory which was great, it's on a small compound with the factory, a rum bar, a chocolate factory and a large shop. They pick you up from your hotel for free, was easy enough, just asked our rep to organise it for us. On arrival they offered me a free cigar based on my size and strength preferences, I went with a medium Robusto which was great. You get a tour of the rollers and they explain the process, then over to the shop/humidor to make your purchases, they had a good selection of legit Cubans, their own cigars and plenty of others.

After that you can go over to rum bar for plenty of free tastings and same for the chocolate factory.

While there I picked up a mixed 10 box of their Robustos (5 light and 5 medium), an H.Upmann Half Corona tin, some lovely rum which we tried in the rum bar, some cocoa tea and some chocolate and strawberry lip balm for the girlfriend.

We stayed at the Iberostar Punta Cana which had a nice cigar shop/lounge on-site which offered a good choice of Cubans and non-Cubans, they also had a resident roller. I picked up a couple of singles during the 2 weeks.

Finally, Punta Cana Airport had a small walk-in humidor with mainly non-Cubans, but also a selection of Cohiba, H.Upmann, HdM, Bolivar and Diplo No.2. I picked up another Half Corona tin and also a pack of Hdm Petit Robustos, the prices were slightly better than at the Don Lucas factory.

So after expecting to have fake cohibas offered to me left, right and centre from what I'd read, I was nicely surprised to see legit Cubans primarily, the only time I saw any fakes was in a car park during one of our trips.

I hope you enjoyed and if anyone's off to Punta Cana I'd be happy to offer my advise or answer any questions!

[CUBANO]

Thanks for posting. It's looks like you'll had a great time

[scottm12]

Great picks, we went to don lucas when we were in the DR last year. My profile photo is from that same rolling room. glad you had a great trip

[mrsgucia]

Thanks for sharing. Looks beautiful. How are those Don Lucas cigars? Any taste detected in them? Anybody here have any experience with Don Lucas cigars? Just never heard or red about those.

[dubleuhb]

Looks like things have changed a bit since I visited the factory about 5 or 6 years ago. No rum or chocolate places then and the shop looks a bit more stocked. My avatar pic is from the beach at the Majestic Colonial where I stayed.

Thanks for sharing.

[Bartolomeo]

Headed down to DR manana, will have to look around

[dmeads1206]

Hey All,

Headed down to DR in a couple of weeks, to Punta Cana (The Westin). The selections above look great. Looking forward to giving it all a shot. Any other advice for heading to DR? Golf looks great, looks like a good opportunity to check some cigars, anything else a must?