Omg havanas next door!

[Deano]

I cannot believe it when I walked into get a bag of ice in the off-license, literally NEXT DOOR to my flats, this morning.

Havanas! Romeo y Julietas, Upmans, Bolivars, (and I think I saw Diplomaticos, but can't remember).

Ok so they're fairly expensive - ?9.50 for a tubed Romeo y Julieta no.2, but sheesh what a local resource for a Cuban!

Pretty lucky, as I work about 100 yards from a Brighton seller too - but they're prices are extreeme - e.g. ?30 for a Cohiba Robusto.

[Deano]

The quick haul I got considering the lack of cash:

[Robusto]

When you find a pit-stop for Havanas, you never forget it, do you?!
Unfortunately there aren't anything like enough of them. :(

[cohibaIV]

What was the quality like mate??? As the last time i got a Cuban from the local sellers (and I did not check before I paid) they were in awful condition...very very dry, NEVER again...
PS
And expensive!!!!

[Deano]

Quality was excellent - in tubes so pretty much have their own little individual humidors.

[Deano]

You can never guess what - after talking to the owner, she said there's now a big offering down the road too.

5 mins walk and I find this:

[Deano]

So I bought a few, and a new bottle of 7 year aged rum :)

[cohibaIV]

Nice find...:D
Bit pricey mate...:eek:

[Deano]

Aye won't be buying anymore!

[cohibaIV]

R they charging ?20 for sigloVI's???

[Stevieboy]

R they charging ?20 for sigloVI's???

That's what I thought after seeing the pictures. Very cheap for the UK - they're usually ?26+

[Deano]

I think the ?20 ones were Robustos - and they're ?30 in the cigar-specific shop in Brighton

[Robusto]

I am so bloody envious! There's nothing like that around my way. :(

[cohibaIV]

I'll stick to the online ordering, but I must admit, when I was in London I went to the TomTom shop and there walk in humidor is something else...very pricey cigars but I was like a kid in a sweet shop and could have stayed in there for hours touching, feeling and smelling.

[Deano]

Selfridges has a nice selection too.

[cohibaIV]

Selfridges has a nice selection too.

Agree, but once again, they take the mick with the prices they charge..:(

[Montesmoke]

Agree, but once again, they take the mick with the prices they charge..:(

Its great when you see a tobacconist selling top brand cubans, its exciting its happened to me in the past.
I have gone in & purchased a few sticks because of my enthusiasm & love of cigars.
Then realised about an hour later that in reality had paid well over the odds!!:rolleyes:
but it was a buzz to see & buy!!

[Major_Tom]

Yeah, to go to a real cigar shop really is a treat. Prices are insane though, I think the biggest rip off I've seen has to be ?16 for a Padron petit corona (any of JJ Fox's stores ie selfridges, harrods cigar room etc.) Actually Harrod's has 2 cigar rooms, but the one downstairs is a bit pants really compared with the Fox one on the ground floor.

My local newsagents, Montague's in Kings Langley, has a range of havanas and a few NC's too. About 9.80 for a R&J Tubo No 2 though (fave tubo :P) so ridiculous price. Only one Ive bought from there seemed nice and moist and certainly wasnt dry, but suffered from terrible tunneling. Not sure what the problem was there. Shame cos it tasted luvly.

Ive been doing a lot of travelling with work recently so I've noticed that there is a humidor selling a range of cuban tubos (mainly coronas and petit coronas, as well as a few monte 2's) and a lot of Davidoff's. They are not bad prices too, about ?20 for a box of 3, but its for international flights only. Their humidor is reading 65% at the mo so shouldnt be too bad.

Heathrow has duty free cigar rooms in all terminals bar the domestic departure lounge, I hear. I wonder if that is Mr Orchant's doing?

[Montesmoke]

Probably to do with Hunters&Frankau they are the main distributor of cuban cigars for the u.k. they supply most of the u.k. cigar outlets.
Like most of the U.K. cigar outlets they are so overpriced its ridiculous!
im amazed they are still operating.

[Major_Tom]

Yes, I've heard about that. Surely H&F have been investigated by the Office of Fair Trade if they hold a monopoly? Normally they step in if the market concentration ratio reaches even 30-40%...

