I had a similar opinion of Cuban cigars as you did, but after trying a number of different brands; I can think of a number of Cuban's that stand out as amazing smokes.
Ignoring the LE's or even the RE's which are absolutely some of the best cigars in the world, but not readily available; cigars like the Montecristo especial or #2 & #4. Or nearly any cigar from the Partagas brand or Juan Lopez Sel #2 or even the Siglo VI from Cohiba will out perform it's non-Cuban counterparts. If course IMO, because were talking about personal preferences here.

We had seen a number of bad Cuban cigar years from 99-01 which seemed to correspond with the boom years, but this stock has purged its way through the system and todays cigars have fewer construction issues.

The other side of the coin is that todays non-Cuban cigar producers are producing some great smokes. Don Pepin Garcia and Jorge Padron are leading the pack in full flavor smokes. But ask a Cuban cigar smoker what would be the best Cuban substitute, and they'll say there is none.

But going into a smoke shop in this country and asking for a Cuban is not only ignorant, it's stupid. 90% of the Cuban cigars in this country are fake, especially ones from Florida. You will get a fake cigar that tastes like a dog turd, and decide that you don't like Cubans.

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