BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again

Subject: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: olddude
Date: 17 Dec 14 - 04:28 PM

Cnn says they are lifting sanctions against Cuba saying old method did little but hurt the people. Whatever but cuban cigars oh yeah

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: olddude
Date: 17 Dec 14 - 04:31 PM

Rosa the best cigar ever made

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Stu
Date: 17 Dec 14 - 04:35 PM

Agree totally. Love a good Cuban cigar, glad you guys can enjoy them again!

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Ed T
Date: 17 Dec 14 - 05:05 PM

I would not get too excited prematurely about normal USA relations with Cuba soon-there remains some powerful political USA interests who like it as it is, for a number of reasons. Count on these folks to flex their political muscles behind the scene-to neturalize or delay Obama's late regime, normalization, initiative.
Cigars:
I have smoked cigars for years, including Cubans at home and in many trips to Cuba since the 1980s.

IMO, Cuban cigars used to be the gold standard- but (IMO) they have gone seriously downhill, while others in the area have improved significantly. When cigars became popular with the masses a few years ago, with prices rising rapidly, I noticed the quality began to decline.

BTW, I enjoy visiting Cuba without the USA corporate influence, it makes it much more interesting. Hopefully, there is no "coca-colonizing" of Cuba on the horizon.

I find some cigars produced by former cubans in neighbouring Carribean countries now equal, or surperior to cubans. In fact, the last two times I travelled there, I brought my own cigars.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: olddude
Date: 17 Dec 14 - 06:13 PM

Say it ain't so ed... I mean what surpasses a Rosa..

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Dec 14 - 06:47 PM

Kudos to Barack. What took him so bloody long! Alleluia!

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Ed T
Date: 17 Dec 14 - 07:24 PM

aficionado

I used to enjoy cubans immensely. Unfortunately, not so any longer.
IMO, they are resting on their past reputation. But, that is just my opinion.
I am not a cigar aficionado (though I subscribe to the magizine), I just enjoy smoking cigars on a warm day, with a good drink in my hand.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: olddude
Date: 17 Dec 14 - 08:17 PM

It doesn't get better ed you bet I don't know much about them other than the cubans I had were amazing so far beyond anything here

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: olddude
Date: 17 Dec 14 - 08:19 PM

I was in Granada a while back I got a nice selection that I could not bring home. Expensive as hell but wonderful

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: olddude
Date: 17 Dec 14 - 08:21 PM

The day before Kennedy put the embargo on he ordered his aid to go out and buy 10,000

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Ed T
Date: 17 Dec 14 - 08:55 PM

Churchill, and George Burns come first to mind, when I think of famous cigar smokers. Castro used to smoke 'em, but reduced, or possibly quit, for health reasons.

Winstan Churchill and Cigars 

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Dec 14 - 09:25 PM

The US is re-establishing diplomatic relations.

Trade relations are a different thing and have to be "worked out."

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Ed T
Date: 17 Dec 14 - 09:43 PM

""Trade relations are a different thing and have to be "worked out."""

Precisely, plus the hurdles goes beyond just that.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Ed T
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 01:38 AM

""The BBC's Barbara Plett Usher in Washington says that although Mr Obama has the authority to normalise relations with Cuba and increase the flow of people and money, only Congress can lift the embargo.

The president still faces strong opposition from some in Congress who view the Cuban regime as a repressive dictatorship, she says.

Cuban-American Republican Senator Marco Rubio said he would do all he could to "unravel" the plan.

Fellow Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said the shift in policy reflected "America and the values it stands for in retreat and decline"""

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Musket
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 04:00 AM

I suppose now, many years later I might as well say it.

I used to put them, wrapped in bubble wrap down the tube of vibro poker spares when sending out to our agents in Houston, Boston and Chicago. When they were over here, a tobacconist near to our factory did rather well out of them.

It always amazed me how popular they were. To the free world, there are many other cigars worth buying but as it used to be with the old USSR and Eastern bloc countries wanting Levi jeans with their industrial spares, The USA wanted Cuban cigars.

Actually, the guys in Houston had us send HP Sauce as well, but that was supply and demand, not sanctions busting....

I used to mention Cuban cigars when giving talks to public sector bodies on trade and competitiveness, citing USA as an example of preaching capitalism whilst practicing communism.

A pity then that celebrating access to tobacco products isn't the coup it used to be 😎

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 04:19 AM

"Kudos to Barack. What took him so bloody long! Alleluia!"
Amen to that.
A lot to be said for a Third-World county that has kept the most powerful and aggressive nation in the world, ninety miles off it's shores, at arms length for most of my lifetime
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 04:33 AM

And since when has the US worried about dealing with "repressive dictatorships"?

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: GUEST,achmelvich
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 05:18 AM

i found this US announcement patronising, arrogant, hypocritical and sinister. they still just don't get it - how could anyone regard a reluctant embrace from neocon america as a positive? obama talks about helping the cubans remove the shackles (!) of a repressive government - and not a mention of guantanamo or other atrocities world-wide (incidentally, i never understood why this camp is in cuba - why make an exception for torture if you are imposing a boycott?) Do the good old defenders of freedom and liberty intend to cease all CIA operations in central and southern america? obama talked about all the benefits that cubans will get from their easier travel to and contacts with the USA. not a word about what america may learn from cuba. what is the spanish for 'thanks -but no thanks'?

