I recently started casually smoking cigars and I always heard that Cuban cigars were the finest. On one of my trips to McAllen, TX I crossed the border to do some shopping and brought back some Cohiba & Monte Cristo Cuban cigars. I know that is illegal but that is a different story for another time. I really like the Cohiba better than the MC, so I bought two boxes. I am almost out and I was wondering what are some other cigars brands that I can get here in town that are nice or should just continue to smuggle in the Cohibas? FYI- I already know about Swisher Sweets…lol Thanx!
Swisher Sweets are nasty IMH....blech legally, Monte Cristo and Del Fuente's are very nice ..in fact, Del Fuente's are the closest to a Cuban that ive ever had nothing beats a good Cuban ...but beware .....some are quite unauthentic and poorly wrapped
Man I hate to sound like a cigar snob, but I'm sure you bought fakes... real cubans are top dollar cigars.. If you are really into cubans here are some sites to look at.. http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Counterfeits/Counterfeit_Gallery/0,3390,,00.html The ONLY place I would buy cubans from in Mexico are at the La Casas de habano they are Cuban owned S.A. shops that sell the real deal... http://www.habanos.com/habanos.asp?i=ing http://www.lacasadelhabano.cu/casahabano_i.asp If you are really tring to get into cigars, there are many great cigars that can be had at a much better price... Here's what most hardcore cigar smokers think about cubans... Cubans are inferior cigars now, the cuban goverment OWNS ALL the tabbaco farms in cuba and does a poor job growing.. I.E. doesnt spend the money on fertilizers and rushes them to mrkt because of demand.. most every hardcore snob out there needs to age thier cubans for almost another year after they buy them because cuba is now shipping them "WET" and are very much underage.... Keep in mind that when Castro took over all the farms the owners moved and setup shop in other countries like Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominican Republic ex... and now make GREAT cigars using what they took with them from Cuba.. I'm telling you all this because when I first started I too wanted to try the best and thought Cuban were the best, but after 6 tabletop humidors 2 coolerdors and one large cabinet humidor all amost full.. I can say Cubans are way overrated and at the retail price of almost 20+ for a middle of the road cuban isnt worth it.. altough I do have my share, most are "sleeping" for a few years before I open a few of the boxes.. If you want to try some GREAT cigars here is a list to get your hands on Davidoff Mel. Blend Padron 64s Ashton VSGs Opus X La Aura perfectos Plats Torano Tribute CAO L'Anniversaire CAMMIEs Graycliff -made by the man that came up with the cuban COHIBA blend- Perdomo Silvios AVO Sigs Partagas 150s Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Ashton Maddies Also if you want to know of great places to buy here are a few sites http://www.cigarsinternational.com/ http://www.cigarbid.com/auction/ http://www.famous-smoke.com/cigars/cigars.cfm http://www.tobaccobarns.com/ http://www.holts.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/index.d2w/report http://www.jrcigars.com/ http://www.uptowncigar.com/ And for good cigar info http://www.cigarweekly.com/ Also if you are looking to buy in Houston one of the best local shops is Jeffery Stone Ltd. the Stone family is SUPER nice.. http://www.jeffreystoneltd.com/defa...isplay&id=1&DirectoryUseAbsoluteOnSearch=True Also, Specs is a good place to buy, but you will only find the topshelf cigars at there downtown stores..
Anyone have an opinion on Maco Cigar Factrory in Dickenson, Tx. I've seen a few write ups on his shop, but haven't checked it out. Also, are Canadian shops that sell Cubans mostly fakes?
If you didnt spend at least 350-400 fpr the box of cohibas...u got taken for a ride. Then again, if u enjoyed the smoke, then who cares. A cuban Bolivar torpedo is my favorite.
Canadian shops sell real Cubans...but you will pay more in Canada for Cubans than anywhere else. The best place to buy Cubans is in Spain (as far as price...not logistics). The best thing to do if you really like Cubans cigars is, if/when u are overseas, befriend a cigar shop guy and he will mail them to you as "gents toiletries" so they dont get seized.
I rarely smoke cigars these days. But when I did there was a Jamaican government issue, that was really good quality, and also on the inexpensive side. There were better cigars, but these were the best for the price I've ever found. If you are ever in San Marcos go to the Hill Country Humidor. It is a great shop, and talk to Rob about what cigars you might like. He will set you up. I haven't been there in years, but it was a great place for cigars, and the like. They used to have domino trournaments, and chilli too.
HAHA, I was there a few weeks ago.. good store, and a nice guy.. parking is a b**** on the weekends..
Never been, but I have smoked one of his house blends.. it was good, kinda on the lighter side.. mostly DR and some Nicaraguan fillers, I think he rolls some sungrown also that maybe good.. I only know of one horror story from the canadian shops, one of my friends mail ordered a box and got sent a box that had all the tax stickers holagrams and date stamp and true labels, but the cap of a cuban cigar (minus perfectos, torps and cands) are made of a 3 tier cap that is rolled accross the board and box he orded had NONE of these, and when they burned the ash was not the correct color for a cuban cigar, because in cuban they use a HI nitrogen rate soil and in turn this will cause the ash to be a different color than most cigars we get in the states... needless to say he was pissed, a cheat is a cheat no matter what country they live in.. fake cubans are a HUGE business no matter what part of the world you live.. just look how easy it is to make a box of fake cubans your self.. http://www.justfakes.com/
I spent about $25 for a box 6 (robusto)Cohibas. The box was nice it was cedar and glass top with wrapping and stamp HECHO EN CUBA. Why wouldn't they be cubans? Aren't we the US the only country that has an embargo w/ Cuba?
Well first off Cohiba/La Corona factory doesnt make any box with a GLASS or PLASTIC top.. Edit- this is what you should have been buying if you were going to get a small pack of Cohibas.. Nothing like this, these glass/plastic tops are fake... Read about them here.. http://www.cigarnexus.com/counsel/counterfeit/ read down to number 11 It's nothing to feel bad about, fake cuban cigars are a HUGE mrkt and us americans will pay the cash so it isnt going to stop any time soon..
If u paid 4 dollars per cigar...they were fake....no question about it. A lot of tikes u can tell by the wrappers...it wont be the "cohiba" yellow...or sometimes the wrappers are cut imperfectly...Cohiba would never put out a product like that. I'm not saying yours had bad wrapping, but that is just one of many ways to tell. Cohibas, depending on the type, generally go for around 18-20 bucks per stick. Four dollars will get you rolled up horse**** and splinters with a nice cohiba wrapper. Also...Cohibas, as far as I know, dont come with glass tops on the boxes. What size were the Cohibas?
BTW....to expand on what Da Glyde said.....not only are fake cubans a huge market....but fake Cohibas especially are. They(cohibas)are one of the single most fabricated products distributed in the US. That being said, they were probably Dominican cigars and, for 4 bucks, you didnt get ripped off.
Hey bottlerocket, How long have you been smokin for, are these your first few cigars,you got a humidor??
