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Best country(s) to buy Cubans

I

Ironworker

CP's Official Construction Contractor
Joined
May 23, 2005
Messages
874
After reading my latest edition of Cigar Aficionado, I was struck by a letter sent to Marvin (Article: "out of the humidor") from a reader who received a gift from her in laws who were recently vacationing in Canada. The gift was a sealed box of Monte #2's. With knowledge of the enormous counterfeit market for fake Cuban cigars, the writer proceeds to visit the Cigar Aficionado website to lookup fake Monte #2 cigar bands and decides the cigars look suspect. It wasn't the letter that interested me as much as the reply to the letter: "we've received very mediocre yet genuine Cubans from Canada, even from La Casa del Habano outlets.

Can someone please tell me why one country would have better quality cigars than another? I know we have sources from everywhere on the site including Canada so I welcome a valid response. Obviously the author believes that Canada does not have favorable Cuban cigars, or maybe I should say, he makes it sound like they are less than worthy.

I would love to hear an answer based on facts and not opinions. Also if there is a prefered country what is it?

Thanks for the help.


Rich
 
Have you noticed how no one wants to comment???

-Fetter
 
There is a story behind this. I've heard bits and pieces before but I can't remember the details, sorry. :(
 
Ironworker said:
<snip>"we've received very mediocre yet genuine Cubans from Canada, even from La Casa del Habano outlets.
Click to expand...

Perhaps you are reading too much into this quote. Maybe their experience
has been mediocre cigars, meaning - young cigars that need some age on them
or, their personal taste to some brands they have purchased.

Brian
 
Infinity said:
Ironworker said:
<snip>"we've received very mediocre yet genuine Cubans from Canada, even from La Casa del Habano outlets.
Click to expand...

Perhaps you are reading too much into this quote. Maybe their experience
has been mediocre cigars, meaning - young cigars that need some age on them
or, their personal taste to some brands they have purchased.

Brian
Click to expand...

I agree. I doubt that CA would waste their time getting Cubans from Canada considering they probably get their's in Europe through their European editor. If some of them happened to be in Canada and picked up something to smoke, they might not have been ready to smoke. I've never bought a cuban here in Canada as they're too damn expensive cause of our taxes.
 
Oh Oh ---- I guess....the best country to buy cuban ceegars is ....

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CUBA!!!


Did I win?
 
moki said:
I get all my Cubans from Vitasea... :)
Click to expand...
Moki, Your like a brother to me :sign: once again, thanks for the hook up!
Just ordered two boxes of Esplendidos :whistling:




Fetter, "not trying to read to much in to your response" did you think something was wrong with the question?

I just found it odd for an editor to make such a general statement regarding an entire country.... hell i don't know, maybe I am reading to much into it.
Now that I have vitasea as a connection for my Cubans I don't need to worry myself with silly things like country of origin :D



Aside from the post, it's really good to see you all again. it's been a long time since I had the urge to post on the board. I see a lot of new faces here and that always adds spice and entertainment to the forum.

I plan on sticking around for a while so flame away fellas :p

Rich
 
Ehh I don’t have a definitive answer for you but if you look at cigar makers in general there are multiple lines that are regional. For different regions they make slightly different versions of cigars but it’s still labeled the same. I’d also venture to guess that from a business stand point companies like to release there best product to the best selling markets. Perhaps Canada is not as hot of a market so they don’t get the cream of the crop. Just random shots in the dark.
 
It has always been somewhat of a debate as to who is getting the pick of the litter, from Habanos SA. Now, taking into consideration that Altadis is based in Spain, you would assume that Spain would be getting the better quality cigars, but who's to say for sure. Hunters & Frankau, the UK importers have always had a pretty rigorous inspection system for the Havanas they import, making it seem as though they would have a better quality cigar than other importers. I do believe this was true to some point in the past, but not in today's market. In my personal opinion though, better quality cigars come out of the "old world" (UK, Spain, Switzerland, etc.) then what is coming from say, Canada and Mexico. I've also found the cigars coming from Hong Kong to be superior to Canada and Mexico. As people in the Far East are a lot more critical of what they buy, this would be expected, I would think. So, there is probably some fact to what was said by the author in this case, but without knowing the particular selection methods and what is being offered to each distributor, it's hard to say for sure.
 
The other world region that is reputed to receive top quality goods is the Middle East.

Wilkey
 
Ginseng said:
The other world region that is reputed to receive top quality goods is the Middle East.

Wilkey
Click to expand...

Yep. I remember seeing a picture recently of one of Saddam's sons (guy is dead now) that was smoking some special Cohiba that was only rolled for them. I think it was in CA.
 
If I am correct Lebanon a major player is down and out as we speak. The other big importer is the UAE and should be receiving shipments.
 
Zeebra said:
Ginseng said:
The other world region that is reputed to receive top quality goods is the Middle East.

Wilkey
Click to expand...

I remember seeing a picture recently of one of Saddam's sons (guy is dead now) that was smoking some special Cohiba that was only rolled for them. I think it was in CA.
Click to expand...

ZEE, good to see ya buddy!

If I remember correctly, that article shows a picture of Uday Hussein smoking an extremely thin and long (something like 38 x 7-1/2) Cohiba made especially for the Hussein family. The article stated that the thin long smokes (originally Trinidad Fundadores)were given to the Hussein's as gifts from the Cuba government. They also said that Saddam has a stash of the cigars and still smokes them in his cell.

Tommy Franks and Donald rumsfeld both sat and smoked the Hussein's cigars in Saddam's palace shortly after the invasion. :laugh:

Hey Matt, great post! thanks for the reply,

Rich
 
Ironworker said:
Fetter, "not trying to read to much in to your response" did you think something was wrong with the question?


Rich
Click to expand...

Just being a smart ass...because we all know that living in the USA...we are not supposed to know what a Cuban cigar looks or smells like! God forbid we brake the law... :sign:

-Fetter
 
fetterjohn said:
Ironworker said:
Fetter, "not trying to read to much in to your response" did you think something was wrong with the question?


Rich
Click to expand...

Just being a smart ass...because we all know that living in the USA...we are not supposed to know what a Cuban cigar looks or smells like! God forbid we brake the law... :sign:

-Fetter
Click to expand...

I know you were ;), good to see you too.

Personally I think the embargo is just about over anyway. one thing for sure, when it is finally over, we all be drowning in fat Cuban cigars :thumbs:
 
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