Open season on cuban cigars?

[jmwebster]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ons-expands-trade-travel-rum-cigars/92042662/

Still can't have them legally have them shipped to your home, but big news from the Obama administration!

 

[WithTheGrain]

Saw that, but how does the FDA rules work since they haven't been sold in the use prior to 2007? Are they still grandfathered in?

 

[Argonaut]

Woohoo! Just need to travel abroad now!

 

[mglindo]

Good Grief! For a minute there I thought some nut group was advocating hunting Cubans! The header was a bit misleading.

 

[cursethis]

Saw that, but how does the FDA rules work since they haven't been sold in the use prior to 2007? Are they still grandfathered in?

It shouldn't really matter, since they're not being sold inside the actual US.

 

[alpster]

It shouldn't really matter, since they're not being sold inside the actual US.

I think you will see cigar clubs sending couriers to the island on a regular basis to maintain stock.

 

[KeenDogg]

I had someone tell me that they were illegal here because they had marijuana in them. I found they do have trace amounts of thc but it is not the reason they are illegal here.

 

[Ad Astra]

Rumor has it they aren't near as good as they once were. Due to the "forbidden fruit" thing, Cuban cigars - especially Cohibas - sell so fast they aren't properly aged anymore. Additionally to the rumor is that workers steal the bands, slap them on any old street cigar, and sell them to the new touristas.

Just passing on a rumor. "Smoke if you got'em."


AA

 

[alpster]

Rumor has it they aren't near as good as they once were. Due to the "forbidden fruit" thing, Cuban cigars - especially Cohibas - sell so fast they aren't properly aged anymore. Additionally to the rumor is that workers steal the bands, slap them on any old street cigar, and sell them to the new touristas.

Just passing on a rumor. "Smoke if you got'em."

Rumors, be what they may, are that. I'm guessing that anyone dedicated to cigars enough to travel to Havana to pick them up, is likely qualified to know what they are getting. If the quality is not up to snuff, it will soon become apparent.

 

[Prof. Moriarty]

It has been a worry for a while that once Cuban cigars are allowed to be sold in the USA the quality will decline. The demand will most likely be greater than the supply.

 

[Price]

It has been a worry for a while that once Cuban cigars are allowed to be sold in the USA the quality will decline. The demand will most likely be greater than the supply.

I'm afraid that will certainly be the case, but it's not going to stop me from picking up a box when I'm in the Caribbean this Christmas.

 

[TexLaw]

I've had a couple of good Cubans (cigars, mind you). Very good, but I cannot see what all the hub-bub is about beyond the forbidden fruit thing. You can do just as well and better for a lot less.

If someone were to offer me another, I'll happily give it a try, but you won't catch me bending myself or my wallet out of shape to get one, nor will I pay in any manner to have any brought to me.

 

[Prof. Moriarty]

I'm afraid that will certainly be the case, but it's not going to stop me from picking up a box when I'm in the Caribbean this Christmas.

I am sure it will, and honestly Cubans are lovely but there are some fantastic New World Cigars out there as well.

 

[cursethis]

Cubans are good and all, but I still think Don Pepin makes some of the best cigars in the world.

 

[Price]

Cubans are good and all, but I still think Don Pepin makes some of the best cigars in the world.

+1 to that. Been smoking his offerings since the original Tatuajes, some time around 2003. Haven't come across one I didn't like yet.

 

[alpster]

Cubans are good and all, but I still think Don Pepin makes some of the best cigars in the world.

+2 My fridgedor is half full of them.

 

[BSAGuy]

I am not a smoker, but I would assume that if the government owns the means of production and there is no real profit incentive, then there is no great motive to produce an outstanding product. Just human nature.

 

[TexLaw]

Cubans are good and all, but I still think Don Pepin makes some of the best cigars in the world.

+ a couple more to that. Don Pepin rocks!

 

[doofus]

It's kind of exciting but I'm pretty sure the best blenders and growers have defected to Nicaragua and the Dominican so it's somewhat a mute point.

 

[CigarSmoka]

Cubans are good and all, but I still think Don Pepin makes some of the best cigars in the world.

Amen!

It's kind of exciting but I'm pretty sure the best blenders and growers have defected to Nicaragua and the Dominican so it's somewhat a mute point.

Pepin still uses 1st generation seeds he brought from Cuba for many of his blends.

I was at a cigar shop when a few folks asked if we thought Cuban cigars would become legal again. I said "Yes but it doesn't matter. The best tobacco in the world comes from Nicaragua now." The guy working there agreed emphatically.

I have a friend in the cigar biz that works for Pepin (My Father cigars) and side by side with Jose Ortega. He told me Cuba has actually been importing tobacco from Honduras. Now why would they do that? I'm sure a few Cuban blends are still very good, but of the last several I've smoked only 2 were really good, but not stellar. Cuban Partagas & Ramon Allones, rumored to be fine cigars, were crap. They burned awful and lacked the body & flavor Cubans were once known for. Years of fascism have ruined the Cuban cigar industry imo. When they become available with the outrageous prices they will no doubt command, I'll be happy to continue smoking my far better and less expensive Pepin brands. Nicaraguan cigars are where it's at these days, and all my cigar enthusiast friends concur.