Yucatan Living

Merida for Cigar Lovers

5 January 2008 Daily Life 10

With its many outdoor cafes, restaurants, refreshing shaded parks, not to mention all of the private outdoor gardens and terraces, Merida is a paradise for anyone who smokes, but its proximity and enduring cultural relationship with Cuba makes it even more so for the cigar smoker.

No matter what the season, Merida nights are pleasant and a good time to be outside with friends or family. These days, a cool night provides a wonderful opportunity to sit alone or with friends, and slowly puff on a fine Cuban cigar while enjoying your favorite adult beverage.

If you are planning to smoke during or after a meal, it is good to know that cigars, like fine wines, invite pairings. Choosing your smoke for the day or the evening, invites a list of questions: With what beverage will you be enjoying your cigar? What type of meal are you punctuating? What does your palate prefer, fuerte (strong) or suavecito(smooth)? The answers to all these questions will dictate the kind of cigar that will enhance your enjoyment of your experience.

Each occasion to enjoy a cigar is an internal dialog, a quick check of your personal barometer. Successful deal-makers often enjoy the celebratory gusto of a Cohiba Maduro Cinco Genio, a thick, attractive cigar which offers profuse cool smoke with hints of dark chocolate, coffee bean and anise. The Cohiba Maduro Cinco Genio pairs well with single-malt scotch. The gourmand may chose to finish his meal with a short, fat Montecristo Petit Edmundo and a fine port, savoring the traditional toasted tobacco flavors, before returning to the kitchen to supervise the clean-up. A Sunday morning lay-about would find relaxed pleasure in the Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona, a long, smooth cigar, with hints of vanilla, cedar and orange zest, served alongside a bubbly Mimosa.

We have a saying here in the shop, Fuma menos – Fuma mejor, or Smoke less - Smoke better. Adding an occasional cigar to your routine helps to enhance the elements of the Merida environment we have all come to appreciate. Sitting and smoking a cigar allows you to slow down, relax and enjoy your surroundings; listen to the birds, the far-off marching band, and the fiesta. Let the breeze brush against you as you watch the slow plume of white smoke escape your cigar and rise to the clouds. Choose you cigar wisely and you will be richly rewarded with a deep and rewarding Merida Moment.

As always, a bit of trouble lurks in paradise. As most local cigar smokers and many tourists already know, you don’t have to go very far from the Zocalo before you bump into a street hustler selling “real” Cuban cigars. They are usually presented in a glass top box and they are most often billed as Cohiba, the most famous cigar label in the world. Other popular counterfeit brands are Montecristo, Partagas, Trinidad and Romeo & Julieta.

While we're on the subject, do not be fooled by holograms! Although the most common presentation of fake Cuban cigars is the ubiquitous glass-top box, counterfeiters have improved their operations. They now spend more resources on presentation than on cigar construction. They have at their disposal what appear to be authentic seals, labels, boxes and even holograms stickers that are used by Habanos SA to ensure authenticity. Yet the counterfeiters are often sloppy, and they take shortcuts wherever they can. Here are some of the common mistakes or shortcuts to look out for to spot a counterfeit Cuban cigar:

• Misaligned labels or stickers on boxes and sloppy date brands on the bottom of the box.
• Glass-top box. Habanos SA, the official Cuban cigar producer that makes the famous Cohiba, does not even produce a glass-top box.
• Corroded or cheap hinges and clasps. Habanos SA uses expensive hardware in its boxes of Cohibas. Genuine cigar boxes will have clean hinges and a carefully printed logo on the metal clasp.
• Badly executed cedar box divider. The divider is used to separate the two rows of cigars. If the divider does not have sharp, clean edges and a crisp half-moon cut in the upper right hand corner it is not authentic.
• Hard cigars. Individual cigars should be firm, not hard
• Soft spots. Real cigars will not have any soft spots along the wrapper.
• The label. The labels on the individual cigars should be properly printed with an exactly-aligned logo on the label.
• The smell. Genuine Cuban cigars are well made cigars, constructed from some of the finest tobacco in the world. They should smell elegant, not like a wet barnyard.

