Typical walk in selection in Europe

[Master Shake]

@MikeZ37 a couple quick things:
1. I’m not sure if you’re aware or not, but Europe is a pretty big place. If you could be more specific with where you are traveling I could be more helpful with specific spots to go.
2. Not all LCDH are created equal. Some are great, some are OK and some are shit in terms of selection. Ditto airport duty free shops. The average tobacco shop in Europe is crap. Lots of “Tabacs” or “tabacaleras” carry only the most basic stuff, monte 4, PSD4, etc. and the storage conditions are also shit in most places.
3. If your itinerary is open to a certain degree I could offer some destinations to go to that would include some cigar tourism. Let me know if that’s an option.

 

[MikeZ37]

@MikeZ37 a couple quick things:
1. I’m not sure if you’re aware or not, but Europe is a pretty big place. If you could be more specific with where you are traveling I could be more helpful with specific spots to go.
2. Not all LCDH are created equal. Some are great, some are OK and some are shit in terms of selection. Ditto airport duty free shops. The average tobacco shop in Europe is crap. Lots of “Tabacs” or “tabacaleras” carry only the most basic stuff, monte 4, PSD4, etc. and the storage conditions are also shit in most places.
3. If your itinerary is open to a certain degree I could offer some destinations to go to that would include some cigar tourism. Let me know if that’s an option.

Holy shit I thought Europe was just the weird boot shaped place... obvious joke. Anyway we’re flying in and out of Barcelona(Spain), spending a day in nice(france) and in Italy we have a lot of stops.. Florence Rome the amalfi coast Venice and Ravenna. Then we’re going to montenegro but won’t have time for any shopping there. Venice will have the most time for wandering around.

 

[JZBdano]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/halfwheel.com/bolivar-tiempo-edicion-regional-arrives-france/249375/amp Well these look beautiful. If I can find any left.

I just got home from London/Paris/Netherlands last night. Tiempos were in a couple Tabac stores in Paris, 18.80 Euros at all stores. They also had Q'dO regional for 8.50. All stores I went to had the same pricing on cigars so no need to price shop. Taxes in England made cigars 2-3 times more expensive than anywhere else.
Mastershake is spot on with his points above.

 

[Boudie]

Holy shit I thought Europe was just the weird boot shaped place... obvious joke. Anyway we’re flying in and out of Barcelona(Spain), spending a day in nice(france) and in Italy we have a lot of stops.. Florence Rome the amalfi coast Venice and Ravenna. Then we’re going to montenegro but won’t have time for any shopping there. Venice will have the most time for wandering around.

Well between the travel time, the "Honeymoon" time and the doing what she wants to do time I "hope" you have some cigar shopping time. Sounds like a pretty full schedule!! Have a great trip.

 

[Almi]

Holy shit I thought Europe was just the weird boot shaped place... obvious joke. Anyway we’re flying in and out of Barcelona(Spain), spending a day in nice(france) and in Italy we have a lot of stops.. Florence Rome the amalfi coast Venice and Ravenna. Then we’re going to montenegro but won’t have time for any shopping there. Venice will have the most time for wandering around.

Brings back fond memories from when I was in the service and my girlfriend was going to school in Austria. We took a week to tour Italy and went to all of the same places but Rome. The train we took from Florence to Ravenna was a 2 car train that stopped to pick up kids for school along the way. Very pretty countryside. The beach in Ravenna was very nice. All the towns were very special in there own way. At the time we stayed in youth hostels to keep the trip cheap. Have a fun filled trip.

 

[Master Shake]

@MikeZ37 The easiest shop to hit along your itinerary that is decent would be Fincato in Rome which is a LCDH. When I last went the selection was crap but I’ve been lead to believe my stop there was an outlier and that the stock is generally solid. The guy in the humidor said they’ve been sold out of Casanova for months but that the LGC Invictos were due to arrive “soon” when I was there in April. So, you might very well score some of those regionals while you are there.

If you have extra time in Barcelona, I would recommend taking a trip to Andorra and visiting The Cigar Shop, as well as the LCDH they have there. Its all duty free in Andorra and they have several regionals available and everything is priced well. The 2 hour drive is extremely scenic and beautiful. This is the second best shop I've ever visited in terms of size and selection and its worth going out of your way to stop there.

I visited Florence but didn't look for cigars there, nor would I recommend wasting precious time stopping in random shops hoping for something when there is so much to see there. Same thing with the Amalfi Coast, I wouldnt bother looking for cigars in such a beautiful place. I've never visited Venice, but Milan is a short train ride away and it's one of the better LCDHs in Europe for sure.

 

[MikeZ37]

@MikeZ37 The easiest shop to hit along your itinerary that is decent would be Fincato in Rome which is a LCDH. When I last went the selection was crap but I’ve been lead to believe my stop there was an outlier and that the stock is generally solid. The guy in the humidor said they’ve been sold out of Casanova for months but that the LGC Invictos were due to arrive “soon” when I was there in April. So, you might very well score some of those regionals while you are there.

If you have extra time in Barcelona, I would recommend taking a trip to Andorra and visiting The Cigar Shop, as well as the LCDH they have there. Its all duty free in Andorra and they have several regionals available and everything is priced well. The 2 hour drive is extremely scenic and beautiful. This is the second best shop I've ever visited in terms of size and selection and its worth going out of your way to stop there.

I visited Florence but didn't look for cigars there, nor would I recommend wasting precious time stopping in random shops hoping for something when there is so much to see there. Same thing with the Amalfi Coast, I wouldnt bother looking for cigars in such a beautiful place. I've never visited Venice, but Milan is a short train ride away and it's one of the better LCDHs in Europe for sure.

Damn you guys really know your stuff. Sounds like I’ll definitely be making a pit stop in Rome and then probably in Venice too. I’d love to check out the shops in Andorra but not sure if we will have time for all that driving.

 

[CalebBDavid]

Damn you guys really know your stuff. Sounds like I’ll definitely be making a pit stop in Rome and then probably in Venice too. I’d love to check out the shops in Andorra but not sure if we will have time for all that driving.

I was in Rome a few weeks ago and went to Fincato, which was about the only legit shop around. The selection was lacking, but he did have the Partagas Maduro No. 1, which was truly amazing. Paris has some nice shops. I recommend A La Civette. They had Talismans when I was there, but they were only selling by the box. They also had quite a selection of regionals and some LEs. Have a great trip!

 

[AlohaStyle]

I visited Florence but didn't look for cigars there, nor would I recommend wasting precious time stopping in random shops hoping for something when there is so much to see there. Same thing with the Amalfi Coast, I wouldnt bother looking for cigars in such a beautiful place. .

I hear ya on not wasting time searching out cigars while traveling beautiful places, but sadly, that's probably your best bet for finding good stuff now days. With many vendors shipping now days, when they previously didn't, most good shops are plucked. For example, I met an Italian shop owner along the Amalfi coast that won't even ship to me, it's against the law in Italy. Many good shops to find stuff...