Top Cubans

Experience:

These guys are the Go-To when you want knowledge with your purchase experience. Highly highly reccomended. Often ship in foam boxes with cigars seperated individually to ensure safety. Just wish they’d send a small gel humidification device with it, especially when coming all the way from Switzerland!

Experience:

I add my recommendation to the foregoing. Richard’s prices can be matched (or bettered) but not his service, nor the quality of his product, nor the care with which they are selected, packed and shipped.

TopCubans ships cigars vacuum-packed, which does something special when the packs are opened: the cigars seem to “inhale” air at normal atmospheric pressure, which seems to help them rehumidify quickly and evenly in the humidor.

Experience:

I have placed many orders over 5 years through richard with 100% flawless delivery and product. they are the best of the best. not the cheapest but you get what you pay for

Experience:

Great site for authentic cuban cigars! Prices aren’t as great as some on the web, but they’re 100% authentic so it’s worth paying a bit extra for some piece of mind. Cigars shipped promptly, I only wish they shipped with humidipacks.

Experience: Neutral

I am wondering how many people from Canada ended up paying taxes/duties on their cigar orders. was that every time? was it for a large order?

I live in Canada as well and i have purchased a couple of times from this website, however so far so good.

Experience:

Fast response and well communication with the customer. One week delivered to Thailand… Sometime the price is not the main factor to buy. Well communication and response are a must on this.

Experience:

I’ve been ordering from TC since 2007 and have never had anything other than an excellent experience. David and Richard provide the best customer service of any Cuban cigar online retailer, hands down. You might pay a bit more, but they are really the pinnacle. Stick to the specials and you’ll do well.

Experience:

I ordered from topcubans on december 8th i live on long island in NY. My order shipped out unbanded and reboxed that same day. Great right? Well so i thought. Package left geneva on the 8th the bands arrived on the 14th. Well it is now january 7 and no package. David said he will ship a replacement package which is great. But if it does not arrive this time im SOL! So be carefull if u live in the US because if youre unlucky like me youll be out of alot of money for nothing. Other than that davids a very nice reasonable fella so give them a shot as long as you dont mind playing russian roulette w customs.

Update: I just wanted to post a follow up to my above post. My second package arrived yesterday via fedex 3 day. The packaging was great cigars taste excellent amd there was no damage at all when the bands were removed on all 20 cigars. David thankyou if you read this. Amd to all who may order from him, have them ship fedex it will cost more but US CUSTOMS is more lax via fedex than via usps.

Experience:

(comments have been consolidated)

Comment #1 (Nov 6 2010) I have ordered twice from this company and I find their prices extremely competitive, especially if you watch their monthly and weekly sale items.

First and foremost this site has the best customer service of any cigar vendor I have encountered online. They answer emails almost immediately and were very helpful with fixing my first order when I made a mistake and tried to order something no longer available. I followed an old link from here for a limited edition pack that still exsisted on their server but has long since sold out. My fault for not checking dates. David contacted me and allowed me to choose other merchandise of the same value and threw in a free Cohiba.

All arrived vacuum sealed and well packaged. As other have said no humidipaks included but I am not sure why some people here say that is a must with vacuum sealing. If there is no air in there your humidipak is useless or of minimal value.

I have placed a second larger order with them this week. It shipped the next day with a confirmation from David. Waiting for it to arrive. I live in the US and the first package arrived via USPS and Suissmail with no customs issues. It took about 5-7 days to arrive.

All cigars were in perfect condition. Placed them all in the humidor for a few weeks to make sure they were fully recovered from shipping. Had a friend that owns a local cigar store look at them and as others have said they are completely legit and great quality Cubans.

The seals were broken on the boxes but I assume that they must open them to verify they are ok before shipping. Serial nmbers are authentic.

Love this company, looking forward to many more years of getting my Cubans from them.

Comment #2 (Nov 8 2010) Second order arrived today in perfect condition. Well packaged and in great shape. Got a box of Trinidad T’s and although they remove the barcode, I assume for my protection and theirs since I am in the US, the box was pristine with all the appropriate seals and markings. Couldn’t be happier with these guys.

Comment #3 (Dec 22 2010) Yet another order from them in perfect condition. David is very nice and helpful. I was a little worried on my last order after seeing a bunch of Cubans siezed by customs in Chicage but all my orders from these guys have arrived safely via the regular mail no problems at all.

