Last night I smoked a Flor de Gonzales 90 Miles Robusto. I had won a 5 pack of these in a contest on the My Cigar Ashes blog. The contest was to write an article in the comments section about the pros and cons of the Cuban Embargo being lifted. Here is my submission:
Here’s the thing: I think that what we’ll call, for practical purposes, the ‘domestic’ cigar industry is strong enough at this point to be minimally effected by the end of the embargo. There are enough great cigars being produced that very expensive and hard to come by Havanas will not pose a threat. I maintain that Cuban cigars are not necessarily better cigars than ‘domestic’ cigars, but different. They happen to have a flavor that appeals to me, but there are many Nicaraguan, Honduran and Dominican cigars that are just as good (heresy to some, I’m sure). The quality of tobacco and construction is the best it has ever been. On the other side of that, imagine being able to blend Cuban tobacco with Nicaraguan tobacco, this would definitely be a good thing! However, that assumes that there would be tobacco available to export, considering the struggle Habanos would have to supply such a large market, especially one that will consist largely of people who just have to try one to see what the fuss is all about. My personal opinion is that the rest of the world will be pissed at us when we end the embargo! I’m sure the allocations will be changed drastically to supply the new market, as well as the quality that will decline. I also think that the market for fakes will explode. Inexperienced cigar enthusiasts won’t know the difference and unscrupulous venders will pawn off just about anything on an unsuspecting buyer. I’d be just as happy if the embargo stayed in place, from a strictly selfish point of view.
Given all of the excellent submissions I was very surprised that I won. Thanks to David and Flor de Gonzales cigars for the contest. The cigars arrived with a personal letter from Yadina Gonzalez-Vargus, president of the company., which I thought was very cool!
The presentation was very nice, a printed 5 cigar cardboard box which contained very beautiful cigars. I grabbed one and hung out on the deck for a 
while while I enjoyed the cigar. It was very flavorful and burned very evenly. I put this on a par with the very best cigars I’ve smoked in deliciousness and performance. However when it reached the band it went downhill a little bit, but not so much that it was unpleasant, just wasn’t as tasty as it started out. I set this down with an inch and a half or so to go with no regrets. No regrets, that is, until the nicotine hit me. I would have called this a medium to full cigar until after I was don and I got the cold sweats. I’ll keep checking in on these, it will be interesting to see what some down-time in the humidor does to smooth them out a little. If you can, give these a try, they are a very nice cigar. I have enjoyed the “Cuban sandwich” Flor de Gonzalez cigars, I think they are a very worthy $2 cigar especially for the large torpedo and Churchill. I’ll be looking for more from this company. Good stuff.
Our latest contest winner, Joel Scott, should have received his box of 5 Liga Privada cigars today. I’m rather interested in hearing from him as I have no idea what cigars are in the box as I haven’t opened one. Maybe he’ll send me a picture when he gets it (hint, hint). Congrats to him, and stay tuned for more goodies in the coming weeks!
That’s it for now!
CigarCraig
Good to hear! Her letter WAS great — nice touch