Learning about ISOM's

[Phantom57-cl]

As noted above, Cuba is using all the premium tobacco it can grow to satisfy current demand. If they are smart, they will hold production at present levels and just jack prices way up. You will see rippoffs like you have never seen since the boom.

[Patrick B]

I'm kind of new at the cigar game, but it seems to me that with just a little effort anyone can get what they want right now, although it is technically illegal. I totally agree with the thought that a lifted embargo will make for crappy, expensive albeit legal Cubans for the U.S., at least in the short term.

Back to the point of this thread - I crave knowledge on all things tasty -wines, cigars, beers, food, and the list goes on. I would love to know more about ISOM smokes so that when I travel overseas or come across some some other way I have some background knowledge before diving in.

[amateurke]

Originally Posted by ezmoney5150

As someone who has smoked a bunch of ISOM's whenever I'm in Canada, I live 40 miles south of Canada. I don't feel that they get the big picture about blending. I prefer a Oliva Serie V or La Flor Dominica. They just have some richer flavors than the Cuban smokes. I find that the flavors of ISOM's are very subtle and I really have to sit alone with the cigar to enjoy it.

Just my opinion.

You got a point Mark!! I think some of you wil be disapointed when they lifted the embargo!! In the USA you have access to cigars that have more flavors and more "spirit" than ISOM's ever could have!! There are not that many ISOM's that I like... And I can (and have) try them all!! Or most all!!
I'm sure if they lifted the embargo the quality deteriorate!! And prices will shoot up!!

[Messerjocke2000]

I have a question about the ban. Would it be legal if i sent cuban cigars from Germany to the US? As a gift to somebody? The receiver would not spend $$$ on cuban goods...

[Patrick B]

Still illegal.

[chrisguinther]

It is illegal for a U.S. citizen to possess Cuban cigars or any other product from Cuba.

[Denahue]

I'm for a disscussion thread on it.... I have a friend in Scotland that talks about it from time to time.

[havanitascigars-cl]

Originally Posted by chrisguinther

Altadis owns a big share of Habanos SA. The naming issues would be relatively minimal.

Altadis SA sold out to Imperial Tobacco. The Brits control the exportation rights to Cuban cigars that were controlled by Altadis SA. And Altadis USA owns the rights to the names here in the US. The two companies are not the same. You would also have to see if an international court would hold up US decisions to allow the US company to still retain the rights to the names. It is intertesting a US court has decided if an American company can use the licensed name of a company in Cuba.

[havanitascigars-cl]

As I read these posts I see people saying Cuban cigars are not great. The question should really be what grade of tobacco would the US market receive. Cubans have 5 grades. The Swiss and Saudi markets receive the top grades. Sorry to you Canadians, but you guys receive the 3rd or 4th grade of tobacco. The second grade goes to the Spanish... or now the British with the buy-out of Altadis. Asia picks up the third grade... except I believe Hong Kong may receive top grade. Markets like Mexico, and the hometown of Cuba receive the lowest grade.

Having smoked ISOMs all over the world, including Cuba, I can honestly say there are differences. The fact is there is just so much tobacco to go around. A Mexican Cohiba is not the same as a Swiss Cohiba, which is not the same as one sold in the Spanish market. Some of the best ISOMs go to the UAE through a Palestinian who operates out of Cyprus and holds the licenses for the sales from Habanos SA in the Middle East.

Also, tobacco last year was not very good. It was too wet in the Pinar. So if you are smoking a new cigar you are not receiving great tobacco. Like Mario I have many boxes of ISOMs I have acquired in my travels. There are great Cuban cigars and there are many so-so Cuban cigars. The disadvantage the Cubans have is they cannot blend with outside sources. If the Altadis Montecristo Nicaraguan tobacco is a little light, they can add a little more Peruvian or Dominican filler to match the blend. The Cubans do not have this advantage. A couple years of bad tobacco can ruin an entire year of production. This is also why you will have Monte #2s for example that taste different from different years, or age differently. I have had Cubans that were hitting their prime in 4 years, but others took 6 years to hit.

[havanitascigars-cl]

If you do not have access to ISOMs, or choose not to smoke them for legal reasons, then a great source is Min Ron Nee's book. You will learn a lot about Cuban cigars, manufacture, history, and aging. And I believe it is updated this year.

