Cigars

THere's a place on Stoke Newington High St which has just opened up, selling cuban cigars and boxing equipment. Yeah I don't get it either. Looks legit otherwise though. Anyone been?

Top-tip... or perhaps just common sense... Don't buy cigars from London City Airport.

THere's a place on Stoke Newington High St which has just opened up, selling cuban cigars and boxing equipment. Yeah I don't get it either. Looks legit otherwise though. Anyone been?

You got a link to thier website? Do they have a website??

Got a box of Don Carlos God Of Fire from 2006 recently, not cheap, but one of the best smokes i have ever had, unbelievably smooth. Just got back from a couple of months in Switzerland, and my wallet has taken a hammering but my humidor is very happy!

You got a link to thier website? Do they have a website??

http://www.luisfernandohavanos.co.uk/

Love the 'Real Cigar Lovers' slide show

I just bought a Partagas 898 from 1999. Apparently Partagas changed their blend after 1999, so the 1999 898s taste pretty different from the 2000s onwards...
I also bought a Cuaba Divinos, which will be the first I've smoked forom the marca. Maybe sad, but I'm pretty excited. :)

I am a big fan of the Cuaba Divinos, great little smoke

Nice, well I look forward to smoking it.

We shoud meet up for a smoke soon, mate. Maybe you could swap me one of those Don Carlos for something similar... ;)

Can't go wrong with an 8-9-8. Cuabas are great, very tobacco flavoured. I like the bigger ones as I ran into problems years ago with smaller figurados having draw problems. The Salomones are ridiculously tasty.

It's gonna be a beautiful day tomorrow. I'm sure as hell going to spend some of it smoking my last Punch and a Monte Cristo or two in the garden of the Britannia. I've got my humidor working perfectly and everything is in lovely condition now.

If you're coming to the wedding reception, be sure to bring something delicious to smoke.

I'm planning on it. Glad to hear you got your humidor sorted; now you just need to fill it. ;^)

I will bring something special.
Thank you for the invitation,
I will be in tweed

im hoping to enjoy a smoke or two this weekend if the weather holds.

Any plans for another group buy? Got a couple of weddings end of the summer, including my sisters, I have appointed myself as stogie provider, need to get a dozen or so for the important people. Most are smokers but not cigars, thinking of getting some maduros (i really liked the Oliva Serie G robusto maduro and its non Cuban)
Any recommendations for light/medium smokes for noobs?

Thanks again Harrong and Dale for the presents, and for bringing over my stash from Forms.
It was lovely to get a few hours herfing in on Saturday.

I may well take a couple of short ones to Easts tomorrow and get an early smoke in while the sun is shining.

Who was I gassing with in a bowler hat & sunglasses, as we cycled along in the Tweed Run - a fellow herfer off here?

I was smoking a Partagas P2, riding a silver / purple colnago......

I picked up a Cohiba from the place on Stoke Newington High St on Sunday. The guy who runs it is an absolute pimp - Panama hat, south american music blasting, and Cohibas for a fiver. Brilliant.

Fidel Castro has resigned his position in Cuba.
does this mean Cuban cigars will go up or down in price?
Unlikely the USA embargo will be lifted as tehy still have a communist regime, but it may happen if they have a change of overseers government?

Other than that this weather is ideal for a good old fashioned herf, sadly i am busy for the next few weeks :(

The reason the embargo still exists is solely because the Cuban ex-pat community carries a lot of political weight in the south. No politician would advocate lifting the embargo because it could prove career limiting.

Having said that, I think things will change and it will eventually be lifted. When it does, cigar quality will go to hell for a number of years before most likely getting better and on-par with non-Cubans. I'm stocking up now in preparation for that inevitable dry period.

Who was I gassing with in a bowler hat & sunglasses, as we cycled along in the Tweed Run - a fellow herfer off here?

I was smoking a Partagas P2, riding a silver / purple colnago......

That would be I, Hai!

After chatting, I wished I bought along one of my Partagas No4's.
The P2 looked well enjoyed!

Thanks again Harrong and Dale for the presents, and for bringing over my stash from Forms.
It was lovely to get a few hours herfing in on Saturday.

Your very welcome, Wish I could have stayed for herf with you but I was already way later than was expected at that point.

Yes, its not that hard to get hold of a Cuban cigar in the US

On a side note i am enjoying my last Monte the Bluequin kindly got for us in the garden right now - great smokes and many thanks again for sorting

I wonder if the number of Cuban fakes will skyrocket if the embargo falls?

I know the embargo only affects the States, it's why I can't buy them at home. However, the States is a massive market and it would dwarf Spain if/when it opens to Cuba. There is also precedent.

In the late 90s there was a cigar boom in the States; everybody smoked and it was fashionable to have a cigar. Magazines like Smoke and Cigar Aficionado were started, martini and cigar bars opened everywhere and many, many cigar labels were started and internet sites started supplying Americans with Cubans. The boom lasted a couple of years and abruptly stopped.

All those cigar bars and labels went out of business and I think Cigar Aficionado was the only magazine to barely hang in there by the skin of its teeth. More to the point, the effect it had on Cuban cigar quality was pronounced. Cuba overproduced to meet demand and quality plummeted. You can still find 'vintage' cigars at cut-rate prices on most sites from '99 and 2000 because almost anyone with experience avoids those years like the plague. The leaves weren't aged properly, the rolling was shoddy at best and a box of cigars resembled tent pegs more than anything else. It wasn't uncommon for fewer than 10% to be smokable and it isn't unheard of that some boxes were completely fucked.

Finally, cigars in the States are rarely 'puros' from one region. They will have a Nicaraguan filler, Honduran binder and Connecticut wrapper or similar. Much of Cuban tobacco will be used in other cigars from existing marcas so they can say they are Cuban or use Cuban leaf. A pure Cuban cigar will become much rarer than it is now.

So, based on all that, I think the quality will take a massive hit. It will return, but it will take a few years and I won't be buying then, so I'm stocking up now.