Traveling In The US With Cubans

[Devil Doc]

As long as they have dry feet, it should be no problem at all.

Doc.

 

[Yodascroty]

The TSA usually let your cigar case pass right through the scanner. The only thing that may grab their interest is your humidification device.

 

[SPIVY]

I dont know, but my two cents are that if they see a Cohiba, they may know that it is cuban. Most wont know which brands are cuban which are not.

 

[grateful1]

Better to be save....than the alternatives.



Rod...I really didn't need that image...thanks!!

 

[Mr Peat]

I've had my travel humidor searched a few times in the good ole USA. But I didn't have anything illegal on me so I didn't worry. But I've also had some forbidden fruit and walk through Customs and I said I had cigars and how many. Never been searched coming in the Country. I was asked to open it several times traveling to Moscow and back. hahahaha!!!

 

[Eshaw99]

You probably won't have an issue if you're traveling domestically. If you're concerned, pulling the bands off eliminates all worry.

I was under the impression that a recent policy change by OFAC stated that bandless cigars would now be considered Cuban. Did anybody else hear this, or am I just crazy?

 

[drew_goring]

You probably won't have an issue if you're traveling domestically. If you're concerned, pulling the bands off eliminates all worry.

I was under the impression that a recent policy change by OFAC stated that bandless cigars would now be considered Cuban. Did anybody else hear this, or am I just crazy?

That would really be strange because quite a few non-cuban cigars come sans band.

 

[wanlail]

I've had my travel humidor searched a few times, they just opened and closed it. Once I had them question my palio, but one of the TSA agents okayed it and told me he was a smoker too.

 

[ggiese]

I pack it in my suitcase - because I always put my lighter (el cheapo) and my cutter (also, el cheapo). My luggage has been searched (as evidenced by the card they put in the suitcase) - I've never had an issue with my banded ISOM's or the lighter/cutter. Of course, I always pack the lighter/cutter at the bottom of the travel case.

 

[Black Plague]

I'll add to the pile and say that I've never had a problem travelling with smokes, and mine are usually in my carry-on luggage. Being a tech consultant, I travel frequently to places as diverse as NYC, Vermont, DC, and Atlanta.

Only thing I ever got taken from me was a butane torch lighter (it was a Z-Plus insert for Zippos, and I thought I could be clever and fool the TSA into thinking it was a regular old flint-lighting Zippo...wrong). They've never even so much as looked at my cigar case or Otterbox in my luggage.

 

[Johnny-O!]

Since Mike_D took an authorized trip by OFAC to Cuba before August 2004 and aquired these cigars then, they are totally legal. John

 

[NullSmurf]

I was almost strip searched traveling from LA to DC a few years back. Had to go into this room and take almost everything off. I never knew I looked so threatening. If I were you, I'd remove any ISOM bands just to be safe - I have that kind of weird luck though.

So, they DID get my voice mail.

 

[Mike_D]

The Title of this thread scares me
And so does the amount of posts you have

Keep coming back :whistling:

"Scares" seems like a strong word, but I gotta agree with this observation in whole.

Good observation guys...never read the title that way. Got me laughing reading your follow ups.

I made the trip....with the removed bands. I had a cutter in the travel case and packed it in carry on luggage. No problems at all. Could of kept the bands on but it was not worth the risk to me. I am not really a guy who cares if other people see what I am smoking anyway.

The reason nobody searched the travel humidor might be because my 11 month old daughter went running thru the security scanner and into the arms of the TSA agent with a bunch of awwwws. Perfect little distraction .

 

[baldheadracing]

You probably won't have an issue if you're traveling domestically. If you're concerned, pulling the bands off eliminates all worry.

I was under the impression that a recent policy change by OFAC stated that bandless cigars would now be considered Cuban. Did anybody else hear this, or am I just crazy?

BBS is probably right domestically. Internationally, DHS/Customs (not OFAC) has assumed bandless cigars are Cuban for years - it isn't a recent policy change. However, I believe that it depends on the border crossing. Ottawa, where I live, gets many American visitors on business. The border is about an hour away, and we also have US Customs at the airport. In either place, if you try to enter the US with bandless cigars, then you either have to prove the provenance, or the cigars will be confiscated, regardless of citizenship.

At least, that's what the US Customs people have told me while they've been searching my car for Cuban cigars ... :blush:

 

[punk_lawyer]

My thoughts on this is that domestic travel is best done with the labels removed...they cannot assume they are illegal products if you are not crossing international boundaries.... The TSAs probably would not look much at a Cuban cigar because it is not on their list of dangerous items for which they have been assigned to search. Flagging a cigar probably means paperwork or some such thing that the TSA will not want to do. But, on the other hand, the Cuban cigar is contraband and they can certainly flag contraband at any moment. Is a TSA trained to search for cocaine? No, but you can bet that if they open a suitcase full of what looks like cocaine they will find someone who is trained to handle the problem. The TSAs have the option of going after this stuff so why bother?

As for travelling internationally, I have also pretty much received a body cavity searches upon returning from several European countries. I don't think unbanded cigars would have worked very well. Perhaps rebanding would help. Other than driving back into the US from Canada, I seem to have bad luck on the search process.

 

[tone-ny]

Just a thought, what would happen if you traveled with cigars and your plane crashed?

Now the NTSB owns the plane and all the items on it. You know they will open every piece of luggage on there as part of the investigation. Would they harass a survivor of a plane crash on finding cigars from Cuba? Food for thought, for those of you that travel a lot.

 

[moki]

I've never thought about this, nor really cared about it.

I just pack up my hardcase with whatever I want to bring, toss it in my luggage, and away we go.

 

[dagoR6]

You probably won't have an issue if you're traveling domestically. If you're concerned, pulling the bands off eliminates all worry.

I was under the impression that a recent policy change by OFAC stated that bandless cigars would now be considered Cuban. Did anybody else hear this, or am I just crazy?

BBS is probably right domestically. Internationally, DHS/Customs (not OFAC) has assumed bandless cigars are Cuban for years - it isn't a recent policy change. However, I believe that it depends on the border crossing. Ottawa, where I live, gets many American visitors on business. The border is about an hour away, and we also have US Customs at the airport. In either place, if you try to enter the US with bandless cigars, then you either have to prove the provenance, or the cigars will be confiscated, regardless of citizenship.

At least, that's what the US Customs people have told me while they've been searching my car for Cuban cigars ... :blush:

I thin they confiscate bandless on the basis that they're "holding" them and you have the right to file an appeal and bond within X amount of days to proceed further. Usually any form of LE with contraband usually gives you the "how far do you want to push this?" speech and that's about the end of it.

 

[Shooter]

I would bring a spanish-english dictionary as it would be hard for me to communicate, with the whole language barrier.

So unless you speak spanish, I would reccommend the dictionary. As far as TSA, just make sure the Cubans have all the necessary documents, again, tough when you can't communicate.
,

 

[DePasta]

I would bring a spanish-english dictionary as it would be hard for me to communicate, with the whole language barrier.

So unless you speak spanish, I would reccommend the dictionary. As far as TSA, just make sure the Cubans have all the necessary documents, again, tough when you can't communicate.
,

I was in a room full of Cubans the other day... couldn't understand a damn word they said. They drive trucks so they travel throughout the US all by themselves.