Comment #4 (Jan 18 2011) I recieved another order last week no problem. A single box of 25 Montecristo #4′s. As usual, they were sent via regular mail and arrived in exactly one week. Original Cuban box with bands on. All of their boxes do come opened but they have the appropriate Cuban tax stamps with holograms. Bar codes are removed though when shipping to the US. Here is verification of my order history from last year:

http://www.phyrefile.com/image/view/ygydZhARU1v5rZSN

Everything seems as authentic as can be. I referred a friend and noted it to them on my last order and received two free Cohiba Siglo VI’s as promised through the refer a friend program. Here are some links to pics of product received from them:

http://www.phyrefile.com/image/view/1TwDCbJ7lke9MM6k

http://www.phyrefile.com/image/view/GM6JEzEdyUVEGJvx

Thats just a sample of what I have gotten from them and took the time to take some pics of. Everyone seems to cry “fake” when it comes to Cubans but I have yet to get anything from them that has not looked and tasted as it should. Some things to note:

1. If you live in the Northern US shipping has been slow lately. My friend in Detroit had to wait almost a month for his order to arrive as it sat in customs forever. He thought it was lost for good and then it just showed up out of the blue a couple of days later. Everything was fine since it’s all vacuum sealed. I live in the South and this does not seem to be an issue. I assume it’s because customs is backed up in areas where they have had terror threats, plus they seem to be cracking down on Cubans coming through places like Chicago and New York.

2. These guys are recognized by Habanos as an authorized retailer, why woul they send you fakes?

3. They OPEN and inspect every box. So if you can’t handle that then I would not order from them.

David is one of the easiest guys to work with when ordering cigars and this site has been nothing but top notch for me. It sucks others have had issues, but if you live in the US you have to be prepared for customs delays or maybe even loss of a shipment. Hope this info helps.

Experience:

Not the cheapest site for cigars, but if you are patient you will always be able to nab a few freebies. Received 3 free cigars with my order of 10. One Partagas Lusitanias, one Edmundo and one Belicos Finos! When you factor that in, even with the rather high shipping cost, it’s a bargain. Your cigars will always arrive in a timely fashion as well. So glad I switched back to these guys after mistakenly trying a competitor.
Very Satisfied once again.

Experience:

I just received my first order from topcubans. The cigars arrived in perfect conditions (This may be your top concern). Shipping is fast. Plus they respond my request very soon and with full respect. Thanks, David and Richard!

Experience:

BUYER BEWARE!
I placed an order in May…received confirmation that payment had been received on May 24, items shipped on May 25. I received a tracking number through email…I emailed “David” to ask what service had been used and he replied back USPS. Here is where it becomes suspect;

1. The tracking number says that the item shipped was a letter (kind of hard to ship 15 cigars in a letter)

2. After 12 days of nothing and no action on the tracking I began to again email “David”. 5 emails later I am yet to get a response back. (pretty suspect for a company that gets such high reviews on customer service)

3. If you check out every review board you will notice that all of their reviews come in bunches…either grouped together on the same day or within a couple of days of each other (tells me that the same people are posting these reviews)

4. The phone number that is listed on their website is out of service…I tried numerous times to contact it.

Needless to say I think I have been had…I hope that I am wrong and that everything works out but all signs are pointing to no.

BUYER BEWARE!

Update #1 (Jun 9 2011) I would like to update my post from yesterday. After sending a couple more emails I did receive a response this morning. I am still yet to receive my package but at least have some communication. TopCubans did make the offer to resend my order if after a month I have not received it.

I must say that I contacted Intertabak AG (habanos importer) and they replied to me saying, “I can confirm you that within our borders we maintain a business relationship with topcubans.com”. So this response puts me a bit at ease. It looks more like this may be a case of disappointing customer service. I will continue to post updates to my experience. I hope that there is a positive end and I can give TopCubans praise.

Update #2 (Jun 29 2011) Well I would like to continue my updates…I am still yet to receive my cigars from topcubans.com. It has now been over a month since they received my payment. There has been no communication from them since my last post…I have sent two inquiry emails last week and just sent one today…once again they are not responding to me.

Summery: Not only have I not received my cigars but the customer service has been flat horrible with them practically ignoring all of my attempts at contacting them about the issue.

Update #3 (Aug 10 2011) First I would like to submit one final comment to my post above…I finally received all the cigars and they all seemed suspect from the get go.
I think that Top Cubans sells fake cigars and I have the proof. I purchased two Cohiba Behike 52′s…I was first concerned with the construction of the actual cigars and then I checked out Cigar Aficionado’s insider on counterfeit Behikes, Behike bands, and Behike Boxes…in their video they compare a real Behike band with two fakes…one fake is very obvious but the other is very good…After just looking at the pictures I was convinced that mine were real…BUT…after watching the video and getting better closeups I noticed that mine matched the second counterfeit. The dead give away is in the white box squares…particularly those around the woman’s head…and even more every white square that is cut or angled to shape around the head…it is most noticed at the bottom of the head near the neck. So BUYER BEWARE… I paid over $40 each for these and over $300 by the end of my order…don’t be had like I was.
Pictures: pic #1, pic #2

Experience:

