What do you like to smoke outside Cuba?
Iāll take pretty much anything I can. On the whole, had more decent mexican cigars than anything else. I need an easy draw, not too strong, not too mellow.
Damn, I like Punch though. I believe the Coronations are my favourite.
One of my best friends on St Thomas, USVI, where I lived for almost 10 years, girlfriend used to commute during the week to Virgin Gorda, BVI and bring back Cubanās. They made great rolls for blunts, and i used to take the tag off a few and bring them up to the States with me in a zip-lock when I traveledā¦
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I donāt really think anyone needs to be talking about distribution and price effects on the market. As I understand it you can bring your 100 bucks of Cuban tobacco into the US from Cuba. In order to do that you need to be approved for travel to Cuba, which is basically not a thing yet. Apparently you canāt sell those tobacco products, there canāt be any retail sales within the US and there wont be any direct importation. Online sales might (?) be possible. But basically youāve got the same situation as we already have. Youāve got to get your Cubans outside the country, and find a way to to get them back in. If your approved for travel to Cuba you just donāt have to take the bands/packaging off and hope customs arenāt being hard asses anymore.
In terms of effects on price? I donāt see it. Cuban stuff wont be entering the open US market so it shouldnāt have any effect there. Maybe better access brings down prices in whatever black market exists. But in terms of how most people seem to get their hands on Cubans? Theyāre already rabidly over priced in tourist areas where theyāre legal. Presumably for the usual reason things are overpriced in those areas, but also because of the novelty to American tourists. I spent 4x as much on a Cuban cigar in the touristy end of Montreal as a friend of mine had on an identical cigar in a not so touristy town in Israel a few years back. And my parents pay even more than that bringing them back as souvenirs from the Caribbean. I would assume the situation is the same in Cuba already. Tourist area = overpriced cigars. I wouldnāt expect that to change much just because the small number of Americans who can legally enter the country are now allowed to bring some smokes back.
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Interesting historical side note: It is rumored that JFK hoarded havanas ahead of the embargo. So, yea the powerful would rather administer pain than endure it.
Now, the Troll is an avid cigar smoker. Are Havanas really better? Mehā¦ they are certainly not worth the premium one has to pay for the exotic pleasure of the forbidden. But I had the privilege of getting them during my travels at a reasonable price, and as to their qualityā¦ yea they are ok; slightly better than the Dominicans and Hondurans. The construction seemed to be slightly lacking but the tobacco had a certain ephemeral quality.
Protip: The Cohibas and Hoyo de Monterreys are ok but are heavily hyped. I found that a lesser known brand, Sancho Panza, was superior. Disclaimer: That was then, this is now. YMMV
Cigars?
Rum!!!
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Itās been 5 years.
Looks like I picked the wrong decade to stop sniffing glue smoking cigars.
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Just reading that makes me want to pukeā¦ Iām a little under a pack a day of home made cigarettes (I take pride in their quality and flavor, even though I know theyāre killing me), but one āfull-sizedā stogie is enough to make me nauseated, and a couple of them would have me rolling on the floor crying. Iām pretty sure 60 a day would end day one with my face turning permanently purple, and the vein on my forehead exploding.
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Back in the day, Iām not sure that 60 full coronas would be possible simply due to the time it would take, but I know Iād have given it a red -hot try.
Been over 10 years now, but shit, I was a walking chimney then.
The thing is, I havenāt smoked a cigar since I was maybe 20, and switched to making my own cigarettes. Iāve got a system down, and the filter tubes and such get it so that my home-mades are practically ultralights, so I have the two things going against me: I canāt keep myself from inhaling, Iāve tried puffing, and thatās not going to work. Second is that even though Iām absolutely a nicotine addict, my delivery method is just a very little at a time in cigarettes Iāve pared down to a very low level of nicotine. I have trouble smoking Marbs or Camels or Pall Malls. Theyāre too strong for me now.
Iāve been trying to switch to vaporizers, but ironically they always make me hack and cough.
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Could be a lot worse, to be honest. Nicotineās a bastard of a drug and Iām not about to criticize anyone thatās trying to at least manage it. 
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ok, let me get this straight. now you CAN smoke Cuban cigars, but its expensive, but legal to do. Hmmm, I wonder what fat-cat, cigar-smoking, right wing, rich white guy came up with this ideaā¦ HMMMMM
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BUTā¦ Butā¦ But now how could be identify filthy rich corrupt character in films and tv series?
-Take a seat officer, we can talk about that āmisunderstandingā while we have a Kinder Surpriseā¦
-You have expensive tastes, senator. But it smells delicious.
-Freshly imported from Italy.
-And the surprise?
-A Winnie the Pooh toy.
-Deliciousā¦
-Shall we talk now about that ālittle misunderstandingā?
-What misunderstanding?
-Hahahahahaha
/CUT TO Arnold Schwarzenegger storming the room with two machine-guns.
-Dis ends here Mendoza!!!
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I got the same effect with cannabis. Always wanted to roll a cannabis cigar.
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Just make sure you stick with cigars or pipe.
āAmericans will be able to take home up to $100 (Ā£66) in alcohol and tobacco from Cuba. Correspondents say it means the US ban on Cuban cigars is over.ā
No. It means tourists will be able to bring a few sticks home. A box of cigars costs more than $100. The ban will be over when I can get them from my local cigar store.
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Lack of elbow-patches?
Whatās the big deal about the cigars? The $100 of Cuban cigars has been the rule forā¦ decades. Whatās new is the potential for travel, which is beingā¦ relaxed. Somewhat. Unofficially.
Anyway, what can beat a Fargo Brothers Rum-Soaked Curley-Q ?!?!!!
I suppose that the Europeans, Canucks, etc are mourning the loss of the last place where Ugly 'mercans didnāt roam freely in large herdsā¦
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I smoked a pipe for a while while trying to get off cigarettes. Its very enjoyable. The tobacco tends to less harsh, more flavorful, and MUCH lower in nicotine than cigars. Its a bit tricky to get the mechanics down. Packing it down right, getting it lit, keeping it lit. My biggest issue was not smoking it too fast. You can over heat and damage the pipe if you go too fast and youāll also end up with pipe tongue. Sort of scorched raw feeling along your tongue. I get the same from cigarettes now that Iām back on them, and Iāve had the same from over doing it on cigars so you might know what Iām talking about. But once you get it down its probably the most pleasant smoking method Iāve come across. And unlike a cigar you arenāt in the least stuck trying to consume the whole thing. You can smoke as much or as little as you like.
But as a note the pipe tobacco you enjoy the smell of, the pipe tobacco everyone thinks of as smelling nice. Thatās Aromatic tobacco. These are heavily sweetened and flavored tobaccos (think black cherry, vanilla, rum). They tend to be much harsher than other pipe tobaccos, taste nothing like they smell, and scorch your tongue badly. Theyāre worth a try and a lot of people do seem to start with them; but a lot of them are pretty gross. I tended to stick to various Virginia tobaccos where the flavor comes from blending different tobaccos, different curing and prep methods. That end of things will be much more familiar to you coming off cigars.
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Yeah, a pipe can be pretty difficult to master (I havenāt quite done so yet, not for lack of trying), but it is much cheaper than cigars and more acceptable generally to non-smokers. Iāve often said that cigars taste better than they smell, and pipes smell better than they taste.
I enjoy each in the right situation, but I have cut back hard on both in the last year. I was smoking about 40 cigars a year. The smoke taste was lingering longer than it used to (sometimes for a couple of days), and interfering with my ability to taste food. I havenāt lit one in 10 months, and I only smoked half of that. I donāt feel like Iāve given up much. But a really nice cigar is worth it, and other than a few really exceptional Honduran/Dominican cigars (Padron Anniversario and Fuente Hemingway/Opus), the only ones Iāve felt that way about have been Cuban.
