Traveling with cigars can be challenging if you’re not prepared. The lack of preparation can lead to your favorite cigars getting smashed from inadequate storage, or they can peel because they weren’t kept at the proper temperature, among other issues. Sometimes you do all the right things, and still come away shaking your head.
I’ve been smoking cigars for two decades now, and it’s not beneath me to admit that I’ve made plenty of cigar travel mistakes in that span, and as recently as two weeks ago. You live, you learn, and hope you don’t waste a stogie on the next trip. My most recent cigar travel mistake is what inspired me to share these tips. Sure, there are plenty of articles out there offering similar advice. But this list comes from a cigar smoker and writer who has visited six countries and about a dozen states in the last year alone. And in that time, mistakes were made, and lessons were learned.
Get a Humidor Cigar Travel Case
This may seem like an obvious tip, but so many travelers toss three to six cigars and a Boveda humidity control pack in a Zip Lock bag. While your cigars might stay fresh by choosing that option, a humidor cigar travel case is always the best way to go. You don’t have to worry about your cigars getting crushed. And let’s face it, pulling out a humidor cigar travel case at a cigar lounge or a rooftop lounge shows you’re serious about your stogies.
For my money, Xikar makes the best humidor cigar travel cases, offering 60-, 40-, 20-, 10-, and 5-cigar travel cases. Xikar touts its cases as “airtight… watertight… crushproof,” a three-prong approach sure to keep cigars fresh and safe.
The 5-cigar case is my go-to option when traveling for three to five days, and I slide three into a leather case when heading out to dinner or meeting up with others at a bar after reaching my destination. The leather case fits perfectly in my back pocket or the inside pocket of my blazer when I’m out and about, and it’s a classy look when placed on the dinner table or bar top.
Whether you go with a 10-cigar or 5-cigar humidor cigar travel case, it’s important to remember that cigar size matters. Xikar cases feature high-density urethane foam, so a 60-ring-gauge cigar is probably a no-no since it’s likely the case won’t close effortlessly. Never force a cigar travel case shut.
When traveling, a humidor cigar travel case is best stored in your carry-on luggage or bag. Keeping your case in your checked luggage can pose risks to the cigars, since temperatures underneath can fluctuate.
Don’t overpack cigars
I brought six Rocky Patel Java Maduros with me earlier this year on a trip to Istanbul. The plan was to wake up early, hit up a coffee shop with my best friend, and smoke while we sipped on Turkish coffee.
We later realized that our trip inadvertently coincided with Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar in which Muslims observe daily fasting from dawn to sunset. It was surreal and incredibly rich to experience such a vastly different culture, which meant getting woken up each morning just before sunrise by the speakers next to our hotel blaring the daily call to prayer.
Suffice it to say, plans to drink Turkish coffee in the morning while puffing on those Java Maduros never came to fruition. By the time we rolled out of bed and finished our late breakfast, we were late to our itinerary. In the end, I came back home with all six cigars after five days in Istanbul. I knew my schedule would be tight most of the day, leaving very little to no time to enjoy our cigars.
I had a similar experience just a couple of weeks ago when traveling from Mexico City to Los Angeles and then Philadelphia. The trip came on the heels of a week-long visit to the Dominican Republic for the inaugural Cigar & Rum Festival at Casa de Campo Resort & Villas in La Romana, where I came away with about 70 or so cigars. I don’t have a cigar humidor in Mexico City big enough to store them all, so the plan was to ship them to my buddy back home in Austin, TX, and store them for me in his electric humidor with a 250-cigar capacity. The shipping plan didn’t pan out (there was a kiosk to help with shipping but no one manned it), and I had to travel back to Mexico City with the entire haul. Thankfully, a friend on the same trip helped me carefully store them in my NOMADIC backpack, which had more than enough room.
For the trip to L.A. and Philly, I brought six cigars with me. But like my Istanbul trip, the days were packed, leaving no time to smoke any cigars. This time, I didn’t want to come back home with cigars again. So, while drinking a beer and waiting for my flight at LAX, I overheard a couple say they were celebrating their anniversary in Bermuda. “Random question,” I interjected. “Do you smoke cigars?” He said he and his wife love cigars and had mentioned forgetting to pack some for the trip. I reached into my backpack and offered them four of the six cigars I brought on the trip. “Take them. I didn’t have time to smoke them in L.A., and I won’t have any time to smoke them in Philly.”
This is all to say that I should have looked at my itinerary and realized that bringing cigars on this trip didn’t make sense. There just wouldn’t be enough time. Lesson learned.
Leave the torch at home
For years I refused to light up cigars with matches or a disposable lighter, like a BIC lighter. Either the wind blew out the match, or the disposable lighters resulted in uneven burns. But traveling to Mexico City meant leaving my butane-fueled torches back home. And the torch I bought here in Mexico City stays here when I travel. That’s because you can’t and shouldn’t travel with torches. Ever.
TSA also makes that explicitly clear: No torches in carry-on bags, as well as checked luggage.
So, if you’re a snob like me who prefers torches when lighting up and you’re proud of the powerful torches you own, it’s best to leave them at home. I’ve heard time and again to also leave your cutters at home, but I’ve traveled with my steel cutter in my backpack for years, and it’s never been an issue.
If You Can Help It, Bring an Extra Cigar
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made a positive impression simply because I had an extra cigar to give away. Inevitably, the person on the receiving end of the cigar usually sticks around and smokes with you. You get to know them and their line of work, or you exchange information for a possible story idea down the road, perhaps even become friends.
Often times, I smoke cigars in the patio of a bar and inevitably someone comes up and asks what kind of cigar I’m smoking. If their inquisitiveness shows they have some knowledge about cigars and they seem like good people, more often than not I pull out a cigar and hand them one. I get a thrill out of seeing someone’s face light up when I surprise them with a cigar that’s still wrapped in cellophane.
Such was the case while smoking at Davidoff of Geneva Cigar Bar in Las Vegas. I was in town for a bachelor party and brought plenty of sticks with me for the occasion. We met another bachelor group. We chatted. Talked sports. Ribbed each other over our teams, and then they bought us a round of beer.
I reciprocated by offering the groom and best man Oliva cigars. They invited us to an event the next day, but we had plans to visit Montecristo Cigar Bar inside Caesars Palace.
Bringing Cigars Back to the States?
Then make sure you’re aware of how many you’re allowed to bring back without having to declare them. If I recall correctly, I was allowed to bring back up to 50 cigars on my first trip to Cuba in 2017. It was a different story in 2023, when I wasn’t legally allowed to bring back any cigars or rum.
While in the Dominican Republic last month, my friend had to double-check with U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Customs Duty Information to see how many cigars he could bring back to the States without having to declare them.
Per CBP’s website, “returning resident travelers may import tobacco products only in quantities not exceeding the amounts specified in the personal exemptions for which the traveler qualifies (not more than 200 cigarettes and 100 cigars if arriving from other than a beneficiary country and insular possession).
Luckily, we had a little less than 100 cigars on hand.
