Despite Normalization, Cuban Cigars May Take Time To Hit Shelves
(CBS) -- While Cuban cigars are an icon in the smoking world, new relations with Cuba will apparently not turn that world upside down, reports WBBM's John Cody.
Kevin Levi, the vice president of Iwan Ries cigar store on South Wabash, says it will take a while for the Cuban cigar pipeline to reopen, even given normalized trade relations.
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"There are name copyrights at stake, for instance Cohiba, which is a popular [Cuban]brand, there is also a Domincan Cohiba that is owned by a company that has the right to sell that name in the United States," says Levi.
Levi says when Cuban cigars do start flowing freely, there'll be a price spike as the curious buy to try. But he says that will drop when cigar smokers learn first-hand that premier cigar makers left Cuba long ago for Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, where their now making cigars as good or better that Cuba ever did.
Levi says Cuban cigars are distinguished by their full body taste caused by the element Lithium in the soil. He says some smokers like the taste, some do not.
