One Day Cuba Trip Report - June/2018


oliverdst

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We got to meet Alex a couple of weeks ago. He is awesome. 

We saw every Cohiba marca, even the Talisman in the LCDH stores in Cienfuegos and Santiago De Cuba. For me the value just  isn't there. The SIglo Vl is $490 for 25 sticks in Cuba. For just $10 more I can buy two 50 cabs: PLPC's and RASS. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, JY0 said:

We got to meet Alex a couple of weeks ago. He is awesome. 

We saw every Cohiba marca, even the Talisman in the LCDH stores in Cienfuegos and Santiago De Cuba. For me the value just  isn't there. The SIglo Vl is $490 for 25 sticks in Cuba. For just $10 more I can buy two 50 cabs: PLPC's and RASS. 

 

 

I think like you too. I was making up my mind between a 25 San Juan or a 50 RASS (RASS won).

do you remember if you saw them in Havana? pretty sure outside Havana all cigars move slower.

or maybe "shortage" in cuba is not having a cigar in 2 weeks...

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Thanks for the reports and updates. Looking forward to the next parts. That’s really weird with your experience at the airport in Cancun. I have never flown there so I don’t know. I have flown in to Mexico City airport many many times and never had issues. Always the standard what is the purpose of your visit? do you have anything to declare? and then they let me go.

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10 hours ago, rabidraccoon said:

Thanks for the reports and updates. Looking forward to the next parts. That’s really weird with your experience at the airport in Cancun. I have never flown there so I don’t know. I have flown in to Mexico City airport many many times and never had issues. Always the standard what is the purpose of your visit? do you have anything to declare? and then they let me go.

really strange. first time in my whole life. 

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PART 3

Right after I stepped on the sidewalk a driver approached me. I asked for Habana Vieja. Price was ok. During the ride I said was going to Villanueva and he said he didnt know where it was... I had a map with me and showed him. He dropped me where I believe it was just 2 blocks from the hotel. The truth is or he cheated me or I took a completely wrong way. It was 2:55 and I was kind of 8 blocks from the hotel. No taxis and my suitcase at that moment was starting to bother me, 125 cigars weight a ton when you are walking in Havana. So for the first time I took a bike ride. 5 CUCs were expensive IMO but at least the rider was nice and we could chat until we arrived the hotel.

It was exactly 3:15. I went straight upstairs to meet @stogieluver . When I enter the store there was a guy taking a picture with Reynaldo. Somehow I was sure he was stogieluver but then I realized I was almost wetting my pants. I just looked at him, said “Stogieluver” and rushed downstairs to the toilet.

Up again I could finally greet Stogie properly. He was acompanied by his lovely wife. We went to the bar as the smoke room was apparently closed. He showed me his partial stash that was with him and we could talk about our day and have some laughs. Sadly we could only have a brief conversation because his ship would leave earlier than planned.

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Stogie, it was a real pleasure meet you and your wife. You were very nice. I am sorry I was 15 minutes late, usually I am a punctual guy. Looking forward to meet you again.

After Stogie and his wife left I started smoking a Reynaldo and asked for a second beer. So I started to look at all those beautiful boxes together on the shelves. I love to do that. Again just regular production and no Cohibas. I confess maybe there were petacas in the stores but I am pretty sure no boxes besides Siglo I. For the first time I saw Partagas Maduros and I was about to buy them but I remembered this was a diferent trip. I didnt have too much space and this day was more a kind of bonus in my family trip than a buy trip. I didnt want to spend a lot and I had the rest of the afternoon, the night and with luck a part of the next morning (flight scheduled to 11 AM) to find some other boxes. Moreover the image of the x-ray guy asking me all those questions made me afraid of having problems going back to Mexico. I kept the money inside my pocket.

So it was 16:30 and it was time to head to Nacional. I left Villanueva and then I realized I hadnt eaten nothing the whole day. Didnt want to seat in a restaurant and have a real meal, a snack or something would be enough. Started walking around Vieja and out of the blue I saw a small door opened and inside there was one of those oven glass to display food.

“How much for one hamburguesa?”

“10 pesos.”

Whaaaaat?

“10 pesos or 1 CUC”

Well, the convertion rate of the girl was a bit poor but I could live with that. So I had 2 hamburguesas and 2 glasses of mandarino juice.

“How much for all?”

“1 CUC”

???

Well, I only can imagine each sandwich was 10 CUPs and each juice 2 CUPs or something like that. I gave to the girl 2 CUCs and I think it was a good deal for both of us. I remember it was in Cuba Street and next time I am going there again to help the girl. A genuine worker trying to make life better. I admire that.

17:00. Nacional time. My plan was to visit its store and Habana Libre’s. Another cab and straight to check in that it should be no earlier than 16:00. No rooms available at that moment. I was tired but it was ok. Walk pretty much with a hand-on luggage trought Vieja was not an easy task but my intention at that moment wasnt rest in the room, I wanted to talk to my family; my wife and kid went to spend the afternoon in Playa del Carmen. So I asked the wifi password and the lady told me I should go upstairs to the business center to have a login and a password. I left my luggage in the luggage room and went to the office. After 5 tries I simply could not connect internet. Asked for help and the girl told me everything was ok and that last week internet wasnt working in iPhones and this week I wasnt the first to complain about that using a Motorola. Ok, let’s go to Habana Libre. No conection too. Hm. My phone and my wife’s phone were dead mute in Mexico. In Cuba too so no way I could call her.

