Do You Have Any Cuban Cigars?

Do you have any Cuban cigars?

Hardly a week passes that someone doesn’t ask that question in our store. Some folks ask it, with an implied wink, hoping that they can surreptitiously purchase a stick or two of the illegal golden fleece of the U.S. cigar world. Others ask that question, completely ignorant of the embargo against Cuban imports of any kind, including stogies. All of them ask it because of the mystique surrounding Cuban cigars. Maybe Castro compounded that mystique, both by being an avid cigar smoker and by pissing off the U.S. so totally that we no longer buy anything produced in Cuba. No matter what, there is an immediate mental callisthenic that most people perform when they hear the words Cuban cigars; those words conjure up mystery, romance, smoking excellence, and dreams of an expedition into unknown worlds of pleasure. There’s just something about Cuban cigars that draws our interest, whether we’re cigar smokers or not.

Some of the other common references to Cuban cigars are:

“A friend of mine had some Cubans and he gave me one. It tasted terrible. What’s the big deal with Cubans?”

“A friend of mine had some Cubans and he gave me one. It tasted fantastic. What’s the big deal with Cubans?

“A friend of mine had some Cubans and he wouldn’t give me one. Should I un-friend him?

“I’m going on a cruise next month, and we’ll be stopping where I can buy Cuban cigars. What should I look for?

“How can I tell a counterfeit from a real Cuban cigar?”

The biggest deal is, indeed, whether or not you’re buying a counterfeit Cuban cigar when you make a purchase outside of this country. There are some obvious do’s and don’t’s about buying Cuban cigars.

Before buying…

Do: Read about cigars…all cigars. Learn about how and where cigars are produced. Learn about the countries, conditions, factories, and people that produce cigars. Become familiar with brands, shapes, sizes, blends, fillers, binders, wrappers…everything that goes into cigar production.

Learn about and ask about brands of Cuban cigars BESIDES Cohiba, Bolivar, or Montecristo. Those are the most commonly asked for and counterfeited Cuban cigars. Other brands, arguably just as good, are less likely to be counterfeited.

Smoke lots of different kinds of cigars. Learn the differences in taste, appearance, and packaging.

Ask a lot of questions. Ask cigar shop owners. Ask other cigar smokers.

Pay attention to what other people are smoking, asking, saying, and buying.

Gain confidence in your ability to know what a good cigar is…and what it is not.

Don’t: Don’t believe everything you read and hear. Cigar smokers are like any other aficionado. There is a heck of a lot of personal bias in any one person’s opinion.

Don’t keep a closed mind. Be open to all the bits of information you’re sure to collect about cigars.

Don’t let your own ignorance stop you from learning all you can. You won’t learn more if you don’t dig for information and ask questions.

When buying:

Do: Ask a lot of questions. Don’t be afraid to make the seller explain his product(s) to you. If you make a purchase, you’ll have paid for that information, so it should be as good as possible.

Examine individual cigars and boxes thoroughly. If you learned about seals, stamps, and labels, examine cigar packaging for all of those things. Make sure that all the words on the packaging and labels are spelled correctly and that the ink doesn’t smudge or run when you move your finger over it. (Sad, but true, many vacationers have returned with Cuban cigars with the words Habana or Cohiba misspelled.

Comparison-shop before you buy. Don’t be afraid to go from shop to shop, getting the best price.

Use common sense. If a deal seems too good to be true, it IS…not probably….certainly. In the world of Cuban cigars, there really is no such thing as a free lunch. The best you can hope for is a slight price savings along with a reasonable assurance that you actually got what you wanted.

Make your purchase from a retail tobacconist…someone who’s, hopefully, licensed to sell you what you’re looking for. Remember, if you’re on vacation, on a cruise, at a resort, the retailer knows that he/she is NEVER EVER EVER going to see you again. Someone who is less than ethical or honest may take advantage of that. Take out personal insurance by shopping at a place that is as reputable as possible.

Don’t: Don’t buy cigars, any cigars, from someone other than a licensed tobacconist. Cigars purchased from the trunk of a parked car have disaster written on the labels next to the brand name. Cigars purchased from street vendors of any kind are just as likely to be counterfeit as those purchased from the guy in the parked car.

Don’t buy cigars, Cuban or otherwise, if your intuition hints that something just isn’t right.

Don’t buy more Cuban cigars than you know you can legally bring back into the U.S. through Customs. It would be shame to leave your Cubans in the hands of Customs…even though we all know they would destroy them as per the law…heh heh.

Don’t buy Cuban cigars from the very first place you shop. Do some comparison shopping and get the best price. There’s a lot of competition.

Don’t try to speak a foreign language that you don’t know. You’ll only embarrass yourself, besides trying to order a box of Godzilla Corollas.

Don’t second guess yourself after you’ve bought a box of Cubans. Be satisfied that you did your homework, and enjoy those stogies.

One last do: Go to http://www.cigarnexus.com/counsel/counterfeit/ and read The Ultimate Counterfeit Cigar Primer. It’s worth the read.