Buying Cuban cigars in Europe: a short guide for the traveller
Europe is one of the best places in the world to buy Habanos. How to buy well, avoid fakes, store them and bring them home.
Buy from the right shop
Buy from established cigar merchants and official Habanos specialists, such as the historic houses listed on the Atlas. Prices are set by each country's tobacco tax, so the same box can cost very different amounts in Geneva, London and Madrid.
Avoid fakes
- Be wary of prices that look too good, especially from street sellers or bars.
- Check the box seals and the warranty seal, and ask the shop about the box code and date.
- If a deal needs to be explained, walk away.
Look after them
Cigars like steady humidity, around 65 to 70 per cent, and a cool, stable temperature. A good travel humidor for a few days, a proper humidor at home, and never the hotel minibar.
Bringing them home
Allowances depend on where you travel from and where you arrive. Travelling between EU countries, cigars for your own use are generally allowed in reasonable quantities with local tax already paid. Arriving from outside the EU or into the UK, the duty-free allowance is usually 50 cigars. Rules change, so check your arrival country's customs website before you fly.
Where to buy and smoke
- Gentlemen 1919 · Paris
A discreet bar near the Champs-Élysées with a cigar cabinet, a smoking room for up to nine and personal cigar lockers for regulars. - Casa Pelletier · Paris
A restaurant-bar with a cigar cellar, individual lockers and a smoking room for around twenty. - Baronne · Paris
A restaurant-bar off the Champs-Élysées with its own cigar cellar and an intimate smoking room. - James J. Fox · London
London's historic cigar merchant, trading since 1787, with a large walk-in humidor and a smoking room upstairs. - Davidoff of London · London
The Davidoff house's London shop, opened in 1980 a few doors from James J. - Boisdale of Belgravia · London
A Scottish restaurant and whisky bar with a walk-in humidor and a purpose-built, heated outdoor cigar terrace. - The Wellesley Cigar Terrace · London
A heated terrace beside Hyde Park Corner, open year-round, with whisky and Cognac pairings. - Tomtom Cigars · London
A small, informal lounge opened in 1997 that pairs good cigars with good coffee, with a strong range of Nicaraguan and Dominican cigars. - Týnská Bar & Books · Prague
A library-lined whisky and cigar bar behind Old Town Square, part of the Bar & Books group that began in New York. - AURA Smokers Lounge · Zurich
A bar and smokers' lounge on Bleicherweg with a large humidor, bespoke cigars and a strong spirits and cocktail list. - Smokers Lounge, Zurich Marriott · Zurich
A hotel smoking lounge on the Limmat with leather club chairs and a long bar list, popular with business travellers. - Cigarro · Warsaw
Around 400 cigars from 50 brands in what it calls Poland's largest walk-in humidor, with a basement club bar for 25 and a ventilated VIP room for four. - Aficionado Room · Warsaw
A cigar and whisky lounge off Marszałkowska with two ventilated leather-lined back rooms, single malts and cigars from Cuba to Nicaragua. - Kruger's American Bar · Vienna
One of Vienna's first exclusive bars, open since the 1920s, with leather furniture, wood panelling and a well-stocked humidor of regular, limited and vintage cigars.