[havanitascigars-cl]

Originally Posted by chrisguinther

It is illegal for a U.S. citizen to possess Cuban cigars or any other product from Cuba.

True, it is illegal, but it is not enforced. If it were, then everyone interviewed in Cigar Aficionado would be indicted. In the latest issue there is an article about having a Cuban cigar taste debate at a hotel in Vegas. The issue with Michael Jordan talked about smoking Montecristos on Michael's balcony in Chicago. On these boards are pictures of bombs with Cubans in them.

Going to Cuba was not a difficult task either. In fact, every hotel in Habana I went to had a wall of all the famous people who have stayed there. Half the pictures were Americans!

It is illegal for Americans to smoke Cuban cigars even if overseas, but who is really going to enforce that? You would have to find a US Marshall who wanted to make a big deal out of it. Of course, you would have to get the Cuban cigar out of his mouth first. Seriously, while at embassy parties Cuban cigars are being passed around the room like no big deal.

The fact is it is just not that big a deal except for customs officers who are looking to enhance their own stash. I was caught one time bringing a couple sticks in. When I turned them over I crushed the sticks. If I was not going to have them to smoke, then no one was going to. The officers just told me to move on. Since 9/11, Customs has a long list of things to check and cigars are wayyyyy down at the bottom of their list of priorities.


Okay... I am done hogging the bandwidth. Someone else's turn.

[Da Klugs]

There are so many. Here is one of my favs...



Jamaica (pronounced /ˈdʒəˈmeɪkə/) is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres (145 mi) in length and as much as 80 kilometres (50 mi) in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. It is about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 190 kilometres (120 mi) west of the island of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated. Its indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno inhabitants named the island Xaymaca, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water", or the "Land of Springs".[3] Formerly a Spanish possession known as Santiago, it later became the British West Indies Crown colony of Jamaica. It is the third most populous anglophone country in North America, after the United States and Canada. It remains a Commonwealth realm.

[tx_tuff]

Originally Posted by havanitascigars

As I read these posts I see people saying Cuban cigars are not great. The question should really be what grade of tobacco would the US market receive. Cubans have 5 grades. The Swiss and Saudi markets receive the top grades. Sorry to you Canadians, but you guys receive the 3rd or 4th grade of tobacco. The second grade goes to the Spanish... or now the British with the buy-out of Altadis. Asia picks up the third grade... except I believe Hong Kong may receive top grade. Markets like Mexico, and the hometown of Cuba receive the lowest grade.

Having smoked ISOMs all over the world, including Cuba, I can honestly say there are differences. The fact is there is just so much tobacco to go around. A Mexican Cohiba is not the same as a Swiss Cohiba, which is not the same as one sold in the Spanish market. Some of the best ISOMs go to the UAE through a Palestinian who operates out of Cyprus and holds the licenses for the sales from Habanos SA in the Middle East.

Also, tobacco last year was not very good. It was too wet in the Pinar. So if you are smoking a new cigar you are not receiving great tobacco. Like Mario I have many boxes of ISOMs I have acquired in my travels. There are great Cuban cigars and there are many so-so Cuban cigars. The disadvantage the Cubans have is they cannot blend with outside sources. If the Altadis Montecristo Nicaraguan tobacco is a little light, they can add a little more Peruvian or Dominican filler to match the blend. The Cubans do not have this advantage. A couple years of bad tobacco can ruin an entire year of production. This is also why you will have Monte #2s for example that taste different from different years, or age differently. I have had Cubans that were hitting their prime in 4 years, but others took 6 years to hit.

I did not know there where different grades of tobacco. But it does explain a hell of a lot to me. I smoked a RyJ no.2 Tubo that somebody brought me back from Paris and I truely thought at the time (a couple years ago) it was one of the best cigars I have ever smoked. So I got some more from soemwhere else and it was just a ok cigar, I thought maybe it just needed age, but the different grades makes a lot more sense. Good thing is I still have one left over from Paris Will be smoking it early next year.

[Patrick B]

This thread is getting better! Thanks for the schooling, Derek. Feel free to tell us more!

[havanitascigars-cl]

Originally Posted by Patrick B

This thread is getting better! Thanks for the schooling, Derek. Feel free to tell us more!

I am not an expert. I just read a lot and when I was in Cuba I talked to a lot of people. Living overseas did give me a chance to talk to people in the business of dealing in CCs. What knowledge I have is secondhand.