I’ve smoked dozens of Cubans, all because devotees forced them on me and I couldn’t refuse their “great gift”.
They always seem dry and harsh to me. I suspect this could be because they tend to pass through non-standard channels and are saved for long stretches.
But whoever the latest guy is he will insist that his are perfect and always were kept humidified and maybe arrived yesterday from a Venezuelan consul’s diplomatic pouch, etc.
And we sit there puffing away and I’m yet again suppressing a cough and blinking my smoke filled eyes and trying my damndest to seem grateful when I refuse the second one. Of course the offerer is relieved I don’t take the second, since it was so much trouble to come by.
In my view, there’s not a huge difference between top-notch Cubans and top-notch Dominican cigars; the Dominican cigars are just as good if not better, and have the added benefot of beingl legal, which means they avoid the hoarding-outside-a-good-humidor problem you mention.
But I’ve had good Cuban cigars outside the U.S. and they have been superb.
I make no claim to a refined cigar palate, but the Cubans I’ve had also seemed smoother and better tasting than Dominicans. It could be a placebo effect, in that there is a widespread belief that Cuban cigars are the best in the world, but I’m not so sure that’s the case.
I don’t know if they’re worth the hype, but I don’t think they’re worth the price. I always get one when I’m on vacation somewhere they’re legal, though. I get to feel like I’m getting away with something naughty. My overall experience, though, has been that the DR makes a better cigar.
Well, they’re good, but not the greatest cigars in the world anymore, at least to my taste. Cuban Cohibas are still better than the legal ones, but the legal ones are damn good(can’t remember if they’re Dominican or not).
My preference is for CAO’s, a company who’s roller was a Cuban roller that left. i think that’s happened to many Cuban cigar companies.
The Cubans I’ve bought in Canada are usually pretty crappy. Overpriced as well.
In Canada, where Cuban cigars are perfectly legal (though as with all tobacco products, very expensive), there isn’t much hype around them at all. The only cigars that I’ve found any “hype” about up here have been the ones like Opus X, which weren’t available here until a few years ago. But I digress.
Are Cubans worth getting excited over? Sure, if you’ve always wanted to try one.
As an occasional cigar consumer who is not subject to the hype over Cubans, what are my feelings? Well, my choice always depends on what I’m feeling like that day: a rich, earthy Bolivar from Cuba, a mild Don Juan Urquijo from the Philippines, or perhaps a delicate, almost sweet, Don Diego from the Dominican Republic. Or something else entirely–just what do I feel like today? It’s a matter of personal taste, and if somebody hyped a cigar to me as “the best ever made, impossible to get better,” then I’d take their recommendation with a grain of salt. Their feeling may or may not agree with my taste.
Buy them only at a legitimate tobacconist authorized to sell Cuban cigars (that is, not a gas station or corner store). There are surprisingly few authorized places. La Casa de Habano is always a good source of legitimate Cuban cigars; and there are a few other tobacconists authorized to sell Cubans as well. But genuine Cubans are not as widely available as you might think, and the non-genuine ones are indeed, pretty crappy.
As to the “overpriced;” well, yes. It’s the tobacco taxes. I don’t like them myself, but they’re one way of telling which is the real thing. If you see an inexpensive Cuban for sale, stay away from it–there is no such thing as a legitimate $20 Cohiba Esplendido in Canada.
I had a Cohiba last year that actually lived up to the hype. It was a real Cuban, not the licensed version from… is it the D.R. that also makes Cohibas now? In any case, it was a damn good cigar.
(I was in Turkey at the time, no US import restrictions were violated.)
Uh oh! Um, uh, mods, uh, it wasn’t me admitting to smoking a Cuban. Um, well, uh someone used my machine - someone not me. I didn’t admit to doing illegal stuff…
Licensed? By the Cubans as some kind of franchise/distributor thing? Interesting. I always had my doubts about those hole-in-the-wall convenience stores with a bacly-made sign advertising “Cuban Cigars” next to the phone cards and snack foods…
US citizens are prohibited from consuming Cuban cigars outside the USA?! :eek:
How are They, whoever They are, going to find out? Tobacco spies outside Canadian tobacconists? Someone calls the DEA snitch line and gets a reward? The tobacconist is required to ask for, record, and forward information about your identity?
And what happens afterwards? They pull you aside at the border and take you to a separate room and shine a light in your eyes while saying, “We know you smoked that Cohiba outside at the corner of Bloor and Avenue Road in Toronto on the evening of March 14, 2005. Confess! It will only go harder for you if you don’t!”
I read somewhere that every country has something that they are totally irrational about. But the whole US/Cuba thing just boggles my mind.
A lot of the “Cuban” cigars that you think you are buying, particularly in the Carribean, are counterfeit. You have to know your cigars to be sure that you are getting a true Cuban. Buying them at the Hotel Nacional in Havana is one method of certainty.
Currently, the Cuban government uses a hologram on the box to assure authenticity.
A good Cuban cigar is a good smoke. That’s not to say that it is always the best smoke. There are excellent cigars from other areas. Many of the Cubans are full-bodied which may not be the most enjoyable smoke for a lot of people.
I wasn’t trying to cast aspersions on anyone. Personally, I think it’s ridiculous that we’re even TRYING to legislate the actions of people when they leave the country.
