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Graycliff Cigars

S

Smokemorestressless

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2022
Messages
563
Location
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Hello folks. I'm back in Nassau Bahamas for a few days and have a meeting to go enjoy a smoke with Paolo Garzaroli (owner of Graycliff), and to a factory tour/ talk shop.

The Graycliff Grand Cru of yester year is one of my favorite cigars. During covid it seems the tobacco became hard to get, and production slowed down. It is exciting that things are ramping back up. One of the first Graycliff Cigars I ever had was handrolled by Avelino Lara himself here in Nassau. At the time I had no idea how special of an experience that was. I had probably only had 2 or 3 cigars in my life at that point. Avelino was Castro's personal roller, created Cohiba, and was the first director of Cuba's esteemed El Lauito factory. In the late 90's he got tired of the Cuban government's interference in his cigar making and retired. At this point Enrico Garzaroli brought him to Nassau and they made Graycliff Cigars.

Graycliff licenses their name to some factories in Central America. These cigars were said to be of less quality, and were sold online in USA. I have only ever smokes sticks frim their Bahamas factory.

As I get more history I will update this with any corrections or new info.

Saw a few of their "Bahiba" line at the kiosk in Atlantis tonight. I had never seen these in person so I grabbed all 4. They said they had started making them again for Bahamian Independence Day (July 10). 20220725_210239.jpg
 
The meeting was amazing. Paolo was very down to earth and discussed the history, growth, and future of Grayiff. I am a newbie to cigars amd taking it all in seems like drinking from a firehose at times. At the end of the day it's real enjoyable.



They just are in the process of releasing a 50th Anniversary Cigar (Paolo's own blend) in honor of the Bahamas 50th independence and Graycliff Cigar's 50th Year, since they both happened in the same year. This is a strong cigar, teiple lijero, and the foot is uncut. They are also doing some of Avelino's original blend in a classic Cuban size of Laguito No. 1.



He also very kindly coached me to try to smoke differently to see if I liked it. I was holding smoke in my mouth too long and exhaling white/ gray smoke that was oxidized. He said that he enjoys the flavors and oils much more and can taste more when the smoke exhaled is a white/ blue, so to not hold the smoke so long. Doing this definately changed the flavors significantly. Amazing.

He also got out different kinds of leaves off the factory floor, we touched, smelled, tasted raw, burned and smelled each one. Crazy how dramatically different each characteristics are. He would also have me puff of the cigar I was smoking, and press a tightly stretched leaf to the ember while puffing to see the direct flavor differences of each leaf onto a cigar that I knew what it tasted like.

A great experience.

He did confirm that the Bahamas factory does not ship too many cigars to USA to sell. A small percent. They have capped production at about 500,000 cigars a year in order to keep quality control manageable. There are some stores in USA that sell them.

If anyone want some Graycliffs I am happy to get them for you.

I did get a handfull of freshrolls that he recomended I let settle before somking of I don't finish them soon. Would you leave those open to air to settle, or in a closed environment?

A very memorable day for sure.
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Living on a boat, fishing the Bahamas and hangin with a legend!?!?! DAYUM!!!! You, my friend, are living a rock stars life! 😎🥃

If you charter the common folk, Im planning a trip next year for my wife and I. We need to smoke at least one seegar together, and catch a few fish. She liked the Bahamas when we were there last.

Thanks for the update. Fantastic! Be safe.

Floyd T
 
SKYDIVNEKD said:
Living on a boat, fishing the Bahamas and hangin with a legend!?!?! DAYUM!!!! You, my friend, are living a rock stars life! 😎🥃

If you charter the common folk, Im planning a trip next year for my wife and I. We need to smoke at least one seegar together, and catch a few fish. She liked the Bahamas when we were there last.

Thanks for the update. Fantastic! Be safe.

Floyd T
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Lol, I just work here, but it is a good life. Fishing has been amazing.

Let's talk about when you guys are coming. Would be awesome to meet up and have some sticks. I am back to the US for Aug, Sept, Oct.
 
Years ago we stopped in the Bahamas on a cruise. We just wanted to walk around, so we walked past the Graycliff. I asked someone at the front about buying cigars, and they couldn't have been nicer.

They took the 3 of us on a walking tour of the grounds on the way back. Told us all about the hotel, the grounds, the history, the crazy mosaic tiled pool. I bought a bunch of cigars and we headed back to the ship. It was a cool stop off as we walked around.
 
tomthirtysix said:
Years ago we stopped in the Bahamas on a cruise. We just wanted to walk around, so we walked past the Graycliff. I asked someone at the front about buying cigars, and they couldn't have been nicer.

They took the 3 of us on a walking tour of the grounds on the way back. Told us all about the hotel, the grounds, the history, the crazy mosaic tiled pool. I bought a bunch of cigars and we headed back to the ship. It was a cool stop off as we walked around.
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Now they have a museum, a pizzaria, a whole artist village across the street, candle factory, and more coming. Not to mention the fine dining restauraunt, the oldest bottle of wine, and the 3rd largest wine collection in the world.
 
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