Going to Cuba in November, Question about Monsdales

[Mooneyac]

Hi Guys, First post on here...

My wife and I will be in Varadero in November, its our first trip back since 2011 !

We are planing to travel to Havana and hopefully head to LCDH and visit Jorge Lopez to get a few bundles of Monsdale.

I meet Jorge in 2011 when Alejandro Trelles took us on a tour of Havana and I came back with many Monsdale. Does anyone know Alejandro and would have an recent email address for him ?

Does anyone has recent information about Jorge Lopez situation and location, from what I could find from some internet research, he is still at the same LCDH, old Biltmore yacht club but I would like to verify this.

Second question is whether I have to get in contact with Jorge and have him put the Monsdale bundles aside  before I arrive.

Thanks for any information you can give me.

Claude.

[RijkdeGooier]

Maybe an introduction would raise the response count?

[Mooneyac]

I'm a retired guy from Calgary, Alberta, Canada who loves to fly, travel, scuba dive, smoke good cigars, drink fine wine and scotch.

It is our 5th visit to Cuba, I love the country and the people and they make awesome cigars to boot.....

[luv2fly]

Post your intro here:

http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/forum/6-newbie-introductions/

Welcome.

[stogieluver]

Hi Claude.  Glad you've joined us.  I was in Havana about a month ago and stopped by Club Havana but Jorge wasn't there.  Someone here posted he was out of the country for a while.  I believe you'll find a post about it here on this Cuban travel forum from about three weeks ago.

 

[MPS]

Hi Guys, First post on here...
My wife and I will be in Varadero in November, its our first trip back since 2011 !
We are planing to travel to Havana and hopefully head to LCDH and visit Jorge Lopez to get a few bundles of Monsdale.
I meet Jorge in 2011 when Alejandro Trelles took us on a tour of Havana and I came back with many Monsdale. Does anyone know Alejandro and would have an recent email address for him ?
Does anyone has recent information about Jorge Lopez situation and location, from what I could find from some internet research, he is still at the same LCDH, old Biltmore yacht club but I would like to verify this.
Second question is whether I have to get in contact with Jorge and have him put the Monsdale bundles aside  before I arrive.
Thanks for any information you can give me.
Claude.

Wow I haven’t heard someone mention Trelles in a while. You can get his information from Leo the manager at Club Havana. Call over there. Jorge is gone and not coming back anytime soon as far as I know. The Monsdales you experienced from your last time are relics. Boy were they good!


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[Mooneyac]

Can someone identify this roller and which hotel he is at, if he is still working ?

Thanks.

 

[Mooneyac]

I would also love to go back to this restaurant but I can not remember the name, can anyone help with this as well.

Here's one of Alex, I would love to get in contact with him again...

Thanks.

[Ryan]

That restaurant looks a bit like El Palenque, I can't be sure though, I haven't been there in years. Did they have Barbeque pork on the menu?

The roller in the earlier picture is "Santos" or Crisantos, he used to roll in the Comodoro Hotel, He hasn't been there in about 5 years. A younger roller, Alex Glez, has taken over rolling duty there.

Don't bother with El Palenque. Try La Foresta right beside it. It's better and will show you something of what has happened to food and restaurants in Havana since you were there last.

[Mooneyac]

Great, thanks for the information. Yes, I remember the barbecued pork was very good but I am opened for trying new places.

Do you what Alex Glez likes to roll ? As I said on my first post, I would like to get some lonsdale style and the monsdale were such a nice blend, awesome taste and great smell, ummm they were good......

I am also looking for suggestions if the Monsdales are no longer available, roller and location would be great, thanks.

 

[Puros Y Vino]

48 minutes ago, Mooneyac said:

Great, thanks for the information. Yes, I remember the barbecued pork was very good but I am opened for trying new places.

Do you what Alex Glez likes to roll ? As I said on my first post, I would like to get some lonsdale style and the monsdale were such a nice blend, awesome taste and great smell, ummm they were good......

I am also looking for suggestions if the Monsdales are no longer available, roller and location would be great, thanks.

 

Alex rolls all kinds of stuff.  He does have a Lonsdale called La Puntilla. It's FOH's "unofficial" custom roll.  If you can contact him ahead of time he can probably arrange a bundle or two.  Here is a somewhat dated list of rollers and locations. If anyone has any updates, I can edit the list.  I maintain it on Reddit's /r/cubancigars group.  As for restaurants.  I'd add multiple visits to Al Ajibe (for roast chicken and then clay pot chicken).  La Terraza grill.  And a Cubano sandwich at the Hotel Nacional late at night when you need something after smoking 5 cigars.    Enjoy your trip.

