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Hey chaps
Just back from a few days sun (and rain) in beautiful Barcelona. Whilst there I managed to visit around 30-40 Tabacs/Estancos to try and hunt out some deleted and Spanish-only stock. Of the shops I went into only a few were worthy of frequenting. A lot of the places only sold minis, tubos or the more common lines such as Monte4 etc.
GIMENOS (La Rambla,100. 08002) - great place with loads of singles upstairs and a lovely cave downstairs full of boxes. Friendly staff too. Because Gimenos is so popular, they don't have any discontinued stock left (or none that I could see). The REs were mostly in plentiful supply apart from the Por Larranaga and the Punch which were sold out.
CASA FUSTER (Rambla de Catalunya,29. 08007) - another well stocked shop with some nice rarities. It was here that I found the Cohiba 2003 LE double coronas at 20 Euros each!! They also had some RyJ 2005 petit piramides still on sale...like a time-warp!
ESTANC DUASO (Carrer de Balmes, 16. 08008 ) - what a place. Stuffed full of old and rare stock. I found Vegueros, LGC 2,3,&4, ERdM PCs and the only ErdM Grandes de Espana I saw on my entire hunt...I was hoping to track down a box. They also had Partagas de Partagas No1, full boxes of LGC 2&4 (from 2001), gold-band Fundadores too
BADIA (Calle Escudellers,1. 08002) - great range of stock with a walk-in humidor. Nice staff too
EL CORTE INGLES (Plaza de Catalunya,14) - lovely large walk-in humidor with a lot of stock but nothing unusual. I've been in this place on three separate occasions and the service has always been quite poor and rushed. The staff are harassed because people are queuing for cigarettes at the same time and want you out of the humidor asap to serve them. Shame really
There's a great shop on Avinguida Catedral with lots of old stock. In here I found RyJ Prince of Wales and Paratagas Lonsdales. Difficult to see what they have as the stock is on sliding panels which hide most of the boxes! Fortunately, the staff are very helpful and happy to bring out any stock for perusal. I had to go through most of the PoW box to find 5 that weren't brick-hard but they were from 2000!!
MAYNE (Carrer del Boters, 4. 08002) - nice shop with some decent stock. Picked up some Monte Sublimes here, the only time I saw these sticks on my entire hike
These were the shops that really stuck out for me and I'll definitely re-visit them the next time I'm in Barca...
The status of REs (April 2013) is:
2007 Vegas Robaina - lots still available. Gimenos had at least 10 boxes
2008 Ramon Allones - lots still available. Gimenos had 20 or so
2009 Punch - quite scarce. I only saw 2-3 boxes
2010 Bolivar - a few kicking around. Maybe 10-12 boxes in all
2010 Sancho Panza - very scarce. Only a couple of boxes
2012 Por Larranaga - very scarce. I only saw 4 boxes in all
2012 Diplomaticos - loads still knocking around but as they're quite cheap at E67 a box, they won't last long!!
VFdm7PDo-Nafs3L0Z7FTMFybUqQyzKAHWlB0ZtnA8Fs.jpgWly3FR13MmvCPq-WfAw_KxPDVZowWJy-A5387f9xCYQ.jpgY1wSGXa0FkN8fj6gey7xXtdXtHMh0Hx5nik7uXMtwqU.jpgdKZaygkUkfl0zIBRQTNlp9zeKPP9avGazsJnEvJ-n2Q.jpgg8uhl82aMmT-Z4wZ718Zbn122TLf0F3LMFu2TmE1Bps.jpgGtAoogjirBfzIM7f1kfucApbUTh9_oFqQKkiS-CASbk.jpglDkjaxoyxl7MBIiGmd7O13nj7f_N9bIahfR1_cjkFt0.jpgn0KXXdWjDdipJy8EDQFVa3Ax4RbTYoU9Pmg8fHIjTvM.jpgQw7XkGxIhv8aS32HzSW5lOHGgPdg_esXqQI6I1IUTuA.jpguR0rZ9UDA5Q5gNqs1ZpyIL6ErqaYb2QpvsQbhWAMAf0.jpg7RcUv8HCzAUhQhQ6thWGvWkbZ-6ThZ5RRV_Ab8YDSp0.jpg1ZNWm6xo_J938oRugfRgAmmPS_iJFsUCce4jr4v-qyA.jpg7jvXbybBgUndyE0WJDhb0jsxoPemtqOMxCyxfXTaBgk.jpg
Just back from a few days sun (and rain) in beautiful Barcelona. Whilst there I managed to visit around 30-40 Tabacs/Estancos to try and hunt out some deleted and Spanish-only stock. Of the shops I went into only a few were worthy of frequenting. A lot of the places only sold minis, tubos or the more common lines such as Monte4 etc.
