I 'm a cigar smoker and wonder about the availability and prices of good cigars in Spain? I'm in the USA and usually shop mail order from east coast wholesalers. Anyone know about prices, brands available in Spain?

You can buy Cuban cigars in Spain but you're not supposed to be allowed to bring them to the U.S.

The best deal on cigars I ever saw was a shrink-wrapped block of (25??) Cuban MonteCristo's for about 20 Euros. That was at la Pedra in Vigo (Pontevedra, Galicia). Ask the cigar lady if she has any Havanas. If your visit takes you near Vigo, it's a good deal.

Hi crowduck! Welcome to our little message board.

You might find the long and detailed thread " Cigars in Madrid? " useful. Good luck!

Saludos, MadridMan

I am not a tobacco user myself, but I was fascinated to find a type of store/business in Spain that is set up to hold customers' cigars in a kind of an in-house refrigerated humidor, like some kind of a "wine cellar for hire", of course they also sell cigars, etc... You would love it, if I can recall the name for that type of a business I will repost...

Every Tabac, and a number of the street kiosks that sell magazines etc. also sell Cuban cigars. The price at Tabacs seems to be something like "fair-trade" because I seemed to find the same price for a particular cigar no matter where I was in Spain.

If you are going to be in Madrid, I can tell you of a Cuban bar where they sell real Cubans at a tremendous discount. If the Tabac you go to has only Spanish speakers, which is quite likely, then what you are looking for is a "puro de Habana".

I prefer the Cohiba Esplendido, which is from my perspective the top of their line. Less expensive but none-the-less still quite good is the Cohiba Siglo III.

By the way, at a Tabac, the price for a Cohiba Esplendido in May 2002 was 16 Euros. At my bar, only 6 Euros...and it was not a knockoff..for sure.

Happy smoking.

Lee (GoMadrid)

GoMadrid,
Yes, I plan to go to Madrid. Please post info regarding that Cuban bar. Thanks!
CrowDuck

Crowduck:

By the way, I am from Merced.

Anyhow, the bar is named La Colonial and is on Calle Huertas very near its intersection with Calle Jesus. It is maybe three doors down on the left past Calle Jesus as you head toward Plaza Santa Ana. They also have some very good tapas, and the best caipirinhas in Madrid. They use limes, where other places many times use lemons. Limes are to caipirinhas as the boardwalk is to Santa Cruz..get it?

Lee (GoMadrid)

mil gracias! i, too, am from california and have a friend for whom i've bought cigars in spain and switzerland. thanks for the tips~
less than one week until i head over there for another month, yippeee
eileen aka pc