Cigars

[RandyE]

New Guy, definatley take HB up on the offer. Took a day trip to Santiago last month and spent a bit of time with the man, probably the most informative day I've ever had in many trips to DR.

[jo2na]

wow!!! hillbilly, i did'nt know you lived in dr!! what part?? are you in school/work?? can you tell me some information on hotel clerks in the dr?? yearly earnings, etc. im getting out of high school ,and dont know exactly what to do. what do you suggest? should i stay here in new jersey, or go up there??

[Joe Boone]

Regarding the discussion about Fake Davidoffs, the best examples of fakes, or the poorest examples of the real thing can be found in the Duty Free at the Cibao International Airport in Santiago. The rings are obviously made on a copy machine, and the box is even worse. Yes, there are a lot of Fake Davidoff Cigars in the DR (in my opinion, the majority), and the real ones will not be cheap, and can be found in some of the better Cigar Shops, in the Capital. I just returned home after 3 months in the DR and as always, discovered a few new sources for Cigars. My latest finds were a Tamboril factory called "El Artista", and Juan Clemente Cigars in Santiago. Comments Please.

[Hillbilly]

Well Joe, the "Artista"makes a pretty poor cigar, IMO and Clemente has made some very good cigars. The Artista was originally a tobacco wholesaler that started to make cigars during the boom-like everyone else in Tamboril. He was a jobber. Nowadays, he makes a few cigars for local consumption. Juan Clemente, if memory serves, was a french guy that started during the boom, had some success but is not doing that much. I think his cigars used to have a gokd band around the foot...
Most of these stocks were sold out to major US players at very deep discounts..

Next time you get here, send me an e-mail so we can explore some more places, perhaps some of the top of the line places...

HB