Cuba November 2025!

[Simon Bolivar]

Thanks for the interesting and detailed report Simon Bolivar and don't forget to take your cigars out of the freezer this time! 🥶😉

Ha! Yesm was 6months later I rediscovered them last time! First batch already out of the freezer & defrosting in the fridge.

[Ryan]

Just got back last night and crazy busy since.
Very nice to see you Simon in Havana, though brief!
Hope Varadero was nice, I still haven't been.
Lots of good cigars, good rum, good music.
I'm lucky that my apartment doesn't get power cuts, except for a few hours on Wednesday when nearly the whole country went down. Not too bad for me. I went to the Hotel Nacional 200 yards away from my place. Power and cellular data working there.
Spent three great days in Pinar del Rio on the farm and meeting with other farmers.
I was in Cuba for three weeks and it flew by. Already looking forward to the next trip in Ferbruary, though lots to do in the meantime.
I'll get pictures and comments up soon when I have time.

[Ryan]

So, Cuba.
Arrived on November 12. First week, meetings and meetings with friends. The euro at 490 pesos. Stayed around that during the tip, dropping briefly to 460.
Lump of cash required. I think that was about €1,500, or 727,500 pesos.

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Found the perfect room to host a coffee / cigar pairing in February. Just opened.

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Monday night before Partagas Festival, a friend had an event in a house in Santa Fe, west of Havana. Our driver Rita at the end of the night

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Restaurant Antojos in the old town has a new room upstairs that is really very nice. Food and service not quite matching yet though.

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My assistant Amanda works for a humidor and ashtray company. Went to her event on the Saturday after the Partagas festival in a very nice newish cigar lounge by the river, All Mar.

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Tuesday, we went to the trade fair in ExpoCuba. I usually hate trade fairs, but this was quite fun and successful too.

Tipsy by 10:30 am

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My old favourite rum Caney Añejo Centuria has been relaunched. I tihnk it's quite similar to the old version. At the moment, only available in the airport in Havana but 12 USD a bottle isn't bad.

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A friend of mine Fidel, graphic designer, built quite a few of the stands at the trade fair for some of the Cuban state companies and private companies. He had a month and a half of all hands on deck but worth it for him. It bought him his Mercedes EQS.
I called out to the fair to see him the week before it started. This was the Crystal beer stand on the Friday and then on the Monday.

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They had a nightclub of sorts set up inside the giant can. It was pretty cool. He didn't like the varnish but the client insisted.

Behike 58 in a box spotted for the first time at the trade fair.
Going on sale in January. I asked the Habanos representative how much they'd be going for, "about $250" he says. I nearly spit out my rum laughing. I'd be surprised if they'll be less than $500 anywhere and more like $700.

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The rest of the day went well. More contracts signed. All very nice.

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Fidel also built the "Bucanero Fest" built stage and stands. A ticket for 500 pesos (about 90p) got you 10 beers. A nice place to finish off the day. Festival goers were legless. I believe it was mayhem by the end of the week, but I was in Viñales.

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I've wanted one of these ashtrays for a while but didn't want to spend money on it. A waitress brought us a new one at the fair during lunch for our cigars.
I offered her $5 for it, "no". $10 and she couldn't get it wrapped up fast enough! Throw in two beers, two waters and two pork sandwiches and one of the better $12 lunches for two I've had!

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More to come.

[Ryan]

I'll add larger pictures for this post.
The night before I went to Viñales, I went to a business/networking dinner. These have been quite good in the past but this time not so good. The format was a waste of time so we skidaddled. Rita and Jeff came into Habana Vieja and we went to a new "secret" bar on the Prado.
Selva (meaning Jungle, I think because of the potted plants), but very nice. Cheap beer, good food (home made nachos hot out of the oven and guacamole). "Shabby chic", I think describes it but this is more of the more "accessible" design options for a venue in Havana. Cigar smoking encouraged.
The large format pictures were too big.

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[Ryan]

Wednesday morning off to Viñales for three days to spend time on the coffee farm.
A friend of mine Yeni, tour operator now based in Viñales, organised everything for us.
We stayed at her sister's casa particular (B&B), $15 per room per night. 18 hour per day power cuts in Viñales but many places now have a generator.

Yeni
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New coffee seedlings and shade trees on the farm
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We've gone from 2 workers last November to 20 now.
More coffee and farm
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Our rooms didn't have glasses so I cut a water bottle to make a cup for my rum on the balcony. Amanda joined me and wanted some rum so got the awkward end of the bottle
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Lunch on the farm, no power so magnetic camping lights. 1st quarter next year, I'm installing 5kW of solar panels, battery and inverter. I already have the quote, so that will solve that.
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Nightclub "El Bily", the only nightclub in Viñales. Good band. I spotted a pleasant, handsome, lesbian sex tourist. My unicorn!
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Next day, back on the farm.

Morning in Viñales
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Coffee berries going into the washed process depulper.

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Clearing more of the brush.
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Having a chat with farm manager Yayo over some of the staff.
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A cigar rolled by a coffee farmer and cut with a machete. Still better than any non Cuban cigar I've ever had. Seriously.

