Cuban Cigars Don’t Always Live Up To Their Legend
- 9 years ago
News of improving relations with Cuba no doubt gave many cigar enthusiasts hope that soon the country’s legendary tobacco offerings would be readily available in the US.
News of improving relations with Cuba no doubt gave many cigar enthusiasts hope that soon the country’s legendary tobacco offerings would be readily available in the US.
Experts are cautioning those individuals not to get too excited.
One reason is that the cigars themselves don’t always live up to their hype.
In the 60 years that Americans have had extremely limited access to Cuban variety, a lot has happened in the cigar world.
People with tobacco-growing and rolling skills have spread their knowledge to other countries, and several nations now produce products that are equal to and even surpass what Cuba has to offer.
In fact, of the top 25 cigars in the world, as ranked by Cigar Aficionado in 2013, only 3 hailed from Cuba.
The majority of the honorees were made in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
In addition to that matter, the basic economic principle of supply and demand is still in play.
There’s no decision yet on how trade embargoes will be handled, so those cleared for travel to Cuba will remain the primary product source.
There’s a $400 limit on what they can bring back, and the good stuff doesn’t come cheap, so there still won’t be a lot of it around. Only $100 of that can be in cigars.
News of improving relations with Cuba no doubt gave many cigar enthusiasts hope that soon the country’s legendary tobacco offerings would be readily available in the US.
Experts are cautioning those individuals not to get too excited.
One reason is that the cigars themselves don’t always live up to their hype.
In the 60 years that Americans have had extremely limited access to Cuban variety, a lot has happened in the cigar world.
People with tobacco-growing and rolling skills have spread their knowledge to other countries, and several nations now produce products that are equal to and even surpass what Cuba has to offer.
In fact, of the top 25 cigars in the world, as ranked by Cigar Aficionado in 2013, only 3 hailed from Cuba.
The majority of the honorees were made in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
In addition to that matter, the basic economic principle of supply and demand is still in play.
There’s no decision yet on how trade embargoes will be handled, so those cleared for travel to Cuba will remain the primary product source.
There’s a $400 limit on what they can bring back, and the good stuff doesn’t come cheap, so there still won’t be a lot of it around. Only $100 of that can be in cigars.