WASHINGTON — “Have you ever had something that you knew you weren’t allowed to have? That’s how good it is. That’s a Cuban.”
They could already smell them – the Cohibas, the Upmanns, the Montecristo No. 2s – or maybe that was the smell of the cigars already in their hands. All around Washington on Wednesday, the regular cigar smokers were on their lunch breaks and afternoon breaks and left-work-early breaks, in their favorite steakhouses and cigar shops, smoking like always, but talking about something new.
Cuban cigars might be easier to get their hands on soon.
“What’s the one thing that’s most notable about a Cuban?” a clerk at JR Cigars in Washington was asking the dozen men standing in an aisle packed with cigars on both sides.
“The taste,” a customer in a suit and bow tie answers.
“How it’s rolled,” a leather jacket says.
A sweater-vested man raises his eyebrows.
“The price!”
Stogies were not at the center President Barack Obama’s announcement that the United States will be normalizing relations with Cuba after half a century of restrictions. But it’s rare to hear “commerce” and “Cuba,” without the mention of the coveted product.
The group gathered midafternoon at the smoke shop is a mix you likely wouldn’t find elsewhere – a doctor, a guy who’s unemployed, a writer, a lobbyist, a 25-year-old new to the pastime.
They say that for as long as Cuban cigars have been banned, they have been smuggled from countries where it is legal to buy them. Wrappers are slid off, cigars are hidden in luggage, friends know a guy who knows a guy.
That’s how they came to understand what’s behind the hype of smoking a Cuban.
Let them compare thee to – “Champagne. When you have one, it’s an event.”
“Fine wine. The fragrance, the draw, you learn to appreciate it.”
“Chicken. Some people like it broiled, some people like it fried, some people don’t like it at all.” — “Wait,” the bow tie responds. “Who doesn’t like fried chicken?”
Some people don’t like fried chicken, and some people don’t like Cuban cigars. Or at least, don’t think they’re the best in the world.
That’s the big secret the cigar connoisseurs want to tell you.
If the U.S. opens its doors to a flood of Cuban cigars – which it hasn’t yet – that doesn’t mean those will be top sellers. Cigar enthusiasts have long speeches about their reasoning on this at the ready: Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and elsewhere have improved the quality of their cigars to compete, and now they are just as good or better. You can buy a box of Cubans, and some of them will always fall apart. There are so many fake Cuban cigars out there, you might not even be getting the real thing.
Oh and, “the price!”
“There’s no real mystique or magic. But the novices will buy into that,” said Rob Schmidt, who was enjoying his cigar at the famed smoking patio at Morton’s Steakhouse. He gets his cigars specially made in Nicaragua and shipped to him from a supplier in Chicago.
“With all the embassies here, there are already more Cuban cigars in Washington than in all of Havana!” said political satirist Mark Russell, who enjoys two cigars a day from the back yard of his home. (As for so many men, his wife has banned them from indoors.)
“There will be a rush to get them at first. But when the mystery is gone, I don’t know if they will still compete,” said Bob Materazzi, owner of Shelly’s Back Room, “D.C.’s Civilized Cigar Tavern.” The restaurant’s publicist explains the place as, “They say politics is done in the smoky back rooms of Washington, well,” and points to the smoke in the room.
The editor of Cigar Aficionado magazine was at first unavailable for comment Wednesday morning, after the news broke, as the publication needed to thoughtfully prepare a statement. This is likely the biggest news the cigar industry has experienced since the embargo was enacted in the first place.
(Another important – but unsubstantiated – lesson from the cigar regulars: “Did you know that before Kennedy blocked Cuban cigars from coming in, he hoarded a thousand of them for himself?”)
The magazine eventually released a statement, declaring: “For cigar smokers, there is the promise of something bigger to come.”
They mean that the trade embargo has not been lifted, but Congress could take action to allow cigar shops such as JR to sell Cuban cigars. For now, travelers approved to go to Cuba will be allowed to bring back $400 worth of goods, $100 of which can be alcohol or tobacco products.
Even if it becomes easy to travel to Cuba, $100 worth of cigars is probably not worth the trip for the crowd at JR. Most are set on declaring that as great as they are, other countries’ cigars are just as good now anyway.
The 25-year old of the group is taking their word for it.
But “I’ve never gotten to try them, so I’ll have to have just one.” he says. “Or two or three or four.”
Video: Can I buy Cuban cigars now?
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