Cigars in Seoul

[jasonatjl]

Just thought I’d take a moment to put together a little write up on finding and smoking cigars here in Seoul for those of you who are interested.

Seoul is a super-cool city but it’s illegal to smoke in most places here - there are dedicated “smoking areas” within the city but in bars, restaurants, etc., its a no-go. There’s 4-5 cigar bars scattered around town, most are accessible by metro and are south of the Han River.

Onto selection and pricing - outside of exclusives, the selection is pretty similar to some of the places you might find online. They had 4-5 Asia exclusives and no BHKs at the shop I visited, but the pricing was crazy. I spent 23000 won (about $21 USD) on a Trinidad Reyes from 2015. Great smoke by the way but WOW! Fundadores were in stock but closer to 51000 won, other regular productions like HdM Epi2s were 33000 won, etc.

Regionals were even crazier! Most were 40000 won+, Cohiba Sig2’s were 36000 won each! My plan is to swing by the duty free on my way home in Incheon - word is, the pricing there is trash too, but we’ll take a closer look and see what I can put together on my way through. I’ll be sure to update this post.

In the meantime, if you’re coming to Seoul, bring your own smokes. A cool little sidebar: my hotel doesn’t have cigars for sale but they do have a smoking lounge. I’m sitting up here as I write this - leather chairs, coffee tables, and drinks available next door in the executive lounge that you can bring out, pending you either pay for them or have the status to get inside.

 

[squaresoft]

my brother spent a month in seoul for his job and said it was totally awesome, I think in the next year or two were all gonna go for a week for a vacay. good to know i should bring my own sticks. customs won't be all weird about it?

 

[jasonatjl]

my brother spent a month in seoul for his job and said it was totally awesome, I think in the next year or two were all gonna go for a week for a vacay. good to know i should bring my own sticks. customs won't be all weird about it?

I can’t imagine so, but I didn’t bring my own sticks. You don’t even go through customs on the way in, just pack them in your checked bag and pick it up on the carousel. I’ve got a buddy who comes to Korea for work now and again, and he said to bring my own sticks as well (clearly I didn’t listen).

 

[irratebass]

Get me a shot glass! & some Hoyo Du Prince Thanks

 

[J-ROB]

I ran out of cigars the last time I was in Seoul and discovered that I was staying across the street from Cigar Divan (directly across from the Seven Luck Casino at COEX).
They had a decent selection, generally at 2X typical duty-free online pricing...maybe even a bit higher. Bought a few to tide me over. A D4, Petit Edmundo, and a Hoyo Petit Robusto was 70000 KRW (like $60).

Korea used to be a smoker's paradise but changed quickly. Taxes are now super high. Everybody used to smoke, everywhere. Now most of my friends have quit and it is illegal to smoke in most public or semi-public areas. Cigarettes are much more expensive (a few years ago they were ~$2 a pack, price set by law) and cigars are insane.

One of the things I like about Korea and Seoul particularly is that Koreans are very quick to adopt innovations and adapt to change. In this case, one can argue that this balls to the wall program to curb smoking should be of social and economic benefit to the country, especially cigarette smoking, but it hit the small world of the imported cigar smoker quite hard, it seems. And we know that cigar smoking is not the problem and it was a tiny piece of the smoking universe in Korea.

Inchon duty free is no good for cigars. They had a few typical luxury brands, no Cubans, all at higher than mail order prices in the US.

Yeah, bring your own is good advice! And bring enough!

I suspect that the cigar lounges are not the best and cheapest places to buy. A chap I met in the smoking lounge at the airport told me that there are places to get good cigars that "are not the places you would expect." It would probably be a good idea to track down some local puffers and learn the inside story, which I will do if i meet any. I'll be in Seoul next month, with a stash of PCs and half coronas and maybe a 25 box of Partigas Chicos for sneaking quick smokes...

 

[JFGoDan]

Thanks for the tip to BYOC. I'll be staying in Incheon (IFEZ) for a week in May. Any suggestions for a place to relax and light up? Google Maps says there is a "Casa Del Habano" about 2 hours away by train in Gangnam. LCDH locator shows it as Cigar Divan. Any place closer to IFEZ?

J-Rob, Thanks for the heads up about the duty free in Incheon. That spoils my plans to restock for the second leg of my trip to Shanghai.

 

[J-ROB]

Cigar Divan is the establishment I visited. Small but cheery 2nd floor shop with a balcony. It was 11AM though and nobody else was there. I'm not sure that it would be worth the train trip. Shanghai might be a better bet for stocking up.

I believe the Cigar Divan used to be in the Intercontinental Hotel across the street.

I think there was another shop in the general COEX area that closed down in recent years and I read somewhere that Davidoff was opening a store in that area of Gangnam but pulled out with the rising tax obstacles.

i am sure there is more to know about cigar life in Seoul and Incheon. Need to find some local Brothers. Koreans love and appreciate the finer things in, often with great passion and enthusiasm. I'm sure there is a cigar underground beyond the swanky lounge scene in high priced neighborhoods.

Maybe r/korea on Reddit would be a good place to post the question? There are 20+ million people in the Seoul/incheon area. Must be some hope for cigar lovers!

 

[jasonatjl]

I also went to the Cigars Divan across from
Seven Luck Casino / COEX in Gangnam. As mentioned, nice little shop, humidor is a little thin and the prices will make your butt cheeks clench, but if I had to do it over again, I’d bring my own cigars and make sure my hotel has a smoking lounge on site. I had the lounge to myself for the most part other than a couple cigarette smokers.

From Incheon the train ride to Gangnam is closer to an hour, hour and fifteen, depending on which train you take (AREX vs. Metro). Even so, that’s a long trip for a cigar. Smoking cigarettes is pretty common in Korea but cigars seems not so much. I did find a place in Itaewon that had “Cubans” for sale - it was more of a corner store with some tubos in a basket on a shelf behind the cashier, but they didn’t look well taken care of.

Gotta be some sort of a cigar underground, I’m sure. I would imagine the duty free in Shanghai has to be better than the one in Incheon if all I hear is true.

 

[JFGoDan]

Shanghai implemented a ban on all indoor smoking which effectively closed all lounges but I never had a problem sitting in any park to enjoy a stick. I was wondering if having a smoke in a park or even walking along the street in Incheon or Seoul was a possibility. I get the feeling that it might not be a good idea to try that in Incheon.

I have a 10 count traveldoor which I was hoping to restock in Incheon before I go on to Shanghai. I'll definitely stop by one of the Cigar Divan to pick up a stick or two I haven't tried before. I'll have a day or two down time so I suppose an hour+ train ride won't be too bad when piggybacked with some site seeing.