Factory custom rolls

[LordAnubis]

So what’s the go with these “el laguito” customs kicking around the internet folks? Does anyone even think it’s possible a custom roll operation is operating out of a factory? How does it work? I’ve not obviously been or know how factories work so just asking. I know rollers can take some home. But it would just be pocketed cigars they are rolling that day I would guess. Maybe I’m wrong. Anyone on the in on this type of operation? I’m intrigued. 

[BrightonCorgi]

The custom El Laguito rolls regardless of what they actually are or not have nice wrappers, well rolled, and burn more consistent than production Habanos.  The flavors tend to be all the same, but in a pleasing way to me at least.  Until Habanos comes back to competitive pricing; custom rolls are a great alternate if you want that Cuban twang.

[LordAnubis]

I’m not interested in them. More the story. Is it just rollers from factory who have been employed. Is it at all possible someone inside factory rolling bundles and walkin out? I don’t believe a word of it. So curious what others who know how factories work think. 

[Corylax18]

21 hours ago, LordAnubis said:

I know rollers can take some home. But it would just be pocketed cigars they are rolling that day I would guess.

Basically, this is the bulk of it. However, even at 25 sticks a day/per roller, the very small rolling crew at EL couldn't keep up with the huge demand. I have a feeling a lot of these cigars actually come from La Corona, H Upmann, etc. Are they all Legitimate Behikes, or Sig VI, or whatever they're sold as? No. But they are definitely real Cuban cigars. 

This has been happening for a long, long time, but the price spike in 2021 and the huge inflation seen in Cuba has boosted the incentive on both ends. Rollers can make more in a single day selling 25 of these than they make from the factory in a month. The prices for these things aren't great, especially the last few years, but they're still cheaper than the banded cigars. 

15 hours ago, therealrsr said:

They are a small group of rollers from that factory who took the side job during covid restrictions and not on site. 

Its 100% not this. These cigars were available long, long before covid was a thing and are more available now than before or during peak covid. Sure a few bundles may be rolled in someone's house that make it into this stream, but that would make up a very small percentage of the overall quantity. 

15 hours ago, therealrsr said:

How said cigars made it out is a source of much debate. 

Is it? I'm guessing you mean its debated of FB forums where the sellers want to hide things and the buyers have no clue what they're talking about?

Thousands of Cubans travel between Havana and South Florida every single day. Their main purpose is to buy things in the United States, then bring them back to Cuba to resell on the black market. Its how these people make their living, each person brings bundles and bundles of goods. Air conditioners, tires, clothes, everything you can imagine. Rather than making the north bound trip "empty" they can pocket a few bucks by bringing a bundle or two of cigars with them. 

Everybody involved gets a cut, the rollers, factory managers, the mules, customs agents and their managers too. There isn't a palm in Cuba that can't be greased. Communism and rampant poverty seems to breed that trait. In the old days (before the orange added Cuba to the "state sponsor of terrorism" list) you could bribe customs agents to let you bring out hundreds of cigars at at time, duffle bags full of them. You have to be more discrete now, but there really isn't any punishment even if you are caught with a bundle or two today. 

15 hours ago, therealrsr said:

Papo, Felipe, Reynaldo and Hector runs are not questioned and excellent to good results in my taste.  The two factory runs are a more ambiguous leap of faith

I'm not sure what you mean by "runs" but these cigars have consistently been available for years and years. Both from the farms and factories in Havana. The farm rolls are exactly that, farm rolls. Reynaldo left Cuba for Mexico early during Covid and didn't return, so if someone is telling you they're selling his customs over the last couple years, I would be very suspicious of that. The few hundred or even a thousand cigars he had rolled before he left would have generated much needed $ to get he and his family off the island. I really can't see any scenario where he just left thousands of cigars on the island for someone else to profit from. 

[LizardGizmo]

The rollers I am friendly with at laguito and corona are allowed to take home five cigars a day. I assume this is not the case for everyone and behike/higher-end Cohiba it’s absolutely not the case. The cigars I buy are bench rolled cigars without bands - identical in every way to what is put into boxes for retail and transacting with these folks puts good money right in their pockets. They don’t smoke them, so they sell them.

This is only my experience and I am not vouching for anyone selling unbanned bench cigars on the internet. I am also not selling anything.

[ha_banos]

I take it that it often means 'in the style of' something that's usually rolled in el laguito. Or the various vitola they are sold as. The few customs I have are really nice. The YG too. I'm not fussy about the complexity and transitions blah blah. A nice smooth tasty aromatic twangy rich cigar with a nice finish is good in my books. The prices nowadays are not bargain though as said.

And if it is legit, helps the people on the ground. That's good. 

The volumes being shifted though. Seems a lot!

[Corylax18]

41 minutes ago, LizardGizmo said:

The rollers I am friendly with at laguito and corona are allowed to take home five cigars a day. I assume this is not the case for everyone and behike/higher-end Cohiba it’s absolutely not the case. The cigars I buy are bench rolled cigars without bands - identical in every way to what is put into boxes for retail and transacting with these folks puts good money right in their pockets. They don’t smoke them, so they sell them.

This is only my experience and I am not vouching for anyone selling unbanned bench cigars on the internet. I am also not selling anything.

Yes, 5 sticks a day is the "official" number allowed. I don't know what the actual numbers are, but I know it's far more than 5 per roller per day. I've heard stories of people getting arrested with actual boxes of Behikes, bands and all, in their bag on the bus ride home from the factory. So there is a limit to what people can get away with, that limit is hard to pin down though. (Intentionally)

[El Presidente]

Those with factory access slinging bulk cigars to US/Euro buyers who sell on. Perfect timing right now. 

This movie has played before and  generally ends in a two ways. 