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Lunch the next day.
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Then went to meet another farmer Juan Miguel. Very eager to sell me his 67 hectares of Arabica, I'll take it, pending contracts. Also has 1 tonne of coffee honey annually that I want. Then he says he wants to sell me his tobacco. A conversation for another day..

Serious man, Juan Miguel
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More coffee and "Natural process" coffee drying in the sun. This coffee is actually better than the washed process stuff, but will take time to convince the market.
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More to come..

[Ryan]

Booze prices in Viñales, I wanted to find a bottle of Jameson for Yayo who likes whiskey but was drinking something akin to "I can't believe It's not whiskey." Found the Jameson in the 6th shop I tried. Prices were good. Divide prices by 500 for very close euro prices.
Jameson Black Barrel for €20 for example. I bought a bottle here in Dublin yesterday as a Christmas present for my mechanic and spent €57.
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A litre of Havana Club 7 for 14 euro.
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Last night in nightclub, Yeni joined us.
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Next morning in the local town near the farm. Next year I want to build a social centre / pavillion with solar panels, where people can charge their phones and lamps, kids can play basketball, have a date, old people can meet, play chess and dominoes, out of the sun. I have the location. One of the problems I'll have is not enough people left in the area to work on the farm. I'm investing in the schools and health clinic too. Trying to reduce migration.

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Last photo op with some of the current harvest.

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One of the workers mothers using the pilon to separate coffee from the husks (I needed a sample), "Give that to me, nobody can do it like I can!", Just like my mother.
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[Ryan]

Back in Havana on the Saturday and the old H. Upmann factory looking a little sad.

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Saturday night I got a table for 10 reserved in Yarini (very cool newish rooftop venue in Habana Vieja) to see Alexander Abreu and his Havana d'Primera salsa band. Probably the best salsa band left in Cuba. He fills stadiums in Miami.

Everyone of us at the table smoking a large cigar. Did I say I love Cuba?

Food and drinks for 4 hours, 10 people, including cover charge, came to about €200.

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My lawyer Cynthia and Amanda.

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Alexander Abreu. He likes cigars, I managed to give him a 2001 Cohiba Esplendido at the end of the night. I fawned like a schoolgirl

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Rita
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A friend Jefferson, hospitality manager in a boutique hotel, brought his boss and coworker. Jefferson keeps on giving!

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Artist, and boyfriend of Rita, Jeff.

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Jeff and Cynthia my lawyer

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Fidel's wife Susie. Incredibly sharp person.

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[Ryan]

Sunday lunch, went to Santy Pescador, best fish restaurant in Havana to test a Laguito No. 2 that I had blended for the cigar / coffee pairing in February. One of the best lunches in the world and letters of interest signed with Fidel to make humidors for a limited release for the Irish regional. More to come on that. Fidel, with some advice from me, will be the best humidor maker in Havana very soon. I have no doubt.

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I'm lucky that my wife (and her sister) met Amanda in June and immediately loved her. She's brilliant, I'd be lost without her.
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Sunday afternoon, we went to visit Fidel at his little farm in Boyeros near the airport.
Probably my favourite day of the trip.
Hanging out with his family and some of his staff. He father in law killed an 8-month old pig that morning, that had been fed for 6 months almost exclusively on avocado. Fidel has 7 species of avocado on the farm that ripen at different times of year, so he gets 6 months of avocado with not much to do with them. Also has Mamey (an extraordinary fruit I've never seen in Europe, with the texture of honeydew melon and a flavour between peach and strawberry), and mango.
The tastiest juiciest pork ribs I've had in a while and no seasoning watsover.

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A log of treefall Spanish cedar on the farm.

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Got back to my apartment that evening and there was a fashion show in the pavilion opposite. You couldn't make this stuff up.

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After that I called in to the Disco Temba (an afternoon disco for over-40s in the Salon Rojo nightclub). That was a laugh.

[Ryan]

Monday, I went to meet Alex in the Faro cigar shop to order more cigars. I liked a book by an artist, Marcel Molina, I saw on a coffee table. Some of his art is on the walls there. Alexis went in the back and got me a new copy for my wife, who also loves him. He's a lovely guy.
Turns out, Alexis know Marcel Molina and arranged for me to meet him the following day.
Jeff (Rita's boyfriend) wants to organise an art auction during the Habanos festival to raise funds for the community around the farm in Viñales. I will add cigars (boxes of 2003 Siglo VI and 1998 Monte Especiales) to the auction to make it a "Cigars and Art" auction. Having cigars at it will get more festival goers to the auction, who might bid on the art.
Turns out, Amanda who has a degree in Art History, knows Marcel Molina and Marcel was a student of Jeff. He also makes cigar-related art and he's very eager to be part of the charity auction.
I get very lucky in Havana. Again, you couldn't make this stuff up.

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Marcel and Amanda
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One of Marcels' pieces, actually a table top.

