Sr. OFT educated me on cigars a bit. He's a cigar collector, aging them carefully in a humidor room, and has even graciously allowed me to sample some fine cigars. One of the most valuable lessons he taught me was that real habanos smell of hay and earth when the box is opened.
Secondly, there are a load of fakes being sold in San Jose, some very good counterfeits but about as Cuban as Larry David.
Beware for instance of Cohiba knock-offs that have printed, not embossed rings. These fakes are not only sold by street hawkers outside the Hotel del Rey...they are often foisted off on ignorant tourists by otherwise reputable vendors.
Third, much of the tobacco grown for, and used in cigar manufacture elsewhere in Latin America comes directly from Cuban seed. In fact, a CRT member once toured Don Benigno (another fine C.R. cigar maker) and swears that the bags of tobacco and cases of wrappers he saw all said "Producto de Cuba." Which means that even though the cigars are legal to import into the U.S., they are effectively, Cuban cigars.
To my undereducated palate, the Nicaraguan, Dominican, Honduran and even Costa Rican cigars are every bit as good as anything I've smoked from Cuba. Again, this is to my tastes, and YMMV.
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