August Trip Report (Picture Heavy)

[tak8426]

I arrived on Saturday around noon and went directly to Hotel Nacional. Upon check in I went to the far side of the lobby and purchased the last remaining marble ashtrays they had for sale. I asked if they had any more or if they would be getting some soon. I was told that the marble is in short supply and/or the demand is so high that there would not be any of the large ones for quite a while. After checking in to my room, I went down to the Casa del Habano in Hotel Nacional. 

 

 

The supply was very good and the lady behind the counter told me it had improved over the last few months. She told me there had been less tourists in lately and that they were able to keep their inventory better stocked. The two employees on this day were very helpful and would go in to the humidor and bring out anything that I pointed to and asked for. I don't know if I got better service or not because I was making such a large purchase. The most exciting thing I saw was the emergence of the Cohiba Medio Siglo line. It appears that there has been a strong emphasis on ramping up production on these cigars and they look and smell amazing. I was happy to pick up a beautiful cherry wood humidor limited edition 13/20 new in a box from the storage closet. Throughout the trip it always seemed like there was more premium items than met the eye but depending on the employee you may not have access to the "good stuff."

 

 

 

 

 

I left Hotel Nacional and picked up some cases of mojito glasses at the Havana Club museum, and then our driver who had tons of local knowledge helped us track down Humidores Havana, owned by Jose Ernesto Aguilera. He is the expert craftsman of the very expensive humidors that are auctioned off during the Festival Habano held every February. Meeting him and seeing some of his famous humidors was by far the highlight of the trip. The shop was very hard to find and the address listed gets you close but not exactly there. Once inside his team met with me, including Jose Ernesto himself, and showed me all of the humidors in his showroom. I picked out three of the humidors that I thought were unique and interesting and Ernesto even threw in a signed travel case and some custom rolled cigars. He really loves his craft and was eager to talk with me and answer any questions I had. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I left his shop in the late evening and headed to Hotel Melia Cohiba to visit the Casa del Habano before returning to my room for the night. I found the humidor there to well stocked with many regular production cigars, found a few boxes of Casa del habanos exclusives and a few esplendidos. All in all it was a good stop and I was able to find enough cigars there to obtain a factura, something that I wanted to make a priority due to some of the threads I read about Cuban customs agents. 

 

Day 2: 

 

I started the morning out by walking about 0.5 mile to Hotel Havana Libre. This was probably the best stocked Casa del Habano during my time in Cuba. It was here that I found Behike 52 and Behike 54, not complete boxes however. I bought the remaining 8 Behike 52 cigars and begged for the box/case but was adamantly told "No." I also was able to acquire cabinets of Upmann Sir Winston and Hoyo Double Coronas here. The store has all lines of 2016 edition limitadas (incomplete boxes), almost the entire Cohiba line, full 25 cigar cabinets of montecristo #2 cigars, and Behike 56 full box reserved for another client. The staff was somewhat helpful and somewhat combative all at the same time. Either way I made a large purchase of difficult to find cigars and got out. My driver drove me to Club Habana, Hotel Palco, and Avenida 5th and 16th to find out they were all closed this Sunday. I don't know if this is a usual thing or if things were different due to Havana Carnival going on this weekend. My last stop was at Hotel Conde Villanueva. I really just went to check it out hoping I may find something really rare. I was starting to run out of cash around this point if you can imagine that. I was very upset at myself because this store was stuffed with boxes of Cohiba Pyramides extra and even had full boxes or Esplendidos and Coronas Especiales. I had to make a decision to pass on these expensive items and returned to my room to pack all of my spoils. 

 

After a few hours of moving things around and finally finding the right arrangement to make all of this fit, I've found time to write this narrative and I'm off to smoke and drink until my flight leaves tomorrow. I managed to snap a lot of pictures here in my room while packing and hope this sheds some light for those who enjoy this as much as I do. I went big with all the uncertainty surrounding Cuba and I hope it stays open for years to come, but at least I have myself a nice stash of cuban cigars and accessories if it doesn't.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[flinthills]

?

[BolivarSmoker]

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[Customsfan]

Just curious. Wich custom rolls did you get wth the humidor?

[Corylax18]

Just a few boxes and some custom rolls........

Hahaha. I know the feeling, I almost didn't have room in my luggage for all the purchases I made on my first trip. Nice Haul.

[madandana]

Thanks for the porn. Can I ask the price of the humidor from H. N.?

[oakalley]

Those are some serious purchases. How do you get all that back into the USA?


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[tak8426]

On 8/27/2017 at 9:56 PM, Customsfan said:

Just curious. Wich custom rolls did you get wth the humidor?

I don't know exactly what they were. My spanish understanding is very average and I'm not sure he stated who made them. They smell fantastic and I'm sure he has some pretty good connections in town. Can't wait to try them soon!

[tak8426]

1 hour ago, oakalley said:

Those are some serious purchases. How do you get all that back into the USA?


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I checked two bags with about 150 cigars in each bag, carried on another 100 cigars and my facturas, and also carried on the humidors in a pretty large duffle bag. I definitely had more luggage than most when I arrived back home but customs was so busy with other international flights I had no issues at all.

[PuffDaddie]

Very nice enjoy.

[Bartolomeo]

Thanks for sharing, why didn't the Hotel Nacional staff let you in the humi? Never been a problem before

again, thanks for sharing!

