cheaper cuban cigar brands

[Robusto]

The Commitments ruined everything!

[Robusto]

I'm bored senseless by the Blues Brothers stuff too, now. That's got in everywhere!

[Gary]

SWEET! I'm off to Barcelona at the end of March, my other half is taking me for a long weekend for my 30th birthday, so looking forward to it even more now and apparently there is a great cigar shop along Las Ramblas -Oh I can see the credit card taking a battering!!!

Bryan, I usually pick up a bundle or two of the Jose L Piedra in Spain (Barcelona airport has a great humidor) they end up costing about ?30 for 25. Tomalley is right, they are surprise free but at such a great price they are a really good "grab a cigar" moment.

They don't compare to the greats at all... but if you're in the habit of smoking a Villiger or King Edwards (which I really can't stand) as a quick alternative to a decent cigar you really should look at these, or the Quintero which is a better cigar.

They're not something I would sit in the evening and smoke, but when I'm in the garden chopping wood for the fire they make a good companion. Also because they are short filler they seem to burn really well which makes them an easy smoke to put down and pick up when you're using a bench saw. lol

Don't expect a cheap D4 or RASS though.

D

[Deano]

I hope the pound recovers for you mate. At the mo you won't get a huge difference in prices

[Gary]

Yeah I know mate, but even if the pound and the Euro are about the same I think cigars inSpain are usually cheaper than in the UK or Ireland so should hopefully save a little bit at least.

[Davo]

Cuban is best

I frequently try to find something cheaper, but ok to smoke, and i keep coming back to the reality, for me, that it isn't out there. I'v tried a number of the machine rolled cubans - their just not it really, they'll never compare to a decent robusto - i like 46 and above. In amsterdam I tried the dutch cigars - well liked by a number of guys i know out there, but their just miles away from a cuban hand rolled, no matter how much denial i tried to throw on the smoking event.
I've never had a decent non-cuban that's cheap, and then i tried to buy the less expensive cubans eg petit coronas, but actually they just don't do it for me either. In my limited experience, you get what you pay for and anything decent is about ?6 to ?12 a pop, buying a box from a great seller like monte. I need to smoke less to be able to afford my habit or earn more, sigh.
Anyway, i have a humidor full of upmann No1 and monte No2, and a single trindad extra so life's pretty good really.