I’ve been ordering from David now for about 2 years and every order has gone through flawlessly. Sure the prices are higher than other sites but these a AUTHENTIC Cubans. David knows his stuff and is even willing to give you a deal if you send an email to him asking for advice and a possible discount. Just ordered a box of 25 Romeo y Juliet Churchills and got $40 dollars off the price and in addition received 3 free cigars and 2 free cohibas for paying with a bank transfer, plus it arrived vacuum sealed in about a week, no problems with these guys, always generous to send a deal your way and they know their stuff. Better than the rest of the online dealers who get shady when it comes to real authenticity.. You know they’re authentic when they sell a specialty product for $40,000.00 USD with Fidel Castro’s Signature and authenticity slip from Habanos and Cohiba with Gold on the Humidor. Make the right decision, topcubans.com

Experience: Neutral

In response to the comment above, I have too have been dealing with Richard and David for years. It does happen every so often that a cigar in your box may not meet the usual Cuban Cigar standard because as we all know mistakes do happen at the manufacturer, I for one have smoked hundreds of Cuban Cigars and I too have had the unpleasant surprise of being dealt an abnormal cigar that just doesn’t feel right. Suffice to say that it was a discouraging moment this actually happened while I was in Cuba visiting. I can assure anyone that Richard and David run the best online retailer I know of. If you did truly have an issue with your Cuban Cigars, you should have contacted David and explained the situation. He has sent me free cigars in the past to insure my trust. Their customer service is the best in the business, if you had a problem you should have contacted David instead of doing nothing. He will always make the situation right to insure you stay a loyal customer.

Experience:

I used to be a regular customer of Top Cubans. Their customer service used to be quite reliable and deliveries were often fast to the US. However the quality of the cigars became very suspect. I even had to send a couple boxes back. After a while (many months) I got tired of dealing with inferior quality cigars, it just took up too much of my time writing letters and exchanging the cigars. In the meantime I started using another dealer. The quality of my cigars got much better while my friend who kept buying from Top Cubans continuted to have the same problems. Eventually he alsos got tired of all the BS so he started buying from another supplier. A few months ago another friend who stopped smoking gave my buddy a bag full (at least 40 cigars) of cigars he bought from Top Cubans. All kinds of limited edition cigars, regional cigars, and a nice selection of Bolivar, Romeo and Julietta, etc. The selection blew us away. So one night we’re watching football and start smoking a couple cigars. They were flavorless.

Experience: Neutral

JStephens – bad assumption on your part. Did contact David with my concerns, at which point he basically told me to screw off. Done with them.

Experience:

Very good experience, although I’ve only 3-4 orders with them. Will keep on doing business with them.

I’d like to see more proof of these fake claims. I’ve yet to see side by side pictures of bad cigars, bands, labels etc. Perhaps Habanos should be contacted to legitimise any claims of mismatches – with all the regional releases and variations over the years and such, it’s possible that differences perceived as counterfeit signs are not that all.
Also, think about it – isn’t it better to smoke the original cigars, and *reuse* the bands on lower quality or at least cheaper replacements? Why would you bother to produce bands, and get them wrong, for cigars that are not rare at all?
It’s understandable to recreate bands for when they’re scarce, e.g. for old, out of production cigars. But new, series cigars? Seriously, just bribe someone on the process chain that creates the authentic labels… suddenly someone lost a bag of labels, and you’ve “found” it.

Experience: Neutral

Well let me put out a couple responses here…FIRST…I have yet to try them because they were being saved for an occasion later in the year but I would be happy to submit even more pics that show the disgraceful construction of these…I know that flaws sometimes get by inspection but you guys talk like it’s a common thing…come on people really…everyone knows that cigars are Cuba’s pride and Joy and they go above and beyond to ensure the quality of all cigars and ESPECIALLY their premier line from their premier company. I suffice to say that any inspector who would let these slide by would most definitely be fired immediately.

SECOND…luca…of course just looking at the pics say nothing…that’s why they are very good fakes…but non the less…they are fakes. I provided the info as to where to find the info, where to find the comparison pictures, where to find the video comparing the exact fake bands that I received. So point and click your mouse and do some research before commenting.

Experience: Neutral

Im not defending anyone, but those behikes don’t look fake to me… Only taste will tell. If you’d like to send me one I’ll be happy to smoke it and tell you what I think ;-)

Experience:

A little pricey compared to some others but excellent quality and selection.

Experience:

Have gotten some montecristo #2 and cohiba from top cubans. Both arrived timely and were perfect to smoke. Boxes are slightly older than some of the lower cost providers. Although you pay more and have to deal with bands being shipped separately, I am finding that it is worth it to have absolute knowledge about what you are getting.

Experience:

This was the 1st time I ordered from Top Cuban. I will defiantly order with David again. Great customer service, great product and received the stix in 7 days from ordering with a tracking # not like other sites that send you garbage.
John DI