1. The Cubans end up in the US or elsewhere once they have enough moola. 2.The Cubans end up in jail. 

Sadly, nothing ever occurs to the US/Euro part of the syndicate. Of course, they are only doing it to help the Cuban people. 

[LordAnubis]

So you’re saying if someone said 

“they are made by rollers at the factory (el laguito). And they use leaf from blends being made in the factory. They are NOT random blends. They are blends me and my contact arrange to get made because we know people and have contacts.”

Then there may be a shred of truth that this is actually possible? 

[El Presidente]

1 hour ago, LordAnubis said:

So you’re saying if someone said 

“they are made by rollers at the factory (el laguito). And they use leaf from blends being made in the factory. They are NOT random blends. They are blends me and my contact arrange to get made because we know people and have contacts.”

Then there may be a shred of truth that this is actually possible? 

Certainly possible. Unlikely.

More likely is 1000's + of regular bandless production cigars being stolen via side door. 

If you are involved in the blending discussion that would complicate the situation astronomically.

[Perla]

This is a topic where I miss Nino and his insight. 
Well the fairytale of taking 3-5 sticks on a daily basis don’t fit in a bundle with homogeneous looking cigars. Use your common sense spice it up with the demands on both side and you got the picture. 

[Corylax18]

7 hours ago, Perla said:

This is a topic where I miss Nino and his insight. 

I learned a tremendous amount from Nino, I too wish he was still around. 

2 hours ago, therealrsr said:

As I said I can't verify or prove much of anything.

Then why pass it along? That's what gives rumors and falsehoods a life. The people reselling these cant pass along the whole truth, especially names and photos of rollers. It would be terrible for business if that info was out in the wind and a very real threat to those peoples day jobs. Nobody in the industry will(can) admit they participate in this type of thing, but they all do, they would be crazy not to. 

2 hours ago, therealrsr said:

Peace and try one if given the chance.

2 hours ago, therealrsr said:

What I can prove through personal experience with ~15 different offerings is they make some fine cigars for a currently reasonable price.

You're preaching to the choir. I don't buy from any of the resellers, but 90% of my purchases and about 8 in 10 cigars I smoke are Unbanded. Either farmies or customs from the factories or LCDH rollers in Havana. I learned about them on my first trip to Cuba about 7 years ago and fell in love. 

[BoliDan]

Go to castle morro. You can buy their custom rolls. They just happen to have a cohiba band on em. 🤔

[rondogg]

Guys thank for this insightful information - I don't really care much about the labels but how they smoke and it seems there's some really good information for my getaway to Cuba in October, if you have any reco's for rollers specifically and how to contact them please DM me. I would sincerely appreciate it or I'll reach out 1:1 - please keep this coming.

[NSXCIGAR]

On 8/27/2023 at 7:45 PM, rondogg said:

if you have any reco's for rollers specifically and how to contact them

I'd only go to either La Chine or Juanita. Juanita is at Melia Cohiba or sometimes Riviera. Both have her customs. Both hotels are next to each other. La Chine is at the new Partagas shop in old Havana near the Floridita. 

[rondogg]

Well, seems like I am due for a trip Oct 19-23rd time to get some of the good stuff, if you guys have any reco's for shop's I'd be curious. I read up on the Cuba forum, they seems few and far between atm.

[NSXCIGAR]

41 minutes ago, rondogg said:

if you guys have any reco's for shop's

Have low expectations. Shops have been bone dry for over a year. The only shops I seem to find a few gems in are Habana Libre and Melia Habana. I never find anything at Nacional, El Faro, 5ta y 16 or Comodoro. But the Comodoro is a great place to smoke. 

[Low]

1 hour ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Shops have been bone dry for over a year.

I've been looking to see if someone would bring back a box of the SCdlH La Cabaña for me. Have you seen any of those around recently? I remember hearing they were gathering dust not too long ago 

[NSXCIGAR]

50 minutes ago, Low said:

I've been looking to see if someone would bring back a box of the SCdlH La Cabaña for me. Have you seen any of those around recently? I remember hearing they were gathering dust not too long ago 

Haven't seen any of those since early this year and only a couple. I believe those are gone. I would dispute they were gathering dust. Most LCDHs had less than 10 boxes in Apr 22 so possibly before that they were plentiful but not since. I also saw stacks of Punch La Isla in Apr 22 but by June 22 finding one or two boxes was difficult. 

I haven't seen any decent stock anywhere since Oct 22. Some things popped up around festival time in Feb but generally there's been no improvement in the last 12 months.

[Low]

1 hour ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Most LCDHs had less than 10 boxes in Apr 22 so possibly before that they were plentiful but not since

I should've used a better phrase rather than "not too long ago". It was post where someone was reporting on what they saw in Jan/Feb of 2022 (I actually could be misremembering and it was late 21), but that was 18 months ago and we all know what happened in that time frame 

[Digi]

8 hours ago, Low said:

I should've used a better phrase rather than "not too long ago". It was post where someone was reporting on what they saw in Jan/Feb of 2022 (I actually could be misremembering and it was late 21), but that was 18 months ago and we all know what happened in that time frame 

I managed to snag two boxes about a year ago, both with gnarly pricing at ~$600 each.

[NSXCIGAR]

10 hours ago, Digi said:

I managed to snag two boxes about a year ago, both with gnarly pricing at ~$600 each.

Yikes, you can get them on BR for ~$400 now. 

They are good though. Excellent cigars. 

[hanzalashaikh]

I've been a huge fan of the Factory Custom Rolls for a while now. Can't beat their quality, and the value is pretty impressive. I noticed a difference in the taste between batches, though. I guess it all comes back to the cigar roller skills and the tobacco used each time.

[Ford2112]