[kuma]

wow what a coup, enjoy some day I'll get there.

[uscmd310]

Great haul! Just a warning on Havana Lbre. Those cigars are definitely fake Behike. That's why they wouldn't sell you the box. The moment you left they refilled box with more fakes. Cohiba melia is the same. Try not to buy singles from stores. The boxes with factura is always real. Great pictures and a great trip though!

[SignalJoe]

On 9/4/2017 at 0:24 PM, uscmd310 said:

Great haul! Just a warning on Havana Lbre. Those cigars are definitely fake Behike. That's why they wouldn't sell you the box. The moment you left they refilled box with more fakes. Cohiba melia is the same. Try not to buy singles from stores. The boxes with factura is always real. Great pictures and a great trip though!

I have been trying to rationalize the fact that they wouldn't sell the box since I originally read this thread.  Unfortunately there is just no other logical reason for them to refuse other than they were "recharging" the box.  

[uscmd310]

The store manager at havana libre admitted it. He was terrified of the habanos official we were with. He said, 'Sir, if you let me know when you come next time, i will make sure the cigars aren't here'. The manager pulled down all the cigars and price tags. 

Here is how it was explained to me. The store workers share the pot. Since they only make less than $20/month, they all have something on the side. The boxes are counted very often by the state, but single cigars aren't inventoried. So the store employees can restock fakes and sell, the state never finds out. I guarantee you weren't given a factura for the single cigars. 

[tak8426]

What is interesting however is that they wouldn't include the box with any of their other cigars, not trinidad topes, not behike 54, not piramides extra, sir winstons, hoyo double coronas, esplendidos, dantes, capuletos. If they had extra boxes in the humidor they would sell those which as you can see I did get sir winstons and hoyo double coronas and received factura for those. I understand that behike and cohiba products are the most faked cigars but I'm not sure they are trying to fake trinidad topes, hoyo double coronas, and sir winstons even though those can be tough to find as well. 

There clearly is corruption throughout cuba and even in casa del habanos, hotel melia habana has a curtain that they hide premium products back and when pressed they tell you that those are not for sale. Last time behind the curtain they had montecristo A's, 80 anniversario, dantes, and full boxes of cohiba lanceros. I pointed at the boxes and was told I was not supposed to be looking in there. Habana libre had a full box of behike 56 reserved in the bottom of the walk in humidor. Anyways long story short, I also suspect that they are required to display the product they receive and as long as they have a box out they can pull a few behikes out and display them while still saving boxes for private clients or saving boxes that they sell out the back door. 

[uscmd310]

The sir winston and DC with factura is 100% real. And you were lucky to get them as they are hard to get in Cuba. Yes corruption everywhere, I've been learning through trial and error. I got burned by lots of fakes at Cohiba Melia. I was irritated at a nice hotel selling fakes to all the tourists.

[Corylax18]

I don't think all the singles at Habana Libre are fake, just the "hard to get" or "rare" stuff that they can sucker people on. The below video shows the singles cabinet at Habana Libre, along with pricing, all matching the standard across the island. I bought some beautiful and very tasty RA Superiores and a couple other singles (I cant remember what) last November. This was the only place that I saw a single "Behike" during the trip. Again, two or three singles of each size sitting in the boxes. I passed on them, as I would regardless of their availability. But the location in the middle of Vedado, along the Rampa, plus its reputation for having a large selection of singles probably draws alot of people coming in straight from the airport. (as I did) Seeing a cabinet full of LEs and Behikes at the first LCDH you walk into can be too much for some people to pass up, even if alarm bells are ringing. 

I have a hard time getting too upset with the employees. They earn far less per month than they should earn in a day, it is impossible to live on this much money, even with the meager food rations. Everybody or a family member of everybody has a side hustle in order to supplement their income. They do it because they have to, not because they want to. The vast majority of Cuban income is generated in this "Black market". I do agree that its very unfortunate seeing it happen at the historic and beautiful "Havana Hilton" and I'm surprised the HSA official was so calm. This type of s**t is the exact reason that customs can be such a pain checking facturas when leaving the country. They know that fakes are a huge problem and that they can only contain so much of the manufacturing and distribution on the island, the last line of defense is customs.  

 

 

[dshapiro]

On 9/7/2017 at 8:54 AM, uscmd310 said:

I guarantee you weren't given a factura for the single cigars. 

interesting. i was given a factura for all the singles EL's, sir winstons, monte 80ths, and behikes i bought at habana libre back in september. i know they had full boxes in their secondary storage, next to the walk in humidor that most people go in, but they would not sell me a box. even when i bought 10 monte dantes, no box.

[clutch5150]

Fake Behike's at the Libre?  NO Sir, they are not as this place selling ANY fakes would be a disaster to even tread on this type of activity at this establishment. Been there numerous times and cleaned them out of all 52/54's last time I was there, TWICE!

[uscmd310]

The average bribe to get a box of BHK is around twice the monthly wage. So in American terms (and salaries), it's the equivalent of a $8k bribe to sell a box under the table OR play by the book and sell it for no bribe.  You can't blame the shop workers for survival. You will never see a real open box of BHK in cuba. At least you enjoyed your cigars, doesn't matter if they are real or not.

[GotaCohiba]

It would be worth the bump for me to pick up a box