Shocking…

This morning, I was searching for a box of Regius Sun Grown Maduro cigars. I came up empty, but I ran across a ten-year-old Cigar Authority podcast called, “Smoking Regius with Akhil & Exposing Cuban Secrets.” Intrigued by the title, I decided to watch it, though I skipped through most of the Akhil interview which I’ll return to later, to get to the Cuban secrets part. And what David Garafolo had to say at one point in the video was indeed shocking to me. Click on this link to watch it on YouTube (it’s age-restricted so it won’t embed here).

Transcript ~ All Cuban cigar fans out there if you believe what I’m saying here you should be shocked because I was. There is no blends! Cuban cigars are a commodity like wheat and grain; sure, there are brands, but that is not determined until the finished cigar is sized and color sorted. I’ll say that again. There is no determination of what cigar that is until it is color sorted and sized. Then it becomes a cigar. Every factory is making every brand because they’re just making finished cigars and later it will be determined what that cigar is based on the size and wrapper.

When I heard that bolded phrase above, I said out loud, “Whoa! What the f#$k?” Earlier in the podcast David said that all Cuban cigars are made from the exact same tobacco from the same primings on the plant. They only use Criollo. This is where his statement “there are no blends” comes from. In addition to this, he mentioned that when he was sitting around smoking with people at the factory, there was no discussion of flavor. Just discussion around the burn and if it was acceptable. Holy shit!

What a sham! But to be honest, it’s kind of amusing to me. If what David said is true, it’s a pretty clever trick the Cuban government has played on cigar smokers the world over. Imagine that the only difference between a Behike and Montecristo #2 is the wrapper color and how they’re rolled.

A more fair comparison would be comparing the Montecristo #2 to a Diplomaticos #2. They’re similar in – if not the same – size. If what David Garafolo says is true, the only difference between them is the color. A 25-ct. box of Montes will cost you $975, whereas the Diplomaticos is $675. If they’re the same cigar, but merely different in color, which box would you purchase?

Or, let’s take it further with the Behike. The Partagas Serie E #2 is similar in size to the Behike 54. The Behike 54 costs $3395 for a box of ten, while the Partagas costs $925 for a box of twenty-five. If they’re the same cigar, but only different in color. Which would you buy?

For me, this put an entirely new perspective on Cuban cigars. Look, I don’t know if what David Garafolo said is true, but if it is, then as he said in the podcast, the Cuban government has duped the world.