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[Ryan]

Tuesday afternoon, my last full day, I went back to Cafe Dandy (where I had a cigar with you, Simon) for an after lunch cigar. I really like this place. Great people watching and love the photos and art on the walls.

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Then met up with Amanda again and off to Fidel's office and workshop to show around artist Frank who will be doing the artwork on the humidors for the Irish regional.

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A humidor that Fidel's company made for Hirochi Robaina. The drawers have a better action than any humidor I've ever handled at the Habanos festival dinners.

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My last night, I met up with Rozy for dinner, who has done some modelling, marketing and social media work for me.
Back to Cesar Jazz Club. Live jazz (actually very good), free pouring Santiago 11 year old and a cañonazo. Very civilised.

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After dinner, saw Rozy home and I met up with some friends for a final night blowout in 1ra y 70 (beach-front nightclub area).
My last night went off the rails a little..

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I'll post a wrap up soon. And can I post video here? I have a couple of good ones..

[Ryan]

So, I had a successful and fun trip. I get a lot done in Cuba because I get inspired by people around me and only sleep for 3 or 4 hours a night, along with the odd nap in a taxi.
I get to bed at 4 or 5 am and up at 8 or 9 am.
Power cuts are the norm in Cuba. 4-6 hours per day in Havana, 8-9 hours in the outskirts and 20 hours in the countryside.
I'm lucky as my apartment very rarely has a power cut as I'm on the same block as the radio station. I only found that out on this trip.
Thought the power went last Wednesday for me too as most of the country went down for about 6 hours. I always bring lots of power banks and rechargeable lamps and flashlights. No big deal for me. Very difficult for many though.
Dengue and Chikungunya rampant in Havana, Oropuche and Zika not too bad yet but there. Nearly everyone I know has had one or more of them. Hasn't hit Pinar del Rio too badly yet but they are moving west. Matanzas (East of Havana) seems to to be the worst hit. The Cuban government has at last admitted that the viruses are now killing people. But there are a lot of malnourished people in Cuba. I took more repellant than ever on this trip and didn't wear shorts once, for the first time.
I steered clear of bites until last Monday night when I fell asleep on my balcony, after getting emails out, from 4am until 6 am. Woke up eaten. What do you do.
Lots of good rums available.
Lots of new little private stores open selling everything, toiletries, groceries, beer, water. Anything you'd need. Except medicine. Paracetamol is what's needed, not Ibuprofen and certainly not aspirin (one of the Dengue variants is hemorrhagic and ibuprofen can mask swelling, one of the symptoms). I brought over 2,000 paracetamol from a pharmacist friend and everyone very happy to get them.
Cigars, as usual these days, not much available in the shops. Cohiba and Trinidad (except Fundadores) available everywhere and then minis and some random tubos. People can get lucky. The only Habanos cigars I bought were some boxes of 10 Monte 4, about $80. Really because I wanted some facturas when going through security on the way out.
New restaurants opening up. As mentioned Selva. There is a new steak place Fuego y Lento, an American friend loved the rib-eye. For me it was fine but not much to write home about. The hamburger was very good though and the place itself is very nice. I went back to Anima y Core. Best pizza in Havana, owned by an Italian. Very good, wood fired pizza, Naples style for $5-$7. Cesar Jazz Club, also very good. All of these of course cigar friendly.
I had a meeting with a shipping company one morning in a building where the Spanish embassy also has a consulate office, the office where Spanish passports are issued. There were hundreds of people outside waiting for their appointment / passport. I felt bad walking past them. It reminded me of the US embassy here in Dublin in the 80s, in the golden days of US green cards for the Irish.
Great live music still to see, great art and events. Though Cuba still needs a decent event guide app, with categories. There is an opportunity there for someone.. For my event guide, I have Jefferson, hospitality manager in a hotel, who has a finger on that pulse. I hate missing shows because I haven't heard.
So that's about it. Good trip. Looking forward to the next one. Debating whether to go to the Habanos gala dinner. It's sold out but I'm lucky to know ticket people. I hate paying that money for a dinner. Though I might need to go.

[Ryan]

Last word on this today.
I see people on other forums and social media making a bit of a deal about women smoking cigars.
I have seen cigar companies and individuals in other parts of the world, and in Cuba, using women's thighs and cleavage to sell cigars.
I understand the effort, not a fan, but I get it. 99% of cigars are bought by middle-aged men.
One of the things I love about Cuba is that nearly everyone, with access to them, smokes cigars. Everybody I know who has moved to Cuba and had never smoked a cigar before now smokes cigars as part of the daily routine. Men and women, Cuban and foreign, smoking a cigar after a meal, usually a big cigar, 55 ring gauge and bigger and 6 - 7 inches, is the same as having a coffee after a meal here.
I love it.

[ha_banos]

Great write up there Ryan. Thanks. Great to see so much going on. All I'm reading are the horrors - some of which you've touched on ofc. Some great pics and stories too Best of luck with the endeavours for you and the people touched.

[mcdee]

Thanks Ryan, that was a really interesting read and you make it sound like Cuba is still well worth visiting.