An ISOM what ifs

Let's just say that the ban is lifted, and here comes their stogies. Will it spark the second cigar boom? Will real smokers get caught up in the mess? How long will it take for people to realize that there are dang good non-cubans and some of the green crap they will export aren't that good.
My answers-every Tom Rick and Harry will rush out, spend $30-$40 per stick for an El Crappo Habana just to boast that its Cuban.
My last MC#2s box IMHO have lacked the quality control and proper ageing of past. It was explained by my "source" that the Cuban govt is desperate for money and are churning out as many as possible, while raising the prices.
MoW reg and Ruinition Padilla Miami etc again IMHO-blow the commies away on construction,ageing, and flavor.
What say you wise BOTLs?

P.S. How many people will you see smoking a Cohaba?(it is misspelled on purpose)

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Comments

Diamondog

Nice rant.....no doubt some of the finest cigars in the world come from other countries other than Cuba but to dismiss Cuban cigars is ridculous, they are some of the finest in the world.....go smoke a Trinidad a Cohiba Siglo VI, Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill and tell me you aren't impressed lol...

phobicsquirrel

Good question, hard to really answer. I would say probably not a boom again but I think ISOM's would get some good sales. Though I wouldn't go out of my way to get a bunch as I can get them now and have had them (thanks to a special buddy here). Overall I've had some well known ISOM's and others that aren't too popular and really I have yet to be blown away. Though I can say the same about legal cigars now but I've had a lot of them and have found only a handful I really enjoy. So I guess I could say the same could be true of the cuban cigars. I think the embargo is really silly especially since we have open trade with China. But like everything that is illegal I think there would be a big surge on cubans but it would die down quickly.

phobicsquirrel

Diamondog:
Nice rant.....no doubt some of the finest cigars in the world come from other countries other than Cuba but to dismiss Cuban cigars is ridculous, they are some of the finest in the world.....go smoke a Trinidad a Cohiba Siglo VI, Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill and tell me you aren't impressed lol...

I agree, though I have had those you mentioned and thought they were okay but I personally wouldn't say they are better than say an Opus or GOF. Then again tastes are different. Now if they could be found cheaper than GOF's then I would definitely be stocking up.

fla-gypsy

Your observation about Cuban's is absolutely true. While they do still make some of the best in the world it is a limited number and many places now compete on a level field IMO. It would no doubt be a temporary boom but I believe it would be short lived among real BOTL's. It would also create an even bigger market in fakes IMO. The taste of an honest to goodness top Cohiba from Cuba is a treat but there are plenty of others from elsewhere that can hold their own with them. It is kind of like the perceived but undeserved quality difference in US and foriegn based car makers. The quality gap went away a number of years ago but the perception is still there although slowly dying off. 80% of comments about cigars made to me by non smokers is "is that a cuban?" They believe they are better, but ignorance is hard to change.

Tokinstogie

It really wouldn't matter to me one way or the other, I have no trouble getting cubes, but I have'nt desired one for some time. There's so many more I like and so many more I want to try. I quess they fall somewhere on the middle of my list.

YankeeMan

When my son was in Mexico, he got me a ISOM Partegas which I saved for a special occasion, which happened to be when the Yankees won the world series.

It was good and I really enjoyed it. But I do have to say that it wan no better than the non-Cuban Partegas and several others I've had.

kaspera79

There are a few cubes (Nice new term), that I would seek out regularly once they become easily available, but I would not smoke every one I saw. They would probably be overpriced for a long time, until the novelty wore off.

xmacro

fla-gypsy:
It would no doubt be a temporary boom but I believe it would be short lived among real BOTL's.

How many real BOTL's are there? Really not that many. There are many more casual smoker's who see cubans as the be-all-and-end-all of cigars - since those are many more of these types, I think the day the embargo is lifted, not only will there be a surge of fakes, but prices for cubans will sky-rocket and stay high for years to come (even after a few years, the mark-up will still be large just because of the cuban myth that all cubans are inherently better)

The Cank

Well correct me if I am wrong but I don't think that Cuba could handle the market for the US if the embargo was lifted. So it would then be a bigger problem for all of us to get them.

xmacro

Yup - when demand exceeds supply, prices skyrocket. The US is one of the biggest consumers in the world, so even though cubans have been available to other countries, the demand from the US could swamp them. So we'll see a return to not only fakes, but rushed cigars (eg - cooking or coloring maduro)

bacon.jay

xmacro:
Yup - when demand exceeds supply, prices skyrocket. The US is one of the biggest consumers in the world, so even though cubans have been available to other countries, the demand from the US could swamp them. So we'll see a return to not only fakes, but rushed cigars (eg - cooking or coloring maduro)

Eewwww...

ljl

The beard reviewed this in one of his recent video posts. He made some good points. If Cuba lacks production and storage (which it does), they would still have a great market with factories that can't currently use the product. The Cuban tobacco could be blended in by makers like DPG, AJ, Rocky etc. to produce a great product. IMO this would be the best way to get a good Cuban with proper manufacturing and storage. Still the points about fakes and higher prices made by the other BOTLs would apply. I would wait it out a bit and go with a known source that used the tobacco in blending.

