Re: Raise High

From: L. Manning Vines <lmanningvines@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun Aug 04 2002 - 03:35:50 EDT

Paul said:
<< What is a clear havana cigar? >>

And Tim responded:
<< That I don't know, really, and would have to defer to cigar-istas among
us. From what I can find online, it appears to be a cigar made in the U.S.
(frequently in Tampa, FL) using leaves from Havana, Cuba. >>

I think you're right, Tim.

The term "clear Havana" (or, less frequently, "clear Cuban" or "pure
Havana") is sometimes loosely used to designate any Cuban cigar, but usually
designates more strictly a cigar made in America from pure, 100% Cuban
tobacco. Often they were even (supposedly) made by Cuban cigar makers who
had come to America. Now, of course, Cuban cigars and tobaccos do not come
into America unless by way of another country or more brazen smuggling.
Some pre-embargo clear Havanas have been sitting in humidors and can still
be found, but any Cuban smokes -- legal pre-embargos or not -- are now
relatively rare and expensive.

Some American cigars are still made from Cuban-seed tobaccos, and they are
sometimes called Cuban or clear Havana, but rarely. Most connoisseurs
claim, however accurately, that it just Isn't The Same. Some even claim
that the real clear Havanas, made in America with all Cuban tobacco, aren't
as good as imported Cubans because something of the climate and humidity of
Cuba differs significantly enough from that of Florida, practically visible
though it may be on the horizon, so that the genuine Cuban-mades maintain a
distinct and desirable quality.

This, like that assertion that genuine Scotch must be aged-in-the-barrel in
Scotland, that Irish whiskey is inferior, as is Tennessee sour mash whiskey
to the genuine bourbon of Kentucky's Bourbon County.

-robbie
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Received on Sun Aug 4 03:37:32 2002

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