House Brand - City Cigars Robusto Maduro

Okay. I was headed downtown today to pick up some stuff from the office, and I stopped at a cigar store I'd never seen before. I walked in, and guys - this is a cigar store. It is not a tobacco store. This is the first cigar store in town that I have walked into locally that sells cigars, but NOT pipe tobacco, NOT coffee, and not much else. They had some humidors, cutters, lighters, and a fairly large walk-in humi.

The prices on some stuff was a little high (more on that in a second). In fact, the house brand smokes were priced at 5.99 and up. As I was walking around making my selection, the guy (who left me alone in the humidor, having never seen me - BIG plus) would slip in every once in a while, check what I had picked up and suggest a few more. He kept going back to their house brand, kept showing them to me. The house brand uses Dominican long filler, Ecuadorian binder, and a Havana 2000 wrapper (if I read the big huge bundles of tobacco aging in the humi correctly ). I had my selection though, and my experience with house brands is that they aren't usually worth it. I passed on those and stepped out.

At the register, he checked me out and once again suggested suggested the house brand. I figured, hey, what the hell. Can't hurt to try it. I picked up a Robusto Maduro that they had and came back out. Looking around the store, I saw the table with all the rolling implements on it. This was a real house brand - rolled right there in the store. He said that the roller was off today, so no smokes were being rolled, but told me to call and check the next time I came to see if the roller was there. Now, the review:

This cigar was put together perfectly. I have not seen many other cigars that were this well-constructed. There were no veins in the wrapper, which was a rich oily black. It smelled just right. I got out to the car, clipped the head off and sparked it up. He assured me that they had been properly aged before being put out for sale. I have just a few things to say about this cigar:

• It is probably one of the smoothest maduros I have tried.
• It is EASILY the best house brand I have ever tried, and they have a right to charge what they do for it.
• If this were the only cigar I had today, I would not feel cheated.
• It's good enough that I'm smoking it as I type, risking the wrath of my wife for making our bedroom smell like smoke.
• If I were to blindly reach into my humi and pull out this smoke, I would not feel cheated.
• I wish I had picked up some more, and will DEFINITELY be going back for some.

Now, about the prices in the store: Some of them were a little high, most notably the Fuentes. They were asking 7.99 for Short Stories, which I usually pick up individually for about $5. I did ask the guy about it (turned out he was the owner) and he said that because they are a brand new store (only open since July) that they have some trouble getting Fuente to send them a lot of product, and they currently pay near-retail for it to begin with. He said that about this time next year, their stock will go down on those and he'll be better able to get with his Fuente rep and get what they want at the price they want it.

Selection: I was AMAZED at the selection in this store. This is the first store I have walked into that had CAO Criollo on the shelf (several choices) as well as EGGs and Oliva Maduros. They even had some Padron 1964's, which I haven't seen anywhere around Dallas. First time I'd ever seen an egg ... made me want to spend the $12 just for the novelty of it.

When I checked out, the owner gave me a credit card humidifier and a business card, inviting me back. It was an experience that I will repeat, even with the slightly higher prices.

City Cigars
3001 Knox St. Ste. 109
Dallas, TX 75205
214-528-5700
Ernesto and Dora Velez, Owners
citycigars@aol.com

They also do parties and Demonstrations

( oh, and just in case anyone is wondering - no affiliation, yada, yada ... just had a really great experience )

Sounds like a great place. Its a shame they dont have more cigar stores in your area. Its funny that you mention how you were not followed into the humi. I thought it was just me, cuz Im a younger guy. I always get really annoyed cuz I assume they just dont trust me cuz Im younger. I went to this cigar store I had never been to before. Real nice place, Id estimate the humi to be about 1000 sq feet, maybe a little less. Anyway, a woman follows me in, and asks if I need any help. I say no thanks, but she continues to stay in the humi with me, and follow me around from isle to isle. So finally, very irritated, I ask "is there a problem?" and she says "no, just making sure you dont need any help", so I have like 10 to 15 cigars in my hand and finally Im completely fed up but they have some nice stuff here that I have trouble finding but I decide this will be my first and last visit here, I tell her "yuo know what, you can help me" so shes realy to answer any questions and I tell her "hold these," and dump all my cigars in her hand. The look she gave me was enough to make the whole visit worth it. hahahaha. She was so pissed, she left the humi. I guess you just had to be there. hahah. But the guy at the counter, who was the owner, was very nice and he appreciated my choices and business. Now that is one of my frequent cigar stops, but me and that woman still stare each other down whenever I go there. hahaha.

How are the CAO Criollos by the way?

I have had the pleasure of feasting on a house brand here in AZ. It's a Nic. Puro, stronger than strong, nicely priced. I have sent some to a few of the boys on here and some are on there way to IRAQ. Once you find a good house brand, because the price is usually so good, it makes a great everyday cigar...if you like strong in my case.

Glad you had a great experience! :thumbs: