Home»Island Cigar Tour

During the first part of January, my friend Janet from Atlanta and I traveled to the Dominican Republic. We went to the island to enjoy the sun/sand and sample some of the local cigars. Explored and claimed by Christopher Colombus on his first voyage in 1492, the island of Hispaniola ( later Haiti and the Dominican Republic ) became a springboard for Spanish conquest of the Caribbean and the American mainland. The Dominican Republic lies on the eastern side of the island and Haiti on the western. We stayed at a resort near the town Puerta Plata on the northern coast of the island. One rainy day we rented a minivan and hired a guide and traveled into Puerta Plata, a small town near the hotel where we visited the amber museum, there are a number of amber mines on the island. We also visited a cigar/jewlery store, where the salesmen feel its best to give you a cigar and a couple drinks of a local brew to get you in the mood to purchase cigars, amber and lorimar jewelry. Lorimar is a stone native to the island. We also went to a typical local eatery with the guide and driver for fish/lobster soups and local beer. During a visit to one cigar store, Janet was able to roll her own cigar. We walked to the local flea market where we walked throught a gauntlet of over active salespeople. When we were getting ready to leave the island and fly back to Miami/Atlanta, the customs agent detected a bottle of Mamajuana in Janets luggage. The herb/drink is said to be a good remedy for arthritis, toothaches, headaches, and stomach disorders. Many of the natural ingredients of mamajuana are also used to in Western herbal remedies. Apparently if the herbs are soaked in a rum/wine mixture, they can be brought into the US, but Janets bottle only contained the dry herbs. She was told she would have to buy a bottle of rum from the liquor store in the airport and fill the bottle with the liquor to be allowed to bring the Mamajuana into the states, which we did.