Let’s be honest: when you think of Colombian exports, you think coffee, emeralds, and Shakira. Premium cigars didn’t make the list, mostly because nobody had built the list. In 2017, Juan Camilo Rodríguez founded Bribón Cigars with the stated mission of putting Colombia on the world tobacco map, rolling everything out of a factory in Barichara — the Santander hill town so pretty Colombia uses it as a movie set. “Bribón” is Spanish for a charming rogue, a lovable scoundrel, which is either a bold name for a business or an honest one.
La Terraza del Bribón is the brand’s flagship lounge: a third-floor speakeasy in Usaquén, Bogotá’s colonial village that the city swallowed and the restaurants colonized. It holds a 4.9-star rating across nearly 300 Google reviews, which in Google terms is a standing ovation.
The Room
The pitch is a room that “transports you to a past full of glamour, excesses and decadence,” and the room mostly delivers: lighting dialed down to candle-era levels, music chosen like it’s being graded, and a terrace view over Usaquén’s tiled rooftops. There’s a proper puros bar and a humidor that takes the product as seriously as the cocktail list. One thing nobody mentions until you’re there: Bogotá sits at 8,600 feet, so your lighter works about as hard as you do on that third-floor staircase.
The Selection
The humidor carries the full Bribón line, from the 4 x 42 Perlas (a 25-minute smoke) up through Petit Corona, Robusto, Belicoso, Toro, Torpedo, and Churchill, alongside a selection of habanos for the loyalists. Behind the bar: international spirits and craft cocktails, plus the house pairing move — Bribón’s own Huila coffee, cupped alongside the cigars. Colombia’s two greatest arguments, finally in the same room. There’s also Club Bribón, a membership that ships six curated cigars a month, takes 15 percent off the store, and opens the lounge’s private tastings.
The Pink Bands
Here’s the thing about the house cigars: the bands are pink. Not burgundy, not navy-and-gold, not the maroon funerary plaques every other brand seems legally required to use. Pink, trimmed in gold, with “República de Colombia” printed like a dare. In a world of self-serious bands, a pink band is either a marketing stunt or confidence. Having smoked the Robusto, we can report: it’s confidence.
The Bribón Robusto — 5 x 50, all-Colombian leaf, 42,000 pesos, which is about ten American dollars — opens with coffee, cocoa, and dark chocolate before settling into subtle spice with earthy, woody undertones. It’s medium-bodied and smooth, built for pleasure rather than punishment, the kind of cigar that makes a two-hour dinner feel efficiently planned. The draw is open, the burn needed one small correction, and the finish hangs around like a dinner guest who knows he’s charming. At altitude, pace yourself; Bogotá does not.
Score: 86/100 — Excellent | Value Grade: A
Flavor & Complexity: 38/45 · Burn & Combustion: 22/25 · Construction & Draw: 17/20 · Consistency: 9/10
A ten-dollar handmade lounge puro, scored like this, is larceny in the customer’s favor. The anniversary Aurum Aeternus Toro — Pennsylvania Broadleaf over Colombian binder and filler — runs 68,000 pesos if you’re feeling golden.
The Vibe
Speakeasy rules apply: low voices, serious cocktails, an international crowd of “sibaritas, connoisseurs y bon vivants” (their words, and by 11 p.m. you’ll believe them). Open until 1 a.m., which for a cigar lounge is practically a public service. Bogotá nights run cold — bring the jacket, order the rum, stay for the second cigar.
The Fine Print
Carrera 6a #116-17, third floor, Usaquén, Bogotá. Reservations recommended — it’s a speakeasy, not a bus station. Singles run COP 42,000 (about US$10); the wooden presentation box is +COP 10,000 and worth it for the shelf. Phone +57 321 486 8043.
Rating: 4.5 / 5
Photo: Bribón Cigars
