A good buddy of mine in Calgary is a bit of a cigar smoker. Last year we went out and he gave me a Montecristo No.4. A really good cigar. Now I know what all the fuss is about.
When I asked my friend where he gets really good cigars at a good price, he told me to go to Canadian Cigar in Calgary.
Canadian Cigar does email, and phone orders only. They are not set up to do 'walk ins'. Because of this, they keep their overhead costs low, and pass savings on to the consumer. Be advised that all prices listed are in US dollars.
Just as an example, if you go to their site, a Montecristo No.4 sells for about 12.66 US (16.2859 Canadian on Sept. 22) before taxes. At Cavendish & Moore's Tobacco Ltd in downtown Calgary, the same cigar sells for about $29 Canadian. Huge difference. Cavendish & Moore's is a walk-in shop at the PennyLane mall, and they have a small smoking area. Nice store, but not cheap real estate. They don't have their prices listed online.
I know there is alot of counterfeits out there, (considering that 80 - 85% of Cuban Cigars are counterfeit in Canada - As stated by MarketPlace, and over 95% in the US considering JFK declared the Trade embargo in 1962 so any tobacco grown after that, is illegal in the USA) and finding a good cigar dealer is a real gem.
The one downside is if you live anywhere else in Canada, you can't order from them. This is one of the more stupid Canadian laws. I can order cigars from any Canadian Province to almost anywhere else in the world, but I can't order cigars from say, from Alberta and have them shipped to BC.
After much calling, I asked the owner if I could come by and check out his products because I work on a small consumer web page. And after a quick check, I got an appointment to come in. Sure enough, all the Havana House, Canada Duty Paid, Habanos Chevron, and Cuban Government Warranty Seals were good. Canadian Cigar boxes will also have those health warnings and pictures like the ones on the cigarette packets.
Cuban Government Warranty Seal.
Havana House stickers are now Hologram (as opposed to the old purple/white sticker, and when ripped off will say VOID.) and ripping one off will change the background from diagonal 'Havana House' and lines to diamonds. The Warranty Seal under black light will have a 'pink/purplish' watermark in the background, and two of the numbers in the serial number on the Warranty Seal will stay red, the rest will be seen as black. There is even micro-printing on it.
To do any checking of the Warrenty Seal, (Shown above) I use is a Merangue Portable Counterfeit Currency Detector (Item Number 458487) from Staples Business Depot. Runs on 4 'AA' batteries and retails for about $19 Canadian. It also detects most fraudulent currency, credit cards, and traveler's cheques..
And no, you can't use a heat gun to soften the glue and reapply them.
I buy from Canadian Cigar, and so far, great service and products.
Most Cigar retailers in Canada, (That I know of) won't give or even sell empty cigar boxes or tubos. This is to help reduce Counterfeiting.
By the way, if you run into anyone (Friends who go to Cuba and buy from Cubans who work in a factory, or has a friend who works in a factory and so on), selling boxes of cigars for less then what the cigars are worth, then you are asking to be ripped off. Street vendors or Factory workers in Cuba can't walk out of the cigar factory door with boxes of cigars under their arm. Premium cigars are in high demand, and a box of 25 can cost several hundred to over a thousand Can. dollars.
Cubans working in the factories make only dollars a day. Even if these people were allowed to take the premium cigars home, do you think they would sell these valuable cigars for 50 or 70 dollars when they could make 200-500 US? That would be like telling you to sell your car for $2000, when it's worth 20 000.
Alot of times, workers who do sell cigars on the side will either:
- Take scraps off the floor to roll at home, (at the very least, the blend will be wrong)
- Steal Legit bands to wrap cheap knockoffs, or print off close looking bands,
- Or just do all of it from scratch.
Some counterfeit cigars have been cut open to reveal they have been rolled with: newspaper, toilet paper, bugs, rags, etc. as stated by Marketplace. Pretty gross huh? If you are lucky, the imposter cigars will only be cheap knock-offs with homemade bands, or legit bands, stuffed into decent-looking boxes. Everything will be poor quality, but at least you're not smoking bugs!
the only safe place to buy legit Havana Cigars in Cuba is in a Government State Store.
