Mexican Spring Vacation Posted on April 22nd, 2008 by lou

I got to spend a week in Nuevo Vallarta a few weeks back. We were at a resort about 20 miles north of Puerto Vallarta. The weather was 82 and sunny every day. Absolutely wonderful.

I always check out the local smoke shops wherever I travel. The first stop was to the gift shop at the hotel. I was disappointed to find Te Amo and a few off brand Mexican Cigars. The prices were all $5 - $10 US. Kinda pricy for the local brands. I took a few of my own favorites so I figured I could wait a day or two to get into downtown PV to see the shops there.

We made the trip into Puerto Vallarta a few days later. The cab driver let us off right in front of a cigar shop, El Gato Gordo. And it true Mexican fashion, the owner was standing in front of the store trying to get people into his store. I figured what the hell and followed him in.

For the next few minutes the owner told me how he is one of the only cigar shops that offers “real” Cuban cigars. His pitch was that Puerto Vallarta has quite a few stores that double as time-share traps. You know the place, they have the cheapest Cubans because their brother is the importer and if you sit through a presentation he can get you an even better deal. Most of these time-share trap stores pass off cigars that have never been anywhere near Cuba. His advice, stay away from the cigar stores on the main drag. He said that these time-share traps have to cover the high rent and the cigars tend to be seconds or outright counterfeits. He had a very nice walk-in humidor. He showed me all of the brands and offered many deals. I thanked him for his time and left the store promising to do a little research and that I’d be back.

Over the next few hours I hit a few other cigar stores. All with the same story, they have the best price on real Cubans. All looked real to my eye. But who knows?

Later in the evening I headed back to my first stop and bought 5 Romeo and Juliette 7×50. When I bought 5 the price dropped to $16 each from the originally discounted price of $20 each. The owner wanted me to light one up so I could assure him it was a real Cuban. For the next hour and a half I walked the streets of Puerto Vallarta enjoying the cigar. It was very robust , great flavor and a wonderful burn.

I enjoyed the other 4 cigars over the next few days walking the beach and by the pool at our resort.