Allofus123 said:
The pre embargo story I believe has been questioned but never proven one way or the other. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.... which is likely.
On a good night I've vomited a better taste than these cigars. LOL!
Thanks to Joe for the link.
Here is what was in Smoke Magazine:
7) “OUR CIGARS USE GENUINE PRE-EMBARGO CUBAN TOBACCO!”
Don’t buy it. While experts have varying opinions on several other subjects discussed here, on this one virtually all agree. The Cuban embargo happened in 1962, and no cigars or tobacco have been shipped to this country (at least, not legally) since then. Some U.S.-based cigar manufacturers did have the foresight to stockpile the raw material when they saw the Embargo coming, and did make cigars with actual Cuban leaf while supplies lasted. But those supplies, according to those in the know, are now long gone.
Henry “Kiki” Berger, who spent years in the Cuban tobacco business before heading up his current cigar company, Tabacalera Esteli, in Nicaragua, is in favor of some kind of official authentication system for tobacco’s origin to prevent disreputable companies from deceiving consumers. “If there is any Cuban pre-embargo tobacco out there today, then I don’t exist,” he states unflinchingly. “There’s just no such thing. If there was any tobacco here from Cuba, it was gone during the Boom. [To claim otherwise] is just lying to the consumer.” As far as cigarmakers claiming the covert use of illicit Cuban leaf in their blends, pre-Embargo and otherwise? “Cuba doesn’t sell tobacco outside of Cuba anymore; they only sell cigars.”
“That tobacco would be dead,” Borhani states incredulously, referring to pre-embargo leaf. “If you don’t roll it into a cigar, tobacco will continue fermenting; heat continues developing in the bales. Tobacco stored for 50 years would be old enough to deteriorate in your hands.”
Best advice is to be suspicious of any cigar not verifiably made in Cuba prior to the embargo (and these do exist; though they are rare, quite expensive, and spotted occasionally at high-end auctions). Rule of thumb is that good cigars, kept in a properly humidified atmosphere, can age for decades, just like good wine. Raw tobacco leaf, even properly maintained, has a much shorter shelf life.