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Stu
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 06:24 AM

I smoke Moods these days. They do a mini-cigarello with a double-filter that is just the right size of smoke for me. They're dutch and have a very mild flavour with a hint of vanilla.

In the US I've has some excellent cigars, especially from Honduras and Costa Rica. In Vegas there's a shop on the strip that is run by a French chap and he employs two chaps who roll the cigars while you watch. They were pretty good too.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Ed T
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 06:27 AM

Very many folks took a few cigars to friends being visited in the USA. Many USA folks returning from other countries commonly took them home. I dont think the customs guys looked too hard to find them. Regardless, what you can't have often seems much better.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 08:20 AM

Hope you guys get to start enjoying the Cuban cigars again soon. Not into cigars at all myself. If you gave me one, I,d probably put the wrong end in my mouth as the Rev'd Jesse Jackson once reportedly did!

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Ed T
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 08:39 AM

Considering Russian renewed military interest in Cuba, as relations with the USA cools, it is reasonable to deduce that this was a major factor in moving better relations with Cuba forward. Bringing Cuba more clisely into the fold was a good chess move.


The Russian factor 

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Rapparee
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 08:47 AM

The US Treasury could, I understand, keep the embargo in place by simply embargoing one item, say, tennis balls. That would not take Congressional action, but it would cause Congressional uproar.

Yesterday the FARC rebels, who have been meeting in Havana with the Colombian government, announced a unilateral cease-fire.

What I don't understand is how buying a Chinese-made iPod is not supporting a Communist government and buying a Cuban cigar is.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 09:37 AM

The problem isn't that Cuba has a communist government. It's that we used to own Cuba. So it's stolen property now, and we're sore about losing it. But we never owned China.

Sure, the Brits used to own China, and we own them now, so in a sense you could say we used to own China. But that's a long time ago... water under the bridge. And even with Cuba I guess we must be starting to get over it, starting to talk to the thieves who stole it from us.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Ed T
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 10:17 AM

""It's that we used to own Cuba""

Who is/are we?

Outside maffia and underworld interests, many of the owners of Cuban businesses (such as cigar and rum) were rich Cuban citizens. While many of these folks did immigrate to the USA, became citizend and now live in Miami- I believe, prior to 1959 many were Cuban citizens.Many of these folks are politically influential, in vote rich Florida.

Like in many Carribean areas, I suspect USA companies had significant investments in Cuba that were impacted by nationalization. But, nationilization of USA assets, especially natural resources, is not unique to Cuba. One related example is nationalization of oil fields in the Middle east. But, Cuba faced the greatest punishment.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: GUEST,#
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 10:35 AM

Check the history of the United Fruit Company.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 12:17 PM

"We" is a term that Americans use when discussing the actions of the collective of gangsters and plutocrats that control their government. So, for example, someone who has not even risen from his reclining chair will say, "We just invaded Iraq."

Even if there had been no United Fruit, and all pre-Castro Cuban business had been owned by Cubans, the fact is that they are now Americans. So it would still be valid to say "we used to own Cuba."

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 12:50 PM

A lot of that ownership was organized crime, which is more influential than any fruit company. Bobby Kennedy tried to squeeze them out, and he and his brother were both shot.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 12:54 PM

"We" owned Cuba. huh. The same way we win -or lose - the Super Bowl. Sitting in an armchair is right.

As for the President's action regarding Cuba, I agree it is high time. The Cubans who are and have been so desperately, fanatically, against it are not considering what is good for their erstwhile country but imo are longing for a time long gone. And a lot of other Cubans will now 'go home'.

The Castro brothers are on their way out. Given their age, it cannot be otherwise. What better time to normalize relations!

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 03:16 PM

What with his action on immigration and this ending of the cold war with Cuba, Obama is finally doing something to fulfill the hopes we had for his administration in 2008. I hope he has a good last two years.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Ed T
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 03:56 PM

From Cigar Aficionado, 2001- IMO, quality consistency has not improved since then-but, if you dont really know or appreciate good cigars, they may all seem the same.

I have bought them in cigar factories, and in reputable Cuban shops, and tried most brands-the same quality inconsistancy (yes, I avoid the frequent counterfeits) -heavy draw, uneven burns, dark ash, young leaves inside, and inconsistant (and even rank) taste.


Cuban cigar decline 

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 05:32 PM

What do you think the world would have been like for the last 3/4 of a century or so if Fidel had gotten a major league baseball contract as a young'un? Can't remember which team he was almost on...

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 07:24 PM

Ending the cold war with Cuba would have been a sign of the long-awaited hope if he hadn't spent most of the past year re-starting the cold war with Russia. But that makes this overture to Cuba look like an attempt to stave off a new missile crisis.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 07:51 PM

of course we all had high hopes for obama - but when i see him on TV now i just think 'guantanamo bay , you c***!'

