AP Story: US and Cuba opening talks to normalize relationship

brianetz1

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7f7f6bba9d934897a07b09039fd25e38/ap-source-cuba-releases-us-prisoner-alan-gross

So if this happens, how quickly after will you be buying cuban cigars? How quick will the big box retailers start trying to carry cuban cigars? Do you see a major price shift on the current affordable cigars?

jd50ae

WOW....can't you see those old cars flooding the auctions.

Darktower007

If he lifts the embargo I'll be doing cartwheels!

Krieg

About damn time.

jgibv

brianetz1:

So if this happens, how quickly after will you be buying cuban cigars? How quick will the big box retailers start trying to carry cuban cigars? Do you see a major price shift on the current affordable cigars?

i have no doubt the big retailers (and also smaller BMs) will try to stock CCs asap & flip them for an upcharge like some of them do with other "rarer" NC brands.....
and i'm also sure that when they first hit shelves some people will shell out big $$ to snatch them up just to "show off" and say they were "first" (the same type of people who pay MSRP for Gurkhas)......

i'll be interested to see if LCDH opens stores in the US or if they do an authorized retailer type thing.
if anything i'd like to think prices would get more competitive across the board due to the increased competition from CC brands.

won't be rushing out to buy any but will be nice to have easier access to them.
too many other good cigars out there so if CC prices go thru the roof no sweat off my back i'll spend my $ elsewhere.

Brianak

Can you imagine the flood of fakes that will hit the street.

jgibv

Brianak:

Can you imagine the flood of fakes that will hit the street.

can you imagine all the "x-acto" dissection posts we'll be seeing by DZR ???

christian1971

Cubans will hit the us market. Health insurance companies will increase smokers rates by hundreds of dollars. They will increase prices to the point where no one except millionaires can afford them. Demon tobacco. Sugar, alcohol will be next. We are all puppets. Govt doesnt give a *** about us.

brianetz1

So......what happens with the trademarks of domestic Cohiba, Monte, Hoya, uppmann, etc, etc???

Will the cubans sue them out of existence?

rsherman24

I think it would be a year of craziness with everyone buying and bragging to be smoking a CC, and then they would be just another cigar to the general public. Most people on this forum would love it, but to the masses Gurkha is one of the top selling brands in the US. I would think most people would fade away from the earthy goodness of CC's back to the 6 x 60 Ligero bombs with the fancy label very quickly once the mystique wore off.

Darktower007

rsherman24:

I think it would be a year of craziness with everyone buying and bragging to be smoking a CC, and then they would be just another cigar to the general public. Most people on this forum would love it, but to the masses Gurkha is one of the top selling brands in the US. I would think most people would fade away from the earthy goodness of CC's back to the 6 x 60 Ligero bombs with the fancy label very quickly once the mystique wore off.

+1 I was smoking a diplomaticos habana last night. Half way through I grabbed a Tat.. Much better. Most cc are very mild. He'll some ligero varieties are banned in Cuba due to molding.

Amos Umwhat

christian1971:

Cubans will hit the us market. Health insurance companies will increase smokers rates by hundreds of dollars. They will increase prices to the point where no one except millionaires can afford them. Demon tobacco. Sugar, alcohol will be next. We are all puppets. Govt doesnt give a *** about us.

And US politicians will continue to give speeches about how we're bringing "Freedom" to the rest of the world. But, for now, let's just fantasize about accessibility to great cigars, before the reality hits.

webmost

Krieg:

About damn time.

+1000

Chemnitz

You guys can go ahead and be all Mr. NegativePooPoo. I'm bloody excited about this news!!!

Echambers

Time to buy cubans NOW before they have to quickly ramp up production to meet demands. Before long we are going to be talking about the differences in quality between embargo and post embargo cubans. This is the justification I need to buy a couple boxes.

And I am equally excited about having access to Havan Club Anjo 7 Rum....

ddubridge

Brianak:

Can you imagine the flood of fakes that will hit the street.

Or will this part of the industry go away?

