Cuban Cigar Frenzy

Since my return from Cuba this past reading week, occasionally the opportunity to sample my souvenirs has come about. Why cigars as souvenirs from Cuba? Because cigars are about the only thing that you would ever want to bring back from Cuba. 

Anyways, I picked up a box of Monte Cristo No.4's for $25 American. That is $1 for each cigar! And these cigars were quality. No banana tree leaves here. Only the goods. We had a party at our house on March 9, 2002 and I broke out the box of Monte Cristo's. I think that everyone who sampled enjoyed the stogies and I am glad that I could share part of my Cuban experience with friends back home. 

Follow the link to the picture page where you can see lots of people enjoying the fine taste of good Cuban cigars. 

     ^{««« Click on "Cool" for pictures}

 The story behind how I got these Cuban cigars...

I went with my girlfriend Karen to Cuba over this past Reading Week. It is absolutely amazing place with beautiful scenery and the most incredibly friendly people that you could ever meet. We were on the lookout for cigars on the Black Market because they are much less expensive than if you were to buy them in a store. One day as we were riding our borrowed bicycles down the road away from our resort, we met a man riding along the side of the road on his horse. He offered to sell us some cigars. Now, we were not sure if he would be a good person to buy them from because we had been warned that some of the Cubans were into the art of manufacturing fake cigars from the leaves of banana trees and ripping off the tourists who bought them. But we decided to take a look at the cigars that he was selling anyway. To our surprise, he invited us into his home and we talked for almost an hour while he showed us cigars and his wife, who spoke English quite well, told us about Cuba. To show us that the cigars that he was selling to us were real, he smoked one of the cigars with us in his home. By then we were convinced that he was not going to to rip us off and so I purchased a box of Monte Cristo #4's. We also asked if he was able to get some Cohiba's (really expensive cigars) for Karen's father as he had given us money to get some for him if possible. The man ensured us that he could have them for us by the next day and arranged for us to return to his home the next day to buy them. 

In all, we bought 50 cigars from this family, totaling $85 American. Now, for us, this does not seem to be an awful lot of money for such an expensive luxury (Cohiba's go for $383 American in the Duty Free Shop). But this was extremely great for them as the average Cuban has a monthly salary of $20 US. The man and his wife were very grateful that we had purchased the cigars from them and to show us their gratitude, invited us to a lobster dinner at their house the next evening. The husband was a fisherman and he went out that day and caught us a lobster, prepared some tomatoes and cucumber, and gave us banana chips for desert. And man was it good lobster. The best I have ever tasted in my life! 

When we arrived in Cuba, our travel guide encouraged us to go out and experience Cuba beyond the grounds of our resort. I am so glad that I had this opportunity to immerse myself in the Cuban experience and I am extremely grateful to that family for opening their doors to us and showing us the true face of Cuba. It is a beautiful country with extremely wonderful people. I encourage any of you who should ever be so lucky as to get the opportunity to travel to Cuba to go without hesitation and experience a with a people rich in culture. It is a chance of a lifetime and one that I will always remember and cherish forever.