Don't expect Cuban cigars in Pittsburgh shops anytime soon
Don't expect Cuban cigars in Pittsburgh shops anytime soon, The United States’ loosening of trade and travel restrictions with Cuba, which goes in effect today, doesn’t mean that those coveted Cuban cigars will be for sale in stateside smoke shops.
While the new regulations permit Americans traveling to Cuba to bring back up to $100 in alcohol or tobacco, a broader trade embargo more than 50 years old still prohibits the importing of the cigars, among other products from the island nation.
That doesn’t bother some local smoke shop owners who contend Cuban cigars aren’t all they’re mythologized to be anyway. Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras have for years been producing excellent cigars, they said. The climate and soil are similar to those in Cuba and many former Cuban growers and rollers now live in those other countries.
“There are very good Cuban cigars out there but in today’s world, other factories are just as good or better than what we used to get from Cuba,” said Mame Kendall, owner of Smoke Shop & Lounge in Collier.
“There are amazing rollers and tobacco factories in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras available to us.”
Jim Titus, owner of Continental Smoke Shop in Squirrel Hill, agreed: “You find cigars produced for the U.S. are equally as smooth. The big myth about Cuban cigars is because people can’t get them.”
An article on the Cigar World website said Cuban cigars have a mystique mainly because the half-century trade embargo has made them forbidden fruit. “It’s only natural to want what we can’t have,” the article said.
Interestingly, President John F. Kennedy, who enjoyed Cuban cigars, made sure he got what he wanted before banning them for everyone else. Hours before widening a Cuban trade embargo in 1962, he ordered press secretary Pierre Salinger to obtain as many as he could. After Mr. Salinger delivered 1,200 to Mr. Kennedy, the president signed the order banning all of Cuba’s state products from U.S. shores, Mr. Salinger revealed in Cigar Aficionado magazine in 1992.
Mr. Kennedy’s action created five decades of pent-up demand. Ms. Kendall said that when the relaxed travel and trade restrictions were announced last month, many of her customers didn’t listen to the details of the story and mistakenly thought Cuban cigars would now be imported.
“During that first week, everyone kept saying, ‘So when are you going to get Cuban cigars on the shelf?’ They didn’t listen to the whole story. I said ‘If one more person asks me about Cuban cigars [I won’t be able to take it],’ ” she said with a laugh.
Even if Congress removes import restrictions, those desiring Cuban cigars might be disappointed, she added.
“If we were able to buy Cuban cigars for resale in stores, consumers would think that would be great but it would mean that production [in Cuba] would have to go up, quality would go down and prices would go up.”
It’s not known how many cigars can be purchased with $100, but Cuban cigars sell for $17 a piece in Mexico.
She estimated if Cuban cigars were permitted to be sold in the United States they would sell for $25 apiece or higher. By contrast, she said a “very good cigar” from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras sell in her shop for $5 to $6.
And, she said, those traveling to Cuba planning to bring back cigars could likewise encounter sticker shock. Cubans “will be able to see them coming. They’ll be able to pick [an American] out of the crowd and will put a high price on [Cuban cigars], I’m sure.”
Mr. Titus said he has smoked and enjoyed Cuban cigars but only equally as much as those from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras.
“It’s a decent cigar, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t find it to be worth $25 of my money,” he said.
While the new regulations permit Americans traveling to Cuba to bring back up to $100 in alcohol or tobacco, a broader trade embargo more than 50 years old still prohibits the importing of the cigars, among other products from the island nation.
That doesn’t bother some local smoke shop owners who contend Cuban cigars aren’t all they’re mythologized to be anyway. Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras have for years been producing excellent cigars, they said. The climate and soil are similar to those in Cuba and many former Cuban growers and rollers now live in those other countries.
“There are very good Cuban cigars out there but in today’s world, other factories are just as good or better than what we used to get from Cuba,” said Mame Kendall, owner of Smoke Shop & Lounge in Collier.
“There are amazing rollers and tobacco factories in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras available to us.”
Jim Titus, owner of Continental Smoke Shop in Squirrel Hill, agreed: “You find cigars produced for the U.S. are equally as smooth. The big myth about Cuban cigars is because people can’t get them.”
An article on the Cigar World website said Cuban cigars have a mystique mainly because the half-century trade embargo has made them forbidden fruit. “It’s only natural to want what we can’t have,” the article said.
Interestingly, President John F. Kennedy, who enjoyed Cuban cigars, made sure he got what he wanted before banning them for everyone else. Hours before widening a Cuban trade embargo in 1962, he ordered press secretary Pierre Salinger to obtain as many as he could. After Mr. Salinger delivered 1,200 to Mr. Kennedy, the president signed the order banning all of Cuba’s state products from U.S. shores, Mr. Salinger revealed in Cigar Aficionado magazine in 1992.
Mr. Kennedy’s action created five decades of pent-up demand. Ms. Kendall said that when the relaxed travel and trade restrictions were announced last month, many of her customers didn’t listen to the details of the story and mistakenly thought Cuban cigars would now be imported.
“During that first week, everyone kept saying, ‘So when are you going to get Cuban cigars on the shelf?’ They didn’t listen to the whole story. I said ‘If one more person asks me about Cuban cigars [I won’t be able to take it],’ ” she said with a laugh.
Even if Congress removes import restrictions, those desiring Cuban cigars might be disappointed, she added.
“If we were able to buy Cuban cigars for resale in stores, consumers would think that would be great but it would mean that production [in Cuba] would have to go up, quality would go down and prices would go up.”
It’s not known how many cigars can be purchased with $100, but Cuban cigars sell for $17 a piece in Mexico.
She estimated if Cuban cigars were permitted to be sold in the United States they would sell for $25 apiece or higher. By contrast, she said a “very good cigar” from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras sell in her shop for $5 to $6.
And, she said, those traveling to Cuba planning to bring back cigars could likewise encounter sticker shock. Cubans “will be able to see them coming. They’ll be able to pick [an American] out of the crowd and will put a high price on [Cuban cigars], I’m sure.”
Mr. Titus said he has smoked and enjoyed Cuban cigars but only equally as much as those from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras.
“It’s a decent cigar, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t find it to be worth $25 of my money,” he said.
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