Lisbon, Sevilla, Granada, Gibraltar. Any LCDH or other great stores there?

[RickMG]

Hey guys. This Saturday morning, the 25th. we'll be arriving in Lisbon for 5 nights then on to Sevilla for about 3 with more nights at towns around the coast of southwestern Spain leaving back for home from Lisbon on June 9th. Any suggestions on best place to buy and hopefully smoke in any of those places?

We'll be driving so we can go just about anywhere. Will be taking a day trip over to Morocco too but not expecting to stay still there for any length of time.

Thanks in advance.

[nicwing]

Hey Rick
Good to see you here and a shame you are not stopping in in blighty this trip.

Of all of the above Gibraltar is the one we know and love the best. http://www.stagnetto.gi/ is the spot and the good news is that being Gib the cigars are routed via Hunters and Frankau here in the UK so you are sure of good sticks and at some rather acceptable prices for us used to the UK tax regime.

Man I wish I could get there to enjoy a cigar and a large glass of red with you.

[monkey66]

Hi Rick. You should also consider Andorra, lots of threads on here.

[Dave K]

Did a little research on Lisbon earlier this year; there should be a Casa Del Habano Store in Rua Nova dos Mercadores on the west side of the City; I believe there are two Cigar World Stores located more centrally too.

As Nick said, Gibraltar is a favoured destination for UK buyers; great quality, selection and service at a price you'll probably not equal in Spain or Portugal. Stagnetto will no doubt have some advice on your Morocco trip if you make it there too.

Don't know what your taste is, but try the LCdH Hoyo De Luxe if you make it to Gib...and you might even find a few Upmann Royal Robustos!

[Ryan]

Hi Rick,
Sounds like a great trip. So sorry that I won?t be in that part of the world at the same time. I don?t get down until June 29^th.
Right, cigars. Can?t help you with Portugal, though there is a LCDH in Lisbon.

http://habanosnews.habanos.com/en/habanero-original-habano-house-portugal%E2%80%99s-lisbon

Look out for shops with the name ?Cigar World? as well, there are apparently a couple in Lisbon.
Portugal is almost certainly like Spain in that tobacco prices are state controlled, that is, same prices in all the shops. Although in Spain, ?secondary channel? retailers such as hotels, airports and restaurants can charge up to 15% more and they always do.
Look out for the ?Punch Descobrides?. A regional edition produced for Portugal in 2011. 130 euro for a box of 10.
From the looks of things, cigars are a little cheaper in Spain. I hope you have a GPS with you for the car.
In Spain look out for ?Estancos?, cigar/tobacco shops. They will have a red and yellow ?T? on a leaf sign like this.

https://www.google.ie/search?aq=&rlz=1T4ADRA_enIE422IE477&q=estanco+tabac&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=3ISbUY3sKaOR7Abs9IG4BQ&biw=1443&bih=379&sei=7YSbUe_oLYLm7AbN6YHQBQ#imgrc=0KwHpMiwjJ-SJM%3A%3BSY9itOUQn3JQWM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F3.bp.blogspot.com%252F_Wahmmiansg4%252FRt_AYkiffkI%252FAAAAAAAAAAM%252F13mfT6kpchI%252FS227%252Flogo.estanco.gif%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fasociacionestanqueros.blogspot.com%252F%3B199%3B216

Seville
Cava de Betis
Map: https://maps.google.ie/maps?ie=UTF-8...d=0CMcBEPwSMAM
Good selection, though I haven?t managed to get in here in a few years. In July and August they seem to be open only on weekdays and in the mornings, about 10am ? 2 pm. At this time of year, they should be open in the evenings too (5pm ? 8pm), though going in the morning is your best bet.
Somebody here will speak English, they take cash and credit cards. Look out for Spanish regional edition cigars. All the regionals will have an extra red and silver strip on the box that says ?Torcido Exclusivo Para Espana? (rolled exclusively for Spain). The cigars will have an extra band that says ?Exclusivo Espana?. Vegas Robaina Maestros are good as are Ramon Allones Grandes and the Por Larranaga Legendarios. All between 100 euro ? 120 euro for a box of 10. I hear good things about the Diplomatico Colleccion Privada, this year?s regional and 67 euro for 10, but I haven?t picked mine up yet.