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Ed T
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 07:59 PM

""But that makes this overture to Cuba look like an attempt to stave off a new missile crisis.""

I doubt it was not a significant factor-at a minimum to garner inside support to help rush it forward.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: pdq
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 08:17 PM

"The problem isn't that Cuba has a communist government. It's that we used to own Cuba. So it's stolen property now, and we're sore about losing it...I guess we must be starting to get over it, starting to talk to the thieves who stole it from us."


Not exactly.

Before the Spain v United States war in 1998, the US Congress had passed a bill that stated the US would not keep Cuba under any circumstances. We helped the Cuba Libra types set up a new government and asked only that we get a small piece of land for a naval base. That lease has been re-approved several times decades apart.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: pdq
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 08:35 PM

...er, that is 1898, of course...

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Ed T
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 08:36 PM

1898?

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 19 Dec 14 - 04:00 AM

D7 THE BALLAD OF THE BIG CIGARS                                
(1968)

We heard Fidel speak a number of times after that. He was never without a cigar. (See note to "The Compañeros")
words and music: Ewan MacColl
© 1968 Ewan MacColl, Ltd.

There's a little sun-drenched island in the Caribbean Sea,
It used to be like paradise, all fun and gaiety;
You could take a plane from Florida, just ninety miles away,
And live there like an emperor for fifty bucks a day.

Chorus:       Happy days at an end ...
               Uncle Sam, the poor old sod, ain't got a friend.

There were servants cheap and plentiful, the natives were in debt;
But for sportsmen on vacation there was faro and roulette;
And if you fancied other sports you flashed a dollar bill
And regiments of whores were there your pleasures to fulfill. (chorus)

The government took orders from the local C.I.A.
And always served the interests of the good old USA;
The natives they all knew their place and did what they were told,
Hotels were air-conditioned and the beer was always cold. (chorus)

One day in nineteen-fifty-six, the year was almost run,
Ten-thousand U.S. citizens lay browning in the sun,
When a certain hairy Cuban, regardless of the risk,
Lit a big cigar and burnt those U.S. arses to a crisp. (chorus)

Well, the gangsters and the bankers, all the con-men and the crimps,
The corporation lawyers, all the bully-boys and pimps,
Shouting, 'FREEDOM!' and 'DEMOCRACY!' (and other thrilling cries)
Flew back to God's own country like ten-thousand blue-arsed flies. (chorus)

One by one, Batista's outposts were attacked and overrun,
By a band of compañeros led by him they call The Man;
He lit a big Havana as they rested at the halt,
Then through Oriente Province went just like a dose of salts. (chorus)

Fidel puffed a king-sized Uppmann and Las Villas province fell;
He lit a Monte Cristo and Batista ran like hell;
Then he lit a Simon Bolivar and overran the south
And Big Daddy in the White House started foaming at the mouth. (chorus)

So the pimps and exiled gangsters who had run the gambling rigs,
Early on a summer's morning landed at the Bay of Pigs;
Fidel puffed a big Partagas, and then he shouted, 'Scram!'
And the Bay of Pigs invasion force was smoked just like a ham. (chorus)

Now, that little sun-drenched island's full of folks who smoke cigars,
You can smell the fine aroma in Peru and Panama;
And when miners in Bolivia rise up to claim their rights,
You can bet your life that Fidel's big Havana's burning bright. (chorus)

When he lights a Larrañaga, Guatemalan workers rise;
When he puffs a Castenado, Venezuelans organise;
And Colombian guerrillas in their jungle bivouacs
Use the glow of his Corona as the signal to attack. (chorus)

But the wind that blows from Cuba's cold in Washington D.C.,
Where Big Daddy's in the White House, sick with insecurity;
And every night he dreams he's roasting on a funeral pyre,
While Fidel's Ramon Allones sets the U.S.A. on fire. (chorus)

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Dec 14 - 11:12 AM

Since I have never smoked cigars, I was just reading for amusement and noting the 'concerns' of various folk.

The only question I have is:

What the hell are " vibro poker spares "?

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Ed T
Date: 19 Dec 14 - 11:57 AM

Bill D, nothi g to do with cigars-I suspect it is equipment to assist in compacting soil, sand, gravel, or concrete using vibration. Musket could fill you in more detail.

As a teenager, I worked in construction on summer break. It was a tradition to send the "green new guy" off on wild goose chases for non existing construction equipment. An engineer asked me to get the "vibrator" .Thinking I was being set up, I just ignored it. When I mentioned it to a co-worker, I found out it was an actual piece of equipment, and luckily, that saved me from getting in the bad books with a boss.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Dec 14 - 12:29 PM

*grin* as a new kid in a grocery store, I was sent off to various guys for the "left handed cash register crank" (in the days when we HAD cranks).

I went home for lunch and quickly assembled a gadget from odd stuff on my Dad's workbench ... they decided I was clever enough.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh yeah cuban cigars again
From: GUEST,Rahere
Date: 19 Dec 14 - 09:14 PM

What? They were merciful - normally it's either a much-kneaded weight or a long felt wandt...so you'd return with a smile on your face and tell then you went in search of a left-handed screw instead.