Question? Cubian Cigars Cost-Box

[JColquhoun]

Good morning everyone,

 

I will be in Cuba on Empress of the seas next week.

1. Could someone tell me on average how much a box of Cuban Cigars cost when purchased at an official store. ?

2. How many in a box?

 

I want to make sure I carry enough cash when I exchange for the currency. Many thanks

[LMaxwell]

You will find boxes of 10 and boxes of 25. At the factory they are a rip off, $400-500 USD for a box of 25. You will find many quality cigars in legitimate stores for between the equivalent of $6 to $15 USD per cigar. Figure a box of 25 good quality nice cigars to run you approx $250.

 

The legitimate stores tend to be located inside of hotels aimed at European tourists. Usually very nice shops. They will accept USD and trade right there so you don't necessarily need to exchange USD to CUC in the terminal. If you do trade USD to CUC you are hit with an additional 10% fee on top of the exchange rate. For example, $60 USD got me approx 52 CUC.

 

You will likely be approached on the street by people who want to lead you off to buy cigars. I will say this, do homework first on real vs counterfeit if you choose this avenue. People that earn $25 per month from the government have big incentive to fake a $15 Cohiba.

 

There is a small cigar shop in the terminal and we determined the products to be authentic but priced slightly above the hotel shop prices as well.

 

Genuine Cuban rum is almost as cheap as water, don't miss it :)

[Biker19]

genuine cuban rum is almost as cheap as water, don't miss it :)

+1.

[Tommy3putts]

Sound advice above. We were on Empress to Cuba in September. If you have Euros use those over USD, better exchange. Cigars ranged anywhere from 3CUC on up. I bought an assortment of cigars. Mixed and matched. The popular Cohibas were very reasonably priced. Spent about $150 USD.

 

Here is a review I did of our cruise out of Tampa

 

Empress of the Seas-September 23-27; My .02

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?share_fid=24703&share_tid=2548531&url=https%3A%2F%2Fboards%2Ecruisecritic%2Ecom%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Ft%3D2548531&share_type=t

[ToddnMichelle]

+2 on the rum. Havana Club is some great stuff!

[Tommy3putts]

The rum goes great with the cigars!

[Biker19]

Havana Club is some great stuff!

Along with Santiago de Cuba.