Duder2

ljl:
The beard reviewed this in one of his recent video posts. He made some good points. If Cuba lacks production and storage (which it does), they would still have a great market with factories that can't currently use the product. The Cuban tobacco could be blended in by makers like DPG, AJ, Rocky etc. to produce a great product. IMO this would be the best way to get a good Cuban with proper manufacturing and storage. Still the points about fakes and higher prices made by the other BOTLs would apply. I would wait it out a bit and go with a known source that used the tobacco in blending.

Very good point and I agree. Just imagine what AJ could do with access to cuban tobacco, mmm...

sightunseen

Duder2:
ljl:
The beard reviewed this in one of his recent video posts. He made some good points. If Cuba lacks production and storage (which it does), they would still have a great market with factories that can't currently use the product. The Cuban tobacco could be blended in by makers like DPG, AJ, Rocky etc. to produce a great product. IMO this would be the best way to get a good Cuban with proper manufacturing and storage. Still the points about fakes and higher prices made by the other BOTLs would apply. I would wait it out a bit and go with a known source that used the tobacco in blending.

Very good point and I agree. Just imagine what AJ could do with access to cuban tobacco, mmm...

+2. I believe that quality will diminish as demand will far outweigh supply, so it makes sense that the best way to utilize Cuban tobacco is to blend it with tobacco from other countries.

fla-gypsy

+3 AJ would rock some Cuban tobacco with that Nicaraguan ligero and we could have some killer sticks.

kuzi16

i feel that cuban tobacco entering the general US market would cause a serious jump in prices for all cigars not just cuban cigars. i also feel that many people will be disappointed with what they get out of cuban cigars.
and all of a sudden, people that "only smoke cubans" will now feel nowhere near as cool as they thought they were

phobicsquirrel

kuzi16:
i feel that cuban tobacco entering the general US market would cause a serious jump in prices for all cigars not just cuban cigars. i also feel that many people will be disappointed with what they get out of cuban cigars.
and all of a sudden, people that "only smoke cubans" will now feel nowhere near as cool as they thought they were

I fear you may be right though I hope not. I'd hate to have the prices jump!!! Though wouldn't you think they may drop a bit to compete against he "cuba" stigma?

kuzi16

phobicsquirrel:
kuzi16:
i feel that cuban tobacco entering the general US market would cause a serious jump in prices for all cigars not just cuban cigars. i also feel that many people will be disappointed with what they get out of cuban cigars.
and all of a sudden, people that "only smoke cubans" will now feel nowhere near as cool as they thought they were
I fear you may be right though I hope not. I'd hate to have the prices jump!!! Though wouldn't you think they may drop a bit to compete against he "cuba" stigma?

nope. simple supply and demand.

Hays

kuzi16:
phobicsquirrel:
kuzi16:
i feel that cuban tobacco entering the general US market would cause a serious jump in prices for all cigars not just cuban cigars. i also feel that many people will be disappointed with what they get out of cuban cigars.
and all of a sudden, people that "only smoke cubans" will now feel nowhere near as cool as they thought they were
I fear you may be right though I hope not. I'd hate to have the prices jump!!! Though wouldn't you think they may drop a bit to compete against he "cuba" stigma?
nope. simple supply and demand.

To expand upon Kuzi's point here: Cuban cigars coming into the marketplace would predictably create a much higher demand for cigars - everybody who ever wanted to try a Cuban cigar, or those that held off on cigars because they heard "Cubans were the best", will be clamoring to get their hands on one. When Cuban supply can't hold up, now that they've got it in their heads, they'll be trying other cigars. Then we all know how slippery that slope is, and the demand just keeps going higher and higher. Cigar manufacturers, seeing a higher demand, ramp up their supply, and the price point gets higher.

kuzi16

Hays:
kuzi16:
phobicsquirrel:
kuzi16:
i feel that cuban tobacco entering the general US market would cause a serious jump in prices for all cigars not just cuban cigars. i also feel that many people will be disappointed with what they get out of cuban cigars.
and all of a sudden, people that "only smoke cubans" will now feel nowhere near as cool as they thought they were
I fear you may be right though I hope not. I'd hate to have the prices jump!!! Though wouldn't you think they may drop a bit to compete against he "cuba" stigma?
nope. simple supply and demand.
To expand upon Kuzi's point here: Cuban cigars coming into the marketplace would predictably create a much higher demand for cigars - everybody who ever wanted to try a Cuban cigar, or those that held off on cigars because they heard "Cubans were the best", will be clamoring to get their hands on one. When Cuban supply can't hold up, now that they've got it in their heads, they'll be trying other cigars. Then we all know how slippery that slope is, and the demand just keeps going higher and higher. Cigar manufacturers, seeing a higher demand, ramp up their supply, and the price point gets higher.

well said.