 

Roller	Address	Notes
Alejandro Gonzalez Arias	Hotel Comodoro Cigar Shop at 3ra Ave. & Calle 84, Playa	Replaced Santos. Word is good on his sticks.
Leopoldina Gutierrez aka 'La China'	Partagas LCDH at Calle Industria #520, Centro Habana	Great personality, excellent roller. Get whatever you can. She can't roll as much as she used to.
Yolanda Medina	Hotel Melia Habana LCDH at 3ra Ave. between Calle 76 & 80, Playa	Classy lady. Piramides are her signature roll. Blends are on the sweet side.
Maria	Quinta y 16 LCDH at 5ta Ave. and Calle 16, Miramar	Unknown to me.
Jorge Lopez	Club Havana LCDH at 5ta Ave. between Calle 188-192, Playa	Worth the visit for his Monsdales alone. His new Robusto Largo is also a winner.
Reynaldo Gonzalez & Jorge	Conde de Villanueva LCDH at Mercaderes #202 corner of Lamparilla, Habana Vieja	Another master roller. Known for rolling monster sized cigars. Full bodied blends.
Juanita Ramos Guerra	Hotel Melia Cohiba LCDH, at Paseo Ave. between Calle 1 & 3, Vedado	Ask about her Elefantes. Short, chubby cigars, packed with flavour.
Milagro Morales	Hotel Nacional LCDH at Calle 21 & O, Vedado	Unknown to me, but a stop here is a must.
Arnaldo Alfonso Ibanez	Hotel Palco LCDH at 146 Ave. between Calle 11 & 13, Playa	Great old guy. Can do it all. I like his shaggy foot Lanceros myself.
Cueto	El Morro Castle. La Habana del Este, Havana, Cuba	Roller of the world's longest cigar (268.4 ft Guinness record).

Credits:

^{* List: Matteo Speranza for Cigar Inspector} Full Article Link

^{* Notes:My own.}

[GotaCohiba]

 

Facebook works well for Alex

Search for Alejandro Glez 

[JY0]

Alex is awesome. You can friend him on Facebook as an easy way to communicate. 

[oliverdst]

@nino do you know if Juanita moved to that another hotel close to Melia Cohiba? I think you mentioned something about that months ago. Or she was there just for the initial weeks?

[Nino]

5 hours ago, oliverdst said:

@nino do you know if Juanita moved to that another hotel close to Melia Cohiba? I think you mentioned something about that months ago. Or she was there just for the initial weeks?

If Juanita is not at the Melia Cohiba then she's rolling across the street at the Riviera Hotel @oliverdst

I can confirm that Jorge is no longer in Cuba - guess Maricela will be rolling Monsdales from now on...

And good ol' Trelles can be found having a Cafecito at Club Habana most days.

[mk05]

 

15 hours ago, nino said:

Juanita...at the Riviera Hotel

I ...guess Maricela will be rolling Monsdales from now on...

Yes, and LOL

[Mooneyac]

Is Maricela on facebook or would she have an email address available  I could contact her ahead of my trip?

You guys have been a great source of information, thank you very much. 

[Bakerj]

Alex asked Leo to pull me out a bundle of Monsdales in Mid June, dont know if there are any more.

[BonVivant]

Monsdales? Since Enrique Mons passing, are there any? Who is controlling the tobacco and blend?

 

dream on?

Or

Is Enrique Mons rolling from heaven these days?

[Mooneyac]

I was fortunate to meet Jorge in 2012 and get a few bundles that were a delight to smoke and from earlier post to my question, it appears that the Monsdales were still available up until a few months ago, I am hoping that Jorge has shared the knowledge of the tobacco and blend with Maricela, so maybe I am dreaming...

[Derboesekoenig]

On 7/10/2018 at 7:44 PM, Ryan said:

That restaurant looks a bit like El Palenque, I can't be sure though, I haven't been there in years. Did they have Barbeque pork on the menu?

The roller in the earlier picture is "Santos" or Crisantos, he used to roll in the Comodoro Hotel, He hasn't been there in about 5 years. A younger roller, Alex Glez, has taken over rolling duty there.

Don't bother with El Palenque. Try La Foresta right beside it. It's better and will show you something of what has happened to food and restaurants in Havana since you were there last.

Looks like El Aljibe to me?

[Ryan]

46 minutes ago, Derboesekoenig said:

Looks like El Aljibe to me?

They are quite similar but El Aljibe doesn't have parking like that.

[garagedragon]

I stopped in the Club Havana shop this past Wednesday, and this is the roller who took Jorge's place. He has worked in the El Laguito factory, and his name is Amaury. He doesn't speak much English, but the woman who was waiting on me said he is still rolling Monsdale's with the original blend. I purchased a bundle, and they look amazing!

[Mooneyac]

That's great, Thanks for this information, I will try to contact them before I get there.

[Mooneyac]

I just came back from my trip, Here's the highlights of the Havana tour;

Got to see and have lunch with Alex Trelles, it's been many years but I managed to track him down, we then went to Club Havana, Jorge Lopez was there for a visit at I also meet Amaury and got a bundle of Monsdales, smoked one there, they are just as good as I remembered. Alex and I then went to Hotel Comodoro to see Alex Glez, unfortunately he wasn't there but I got some of his Puntillas.

Unfortunately, the day before our Havana trip, I received a message from taxi driver Jorge Clavijo informing us that he was not available to take us anymore so I had to scramble to make other arrangements, I wasn't very happy about that. I won't bother with him next time...