Expert: James Yee - 2/27/2007

Question
Hi James, Have you ever heard of Royal Habanos?  They are displaying the Habanos Seal on their web site.
Thanks, Dave

Answer
Hi Dave

Unfortunately, I have not heard of Royal Habanos before.  I just checked out their website and though they claim to be genuine, some things about their website does not sound right so buyer beware.  First, they claim that Cimex SA provides all their cigars.  Cimex SA is indeed a real Cuban company.  In fact, it’s a government-operated parent company with subsidiaries covering everything from retail stores, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels and fuel stations.  However, Habanos SA (formerly Cubatabaco) is the sole distributor for Cuban cigars in Cuba.  Any genuine Cuban cigar that is shipped from Cuba is done by Habanos SA and they’ll ship to regional distributors such as Havana House (Canada), Pacific Cigar Co. (Asia), Altadis (Europe), etc.  These regional distributors will then provide the cigars to retailers within their own country.  Royal Habanos SA operates out of Costa Rica and claims that Cimex SA is their distributor.  Strangely enough, Cimex SA is not listed to distribute Cuban cigars to Costa Rica and there is no wide scale Cuban cigar distributor for Costa Rica at the moment.  (There is one La Casa Del Habanos shop in Costa Rica but they’re serviced by Habanos SA.) So where is Royal Habanos getting their cigars from??

Secondly, “RoyalHabanos.com” is advertised on spam websites, lots of spam websites.  It seems like they’re advertising themselves off as much as possible to generate business.  If Royal Habanos SA is truly legitimate, I don’t think they would resort to putting their name on spam websites and share ad space with “debt consolidation” and “sexual performance enhancing drugs”.

Royal Habanos also list their main office address in Cuba but state they will ship from Costa Rica.  Costa Rica is known to have lots of counterfeit cigars.  The address they list in Cuba is actually the address for the Hotel Comodoro (if I recall correctly) so it’s strange if not suspicious that their distributor… is working out of a hotel?  Wouldn’t they have their own office and warehouse?

In my opinion, the website seems to targeting Americans and are choosing their words carefully so that we’re lead to believe that what they’re selling is genuine.  They say they’re affiliated with Cimex SA and though they’re based in Cuba, they have to ship from Costa Rica (so that Americans will receive their orders).  Not true.  The company IS in Costa Rica and Cimex SA – according to Habanos SA – is not the distributor for them.

I’m sure what the whole story is with RoyalHabanos.com but because they’re bending the truth and making false claims, I will say that they are most definitely not reputable.

Hopes this answers your question.

Regards,
James