Chewing tobacco & cigars in Odessa

[Drathaar]

Anyone ever see chew in Odessa? I know of only one cigar shop, but its small and ridiculously priced. I brought 6 logs of chew with me and its all gone. I'm going crazy. I still have about 45 cigars.

[BubbaGump]

...from a six-year-old thread...with apologies to P-N...

Well, hell boy, the store in Odessa I gets ma cigars from is called "Tabakerka" n sells chaw turbakky.

They's got themselves another place out there in Kyiv some place.....when I mozzie on in for ma surplies next time, I will try n get ya them whereabouts.

If ya got one o them there new-fangled telephone contraptions, the number for ma store in these here parts is +38 048 7341269...n if ya can parlez wi tha natives, you'll get the whereabouts up there in Kyiv, pard. 

Lacking "Spitoon Icon" 

...and my attitude toward such uncouthness? ...well... "You know you're a redneck when you kiss your wife goodbye in the morning and she asks for her chaw back..." 

[Drathaar]

Thanks, I searched using several different ways and got nothing for chewing tobacco and a zillion hits for cigarettes. I put cigar in quotes and still got returns with cigarettes.

[P-N]

There is also "Fortuna" Ekaterinaskaya 4 (opposite Granat restaurant).  If they don't have it, they may order it if you ask.  They have a reasonable selection of pipe tobacco and cigars.

[Drathaar]

There is also "Fortuna" Ekaterinaskaya 4 (opposite Granat restaurant).  If they don't have it, they may order it if you ask.  They have a reasonable selection of pipe tobacco and cigars.

Is Ekaterinaskaya a street name? I've only been here for 4 months, lots to learn yet.

[Drathaar]

I don't see an "edit" button. I'm on General Petrova.

[Carlusha]

There is also "Fortuna" Ekaterinaskaya 4 (opposite Granat restaurant).  If they don't have it, they may order it if you ask.  They have a reasonable selection of pipe tobacco and cigars.

Is Ekaterinaskaya a street name? I've only been here for 4 months, lots to learn yet.

It runs from Potemkin Steps almost to Privoz Market, one of the longest streets. St Catherine's memorial is located at the eastern end which is to where you have been directed by P-N.

[Drathaar]

Found it on Google maps, a block from the opera house. Thanks, the stairs were a big help.

[mishamoose]

Hmmmmm I just returned from a stay in Odessa (late April actually). My aprtmanet was just accross the street from Granat on Ekaterinaskaya.  The tobacco store must have been almst under the flat. 

Granat would be hard to miss since I think the intense bass goes almost 24x7

It was however a wonderful stay! pretty much anything one could wasnt right there with 2-3 blocks

[Drathaar]

I made it to Fortuna today. They didn't have any chewing tobacco but did have snuff. I would have bought that and chewed it if it wasn't flavored. They had 4 types, all had a spearmint base with other flavors added. I hate spearmint in chew and dislike all other flavors. Their cigar prices are crazy. I've bought thousands of cigars and had a collection of over 1000 sitting, aging, and waiting to be smoked at one time. Thieves got them a few years before I moved here. Man was I pissed. I never paid the prices for any of them that Forutna is asking. My wife is going to try to find some on the Internet. I need to email my Cuban source (in Spain) and see if he delivers here. They do have a nice selection of non Cuban cigars, but no Perdomo's. Those are my favorite, even among Cubans. I will try to get to the other place next week. We've been kind of busy getting me legal and getting settled in.

[P-N]

I must admit I tend not to pay attention to prices

I tried the below link for pipe tobacco but you have to collect it from Nova Posta on arrival.  To be honest I wasn't overly keen on the pipe tobacco they offered on-line and went back to paying whatever at Fortuna despite it being double the cost.

http://mlcigar.com/result.html

The issue with buying it physically in a store aside from overheads vis a vis on-line buying is that of tax.  Local authorities, in this case Odessa City, make a very good income from the tax, for it is tax that they keep some of rather than sending it all to Kyiv - perversely the city makes far more money from a heavily smoking and drunk populous due to its ability to retain some of the tax on alcohol and tobacco products, than it does from SMEs, all of which the tax is sent into the Kyiv black hole. 

Failing that, make friends with those that work on the cruise liners and cargo ships.  A few "personal allowances" of products they don't use etc., etc.

[David Rochlin]

In previous discussions it evolved that American chewing tobacco is not legally imported into UA, and so what is available is brought by travelers with a limited allowance of maybe ten packages or smuggled. 

[Drathaar]

In previous discussions it evolved that American chewing tobacco is not legally imported into UA, and so what is available is brought by travelers with a limited allowance of maybe ten packages or smuggled.

I brought in 6 logs (30 cans) for myself and used it all myself. But they didn't check my bags when I got here so I don't know if I had too much or not. It was actually the easiest entry I had coming here.

[Drathaar]

I found a site that delivers here from the UK. The only American chew they have is Grizzly. I ordered from them yesterday. The package should be here next week. I could only enter the address in English, so hopefully it makes it.
http://mrsnuff.com/

For cigars I'm using my Cuban source that I used in the U.S. I've been using this guy for about 10 years and can guarantee he sells the real deal. I didn't inspect the ones at Fortuna. I didn't want my first impression from the manager to be a bad one. I did run across some fakes here a few years ago though. In the U.S. we guard our Cuban sources, over here I don't think I need to.
www.puroexpress.com

He's got a few non cuban cigars as well - Zino and Davidoff. In my opinion, both brands are way overpriced. They're good, but you can get better for a lot less.

[Drathaar]

I went back to Fortuna yesterday and picked up a Partagas Serie D #5. Good news and bad news. Good - its probably real. The band looked fine and it had 3 caps. Most fakes don't bother putting on 3 caps. I didn't have my glasses with me so I couldn't read the box code. The lady said I could smoke it in the shop if I wanted to so I assumed it was ready to smoke. I say "probably real" because it didn't taste right. I just finished it a few minutes ago. I'm guessing it was under a year old and, therefore, not smokable. Seeing the box code would have shown me the date it was rolled. It had a hint of the Cuban twang and the dark ash associated with Cubans.

The bad news. They're more over priced than I thought. I paid $25 US for that cigar. I just checked Puro Express and it costs $7.42 there ($185.50 for a box of 25.) So they're marking up the cigars over 200%. That's not good. So I wont be going back there.