San Juan

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Cigar House at the Doll House

thedrifter
thedrifter
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
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1
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The Cigar House at the Doll House

  • February 28, 2002
  • Rated 4 of 5 by thedrifter from Nashville, Tennessee
If you enjoy cigars, keep in mind that Puerto Rico is governed by the United States. So, no Cuban cigars for you. That doesn't mean that Puerto Rico has nothing to offer the visitor with a hankering for a good smoke.

There are several places around Old San Juan to purchase cigars. However, this store with the odd name is where I found myself opting to spend my money. Overall, the prices in Puerto Rico tended to be lower than they are on the mainland. You don't have to buy many stogies at your local smoke shop to realize that alone is good reason to stock up while on the island.

There are no purely Puerto Rican cigars that I am aware of. If there are, I did not find any and have not read of them. However, there are some decent brands that are manufactured there. Meaning, for the less informed, that the tobacco is grown elsewhere, but the cigars are rolled in local factories. Thus, there are Puerto Rican brand names. If you don't smoke cigars, this is meaningless, I suppose, but I probably lost you on the first paragraph anyway.

The brand that I adopted as my own is called Don Bienve. I don't recall seeing it in the other shops, which is why I found myself revisiting this particular store. Don Bienve is a low-end cigar, price wise. They are the perfect choice for when you just want a good, quality smoke without dipping into your special stash. At $1.50 a piece for a midsize stogie, you would think they stuck the wrong price tag on them if you bought these back home. I bought a fistful to bring home with me, needless to say.

The Cigar House at the Doll House also sells souvenirs, t-shirts and other gift items geared towards the tourist. Actually, most of their floor space is dedicated to that sort of thing, but I would say that the cigar trade over shadows the rest of their commerce.

The only other thing in the store I might recommend you go there for would be the hats. They had a fairly large selection of Panama hats of respectable quality, though the prices were not the best in town. Still, they did carry more styles than some of the other stores.

As with so many things, I couldn't help but notice the oddities of this retail establishment. Given the name of the place, I really did expect to see some dolls in the store. Nope...not a one. Also, there are three locations in Old San Juan. Two of them are on Fortaleza, directly across the street from each other. I never noticed them both being open at the same time and I passed by on several occasions during my ramblings. At first I thought maybe they were just moving from one building to the next, but both stores on listed on their business cards. Odd, I thought.

From journal On the Cheap in Old San Juan

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