Why bother ageing cigars? Smoke and live for the day.

Most Cubans get pretty excited when they have the opportunity to smoke an aged cigar—even the tobacco experts. It just isn’t something that most of them get to do, even if they grow tobacco or work in a cigar factory or shop. It’s understandable. They live for current production cigars. They have to focus on…

Principal Cigar Shapes and Sizes

One of the glories of Habanos is the sheer choice – 27 brands with more than 250 different cigars between them.  Here are the main cigar sizes and shapes that it is useful to know about. Habanos come in lengths from under 4 inches (100mm) to over 9 inches (230mm). The industry standard measure for…

Why was my box of Cuban cigars opened when I received them?

EMS stands for ‘English Market Selection’ and is a term that has been used in Cuba for over a century to identify the quality of cigars designated for the British market. In 1993, H & F introduced the EMS Stamp and since then they have awarded it to all boxes and packs of Havanas that…

The most common questions we get asked about Cuban cigars

Here are a list of some of the most common questions we get asked by people about Cuban cigars, we hope you find them useful. If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us directly. What is a Habano? The official Denominacion de Origen Protegida (D.O.P) or Protected Denomination…

Cigars and Cigar Accessories for the Christmas Party Season

Here is your guide to cigars and cigar accessories for a simply successful Christmas party season. Whether you are hosting a lavish ball, a guest at a prestigious party at a London hotel, or mingling with your colleagues at your office Christmas party, you will want to be properly prepared – from your choice of cuff links…

The most common cigar humidor problems and how to solve them

Disappointment when cigars are stored in a humidor is often caused by nonsensical construction of the used product and inadequate use. Here are the most common problems encountered when storing cigars in a humidor and suggestions on how to fix them. CIGARS BECOME DAMP Probable causes and their solutions: 1 – Cigars are being stored…

How to identify cigars by their box codes

Factory identification tends to play a bigger role with Cuban cigars because Cuba has altered their factory seals and codes several times over the years. Moreover, unless you’ve really done your homework, trying to identify a vintage box of Havanas can be quite confusing. In the beginning… According to one source, cigars were originally sold…

The Story of the Aluminium Cigar Tube

Aluminium cigar tubes are as much part of the Havana cigar scene as labelled boxes, cedar cabinets and elegant humidors. The traditional hand-crafted boxes have been around for centuries. But when did tubes first make an appearance and who thought of the idea? Thanks to research I conducted last year into the 225-year history of…

Common Cigar Smoking Faux Pas

Whether you don’t want to look like a novice or just want to lay down the law on your fellow cigar smokers, here are some common bad practices that go by unnoticed too often. Removing the Band Prematurely This seems like a natural thing to do for most novice smokers. You might get lucky and…

Top Selling Cuban Cigars by Brand

Here are our top-selling Cuban cigars by brand. With over 16 years of trading we know continuity in quality, the wonderful flavours and character as well as a minimum ageing of eighteen months, keeps our customers returning. It’s said that every hand-rolled Cuban cigar goes through at least 222 different stages before it is ready to…