I really enjoyed Cuba, its a lovely country if you know what to expect. Tourism has grown there.

I went there several years ago, pehaps a mere three months before Fidel Castro passing.

At the time cubans were using a bimonetary system, exerting differential prices for foreigners purchasing on the islands. So I had to change Euros for their ECU currency on an official rate (Cubans charge a regulated amoung, something like 1.2ECU per Euro, I don’t recall exactly but was something like that).

I bought the cigars on the legal circuit, spending something about 1 converted € for each individual Behike Cohiba cigar. I negotiated a price tag for the Cohiba wooden box with 24 habanos, something like 270€. That came as a surprise, as they usually price it something like 320€ for their official cigar tags and are able to negotiate/bargain on ECUs. I bargain a little, perhaps 5-10% and they didn’t have an issue with that. Some latin american countries works on price bargain, others don’t, so I didn’t want to push it.

I’m not like a cigar Che, but perhaps was nice business, as there was a 120€ regular box there, with 20 julietas. There were also long a short versions of the cigars, I prefer short burns because the others scared me a little! Not for a starter I would say!

The first time I tried it seemed great for the first two centimeters and a half, and then the taste exploded, those are not consistent cigars I you know what I mean. They have a great part in the middle and you must smoke them for several good minutes to get to the astounding part. I was learning! With the Julieta that was not so sharp changes in the cigar power, it was more even. It was a mild experience compared to the Behike. I was told that even I didn’t choose the most powerful Cohibas, as there are stronger ones. I didn’t want that, since I’m not a smoker.

By the way, those are like 50€ each in some countries in Europe, IDK if you can purchase directly from Cuba in the United States, but you can get them “as a gift” from third parties.

The US Dollar was illegal there, it was prohibited and supposedly has zero purchasing power. Most Cubans didn’t want to have nothing to do with the American currency. At the time I was told to not try to convert it to Euro in Cuba, but encouraged to do it in any other third country. Supposedly if you present US dollars voluntarily at the Cuban exchange windows, they have to grab the bills “and proceded as required by the national bank of Cuba”, as informed by a large sign. But they don’t “rob” the bills from you, you have to voluntarily pass them through the window, and supposedly they say thank you! (I didn’t wanted to try that of course, but supposedly they would destroy the bills on spot or kept them)

I negotiated with some locals and they bought regular local products and services at their rate (food and some services like internet connection). That was not exactly “legal” but they appreciate the difference, and the law enforcement didn’t give too much thought about that at the time.