Barca - Gimeno or Casa Fuster

[grub]

Hi

Lucky enough to be going here for a conference soon, either of these two places better than the other, are there any other cigar shops?

Also I'm flying out of El Prat T2 for my return is there a decent cigar shop there

[fordi]

Hi

Lucky enough to be going here for a conference soon, either of these two places better than the other, are there any other cigar shops?

Also I'm flying out of El Prat T2 for my return is there a decent cigar shop there

Go down to the underground on las ramblas and there is one round there.


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[fordi]

Actually search the forum as I put two links on another thread.


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[Stevieboy]

Hey Grub. I had a good rake around Barcelona a few weeks ago and I posted a wee guide in the Cigar Travel forum. I've cut and pasted it below to save you the hassle....have fun (IMO, Estanc Duaso has some of the most amazing old stock you'll come across. Its a bit of a walk from the centre but worth it!


....?..................



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. 0800 - 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!!

[fordi]

Crackin review stevieboy!


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[Stevieboy]

Crackin review stevieboy!


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Cheers mate. Hope it's of use to someone.... loads of fun to research haha

[tippexx]

Cheers mate. Hope it's of use to someone.... loads of fun to research haha

Extremely useful Steve ... though the main attraction you've snagged for yourself! (Grandees).

[Stevieboy]

Extremely useful Steve ... though the main attraction you've snagged for yourself! (Grandees).

They seem to be such a favourite don't they! I'm baffled as to why they've been deleted!!!

[TheMonk]

Gents, I'll be going by Barcelona later this week, anyone got any updated info, apart from what Stevieboy has already mentioned?

[ValeTudoGuy]

Gimeno is awful and Duaso is excellent.

Most of the other Tobacs vary between awful and ok with a couple decent.

Duaso is the only one worth a special effort.

[TheMonk]

Gimeno is awful and Duaso is excellent.

Most of the other Tobacs vary between awful and ok with a couple decent.

Duaso is the only one worth a special effort.

Are you referring to stock, or customer service? And what about Casa Fuster?

[ValeTudoGuy]

Are you referring to stock, or customer service? And what about Casa Fuster?

I'm reffering mainly to service. I was largely ignored, refused entry to this so called "cave" and told it's strictly no entry.

The cuban humi accounted for a measly stock behind the counter and when I asked if they had anything else I was handed a print out with some normal run sticks on before being ignored swiftly again.

The Pipes in Gimeno were on average €50-100 more expensive than in Duaso and the rest of the shop was mostly tacky Marijuana leaf tat.

Fuster was ok to decent but not even close to being in the same league as Duaso. The owner of Duaso seems a genuine Cigar enthusiast rather than a Tobac owner if that makes sense.

I would say my 2nd favourite was Estanco Guerrero in Poblenou on Carrer de llull.

I will post some pictures.

[ValeTudoGuy]

What I saw of Gimeno


Compated to Tobac 181, just a random one.

[ValeTudoGuy]

Compared to Guerrero


Vs Duaso

[ValeTudoGuy]

I habe no doubt that Gimeno and Fuster are only so famous because they are right on the tourist trail.

Estanc Catedral which is one of the better ones however is in a very touristy spot too.

In addition

If you find yourself wanting to get off the tourist hotbed of La Rambla, which if your anything like me will be after about 30mins...... Then make a bee line for Rambla Poblenou and you will be rewarded with a much more authentic Barcelona Experience IMO.