GIMENOS (La Rambla,100. 08002) - great place with loads of singles upstairs and a lovely cave downstairs full of boxes. Friendly staff too. Because Gimenos is so popular, they don't have any discontinued stock left (or none that I could see). The REs were mostly in plentiful supply apart from the Por Larranaga and the Punch which were sold out.
CASA FUSTER (Rambla de Catalunya,29. 08007) - another well stocked shop with some nice rarities. It was here that I found the Cohiba 2003 LE double coronas at 20 Euros each!! They also had some RyJ 2005 petit piramides still on sale...like a time-warp!
ESTANC DUASO (Carrer de Balmes, 16. 08008 ) - what a place. Stuffed full of old and rare stock. I found Vegueros, LGC 2,3,&4, ERdM PCs and the only ErdM Grandes de Espana I saw on my entire hunt...I was hoping to track down a box. They also had Partagas de Partagas No1, full boxes of LGC 2&4 (from 2001), gold-band Fundadores too
BADIA (Calle Escudellers,1. 08002) - great range of stock with a walk-in humidor. Nice staff too
EL CORTE INGLES (Plaza de Catalunya,14) - lovely large walk-in humidor with a lot of stock but nothing unusual. I've been in this place on three separate occasions and the service has always been quite poor and rushed. The staff are harassed because people are queuing for cigarettes at the same time and want you out of the humidor asap to serve them. Shame really
There's a great shop on Avinguida Catedral with lots of old stock. In here I found RyJ Prince of Wales and Paratagas Lonsdales. Difficult to see what they have as the stock is on sliding panels which hide most of the boxes! Fortunately, the staff are very helpful and happy to bring out any stock for perusal. I had to go through most of the PoW box to find 5 that weren't brick-hard but they were from 2000!!
MAYNE (Carrer del Boters, 4. 08002) - nice shop with some decent stock. Picked up some Monte Sublimes here, the only time I saw these sticks on my entire hike
These were the shops that really stuck out for me and I'll definitely re-visit them the next time I'm in Barca...
The status of REs (April 2013) is:
2007 Vegas Robaina - lots still available. Gimenos had at least 10 boxes
2008 Ramon Allones - lots still available. Gimenos had 20 or so
2009 Punch - quite scarce. I only saw 2-3 boxes
2010 Bolivar - a few kicking around. Maybe 10-12 boxes in all
2010 Sancho Panza - very scarce. Only a couple of boxes
2012 Por Larranaga - very scarce. I only saw 4 boxes in all
2012 Diplomaticos - loads still knocking around but as they're quite cheap at E67 a box, they won't last long!!
VFdm7PDo-Nafs3L0Z7FTMFybUqQyzKAHWlB0ZtnA8Fs.jpgWly3FR13MmvCPq-WfAw_KxPDVZowWJy-A5387f9xCYQ.jpgY1wSGXa0FkN8fj6gey7xXtdXtHMh0Hx5nik7uXMtwqU.jpgdKZaygkUkfl0zIBRQTNlp9zeKPP9avGazsJnEvJ-n2Q.jpgg8uhl82aMmT-Z4wZ718Zbn122TLf0F3LMFu2TmE1Bps.jpgGtAoogjirBfzIM7f1kfucApbUTh9_oFqQKkiS-CASbk.jpglDkjaxoyxl7MBIiGmd7O13nj7f_N9bIahfR1_cjkFt0.jpgn0KXXdWjDdipJy8EDQFVa3Ax4RbTYoU9Pmg8fHIjTvM.jpgQw7XkGxIhv8aS32HzSW5lOHGgPdg_esXqQI6I1IUTuA.jpguR0rZ9UDA5Q5gNqs1ZpyIL6ErqaYb2QpvsQbhWAMAf0.jpg7RcUv8HCzAUhQhQ6thWGvWkbZ-6ThZ5RRV_Ab8YDSp0.jpg1ZNWm6xo_J938oRugfRgAmmPS_iJFsUCce4jr4v-qyA.jpg7jvXbybBgUndyE0WJDhb0jsxoPemtqOMxCyxfXTaBgk.jpg
) When you said you were off, I thought he's going to be as happy as the proverbial pig
Good detailed report. Enjoy your haul 
stevieanajones!
Hey el P! Good to have the lad back!
Haha! I'm sure Catalina will be happy, no doubt.
don TJ and the 
Coros
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