france tips

[james]

off to france, any places to in calais with cigar selection worth going to? i am on foot so close to centre.

[Robusto]

Yes.

There are a couple of good tobacconists in the main road which heads North/South heading towards Calais Nord in the town centre. It's easier to pick up single stick Havanas generally in French tobacconists. If you go in and look, they sometimes keep boxs in humis, too.

If you keep your eyes peeled in the town centre, you will do well.

Sorry. I don't know the road names.

They make lots of money from UK visitors buying B&H so you'll have to crush a few of those on your way in.

The French don't like queues so just scrum down and shop.

[james]

ok thanks for that advice, any idea of prices how much cheaper then uk?

[Robusto]

Definitely cheaper, but they aren't exactly giving them away, either!

I was over there in Summer and went to four local galeries-marchand at hypermarkets. These are the smaller independent shops that face the entrance to large supermarkets. In each of these newly-built commercial centres, there was no tabac, which I was really surprised at. Maybe they're having the same anti-smoking purges over there as in the UK.

What DID strike me was that in practically every non-descript medium sized town there was a bar-tabac with a selection of Havanas, and sometimes a great humidor selection, too.

So I was always happy!