Cuban Cigars Illegality

[edaw1982]

Are Cuban cigars still "illegal" in that wink-wink, nudge-nudge kind of way in the U.S? Or is it just that they were once illegal and nobody has bothered to update and referencing the previous illegality is a way to keep them really damned expensive?

"$1000 for a Cigar? What the hell man?!"
"Oooh but it's a Koobahn ceegar! Totally illegal"
*nudge-wink-shit-eating-grin*
"...Oh, well..I suppose if it's illegal but not as illegal as marijuana..."

[Dalton]

Cubans are for damn sure still illegal in the USA, but they're not too difficult to get your hands on. However, chances are it'll be a fake.

[Stark]

Any time you ban something (for any reason, not just dumbass EVIL CUBA reasons) there will be a black market that trades at exorbitent prices. It doesn't even matter to most of the people who buy them if they're 'real' so long as they have the cachet of illegality or exclusivity.

Your average cigar from Cuba isn't really that different from your average cigar anywhere else, but that's not what people are paying for.

[Flagg]

As someone who's smoked a Cuban cigar I can say that the quality is very very high compared to other tobacco. And I didn't know it was Cuban until after I smoked it.

[Stark]

So? Of course the high-end Cuban stuff is going to be good compared to filthy dross you buy at the servo. That doesn't mean shit, unless you seriously think Cuba burns all their average-quality stuff.

If you like it so much, maybe write to your MP to repeal the amazingly lame crybaby embargo.

[Flagg]

So? Of course the high-end Cuban stuff is going to be good compared to filthy dross you buy at the servo. That doesn't mean shit, unless you seriously think Cuba burns all their average-quality stuff.

If you like it so much, maybe write to your MP to repeal the amazingly lame crybaby embargo.

I've smoked cigars from the Dominican Republic that were pretty good yet didn't hold a candle to the Cubans. And I have bugged my congressmen to end the stupid embargo. But the Cuban exile vote in Florida (a swing state) pretty much controls the issue.

[Darth Fanboy]

ITT we find out that Flag is a sucker.

Dominican tobacco is just as good because its the same stuff.

[Flagg]

ITT we find out that Flag is a sucker.

Dominican tobacco is just as good because its the same stuff.

I didn't pay. But the Dominican shit could have been lesser quality tobacco for all I know.

[Darth Fanboy]

At one point Cuban tobacco made its way to the DR, they have pretty much the same quality material available. So the best Dominicans are basically the same as the best Cubans unless you want to pay extra for feeling naughty.

[Stark]

Are you seriously saying all tobacco grown in a given country is of the same standard? Just like how all French wine is great wine?

[UnderAGreySky]

No, but he could mean that the soil and weather in the two countries is different enough to produce different quality of tobacco from the same seeds. My interpretation, anyway.

[Darth Fanboy]

Are you seriously saying all tobacco grown in a given country is of the same standard? Just like how all French wine is great wine?

No, Cuban plants (the best) were transplanted to the DR. And the DR has a similar favorable tobacco climate. Thats why I said "best Dominicans" as matching the "best Cubans".

[Sea Skimmer]

Lots of Dominicans also simply have some or all Cuba tobacco in them which has been shipped out of Cuba, rolled in the Dominican Republic with false paperwork. That's been going on as long as the embargo existed. Some other countries used to do that too, dunno if they still do.