It's now 4:30 pm on Saturday, and I just lit up my first cigar. An OK Montecristo from a yellow tube. RD$275 from Nacional.
The cigar shop inside Hotel Lina's lobby is gone. Only the sign "Caribbean Cigars" remains. There is now a place near the rear, around the corner of the casino called "Cafe Cigarro", but one look at some jevitos hanging around outside, and seeing some older dominicanas overstuffed into some ugly clothing through the front door, I hesitated . I wasn't sure if this place also carried the Hillbilly seal of approval, so I left instead.
I next went to the "Tienda de las Fumidoras" located next to the Metro bus station. They didn't show up until 1:00 or so. A woman unlocked the door to let me in, and then everyone promptly ignored me. About 8 women and some kids were around a desk in the back room doing something as I looked over about 40 or 50 dusty boxes of cigars with names I didn't recognize, like Clemente, and Don somebody, etc in the front room. After my exam, and 10 minutes , I walked out. 2 different women immediately came out to my car and asked if I wanted cigars. I guess I was just too grumpy or something, and left.
No cigars in MultiCentro / La Sirena. They used to have a nice "fine liquor" store in the front, and cigars, but no more. I haven't been there for about 4 years or so. Now it's a deli / lunch counter.
The Nacional supermarket on Maximo Gomez didn''t appear to sell anything but boxes, and had La Habanera's and Auroras in their cases. The store was also typically very busy for a Saturday afternoon.
I found two cigar stores on Isabel de Catolica in Zona Colonial. The first little one is below El Conde and was called "Taino Cigars". Looked kind of touristy, didn't go in. The second is about a block above El Conde, and just had a sign saying "Cigar Store", but the front room is full of amber, not cigars. No Uncle Tom's shop on Isabel de Catolica to be found by me.
I went into the cigar store near the Hard Rock Cafe, as they had a bench in the window for a roller to do his thing. They had Arturo Fuentes, but they felt like a piece of wood inside, and they had paper wrapped over the cigar so you couldn't see the wrappers. They were in a loose cellophane wrapper also. Every other cigar I checked there felt like wood inside, hard and inflexible. I left after I asked the chica if they had a humidor with cigars, and she answered the whole store was a humidor, since they had A.C. !
Leon Jimenes advertises a cigar store for Auroras in the Yellow Pages, but I drove around their corporate offices down on the Malecon, and the nearby Presidente cerveceria and saw no signs for cigars there.
Nacional in Arroyo Hondo only sells cigars by the box, and had La Habanas, Auroras, and another unknown brand in their cases. No open boxes displayed.
By now, I was getting the DT's for a cigar. I went to the Nacional on Lope de Vega, and they had open boxes, and cigars to sell individually. I bought the Montecristo I am smoking, a Montecristo Delacroix for RD$325, and a Romeo y Julieta Churchill for RD$400.
Too much $$? I don't know. Probably. Two weeks ago, some buddies and I smoked cigars over in Grand Cayman, and the cigar bar there has about a 40 foot wall with cigars from floor to ceiling. A Cuban guy is the manager. Genuine Cohibas in from Cuba, and every other brand. An old Cuban guy rolling cigars too. His cigars were between $6 and $12 each.
A large Cohiba Corona there ran between $40 and $60 EACH. They were fantastic. No bitterness all the way down. The handrolled cigars were OK for the first half, but got a bit strong in the last half of the cigar. (Cayman Islands customs duty is 150% on cigars, and wages and rents are out of sight, so everything there is expensive.)
I guess I need to come up to Santiago and finally meet Hillbilly, and have a pro show me the way around cigars, and direct me to some good cigars at reasonable prices for the DR.
I don't know much about cigars, but I can tell the difference between a good cigar, and a piece of crap cigar. I have had enough experiences in the casinos smoking while gambling here in Santo Domingo with both good and really bad cigars that they have comped us with. (Why do they hand over a whole box of the really good ones, and then get stingy with the crap cigars at both the casino in the Jaragua and at the hotel next door?)
It might be time for a cigar crawl in Santo Domingo by some real aficiandos to update the intel here. Thanks for your help and pointers.
