Expert: James Yee - 10/29/2009

Question
Hi James, I bought a couple of Diplomaticos N° 2 from a cigar store (NOT a LCDH), they seem perfectly fine and both taste very good. You can't find Diplomaticos at the local LCDH. So I returned to the store and bought some more, this time two out of three were very bad, like smoking a big cigarette and the third one was good as I remembered were the first ones. I checkedthe cigars, the box and the rings very good before buying them and seemed OK. The same thing happened with some Vegas Robaina Unicos.

What do you think?


Answer
Hi Daniel,

It's hard to say... with premium, handrolled cigars, it's not uncommon to occasionally receive a bad cigar in a box.  It's important to remember that there are many cigar rollers rolling a particular cigar in a factory and all the cigars are later gathered, colour sorted by hand and then packaged.  As a result, a single box of 25 cigars could have been rolled by 25 different cigar rollers using 25 different bales of tobacco and the quality may vary between each cigar.

Also, even though the cigar store you purchased the cigars from wasn't an LCDH, was it still an authorized Habanos retailer?  If yes, the cigars are most likely genuine.  If the store is not an authorized retailer (supplied by the appointed Habanos distributor), the cigars are questionable.  The Habanos-appointed distributor for Peru is VEGAS DEL CARIBE, E.I.R.L.  They are the ONLY Habanos distributor for Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia and all local, authorized Habanos stores in these countries will be supplied by them.  If you're unsure if a store is supplied by them or believe a certain store may be carrying fake cigars, you should contact them and they may be able to help.

Here is Vegas Del Caribe's contact info:

Vegas Del Caribe, E.I.R.L.
President: Mr. Hamed Abou Zahr
Commercial Director: Mrs. Gloria Díaz Muñiz
Address: Avenida La Universidad 1180 La Molina, Lima, Perú
Phone: 511 368 15 72
Fax: 511 479 1885
Email: vegasdelcaribe@terra.com.pe
Website: www.vegasdelcaribe.com

The fact that this happened with two Diplomaticos cigars as well as Robaina cigars is a bit suspicious.  I would first check if that cigar store is an authorized Habanos retailer or not. Ask the store staff who their Cuban cigar distributor is.  If they say a distributor other than Vegas Del Caribe or explain that they get their cigars from another country/distributor because it's cheaper, be suspicious.

If this store does not receive their supply of cigars from Vegas del Caribe, you should shop elsewhere.

Hopes this helps.  As always, if you have any more questions, please feel free to just ask and I will be happy to help.

Regards,
James