Cuban Tobacco Farmers Hope to Sell Cigars to USA

Source from:  FOX 28 South Bend 02/28/2015

U.S. and Cuban officials are meeting in Washington Friday, for the second round of negotiations to reestablish full diplomatic ties following more than five decades of Cold War animosity. The island's cigar industry is already receiving a boost from the thawing of relations.

Long banned in the U.S., the island's legendary cigars bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, a bright spot in an otherwise teetering economy. But many more Americans may soon be lighting up a legal Cuban cigar, following a change in U.S. regulations, that now allows U.S. citizens visiting Cuba to bring back up to $100 dollars in Cuban tobacco.

Tobacco farmer Maximo Perez says the loosening of restrictions presents a huge opportunity, saying, "The first thing we have to do with the Americans"-- HE SAYS --"is create an appetite for our product because they have lost that. But since what we make is excellent, as soon as they try it, they will see the difference."

The question now is whether Cuba can begin to supply a new market for their famed smokes. Much of the work on Cuban tobacco farm is done by hand, the way it has been done for generations. Cuban producers say their cigars are the best in the world, which means they are not supposed to cut any corners. It also means that meeting the post-embargo US demand for Cuban cigars could take years.

At Cuba's yearly cigar festival, the air is filled with smoke and the realization that the industry needs to prepare for the eventual lifting of all U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba."There's obviously built up demand and excitement for people to smoke Cuban cigars. They haven't been able to smoke them legally for fifty years. I think all cigar smokers in America are going to want to give a legal Cuban cigar a try," says David Savona, the Executive Editor of Cigar Aficionado.

Executives with the Spanish-Cuban joint venture that sells Cuba's cigars say that within a few years of the lifting of the U.S. embargo, they could control some 70-percent of the U.S. market for cigars, without compromising their product. "Quality is something we can never give up," says Javier Terres of Habanos S.A., "Entering any market, including the US market will happen with a product of maximum quality."

Cuba's cigar producers say their tobacco doesn't like to be rushed, which means that Americans may have to wait a little longer before they can fully quench their taste for the island's once forbidden cigars. Enditem