Cava San Jacinto, Seville
Second one on this list

http://www.qype.es/es618-sevilla-triana/categories/263-estancos-in-triana

Smaller shop but open better hours. Tiny walk-in humidor but some real finds can be had here. The owner is really nice and has a little English. This is a 10 minute walk from Cava de Betis. He takes cash and credit cards.
San Jacinto and Betis are the only cigar shops I would buy from in Seville. In any others I have had bad service and have seen beetles. Though you may have better luck than I had. Remember most shops in this part of Spain close from 2 ? 5 pm.

Cava de Paul, Jerez

http://www.paginasamarillas.es/fichas/ig/expendeduria-numero-36-cava-paul_007251747_000000001.html

Map: http://callejero.paginasamarillas.es...000000001.html

Great shop in Jerez, worth the 45 minute drive from Seville. Jerez is very nice town, take a tour of the Tio Pepe factory.
This shop again has a tiny walk in humidor but well stocked. He has some ?01 Cohiba Esplendidos here. Not cheap at 25 euro each but very good. Esteban the owner/manager is usually there himself. Very nice helpful guy but not a word of English. Say Hi to him from Andy Ryan in Dublin. He?s holding cigars for me and if I hear he has sold some of mine to you I?ll come after you! J
By the way, this shop takes cash only, so bring cash. No credit cards.

Gibraltar
Stagnettos is a great shop as others have said. There are other shops in Gibraltar but Stagnetto is the distributer for cigars for all Gibraltar shops so they all go through him.
Paul and Loren work in the shop, though Loren does more of the online stuff. Well worth a look, say Hi to Loren for me if you see her. I?ll be seeing her in the first week of July.
Great selection and they?ll have stuff in the shop that is not on the website. Loren knows her stuff and will help sort you out.
To get into Gibraltar, don?t drive in. Park in La Linea, on the Spanish side. Here

36? 9'26.92"N, 5?21'10.75"W

and walk across, 10 minute walk to the border. When you park, put a parking ticket from the machine in your car. 1 euro per hour, put in at least enough for 4 hours. It?s a maximum of 6. I usually put in the maximum, 6 euros, Chris will want to do some shopping. When you walk across the border, you?ll see a tourist bus. 2 pounds or 3 euro for an all day pass, hold on to your ticket. Ask the driver to drop you at Casemates (pronounced Case Mates) square (it takes 5 ? 10 minutes), walk diagonally across the square, towards the Burger King and you?ll get to Main Street. Walk about 70 yards up Main Street and you?re at Stagnettos. You?re allowed 50 cigars each back into Spain, keep your receipts.
Gibraltar is an odd place, it?s like one long airport duty free zone. Booze, tobacco, perfume, watches and electronics. Not that nice really, but there is a good view from the top of the rock. You can get a taxi up or take the cable car but oddly, very oddly, not both i.e. one up and the other down. It?s one or the other.

Regarding Morocco, I bought my first box of cigars ever in Marrakesh airport in 2001. Good duty free prices and the real thing. Other than that I can?t help you with Morocco much I?m afraid.
However, I also bought a ?Rolex? watch there for ?10 so I?d probably steer clear of Cohiba and Montecristo, just in case, as they are the most counterfeited.
I hope some of this helps. Let me know if you have any questions. Have a great trip. I want to see pictures.

[RickMG]

Thanks guys,. I'm on my cell just leaving work but know it's late there and wanted to do a quick reply.

I guess I should've mentioned that I'll only be buying what I smoke there because I won't be able to bring any back with me especially with a Cuban stamp in my passport ( yes I had them stamp it since I was there legally but didn't think about future travel.)

Thanks for the GPS coordinates Andy, yes just bought a new gps with a new European card as my old one was from'08'. Have all the hotels in it already.

I will certainly search out all the recommended places and give all the messages. Nic sure wish I was doing in the U.K. would love to try out my program of yours. Andorra is on the exact opposite corner to where we'll be. We were there a few years ago and I used to go there once a month when I lived in Barcelona. Love it.

Thanks again all. Love this board.

