Going to Havana is like going back in time. It's a bustling, historic, eroding, polluted city, and the Hotel Nacional de Cuba is it's oasis!
The first time I visited Havana was on a guided tour where they plan everything for you. When the bus took us along the Malecon, I saw it for the first time - towering over me on a rocky plateau. It wasn't on the itinerary, so I knew I'd have to return to see it one day.
That day came a couple of years later when I stayed there for 3 nights. In the photo below, I'm sitting on the terrace and the waiter's just about to drop off my cafe con leche.
On the first trip I learned about its history, and studied a lot more on my own. Learning about the mob and gambling, and imagining how different Vegas would be today if there was no revolution was fascinating to me (the book "Havana Nocturne" is a good read if you're interested). I discovered Wilbur Clark ran the casino in the Hotel Nacional, and the chips were made on the H-mold.
How cool would it be to have my own custom set of chips made with the same mold the original ones were made with??? Of course it had to be done!!!
For the inlay, I found an image of an old matchbook with a drawing of the building:
I had two inlays done by J5design (the best!):
- The first was to best represent the original chips with the casino name curved around the edge. These would be the primary chips for the set.
- The second to remind me of seeing the Nacional for the first time - looking up at it from the Malecon.
The primaries were made in 2011, which makes them 10 years old this year! To celebrate I've introduced a few fresh alternates that will hit the felt this year.
The denominations represent nickles, quarters, and dollars in my home game (we're not ballers).
For the colors, the Reto lavender on black has always been a favorite. Originally I planned to go with a brown base $5 and a light blue $25, but I decided to align with the original chips' colors as best as possible. There wasn't a good match for the minty/blue/grey base of the $25, so I went with light green. A red spot on this one didn't appeal to me and I chose dayglow orange. The $5 is mandarin red with retro blue spots.
On to the pr0n! The first pics are before and after (chips on the shiny polyester material are from 2011, and the ones on felt/velvet are from 2021). Note the sharp vs. soft edges after the 400-500 hours of play time. After that they're all 2021.
What if the revolution never happened, and the casino needed more bank? Here's my interpretation of a 500 denomination chip. These were added in 2023:
The next are from 2021:
I was never really happy with my first two sets of clay chips because I didn't really nail the theme. These on the other hand, near perfection IMO, and the community agreed as they made it into the CT calendar one year - what an honor!
When I return to the Hotel Nacional I leave a few samples.
The first time I visited Havana was on a guided tour where they plan everything for you. When the bus took us along the Malecon, I saw it for the first time - towering over me on a rocky plateau. It wasn't on the itinerary, so I knew I'd have to return to see it one day.
That day came a couple of years later when I stayed there for 3 nights. In the photo below, I'm sitting on the terrace and the waiter's just about to drop off my cafe con leche.
On the first trip I learned about its history, and studied a lot more on my own. Learning about the mob and gambling, and imagining how different Vegas would be today if there was no revolution was fascinating to me (the book "Havana Nocturne" is a good read if you're interested). I discovered Wilbur Clark ran the casino in the Hotel Nacional, and the chips were made on the H-mold.
How cool would it be to have my own custom set of chips made with the same mold the original ones were made with??? Of course it had to be done!!!
For the inlay, I found an image of an old matchbook with a drawing of the building:
I had two inlays done by J5design (the best!):
- The first was to best represent the original chips with the casino name curved around the edge. These would be the primary chips for the set.
- The second to remind me of seeing the Nacional for the first time - looking up at it from the Malecon.
The primaries were made in 2011, which makes them 10 years old this year! To celebrate I've introduced a few fresh alternates that will hit the felt this year.
The denominations represent nickles, quarters, and dollars in my home game (we're not ballers).
For the colors, the Reto lavender on black has always been a favorite. Originally I planned to go with a brown base $5 and a light blue $25, but I decided to align with the original chips' colors as best as possible. There wasn't a good match for the minty/blue/grey base of the $25, so I went with light green. A red spot on this one didn't appeal to me and I chose dayglow orange. The $5 is mandarin red with retro blue spots.
On to the pr0n! The first pics are before and after (chips on the shiny polyester material are from 2011, and the ones on felt/velvet are from 2021). Note the sharp vs. soft edges after the 400-500 hours of play time. After that they're all 2021.
What if the revolution never happened, and the casino needed more bank? Here's my interpretation of a 500 denomination chip. These were added in 2023:
The next are from 2021:
I was never really happy with my first two sets of clay chips because I didn't really nail the theme. These on the other hand, near perfection IMO, and the community agreed as they made it into the CT calendar one year - what an honor!
When I return to the Hotel Nacional I leave a few samples.
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