Off Beat in Mexico

[Guyman1966]

Greetings everyone. It has been a while since checking in last and I hope everyone is well and that 2016 is off to a great start.

I just returned from 14 days in Mexico and thought I would share my cigar experience. I was traveling to an area where most US tourists do not go, Cholula, Puebla. Cholula is a small town about 30 minutes outside of Puebla (major city). It is a neat place as it has a major university and is best known within Mexico for its own special great pyramid. I did not bring any Cigars as I thought it would be fun to hunt down shops and see what Cubans they had in their respective humidors.

For the most part, the cigar experience was a disappointment. The few places I found around the Zocalo in Puebla that sold “Cubans” were fakes. Cohiba in glass tubes and glass top display boxes and a few other manufactures.

Sanborns is a chain of department stores/café’s that has a very small selection of Cigars. What they had was genuine and priced right.

Where I had success was an upscale shopping mall in Puebla called Angelopolis. I don’t have the name of the specific shop, but there is only one. This Cigar shop had a small walk in humidor with an OK selection. I was able to pick up 3x Behike 54, 3x Part Series 4, 3x Monte 2 and 3x Punch Punch. After a week of finding very little to nothing, this was a major score. The store was appreciative of the purchase and even provided a quality humidified bag and box for transportation. I smoked a few and saved the rest to bring home. Note, US Customs did not care. They asked if I was bringing any alcohol or tobacco back and did confess that I had 9 Cuban cigars with me.

On a side note, the food in Puebla is fantastic. It is where they invented Mole sauce. Everything is fresh and the pride in cooking is evident from the street vendors to the gourmet restaurants.

[CanuckSARTech]

Very cool, thanks for sharing! My wife and I hope to travel to Mexico in another year or so (likely Riviera Maya area, though), so I appreciate these insights!

Cheers.

[Mr.T]

Thanks for sharing. I love, and prefer traveling off the beaten track so this was fun to read

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[raymond5737]

So where did you smoke in Mexico; indoors, in a restaurant, cafe, in the wild? And how was the experience?

[Rushman]

Puebla is a nice place. My father in law lives there.

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[Franko]

i just got back after spending a whole month down there, Mexico rocks and i did score few Dnates

[Guyman1966]

So where did you smoke in Mexico; indoors, in a restaurant, cafe, in the wild? And how was the experience?

All smoking was outdoors with a cup of coffee. Once at a cafe, the other times in the courtyard where I was staying.

[cigarbigboy]

so you told customs you had cubans? Did they ask if they were worth over $100?

[Guyman1966]

so you told customs you had cubans? Did they ask if they were worth over $100?

From what is listed on the updated customs forms, the cigars had to be under $200us. And, they did NOT ask. I had the paperwork with the conversion to $ to prove that is was compliant.

I did say that I had 9 Cuban Cigars.

[Pixa]

From what is listed on the updated customs forms, the cigars had to be under $200us. And, they did NOT ask. I had the paperwork with the conversion to $ to prove that is was compliant.

I did say that I had 9 Cuban Cigars.

That's only from coming from Cuba, quite sure it does not apply to Mexico

[El Presidente]

Thanks for the writeup!

Mexico is not a place I have spent much time in. I have a friend with a house in Sayulita whom I would love to visit one day.