It’s not a confortable feeling to leave your wife and son alone in Mexico (or any other not so developed country that you dont know) but at first I thought she would spend the day inside the resort. She wanted to know PDC and said she would use my day trip to do that. I didnt liked it but I agreed. I went to the concierge and booked a cab to her (our hotel was 20 km from PDC). Anyway, I really wanted to check if they were ok and it was more than 5 PM and I couldnt contact them. I went to the Rampa – between Nacional and Habana Libre- and bought a 1 hour wifi card. Again no connection. Now I was nervous. The guy who sold me the ticket and another one tried to help me. No connection at all. Now I know that for some reason my phone simply could not comunicate with ETECSA. I went to Habana Libre again and called my sister-in-law in Brazil and asked her about my family. She said she talked to them some minutes ago and they were back to the hotel and they were fine. Relief but those 60-90 minutes I couldnt contact them one million things passed trough my mind and now I was phisycal AND emotionally exhausted.

As I was in Habana Trip and went to the LCDH. Some different boxes. The only box of Cohiba I saw besides the Siglo I was there, a Siglo II. Some box of Gigantes. Some Vigias. Many Partagas. In the display there were many boxes from different brands. There was a box with 3 Trovas and a box of Dantes with 9 units. Grabed the Dantes and then the employee told me I wasnt allowed to take the box with me. Ok, “sin problema”. Put the Dantes back to the display and walked away. I felt the guy got a bit confused but no way I was going to ask him why I could nothave the box just to hear some BS. Back to Nacional. The humidor was locked and a clerk asked me if she could help me but at that point I confess the only thing I wanted was to take a shower. I said it was ok and at what time the store would open next morning. She answered and said “you look tired”. Bull’s eye. After 5 stores and a long  day it was time to relax. Went to my now available room, took a shower and went to check the magnificent view of the Malecon.

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Room view.

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One mojito, rum, a couple of bottles of water and another Alex’s cigar.

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I am so thankful that some of you recomend Nacional. I could have all I needed after a long day. A beautiful place, something to eat and drink, nice people. I visited Nacional before but being a guest somehow is different.

It was 11 PM. I was tired.

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Great report, @oliverdst.  We really enjoyed our ever so brief meeting with you. I regret that our mutual schedules compresssed the time we thought we would have to get to visit, drink, & smoke.  Nevertheless, I truly am glad I got to meet you. 

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That’s gotta be a Reynaldo. What is that...about a four-five hour smoke?  His humi had the biggest damned cigars I’ve ever seen.  ?

Great reports, Oliver. Thanks for posting. 

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22 hours ago, stogieluver said:

That’s gotta be a Reynaldo. What is that...about a four-five hour smoke?  His humi had the biggest damned cigars I’ve ever seen.  ?

Great reports, Oliver. Thanks for posting. 

That's a cigar that a man does not buy when he is sober.

Yolanda. 20 CUC.

She told me they were rolled to last Festival. 

Later I will post a picture comparing it to regular cigars. And I will try to weight it somewhere.

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I wonder who exactly they are letting into the humidor and who they're selling the cigars to? I didn't think it was allowed to sell cigars at more than the price the government sets?  I wonder if someone who looks like a gringo informs them of this fluently in Spanish if they change their tune?

Overall it just sounds like an amazing day and I can't wait for my own trip even more now.  Thanks again for sharing!

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2 hours ago, n0s4atu said:

I wonder who exactly they are letting into the humidor and who they're selling the cigars to? I didn't think it was allowed to sell cigars at more than the price the government sets?  I wonder if someone who looks like a gringo informs them of this fluently in Spanish if they change their tune?

Overall it just sounds like an amazing day and I can't wait for my own trip even more now.  Thanks again for sharing!

probably those who look that will spend a lot and not a guy who should be looking a mess. schmucks.

it´s not allowed. if I were in a bad mood I would have teased them about that.

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12 hours ago, oliverdst said:

probably those who look that will spend a lot and not a guy who should be looking a mess. schmucks.

it´s not allowed. if I were in a bad mood I would have teased them about that.

Guess they haven’t learned to not judge a book by its cover

If gringos are looking to get in they will spend money

 

 

 

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14 hours ago, oliverdst said:

probably those who look that will spend a lot and not a guy who should be looking a mess. schmucks.

it´s not allowed. if I were in a bad mood I would have teased them about that.

They tend to squirrel away the rare stuff for people they know well who come down a lot. If you hang around a little while you see it happening. Not sure, but I don’t think they were charging more than the official price. Liquor stores do the same thing in the US for rare bottles of whiskey.

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10 hours ago, bpm32 said:

They tend to squirrel away the rare stuff for people they know well who come down a lot. If you hang around a little while you see it happening. Not sure, but I don’t think they were charging more than the official price. Liquor stores do the same thing in the US for rare bottles of whiskey.

The boxes werent hidden. If I wanted to pay 150 they would be mine.

The official price is 117, what IMO is already expensive. 

No cigars on the displays, not allowed to walk in the humidor, overprice... 

 

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3 hours ago, oliverdst said:

The boxes werent hidden. If I wanted to pay 150 they would be mine.

The official price is 117, what IMO is already expensive. 

No cigars on the displays, not allowed to walk in the humidor, overprice... 

 

Ah, sorry, I was confused--I thought you were talking about an LCDH.

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