Post #134324 by Mai Tai on Fri, Jan 7, 2005 3:30 AM

I ahem know quite a bit about cuban cigars in the USA. Ever go to Canada? Most of Canada's mail order cigar business is aimed at the U.S. market. (Did you know that Cuba is Canada's number one tourist destination?). A couple of cigar stores owners I spoke with the last time I was in Victoria B.C. said that maybe one or two shipments per year are seized by U.S. Customs. More likely the cigars are refused entry into the U.S. through the postal system, and will be sent back to the shipper in Canada. When the cigars are sent back, which happens about a dozen or so times per year, the store simply re-ships them at no extra cost to the buyer.

If U.S. Customs seizes and destroys the shipment, they will send a letter to the store stating what happened to the shipment. The store will then send out another shipment at no extra cost to the buyer.

Not only is there a ban of importing Cuban goods into the U.S., and distributing those goods, the legislation has been expanded recently in the past few years to make it punishable for any American to purchase or consume ANY Cuban goods, whether in the U.S., or anywhere abroad!!! This is a voilation of the "Trading With The Enemies" act, I believe. The only way for an American to legally buy any Cuban goods is if they get a State approved travel visa (mainly for politicians and members of the press). Those in posession of that visa that allows them to go to legally visit Cuba can bring back so many dollars worth of Cuban goods, something like $125 worth of cigars if memory serves right.

Interestingly enough, "pre-embargo" Cuban cigars are still legal to this day, but are extremely rare, and very expensive, although still obtainable.

Unless you buy your Cuban cigars from a reputable cigar store, the chances of them being counterfeit is extremely high. A good friend of mine actually went to Cuba a few years ago, before the U.S. started cracking down hard on this stuff. He visisted a couple of the cigar factories, but instead of buying a box there from their gift shop (which were fairly cheap at well under $100 a box), he decided to buy a box from a connection at his hotel, at around $25 for a box. These were seized by customs when he arrived back in Miami, although he tried passing them off as Dominican cigars, customs didn't buy it. They destroyed the box in front of him, and as they snapped a couple of the cigars, the tobacco was green and unaged inside, and totally unsmokable. Many cigar rollers in Cuba will roll cigars on the side at home, and although they will look good on the outside, they will not have quality tobacco inside. So caveat emptor - even in Cuba, if you don't buy from the factory or a very reputable store, you will get counterfeit cigars.

Although it is illegal for Americans to consume Cuban cigars overseas, the likelyhood of having the Trading With The Enemies Act enforced upon you is very very remote. Unless you do something like ramble on about it on a thread in Tiki Central. :)