Cuba November 2025!

[smokey joe]

Have a great trip. Look forward to reading all about it.

[Simon Bolivar]

See you soon! I arrived yesterday. Will probably go to the opening Partagas event, not the gala. I might be in Viñales then. Bring mosquito repellent. Lots of paracetamol.

Do you mean the registration on Monday or the first day proper on Tuesday? I;ll be at both from midday until late. Would love to meet up, most of my friends that were going are cancelling because of the US shutdown, they can't get their visas, Air Traffic control also an issue & subsequent reduction of flights.
Trying to send you a private message Ryan, can you receive them?

[Ryan]

Do you mean the registration on Monday or the first day proper on Tuesday? I;ll be at both from midday until late. Would love to meet up, most of my friends that were going are cancelling because of the US shutdown, they can't get their visas, Air Traffic control also an issue & subsequent reduction of flights.
Trying to send you a private message Ryan, can you receive them?

Hello Simon! I don't seem to be able to receive messages here. Don't know why. I will be around for the registration on Monday and going to the opening event Tuesday night. There is "side event" on Monday night in Santa Fe, western Havana. Vivian, the manager from the LCDH Melia Cohiba, is having a do. Her things are usually nice. Drinks food cigars fashion show etc. 5 pm. Tickets will be available at Partagas. They are usually $50. Nice event though. I'll try to get a message to you somehow with my WhatsApp number here.

[Ryan]

Do you mean the registration on Monday or the first day proper on Tuesday? I;ll be at both from midday until late. Would love to meet up, most of my friends that were going are cancelling because of the US shutdown, they can't get their visas, Air Traffic control also an issue & subsequent reduction of flights.
Trying to send you a private message Ryan, can you receive them?

Simon I sent you an Instagram message with my WhatsApp number.
if I can think of any other forms of social media to use to contact you, I’ll do that!

[Ryan]

Dinner last night in a new place by the port . Cesar Jazz Club. Very good. A Japanese owner, here for 25 years, doing sushi, squid ink risotto and wagyu burgers. All good and cheap. Her Cuban husband plays saxophone in the band. Bumped into Luis Harguindey there, and had a very useful chat with him. Smoking encouraged on the mezzanine level.

The guy in silhouette in the foreground is one of my favorite Cuban Artists , Jeff (Jose Emilio Fuentes Fonseca) who happens to be going out with a friend of mine.

IMG_4432.jpg IMG_4435.jpg Luis Harguindey is, oddly, in shot in this one.

IMG_4438.jpg

[Simon Bolivar]

Simon I sent you an Instagram message with my WhatsApp number.
if I can think of any other forms of social media to use to contact you, I’ll do that!

Reply sent, finger crossed we'll manage to hook up & smoke a Party or two!

[Cigar_Addict]

Reply sent, finger crossed we'll manage to hook up & smoke a Party or two!

The ultimate herf

[mcdee]

Dinner last night in a new place by the port . Cesar Jazz Club. Very good. A Japanese owner, here for 25 years, doing sushi, squid ink risotto and wagyu burgers. All good and cheap. Her Cuban husband plays saxophone in the band. Bumped into Luis Harguindey there, and had a very useful chat with him. Smoking encouraged on the mezzanine level.

The guy in silhouette in the foreground is one of my favorite Cuban Artists , Jeff (Jose Emilio Fuentes Fonseca) who happens to be going out with a friend of mine.

IMG_4432.jpg IMG_4435.jpg Luis Harguindey is, oddly, in shot in this one.

IMG_4438.jpg

Looks fantastic 👌

[NorthernPuro]

Have an amazing trip, looking forward to the debrief!

[OtELos]

Hotel Nacional went black out no electricity yesterday !!!


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[ha_banos]

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/cuba-struggles-ease-power-cuts-amid-reduced-fuel-supplies-venezuela-mexico-2025-11-19/

The Economist: Cuba is heading for disaster, unless its regime changes drastically

https://archive.ph/84d3A#selection-1283.0-1315.719

https://havanatimes.org/features/cuba-is-freezing-the-bank-accounts-of-all-foreign-companies/

Right before the festival. Is bad timing for the tourism for sure. Good luck and keep us posted!