Counterfeit cigars are usually loosely filled cigars that have been hastily produced in other parts of Mexico, such as Veracruz, the Dominican Republic and Panama. These cigars taste horrible, smell worse and will often crumble in the smoker’s hand minutes after being lit.

Unfortunately, the problem is everywhere. Boxes of fake Cuban cigars can be found in several of the tourist trinket shops underneath the biggest hotel in Merida, and in other tourist shops around the city. Some real Cuban cigars can be found at Sanborn’s, and at select high-end restaurants. But if you want the finest selection of vintage and real Cuban cigars, the only option for guaranteed, authentic Cuban cigars in the entire state of Yucatan is Mercer Cigars.

Visitors to Cancun & Playa del Carmen encounter Cuban cigars in a all types of retail shops and many hotels that have a small selection of cigars. In my experience, virtually all of these shops possess at least some, if not all fake cigars. The only reliable retailers of Cuban cigars in Quintana Roo are the two La Casa del Habano shops, one in the Zona Hotelera in Cancun and the other at the end of 5th Avenida in Playa del Carmen. La Casa del Habano is a world-wide franchise of cigar shops that exclusively sell Cuban cigars and can be trusted to have authentic cigars and a knowledgeable staff.

Don’t be fooled! If you are a fan of the finest cigars in the world, or you would like to enjoy a special treat on vacation, spend your money wisely and go to an official retailer. Many factors bear on the price of a Cuban cigar in Mexico, including rarity, exclusivity, and most importantly, national importation and tobacco taxes. Just the tax on imported tobacco products is almost 27% before IVA. The other important price variables are size and brand. Cohiba and Trinidad are generally 40% more expensive than all other Cuban brands. Any Limited Edition (marked with a special 2nd band denoting Edicion Limitada and the year of production) cigar can be as high as 50% above typical costs. A typical corona-sized Cuban cigar will cost between $55 - 100 pesos, a typical robusto-sized cigar will cost between $100 - 160 pesos, and a typical Cuban churchill will cost between $150 - 240 pesos. You can expect at least 25% premium above that in a high-end hotel with a small humidor in its gift shop or bar.

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Some aficionados enjoy vintage cigars. Cigars properly maintained at consistent humidity and temperature (ideally between 60% - 70% humidity and between 50 and 75 degrees) can be stored indefinitely. Not unlike vintage wine collectors, most serious Cuban cigar smokers closely follow vintages believing that particular years have more to offer. A cigar with several years of age will be described as more mellow, with a deeper, richer taste profile, often much more satisying than when it was originally produced. All natural tobacco contains trace elements such as ammonia. Given years to breathe, these cigars will have exciting and revealing taste profiles that are universally desireable. Although there is no official benchmark, most cigar aficionados consider a vintage cigar to be at least 7 years old. Not all cigars improve with age, but most do, and when they can be found they are a real treat. Outside of the hard-core cigar community, vintage Cuban cigars are very difficult to find, because inside the cigar community there is a strong and growing demand. Collectors in Asia, Europe and the US are constantly in search of the special box that is bound to contain aged treats. Inside of Latin America the search for vintage cigars has just begun to gather steam. There are precious few outlets for vintage cigars in Mexico, but we're lucky to have one of them right here in our own back yard.

Mercer Cigars opened its doors in mid-2007 and is the only store and lounge dedicated to selling the very best selection of new and aged Cuban cigars in the entire Yucatan. The store carries humidors, cutters, lighters and other smoking accessories. There is a large, glass-walled walk-in humidor that allows you to choose your cigar, with the assistance of an English-speaking staff. Walk out the back door of the humidor and you will find yourself in an indoor-outdoor cafe and bar, the perfect environment for enjoying that cigar with a drink, with friends, with a botana (snack) or all three.

Editors Note: Mexico is quickly becoming one of the last safe havens in the modern world for smokers of all kinds. Angelica Palacios who works at Mercer Cigars, was kind enough to share with us some of her vast cigar knowledge. Mercer Cigars, is located on 85-3 Prolongacion Montejo. For more information, check out their website at www.mercercigars.com.

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