[Montesmoke]

I agree, watch this space:)

[Major_Tom]

http://havanajournal.com/business/entry/court_decision_to_affect_mastercigars_direct_hunte rs_frankau_and_50_owner_o/

Looks like they've already been challenged by an Irish company and won.

Still, this was a case of the subtle nuances of import law -they still haven't been investigated by the OoFT...

[cohibaIV]

http://havanajournal.com/business/entry/court_decision_to_affect_mastercigars_direct_hunte rs_frankau_and_50_owner_o/

Looks like they've already been challenged by an Irish company and won.

Still, this was a case of the subtle nuances of import law -they still haven't been investigated by the OoFT...


Very interesting artical, do we know the out come??

[Major_Tom]

H&F won.

"In a recent decision judge Fysh QC, sitting as a High Court Judge, ruled that a consignment of genuine cigars originating from Cuba infringed UK and Community trade marks owned by a Cuban company since there was neither express nor implied consent to their importation. "

[cohibaIV]

Whoops, missed that....

[emeraldisle]

Afternoon,

In my neck of the woods ie Northern Ireland, cigar outlets are a rarity. There is a grand total of two, one in Belfast called Miss Morans and the one I purchase my cigars from which is Havana House in Lisburn. The chap there Tony is well informed when it comes to recommending what to smoke/what not to smoke etc. Gradually going through the different cigar ranges currently.

Gabriel

[cohiba-cohiba]

Deano

If they sell chaep cohiba mate im moving in with you tonight, lol and the 7 yr old rum mmm not my cup of tea I like the G&T with a rather large fat cohiba. I found a website an excellent website if anyone is interested for cigars it is a trade lead website for basically anything you want. I put in cigars and the list was as long as your arm only down fall uk customs will charge you an arm and a leg on tax they will only sell wholesale to the uk.

Interested let me know will need to find the site again as saved to my fav on my old pc that crashed. will get it again on google if need be.

Keep smmookkiinngg

[did64]

It was indeed a pity when Master's lost that case to H&F.

The situation in the U.K. in slightly odd.

Many countries in the world have an official importer for that country or region, (that buys cigars directly from Cuba), as well as unofficial importers that are usually cheaper but acquire their cigars through unofficial channels and consequently sometimes get duped and buy fakes.

In most E.U. Countries there is only one official importer (Altadis in Spain, 5th Avenue in Germany etc.) and the prices are regulated by the government. So the prices of cigars are exactly the same in any shop you go to in Germany, Spain, France etc. This means there is no point for any 'parrallel importer' to start bringing cigars into E.U. countries.

In England however H&F is not tied to government controlled prices in the same way, so shops are free to charge whatever they want, as they can in many non-E.U. countries, Switzerland included. This is part of the reason why Master's tried to get in on the act in Britain. For quite a while until this case Master's were operating within a legal grey area, and it is still possible to find cigar shops in the U.K.that purchase some of their cigars outside of official H&F import channels.

(p.s. This is only a very abridged and simplified version of a very complicated matter)

[cohibaIV]

What happend to Fair Trade????

[Dean]

where is this store? 'ill be down brighton way at the weekend, wish had something like this nearer me, am lucky to get a tubed henri winterman from tesco lol

[Drewmidorn]

Dean, when i used to live down that way there was a small tobacconist/new store in canterburynot far from the cathedral that always had a handful of Upmann petit coronas and R&J tubes. There was also one at the bottom of the high street in maidstone... never bought there so i'm not sure... but if the tubes were kept tight they should be ok.

D

[Robusto]

Drew

There was indeed a reliable tobacconist with a good humidor stocked with a variety of sticks very close to Canterbury Cathedral. I ofter dropped in there when in town on a Saturday. That shop closed down some four or five years ago and is now some noncey cafe or other. Very disappointing when it shut down.

There's another tobacconist in Canterbury not far from he catherdal which used to have Havanas. Towards the King's School and Christ Church. It's more pipe-oriented now. I went in there last Saturday after I'd bought the ?7 torch lighter from Milletts to buy butane lighter fuel.

There used to be an old-style tobacconist in Sandwich. They stocked Havanas but used to keep them under the glass counter in original boxes and not in a humidor. I bought one and it was dried out so I never went back.