[ha_banos]

How was the trip by the way?

[Simon Bolivar]

Hotel Nacional went black out no electricity yesterday !!!


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I visited Hotel Nacional twice, lights were on then. Had a blackout in Cienfuegos, after dark. That was interesting.

[Simon Bolivar]

How was the trip by the way?

Arrived back on Thursday late. Just updated my cigar diary & my cigars are wrapped & in the freezer for a 3 day chill.

The trip had good & not so good aspects to keep it short:

Air Europe, flew from GWK to MAD no problem. Boarded our connecting flight to HAV & they kept us sat in our seats for 2hrs waiting to take off, an hour before any explanation. Apparently, during the 2hrs between landing & boarding they managed to lose some baggage! The flight was long & no more leg room than an internal UK flight. Next to the toilets so a flush every 5mons made sure we didn't waste any of the flight sleeping!

We arrived very late but the classic car turned up as promised & drove us to our hotel, the Grand Aston, Havana.

Hotel was only 2yo & nothing wrong with it, although there were shortages of various foods, inc Sungar. Sad indeed, previously the biggest producer, now they have to import it to make rum. Saccharine on the table, had to ask a waiter to get some of the real stuff, then he disappeared it again.

Mon 17th Had a wee ERDM DT 2015, after breakfast & then I went to register for the Friends of Partagas Festival. Wasted time & money going to the (new) Partagas Factory, turns out registration was at the PArtagas LACH, in the same square as Floridita. Got sorted there & smoked an 1998 Party 898 (my own stock obviously), I stayed there until Andy Ryan caught up with me & took me to el Dandy, a nice cafe opposite, which allowed smoking. He generously gifted me a Punch EL Ireland 2025, something I wouldn't have come across otherwise. A very decent smoke indeed, sure they'll age nicely, as Punch can. And a giant panatela rolled by Papos.

That evening too my wife to el Invito, recommended by Andy, just at the back of our hotel. Best meal of the trip! Excellent lobster $10 & wife had a large pork dish for $7.50.

Tues 18th We spent the morning of an included tour of the city. We passed the Partagas Casa, where the Cocktail party was due to take place in the evening. Noted it was outdoors, with no cover.

Later went with my wife to the Hotel Abos Mundos, where we dined on our first evening in Havana 2011 asked for the lunch menu - no food. I asked if they would serve dinner - no food. I asked if it was food they were actually short of or a chef? No, no food. Considering this is one of the most well known hotels in Havana (an old Hemmingway haunt), that was both shocking & disappointing.
I smoked a Hoyo Epi No2 2005 & then we left.

Bought a bottle of rum & a pack of 3 Cohiba Robustos for $225 at a cigar shop (not LCDH). The biggest Cohiba I bring myself to buy. Went on to the Hotel Nacional & thye just had the most expensive lines, Cohiba, Trini's, Top line Party's & R&J. And the cheapest. I chose a pack of 5 Monte No3's x5.

That evening it poured down & nearly put me off going to the Festival but it stopped just before I was due to leave & it had cost me $180 so I got a taxi & went for it. Bit worried when I arrived, as I was the only one! I wondered if others had cancelled due to the rain? Turns out I was there at 18:30 & the evening wasn't due to start until 19:00. Received a party goody bag of 7 cigars, canapes & rum cocktails also included. Entertainment was excellent, the sax player was so good I tried to get her details to buy her music but none of the organisers seemed to know who she was.

I bumped into Reza, owner of the Antwerp LCDH, who told me just how bad things are getting in Belgium, no smoking in cigar shops, no smoking outside them & in 2027, no smoking outside any cafe! Also saw Andy & friends & Aura from Porto. I smoked a Party Astorias 1998 (deleted), which was as good as the 898 & my penultimate Cohiba Lanceros 2011. Which reminded me how good these are, with a few yrs of age but I can't see me buying any more at current prices. I might have been persuaded to buy a pack of 3 but never saw any & are unikey too; very few being currently being produced due to lack of rollers of sufficient skill to roll them.


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