Cigars and Customs!

[Northy96]

Does anyone here have any experience buying cigars while on vacation? I am looking at an Eastern Carribean sailing going to the Virgin Islands and PR. Does anyone know of some good Cigar shops as these ports?

 

What is the customs limit on bringing cigars back tax free. I believe a few years ago it was somewhere in the 125 sticks range. No cubans ofcourse, but I am confident customs officials can't tell the difference between Cuban Cohiba and Dominican Cohiba's :D

 

Thanks everyone!

[NYCFOD]

I travel a lot, but as I don't smoke I've never worried about tobacco. The Customs and Border Patrol website should have the information you need.

 

Whatever you do don't buy Cuban cigars, technically it is illegal (trading with the enemy) for anybody under the jurisdiction of the United States to buy Cuban goods - I just had my bags searched and got grilled by CBP coming home from Moscow. CBP specifically asked about Cuban cigars. I presume I got the treatment either randomly or because there are lots of Cuban goods on sale in Russia.

 

From what I can make out it's $800 duty free allowance that seems to cover everything. I once brought 18 bottles of wine in, declared it on my customs form, and nobody batted an eyelid because I was below the $800 limit.

[killface]

This info may not help you Northy96, but I thought I'd post it anyways.

 

This will be my first cruise, but I'm in Cuba at least a couple times a year for cigars. I'm Canadian, so the Customs rules aren't exactly the same (but since I embark/disembark through PR, for all intensive purposes they are the same this time).

 

My research has indicated that cigar prices are worse in PR than they are on the US mainland. PR does roll its own cigars, but be mindful of what you buy... this is my opinion, but I haven't found many I personally like. Some shops include (and are definitely not limited to):

• The Doll House (255 Fortaleza St.) sounds like it's got the best stocked humidor.
  
• Don Collins (near Hotel El Convento) rolls its own cigars
  
• Cigarros Antilles has a pretty good selection as does the Ritz Carlton
  
• Patricio Pena (somewhere in the market in OSJ) rolls his own cigars and has the record for longest cigar rolled (62ft)

For a pretty good local cigar, I have enjoyed Tabacalera Hoja Boricua in the past.

 

Here are some suggestions to help you navigate through the other questions others may have.

 

1. It is not legal for anyone to bring Cuban cigars onto US soil. Few exceptions to this rule exist, and trust me, they don't apply to you.

 

2. If someone in the Caribbean tries to sell you Cuban cigars, they are fake. Cuban cigars don't need to be sold, they sell themselves.

 

3. Check out http://www.habanos.com/distributors.aspx?rid=1 . If an island that you are going to is listed there and you aren't a VERY experienced buyer I'd only spend money at La Casa del Habano. If your island isn't listed (PR for instance) I wouldn't even think about buying them.

 

4. If you pay less than what you would pay to buy a Cuban cigar from Switzerland (who has almost no duty on tobacco products), you did not buy a Cuban cigar. Almost without exception (volume and special regional pricing) initial cost is the same around the world. Prices differ because of duties, freight, taxes etc.

 

As for the Cohiba (DR) vs. Cohiba © - if a customs agent believes that what you are bringing onto US soil has the potential to be a Cuban product, they can confiscate them and you really can't do anything about it. I've been told that they look at the packaging and banding of cigars to tell one from another (since in my experience there's little else you can do to tell them apart without smoking them).

 

How anybody could ever get around these scrupulous screening tactics is not something I care to expand on. ;)

 

Good luck, and happy hunting.