We’re not going to say that a Cuban revolution is going on in Kyiv, but from two years ago, where there weren’t any smoke shops here, to today, when there happen to be five (downtown street corner kiosks included), that’s almost revolutionary. Cigar-starved Kyivans now have reason to celebrate.
But before any cigars are pulled out and any celebrations get under way, it first has to come to the Kyiv Post Best Of team to determine from where said celebratory cigars should be got. After all, it’s one thing to get a real Cohiba in your hands - especially for embargo-embattled Americans - but it’s a whole other thing to have it fresh in your hands, and in a place where it’s easy to relax and savor every robust puff.
Down on the corner
We have to start this Best Of with a nod to the little kiosk near the corner of Horodetskoho and Zankovetsko, right near the posh Ukraina cinema. In a city where the average kiosk has myriad types of Orbit gum, instant coffee, warm bottled beer and little else, we found this little tobacconist to be a real find. This place carries various types of English, Dutch and other pipe tobaccos laid out side-by-side with a small assortment of pipes, cigars, rolling papers and other tobacco accoutrements. While it doesn’t offer a luxurious lounge in which to sit and delve in said products, for those needing something late at night when the city’s far pricier shops are closed, this place comes in handy. A for effort, D- for comfort. But at least the woman there is friendly.
Moving right along, and also right near the center, the Tobacco Line shop in the newish section of the Metrograd underground mall near Arena City intrigued the Best Of bunch. In a small corner of this otherwise oxygen-deprived shopping area sits this fresh little shop that has, among other things, various kinds of champagne cognac, Scotch whiskeys, real French champagnes and olive oil. Olive oil?
The oil notwithstanding, we noticed the rather adequately stocked walk-in humidor at Tobacco Line, as well as a tall column outside of it in which we found various lighters, clippers, pipes and more. For a little area of a sprawling underground mall, this was a noteworthy find, but sans chairs and any kind of relaxation area - the boys working there weren’t very polite - we decided we could do better, and we did.
Stepping up
The London Cigar Club outside the main doors of the Dnipro Hotel at the other end of Khreshchatyk from Metrograd proved to be a rather sumptuous affair. Wall-to-wall leather-bound chairs, sumptuous tones of burgundy and brown - London Cigar Club gives off a relaxed, cigar-smoking air, and the staff complement includes a coat check attendee, a bartender to oversee various cognacs, brandies and more, and a cigar aficionado to lead anyone through the selection of one of London’s many Cuban, Dominican or other Central American varieties.
In addition to the staff, assembled to wait on clients hand and foot, the London Cigar Club also has a premiere VIP lounge that is separate from the larger smoking room.
Sadly, however, London has made the mistake of putting large flat-screen TVs in both rooms and typically tunes both to Fashion TV. What does FTV have to do with smoking a nice Dominican Robusta? Pretty much nothing, as far as we’re concerned. That was enough to put us off.
A step up from London, then, was the location of the Fortuna smoke shop chain in Podil. While its sister shop on Baseyna tops many smoke shops in the city with its huge walk-in humidor and immense selection of cigars, accessories, pipe tobaccos and pipes - including Egyptian water pipes and assorted tobaccos for these - the place has no smoking lounge. Its sister location in Podil, however, does.
The genuinely impressive Fortuna smoking lounge in Podil has just about everything that a cigar aficionado could possibly want: impressive seating areas, walk-in humidor, plenty of cigars, cognacs, brandies and other liqueurs, and great staff to boot. Still, it fell just a bit short of the mark we set for ourselves. We marched stoically onward.
Up in smoke
If the Best Of team members had to give a reason to distinguish our winner from its closest rivals, we’d just have to say it feels more authentic. And it’s far bigger. And more stately. In short, it’s just better. Our winner then? La Casa del Habano on the Klovsky Uzviz in Pechersk.
To start, the success of La Casa del Habano starts with having franchises in more than 80 cities worldwide, so they know what they’re doing. And in general, La Casa made us feel completely self-indulgent; there’s no end to the comforts afforded there - such as a walk-in humidor the size of many Khrushchev-era apartments - and their wonderful staff served to enhance our smoking experience, as it will for other cigar and pipe smokers in the Ukrainian capital.
By a case-and-a-half of hand-rolled Cubans, La Casa del Habano gets our vote as Kyiv’s best smoke shop.
Casa del Habano
13 Klovsky Uzviz, 496-2458.
by Kyiv Post
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