There's a bit of info out there on Aruhiba, but it pretty much looks like you're gonna pay more for these than you would a much better cigar you buy here...

From a blog or forum somehwere out there:

"I had the opportunity to visit the store and it was great. I didn't make it for the actual rolling of a cigar but the service was fine and they explained how everything was put together. I bought 4 boxes of the ones in a nicely decorated wood box, you got 6 for the price of 5 ($35) I gave 3 boxes away and kept one box. The first cigar was good. The second one got lost in the car and when I found it, the wrapper had deteriorated. I saw that the filler was odd colored in one spot and opened it to find a piece of foam rubber!!! About half an inch long and 3/8 inch wide. I was shocked and needless to say I split open the rest of the cigars. Luckily it seemed to be an isolated incident, but made me wonder if they are so carefully hand-rolled how would they let the foam get mixed with the filler? Maybe it was just the tourist special and they were in a hurry. I'm sure the premium cigars are inspected more carefully, but thought I should let someone know be careful what you smoke!!"

opelmanta1900 wrote:

Don't get too worked up about the supposed "foam rubber in the cigar" incident. Stuff like that can, and does, happen to most, if not all, of the manufacturers at one point or another. I've seen pieces of plastic, shreds of the bags used to hold the "ration" of leaves given to a bunchero for making a wheel of cigars, pieces of twine used to tie the hands of tobacco together when the leaves are in the fermentation pilons, nails, staples, thread, toothpick, even had a friend tell me about a band-aid in a cigar. Unless the bunchero and rollera are intentionally slowing down to let you, as a guest to the factory, watch what they are doing, cigars are rolled at breakneck speeds - when crap like that gets worked into a cigar, it's not that they don't care, remember, in these countries, torcedor in a cigar factory is a well paying job with security, possibly even benefits, and it's a job where they can move up in pay and stature, it's one of the better jobs available actually, so if they saw it, they would have pulled it out because if QC finds it, it's on them. Reality is, they are moving so fast that they didn't even see it. The belief that these people don't take pride in their work and just roll up crap is simply wrong, at least for any legitimate operation.

Thunder.Gerbil wrote:

So, if in Aruba, it's like $35 a box for Aruhiba Cigars by Petrocchi, that's so cheap it's worth a box or two, if just for curiosity. Seriously, tell me you couldn't have fun with a box of these, especially at that price.

If you get any, I do recommend freezing them immediately (for like a week) when they come into your possession. Who knows what kind of, or lack thereof, beetle control they have out there.

Thunder.Gerbil wrote:

Good advice TG, but I think you may have mis-read the review. He bought 4 boxes. Why not buy 5 boxes and get the free 6th one especially at that price? I think he meant buy 5 cigars for $35 and get the sixth one free. Looks like they sell them for $7 a stick.

dpnewell wrote:

Anyone heard of or tried one? My folks are going to Aruba and thought of bringing back some cigars. ISOM cigars are out of the question so was thinking of Aruban if there are any worthy? Came across a brand called Aruhiba but nothing of description, etc. Thanks for any help.

Josh

JKilburn wrote: