How to buy Cuban Cigars?
Lots of people return from Cuba with one or a few boxes of Cuban Cigars and want to sell them for a profit because they bought great cigars at a very low price. Let me pop that dream for you: If you know nothing about cigars and don’t understand Cuba, chances that you made a good deal are close to zero.
Cuba has a very high ‘no clue’ tax on everything. So if you have no clue about how to test a cigar and rely on the story of the guy selling them you pay that fee.
“Buy Cohiba sir?”
You will never buy a real Cohiba following the guys that whisper this in your ear in the street. Never! They will look like Cohiba, they will be packed in a very nice box and have all the seals, but the cigars are NO Cohibas! Buying them for 10% of the official price in your home country is NOT a good deal. Trying to sell them once back will only get you laughter and no profit.
Straight from the factory!
Stories like: ‘my aunt works in the plant’, ‘my husband is the manager’, ‘you must have read in the paper about the cooperativas making cigars’ are all just BS. Those stories are as good as the boxes they sell look, and both are fake…
There’s a whole underground industry which ends with a salesman selling you fake cigars in a little room. Before that tobacco is stolen from the factory floor, cigar bands are falsified (or bought in the cigar band factory), boxes are made in an attic and seals are stolen.
All this cumulates into the moment that you buy real Cuban cigars… Not…
Only two reasons to buy Cuban cigars in Cuba.
1 They look good on your coffee table and make for a good story. Say ‘yes’ to the cigar peddler, have him take you to an illegal ‘shop’, drive a hard bargain (you should be able to get to about 25 a box, they will start at 125) and buy yourself a conversational piece.
2 It makes for a fascinating excursion! Just say ‘yes’ to a cigar peddler and follow him to a back room in a dump… Don’ buy the cigars!
Where to buy Cuban Cigars?
If you want to buy Cuban cigars, use Google and find yourself a cigar shop with an excellent reputation in your town. Or buy them at the airport or other official shop. Real Cuban cigars are expensive but great.
How to enjoy a real good one?
If you want to smoke a great cigar, taste excellent rum and have an expert explain the whole thing. This Alamesa experience would be a good thing for you. Experts pair a great cigar with 3 excellent rums in one of the best restaurants in Havana. Don’t worry, these cigars are the real thing. And you even get a discount using this code tino-whyn
‘No clue tax’ evasion
The ‘no clue tax’ doesn’t only apply to Cuban cigars. It applies to everything in Cuba. You could consider our book good tax advice :-). We have the tax heaven route figured out for you! Buy it now and save on taxes and time.
In Cuba, you buy cigars from a jinetero. If you do not know what that is, you should not even go to Cuba. Here’s how to handle those street hustlers!