Puffing at a cigar in Cuba has mixed connotations for being the place of origin of these vegetable gems, and on the other hand, because one of the loveliest and best-stocked Habano Houses in the nation’s capital is no doubt the one at the Club Havana, a getaway for diplomats and celebrities.

General manager Enrique Mons, 63, has over 50 years of experience under his belt in the tobacco and cigar-making industries. But this place stands for enjoyment, culture, finesse and firsthand contact with Habanos –as good as it can possibly get.

These are places to consume and shell out money, to get hipped on the latest and blend cigars with two other mystical produces from this island nation: coffee and rum. On this and other topics, visitors are taught at the Club Havana, a place where magic rolls up its drapes to let the cream of the crop in: the best cigars, the loveliest intimacy and the best service money can buy. The Club Havana was founded in 1999 in an effort to provide recreation for foreign diplomats stationed in Cuba, businesspeople and celebrities who either travel to Cuba or live in Havana.

And inside this clubhouse, Mr. Mons came up with the initiative of founding the Habano House on January 5, 2000, based on his own concepts of decoration and his willingness to better treat those who crave for Cuban cigars.

The House is made up of a well-stocked salesroom featuring the very best brands and their bands, and an atypical bar ready to mix cigars with an array of top-of-the-line rums, cognacs and spirits. There’s also a walk-in humidor where a good deal of regular customers have lockers –nearly half of its 72 stalls or lockers are in use right now and there’s a chance of enhancing that numberwhere they keep Cuban cigars, some of them for over 10 years.

In all, 60 stalls or lockers are now hired by customers. Mr. Mons explains that the place’s special conditions, equipped with air-conditioners –one running and the other one on standby- guarantee a perfect, lengthy preservation for years. Mons goes on to explain this is a cigar bank, just like the one where money is socked away in, since many of the pieces here are really pricey. Citizens from France, Mexico, the US, Spain, Switzerland, UK, Brazil and other nations have their own vaults there.

The House works wonders by keeping relative humidity between 65 and 70 percent, and temps in the neighborhood of 18 degrees Celsius –ideal parameters for cigar preservation. Ministers, former Presidents, celebrities, princes, politicians of all stripes and places have come together here under the unifying sign of the Cuban cigars. In 1957 –Mr. Mons recalls- he began laboring as a cigar handroller and a couple of years later, with the triumph of the Revolution, he moved out to the island nation’s capital where he wrapped up his training as a cigarette roller and worked in a number of factories, at the beginning at the Jose L Piedra (Heroes del Moncada).

In 1989, he opened the first cigar store in Havana, on 5th Avenue and the corner of 16th Street, in the Miramar neighborhood, to cater to ever-growing hordes of tourists and businesspeople with a flair for Habanos. In that store, Mons worked for a full decade and raked in $16 million worth of sales. Then, the Club Havana project was born, where he’s been working to date. His effort and the good name this establishment boasts right now –sought after by cigar connoisseurs and personalities from all around the worldspeak volumes of a job well done.

The Habano House is the name of a franchise owned by Habanos S.A., yet that’s only the title of an excellent business keen on spreading the best values of the Cuban culture, something all cigar smokers appreciate as they gather there to puff at top-notch stogies, make purchases and learn. As we speak, there are over 100 of these establishments in countries other than Cuba –the host nation and the place of origin of tobacco. Habano Houses have opened in North America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Far East.

The first of these Habano Houses started out in Mexico’s Cancun in 1990. In a first stage, some 27 Houses were opened. They are now recognized as Founding Houses by the chain’s front office and the franchise’s management. The franchise –its spokespersons say- has not remained still in time. Clinging to the original founding elements, new concepts and elements have been added as time has gone by, not only to turn it into a customized-service store, but also to make it Habanos’ best PR agent.