Introduction

Saludos,

Greetings friends and lovers of tabaco! We are Habana Port Cigar Merchants and it is a pleasure to have you browsing our blog. We are here to formally introduce ourselves to the blogosphere and to all who enjoy tabaco in all its forms. We especially greet and salute those who enjoy smoking cigars and pipe tabaco.

We are a new cigar retailer managed by the Molina family. Based in Covington, Louisiana, United States, Habana Port brings with it members of our team who have a tremendous amount of experience in this industry. Habana Port is not our first pony show and to illustrate our depth in the cigar industry we have been involved in the manufacture, importing, marketing and distribution (both wholesale and retailing) sides of this beloved and rich industry. Our family is of Central American descent and we have traveled the many tabaco growing regions this part of the world hosts. The members of our youngest generation were born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana and have embraced America with loyalty and honor. In fact one of our sons proudly serves in the United States Navy as a Lieutenant.

Our love of cigars and tabaco (in case you were wondering, this is the Spanish spelling of "tobacco") have resulted in the formation of our new venture, Habana Port. In keeping with the rich tabaco and cigar heritage of the island nation of Cuba, our first retail business had to herald the location that boasts the most unique cigars in the world. As a reminder to our customers, the port of Havana is the central point where the precious commodity leaves Cuba for the rest of the world. So it is with Habana Port... this is the central location where you will find the best cigars available anywhere for your smoking pleasure.

Habana Port will be located on 330 Falconer Drive, Covington, LA, 70433 in a 1,200 square-foot location. We will house our cigars in a large 300 square-foot walk-in humidor and plan to offer the most diverse selection of cigars at the most competitive prices on the Northshore. We will also showcase a wide array of pipes and pipe tabaco for those interested in this ancient art. Cigar accessories and humidors will be available to our customers as well. In addition to these great offerings, Habana Port will be home to an attractive smoking lounge for the aficionado who wants to smoke and relax in peace or fraternize with like-minded smoking gentlemen. The lounge will offer a spacious seating area equipped with leather chairs, a poker/domino table or two, a 47 inch high-definition flatscreen television, free wireless Internet connection, a cold drink vending machine and rental private humidified lockers for those customers who want to store their private stock and not worry about everyday maintenance. Habana Port will also offer regular cigar events brought to you by cigar manufacturers who want you to sample their cigars.

In order to underscore our credentials, we are the only cigar retailer in the Greater New Orleans area to house a Certified Retail Tobacconist. This certification is recognized as the top retailing standard by Tobacconist University and is earned after many hours of on-the-job training, studying and testing. Tobacconists with a CRT recognition ensures to the public that the retailer you are supporting understands the complications of the cigar shop industry and you can be comfortable knowing that when you purchase a cigar from Habana Port, that we have the intimate understanding and knowledge of what it is to be a top professional tobacconist. You can check out who at Habana Port has CRT certification right here. So make sure that the tobacconist you support, has the CRT Lapel Pin and a Tobacconist University CRT diploma!

As we finish our introduction, please come back for regular updates. We are not yet open but plan to welcome our first customers in the next few weeks. In the meantime, read this blog regularly as we will be posting pictures and updates of our first store's buildout and construction.

Be sure to check out our Twitter and Facebook pages as well. Comment on our blog or other social networking sites so we can get your feedback. If you would like to drop us an email, contact us through habanaport@gmail.com. Until the next post,

Siempre Fumando,

Habana Port