Canada may still be one of the best bets for U.S. citizens who want to try a Cuban cigar, without breaking any laws, despite a slight thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday opened the door to U.S. citizens bringing a box of Cuba’s most famous export into the States, in announcing changes to his government’s Cuba policy and plans to restore diplomatic ties.
Moving forward, American residents who are able to travel to Cuba will soon be allowed to bring back US $400 worth of goods — including a combined total of up to $100 of that can be tobacco or alcohol products — for personal use.
Cuban cigars have found their way into some American humidors, despite being banned since 1962 and penalties of up to $55,000 for smuggling contraband stogies.
American’s living closer to the Canadian border could always pop over if they longed to try a Cuban cigar and weren’t willing to risk running afoul of U.S laws by travelling to the island nation.
That’s still likely their safest option.
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Only 12 categories of individuals will be licenced to travel to Cuba — including, among others, U.S. officials, humanitarian workers, journalists, those taking part in religious activities and Cuban-Americans who are going to visit family.
Canadians have long been free to travel to Cuba and bring back its most famous souvenir, and Canadian tobacconists have them at the ready. But, U.S. shoppers who buy cigars in Canada have to smoke them here: U.S. law prohibits its citizens from bringing back Cuban products from a third country.
“It’s not that much different right now than it has been,” said Derek Whidden, who works at Vancouver’s City Cigar Company.
Whidden said the clientele at the store is mostly Canadian. But they do get some U.S. customers, particularly during the summer. He estimated about 65 per cent of the cigars the store sells are Cuban.
“Cuba has the reputation for cigars,” he said. “There’s a certain amount of mystique… because it’s the ‘forbidden fruit’ as a lot of our American customers say.” But, he admitted he believes they are “the best in the world.”
Many U.S. cigar shops carry pseudo-Cuban cigars that are produced in places such as the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua, he said.
“There’s a big marketing trend in the United States, with the non-Cuban brands, to make them sound more Cuban,” he said. He explained some companies will say their cigars contain tobacco from Cuban seeds, although the plants are grown in foreign soil.
Many cigars also sound like they come from Cuba because they bear the names of some of Cuba’s most-recognized brands.
“All the top names are already represented in the United States with non-Cuban companies,” he said, adding they have trademark rights in the U.S.
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While trade barriers are far from being knocked down, Whidden suggested eliminating trade restriction between the U.S. and Cuba could actually open the door to lawsuits.
That’s what happened with Cuba’s famed Havana Club rum.
Canadians — along with the Brits, the Italians, Germans and Spaniards and more than 100 other nations— can find Havana Club rum on the shelves of their local liquor stores, distributed by French distributor Pernod Ricard.
An essential for mojito lovers, a U.S. version of Havana Club rum is sold in the U.S. by rum giant Bacardi. But it’s technically not Cuban rum, rather it’s recipe is based on the original. Bacardi had bought the rights from the creators of the brand, but the company had its assets in Cuba seized in 1960, after Fidel Castro took power the previous year.
Pernod Ricard, in 2011, lost an appeal over Bacardi’s use of the brand name and its right to the trademark in the U.S. The ruling led to Bacardi being able to sell its Havana Club across the U.S.
Still, aficionados in the U.S. have high hopes and expect a rush to puff on the iconic cigars should trade restrictions be relaxed further down the road.
“It’s going to be massive,” Christopher Bledsoe, president and owner of International Cigar Experts, a cigar shipping company, told Fortune. “Ever since we’ve been in business, which has been about 12 years, we consistently have people ask us about Cuban cigars.”
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