JimK
Member
I was at the Havana Club in Cozumel over the weekend. In general, Cozumel took a pretty big hit from Wilma. A lot of businesses are not there anymore, especially on the waterfront. A lot of the second story businesses are gone, while the businesses below them seem to have fared better.
Luckily, the Havana Club is open for business and in pretty good shape. They were without power for a week, and if I understood him correctly, the humidifier in their humidor is still broken.
Unfortunately, their cigars took quite a hit, in my opinion. I had been there three times previously, and noted a marked difference this time. A couple of examples: I saw a box of Boli CEs that had mold at the foot of the cigars. I also saw what would have been a very nice box of Cohiba Lancersos from CLE NOV 01. As I inspected the cigars, I saw beetle holes in several. This was my first time seeing beetle damage in person, so I lifted up the cigars for a closer look and saw two live beetles and a dead one in the box. I pointed it out to them; they took the ones that had holes in them out (they said they were going to freeze them) and left the rest there. At that point, my appetite was spoiled for what I'm sure would have been a good smoke otherwise. A lot of other cigars had moderate to severe foot damage, some had cracked and expanded a full two inches or so up the stick. It looked like damage from rapid changes in humidity, and on these they were offering discounts of about 25% per stick. Their prices are very high, so it still wasn't a very good deal.
In any case, we had a nice time enjoying drinks and food, but I just wanted to give everyone the heads up that their stock had taken quite a hit from the hurricane. The good news is that there were about 40 new boxes on the floor that had just come in. Lots of Punch, Upmann and others.
JK
Luckily, the Havana Club is open for business and in pretty good shape. They were without power for a week, and if I understood him correctly, the humidifier in their humidor is still broken.
Unfortunately, their cigars took quite a hit, in my opinion. I had been there three times previously, and noted a marked difference this time. A couple of examples: I saw a box of Boli CEs that had mold at the foot of the cigars. I also saw what would have been a very nice box of Cohiba Lancersos from CLE NOV 01. As I inspected the cigars, I saw beetle holes in several. This was my first time seeing beetle damage in person, so I lifted up the cigars for a closer look and saw two live beetles and a dead one in the box. I pointed it out to them; they took the ones that had holes in them out (they said they were going to freeze them) and left the rest there. At that point, my appetite was spoiled for what I'm sure would have been a good smoke otherwise. A lot of other cigars had moderate to severe foot damage, some had cracked and expanded a full two inches or so up the stick. It looked like damage from rapid changes in humidity, and on these they were offering discounts of about 25% per stick. Their prices are very high, so it still wasn't a very good deal.
In any case, we had a nice time enjoying drinks and food, but I just wanted to give everyone the heads up that their stock had taken quite a hit from the hurricane. The good news is that there were about 40 new boxes on the floor that had just come in. Lots of Punch, Upmann and others.
JK