Chuck N

I see the price of Cubans sky rocketing. Its supply and demand. Cuba can only produce a certain amount and the demand will be thru the roof. I prefer Nicaraguans anyway.

ehehat

This article says tobacco purchases limited to $100.00 cap and cant resell. Looks like we may be waiting a while longer before they hit shelves.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/u-s-cuba-deal-caps-cigar-imports-100-article-1.2048432

jadelt

Time out folks...... this does NOTHING to the current embargo and will not change for several years at best. No change to the current cuban imports only our exports to Cuba. Se we can send the Miami cigars !

danielzreyes

jgibv:

Brianak:

Can you imagine the flood of fakes that will hit the street.

can you imagine all the "x-acto" dissection posts we'll be seeing by DZR ???

I'm very offended by this post. All my CC reviews are legit.



Put0

y2pascoe

Just in time for FDA regulation

jimmyv723

y2pascoe:

Just in time for FDA regulation

Poker Slob

Good news for Cuba. However,.this will not effect the way I buy cigars.

brianetz1

jadelt:

Time out folks...... this does NOTHING to the current embargo and will not change for several years at best. No change to the current cuban imports only our exports to Cuba. Se we can send the Miami cigars !

this is just the first step. Everything i am reading says that a full normalization is in the plans.

dr_frankenstein56

I just read that the imports 100$ and less have been approved! Can we believe it?

Aj

bluezulu

The discussion at my local B&M is that cigar prices are going to go up across the board as non-Cuban cigars have to make up for the money they will lose.

raisindot

Read it here. Before Obama leaves office, the U.S. will have fully normalized diplomatic and economic relations with Cuba. This will be great for the U.S. economy because Cuba will become a huge market for American consumer goods and potentially for American companies to gain infrastructure development projects in Cuba. This will be great for Cuba because its mostly agrarian economy will be now have access to the world's largest consumer market, and swaths of U.S. investments in tourism will bring in huge amounts of U.S. dollars. And imagine how much better baseball will be when Cuban players came be signed directly, instead of having to be "sold" through brokers to third countries as they are now.

Raul Castro is no idiot. He knows that in 10 years a thriving, emerging Cuban middle class won't tolerate a system that doesn't allow that doesn't private property and wealth building. Cuba will go the way of China, only there will barely be any vestiges of communism left.

As far as cigars as concerned, I don't think opening the U.S. to Cuban stogies will have a long-term detrimental effect on those from other nations. First, they'll be artificially overpriced, so many people won't want to pay for them. Secondly, without the "illegal" aura they won't have cache as they do know. Third, after initial trendiness, people will go back to the brands they already like right now. There are enough spectacularly good cigar manufacturers out there now that the great brands will still hold their value even when competing with the soon-to-be-overpriced Cohibas in the next case over.

Echambers

bluezulu:

The discussion at my local B&M is that cigar prices are going to go up across the board as non-Cuban cigars have to make up for the money they will lose.

From an economic standpoint that does not make a lot of sense but we will see.

I think one of the things we will start seeing is cigars rolled in the DR or elsewhere with cuban tobacco--either puros or blends. I also think we will see the quality of Cubans go down overall as some try to ramp up production to meet increased demand and some companies trying to ride the cuban wave by producing substandard cigars that they call call "cuban" and sell for much more than they are worth.

Echambers

bluezulu:

The discussion at my local B&M is that cigar prices are going to go up across the board as non-Cuban cigars have to make up for the money they will lose.

From an economic standpoint that does not make a lot of sense but we will see.

I think one of the things we will start seeing is cigars rolled in the DR or elsewhere with cuban tobacco--either puros or blends. I also think we will see the quality of Cubans go down overall as some try to ramp up production to meet increased demand and some companies trying to ride the cuban wave by producing substandard cigars that they call call "cuban" and sell for much more than they are worth.

phishstyx

So, how long before we can start asking about acquiring Cuban Cigars on here? I am still waiting for my first real Cuban Cigar!!!!

MorganGeo

I'm excited to see how blenders can incorporate cuban tobacco into their blends. New flavors perhaps