[RickMG]

Just a quick note. Sitting in the hotel ready for bed. Had some big travel days. I wanted to personally thank Ryan (Andy) for his help today in finding the La Casa Del Habanos store here in Lisbon. Nobody knew where it was much less heard of it. Cigar stores can't advertise here either.

Way off the beaten path but well worth the ride. Small three chair three bench place with nice walk-in humidor and the owner is a great guy. Only place in Lisbon to smoke in a cigar store and the smokes were very reasonable as three Montecristo #2 were only 39 euros. At least I thought that was good.

Photos and a better report when I'm done with the trip but again, thanks Andy, I really appreciate it.

[RickMG]

Of all of the above Gibraltar is the one we know and love the best. http://www.stagnetto.gi/ is the spot ou.

Did a little research on Lisbon earlier this year; there should be a Casa Del Habano Store in Rua Nova dos Mercadores on the west side of the City

Well, back from Europe and the jet lag is finally wearing off (a little). Again, I can't thank everyone enough for their suggestions and help. I especially want to thank Ryan (Andy) for his constantly helping me while I was over there. I would message him and almost immediately get directions or help in other ways that was priceless. He even took the time to email Loren at Stagnettos to let her know I'd be there.

I never found any cigar shops in Lisbon that had Cigar World in it, in fact, any place that I found were just tobacco/newsstands and didn't even have humidors. I did take a taxi to the La Casa del Habano store, again thanks to Andy and thanks Dave K for the location. It is not in an area anyone would ever just pass by. The concierge had never heard of it or any cigar stores for that matter. The good thing, if you do have cigars is that in Lisbon smoking is still legal in most restaurants as long as it seats less than a 100 and cigars were welcome even though I never smoked one indoors other than at LCDH.

Took the taxi to the LCDH and was very happy I did. There were three people sitting in the back lounge smoking. One was the owner, Luis Ramalho who greeted us right away and then introduced us to the people in the back. By the time I was done shopping his friends had left. His shop only seats three comfortably plus some bar stools. Another guy walked in and struck up a conversation. His name was Rick and from Germany. Great guy who knew St. Louis well as he was a big hockey fan and had been to a St. Louis Blues game.

Luis is a great guy and was very proud of the shop and rightly so. He has been to Cuba for the festival but not for about three years. Opened the store as just a cigar store and after the trip became an LCDH store. The exact address is Rua Nova dos Mercadores, Lote 03.06.01.E and phone number is 218.941.191 and website is www.habanero.pt. Also, cannot believe how inexpensive the cigars were. I bought some Monte #2s and paid for three what I thought I'd be paying each.

In Seville I found the two stores Ryan recommended but unfortunately they had closed for siesta and being Saturday didn't reopen again until Monday and we were leaving on Sunday.

Arrived in Gibraltar just at closing time for Stagnetto's but caught them just as they closed the gate. Albert and Peter Stagnetto are such great guys. They loved hearing about all their friends in the U.K. and thanked you all for recommending them and wanted me to be sure to tell you all hello. They remind me so much of the Fox brothers in London and Dublin. Just the same personalities. I remembered meeting Albert at that paladar that the Fox's had their tasting in Havana (where your birthday party was Nic) and he said he remembered me.

The next day Chris (my wife) and I went there after lunch and met Loren who gave us the tour and again was so happy about everyone on this board saying something. She too says hello and looks forward to seeing you all there. Albert came down and with Loren showed us the store and the LCDH next door. Told some very interesting stories of their history. Albert asked us to lunch (what a great guy) but since we had just eaten we thanked him and said next trip.

Anyway, thanks again everyone. Here's some photos of these places.
LCDH Lisbon
IMG_0794.JPG
IMG_0800.JPG
Luis and I
IMG_0805.JPG
Albert & Peter Stagnetto
IMG_1640a.jpg
Loren
IMG_1640b.jpg
IMG_1640.jpg
Stagnetto's LCDH Humidor.
IMAG1868.jpgIMAG1869.jpg

[monkey66]

Great work Rick (and Andy).

[fordi]

I want to go the there soon after reading this!!!


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[Kubano]

Looks like you had a great trip and experience.

[Stevieboy]

Sound like you had a great time Rick. Thanks for the travelogue too. Very informative!!