It's pretty poor compared to upper-class areas of North America and Europe but I don't see the dozens of homeless folk on the streets that I see here at home and I don't see the crime and violence of our own cities. Yes, things are tough in Cuba.
It's difficult to refute professionally written...
Never, never, never believe anything from the Miami Herald.
They have a crew of staff writers who crank out this stuff all the time. It's 100% invented crap.
Almost every point in the recent blurb is incorrect, as usual.
The proof?
Go there and see.
Commander Bob
Regularly goes there and sees.
Nice choice! :)
Not a brand that anyone would bother to fake because they are less well known than the usual brands.
I'm still working through a 50 cab from 2000 and smoked one just the other night.
No indication that these won't just go on getting better.
Enjoy!! :D
Commander Bob
Have some :
Bolivar Coronas Extras from Dec 2006
Diplomaticos No.2 from Dec 2006
RyJ Churchills from Sep 2006
Saint Luis Rey Double Coronas from Dec 2006
Sancho Panza Molinos from April 2006
Vegas Robaina Unicos from May 2006
All are very tasty and smoking well.
Good aging potential...
The prices in Habana Viejo shops, in Vedado, in Centro and in Miramar and points west were all the same. the prices in Varadero were the same.
There were up to seven or eight of us in both Havana and the resorts all buying cigars and nobody saw anything but standard pricing.
YMMV, but I can...
I'll tell you how sure I am -I bought a box of Unicos at $181.25CUC this past November!
That's the price in all the stores.
The official price in March 2005 was $171.25CUC but they went up in 2006. Contrary to popular belief, Habanos does not raise the prices every 6 months and indeed the price...
Marty has been to Cuba since the list was compiled and most of us help him keep it up to date- thus all the bold prices from recent updates.
My own list from Nov matches his list at least in all the cigars I'm interested in or bought.
Ask me about particular vitolas if you are concerned about...
No but you might have to worry about being dragged off by the Windsor police!! :laugh:
I posted this link yesterday but my post never showed up. Is this a problem?
http://www.davehitt.com/facts/banlinks.html
Commander Bob
In an almost smoke-free land.
I can certainly agree with your points, Drew and things are mostly the same in other countries, including Cuba.
There was a time when you could be friendly to the scammers and still avoid the fakes by just saying "No Montecristo; how about La Gloria Cubana?
Can you get some St. Luis Rey? Ramon...
I've seen the same 90% figure for the US and I'd agree that the percentage is quite high but not THAT high. ;)
The non-Cuban cigar industry has a vested interest in promoting these figures as a scare tactic to try to dissuade buyers from importing "Cuban" cigars.
The biggest problem is that...
:rolleyes:
Yeah, sure you have.
But heed your own advice. It's good for young, inexperienced cigar fans to be cautious of fakes until they have smoked a few.
Commander Bob
Who actually shopped in the places he listed, not merely copied and pasted them to make an argument. :D
:D :D :D
90% ???
Where did you dig that up?
Most of the fake Cuban cigars are sold to tourists in Caribbean and Mexican resorts and to trusting customers of online vendors.
Many counterfeits are certainly available in Cuba, as long as you buy from the guys on the beach, the bartenders and...
The online and printed guides are a bit out of date.
The maximum dollar limit is now $400 instead of $200 after an absence of 48 h.
The 7 day limit is still $750
Commander Bob
Boli RCs are easy to find. Most cigar stores will have them.
Hoyo Epi 1 are not so easy to find. Havana shops may have them but stores in resort areas, even Varadero will often be lacking.
Juan Lopez, in general are not common in most stores. Some of the better Havana stores will have some...
I'd LOVE to find one of those "glass top" Cohiba boxes. Nobody ever has any.
What a great exhibit for my cigar room! :D
Commander Bob
Gonna have to pay more attention to those guys who have relatives working in the Partagas factory.
That's just for cigarettes (for all practical purposes) and is meant to apply to folks who buy smokes at the Duty-Free on the way OUT of Canada or on a flight. You can't bring in such items without showing that they originally had the duty paid.
As far as cigars : your friend can bring back 50...
I've never had a bad BBF but then, I'm a big Bolivar fan.
If this is your first Cuban Cigar you have a lot of pleasant sampling ahead! As you have just discovered with your Boli experience, Cuban tobacco has a unique flavour and body and you now have to experiment to find the blends and styles...
I was in Cuba a month ago and all the prices are the same as they were a year ago. The CUC is down vs both the USD and the CAD so the net effect is a drop in the cost of smokes. :)
Rudman's pricelist matches the Habanos official one pretty well, but folks coming back from Cuba since January are reporting prices that are 5-6% higher on most brands/sizes. :(
Eventually, Habanos will publish the new prices on their retail reservation website, and we can all update our...
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