Lifestyle: Cuban Cigars

I recently learned that people I thought of as perfectly proper American citizens are guilty of serious crimes. They've been smoking Cuban cigars outside the United States.

I knew that Cuban cigars are contraband. To buy or sell them in the United States is a felony under the Trading With the Enemy Act and has been since JFK outlawed them in 1963 (according to a biographer, shortly after instructing his staff to fill his humidor). But I know more than one cigar smoker who bought a box of Romeo Y Julieta Churchills immediately after landing somewhere outside of U.S. jurisdiction and consumed them before returning to the U.S. Well, it turns out that in September 2004, the U.S. Treasury changed its regulations to forbid consumption (smoking) or purchase of Cuban cigars by U.S. citizens anywhere in the world.

Good intentions aside, I don't know that it's good policy to pass unenforceable laws. Like Prohibition in the 1930's, the Cuban cigar ban is apparently ignored by more than a few citizens already. A Google search for Cuban cigars turns up a number of suppliers whose business appears to be based principally on their offer to ship genuine Havanas (with the seal of Cuba's authorized importer into Canada still intact) and guarantee their arrival at the purchaser's address in the United States.

For example, Canadian Cigar Company asserts that "In the rare event a parcel is redirected by any agency, regardless of method of shipping, simply send us the letter received in their place and we will replace the order promptly, at no charge." Vancouver Cigar Company has a similar policy.

Fortunately, Cuba is no longer the only source for good cigars. Of the 70 cigars rated 90 or better in the pages of Cigar Aficionado last year, 36 were from places like Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Quality smoke hasn't been so legal since 1962.

Now please excuse me while I light up a La Aurora Preferidos Robusto from the Dominican Republic.