Welcome To The New World
With changing cultural attitudes and global shortages of Cuban cigars, European smokers are turning to tobacco from other countries
Ever since the embargo on Cuba outlawed the sale of Cuban cigars in the United States, the division of cigar sales has been fairly straightforward: cigar lovers in the United States smoke non-Cuban cigars and the rest of the world smokes predominantly Havanas. The signing of the embargo in 1962 left American smokers with no choice in the matter, and international cigar enthusiasts born and raised on Cuban cigars saw no reason to try anything different. And that’s how the story has more or less been for the better part of the last 50 years. But today, the story is changing.
Non-Cuban cigar companies have been more aggressive in selling their cigars outside of the …