Got Busted by Customs With Cuban Cigars!
 

On my way back from the mines in Onterio CA, one of the mine bosses gave me two boxes at the Sudberry Airport. During my lay-over in Toronto , the Customs official asked if I received any gifts.

The thing is, I can't lie to anyone wearing a badge. (My wife will dress up like a female biker cop when she wants to bang the truth outa me!)

"Yes ma'am, I did...a few boxes of cigars."

"Sir, do you know what country of origin they are"?

"Yes ma'am, I do believe they are from Cuba".

"Sir, please take your bags through those double doors and have a seat. Someone will be right with you".

about 45 minutes later, a rather pretty Customs Agent asked me to bring her my bags.

"Sir, you do relize that you can't bring cigars from Cuba into the US".

"Yes, ma'am."

"Sir, we could do this one of two ways..."

"Ma'am, before we go any further, which way would be easiest for you?"

She looked at me with a smile as wide as the double doors I walked through, "Well, I must say no one has ever said that to me before. Normally you would be looking at about 45 minutes of more paper work and your name would get put on a list and a bunch of other paperwork I'd rather not do. The other option is for me and you to take a walk and you dispose of them. No muss, no fuss."

"Ma'am. I like the way you think."

"I know you would like me more if I let you keep them, but I can't do that."

"I understand ma'am and I am sorry to be putting you through this."

So here is the last I saw of my box of R& J's and Monty's. (I swear to God Tabs, Ed Hughes and Mark Wilson I was gonna share! Really!!!)


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1138593377.jpg

Ya' know Mike...some of your Pelican brothers living in Toronto are not very happy with you right now.....

They should hang out at the airport trashcans more. A man could set himself up with a nice smoke shop!

I believe Romeo and Juliet cost 60 to 70 dollars each. That must suck throwing it away.

I haven't the heart to tell the mine boss yet. I did ask him if it was OK and he said "Sure, you don't have enough for them to be too concerned". I'm sure that's what they tell coke mules...

Take Monica with you next time...

Funny thing, I opened the R&J's and smelled them. They had a familiar aroma of teen spirit. It has been said, yet it may be a myth, that the hand wrapped cigars from Cuba have several things going for them including the fact that they are rolled on the sweaty thighs of young Cuban girls. The moisture adds to the aroma. It may be a myth yet it could also explain the pungent, sweet aroma that they do have. I'm sure it has more to do with the tabacco but hey, ya never know until ya know...

I applaud your honesty. Most of us would have done the same thing you did..BUT;

Did you at least get to smoke at least one or two from the box before you headed to the Airport???

Tell me you had 4 boxes but only showed Customs two boxes or you had a few cigars in your inner suit pocket...Tell me SOMETHING

Other than you willfully HANDED over to TRASH.... boxes of Montecristo and Romeo and Julieta Primo hand rolled Cuban Churchill cigars.:( :( :(

Your torpedoes got torpedoed...damn...I would have made a rush for it, one are outstretched to knock over the agents, the other clutching the cigaros.:D

Mike,

Been in the same situation (given things by the boss to take over) and I did the same thing. Not worth getting on the bad side of customs! Tell the boss to bring his own cigars back next time!

That said, still overseas now and had a Montecristo last night. One of the nice things about being out of the country for a while!

Joe A

Lads - I wish I could tell you I snucked a few back under the cover of a pocket...but I didn't. I can not lie. I failed.

And trust me when I say...that the past 72+ hours has been spent in bitter remorse. Even my wife who really doesn't like the vile weeds thinks that I pussed out. The only gratifacation is the thought that somewhere in Toronto proper, there is a airport porter who is living large and feeling the gentle buzz of the young thigh labor of over 40 little sticks of delight.

Prehaps he is a better man becaue of me, providing renewed faith that miricles do happen and that sometimes...if a man believes...mana from heaven will...aw who the heck an I kidding, some fool is smoke'n my stoogies and it ain't me!
:mad:

You could have been shafted...You took the chance and got off easy. Be thankful you can afford such luxury problems...Next time mail them to yourself via UPS.

Or the next time you are in Miami...Just ask anyone on the street where to buy real Cuban Cigars. :eek:

Stupid effin government!!!! Time to get rid of that stupid useless embargo.

You run the risk of counterfeits if you buy off the street...End up costing you about the same anyway.

Hi
First it's spelled Ontario and the city is Sudbury.
If you claim they are for personal consumption they will usually allow you to bring in 24. It's only against the law if you are going to sell or give them to other people. Thats my understanding as I own a company based in TO (Toronto) and bring back cigars all the time for personal use. The custom gaurds usually take all the cigars out of the trash cans after you leave and sell them themselves.
Sorry to break the news but they love it when you throw them out and they don't have to do paper work and get to go right back and "claim " them after you have left
Steve

Steve - sorry to mis-spell those towns. I hate it when people do that to my neck of the woods. Maybe I should CLAM up now but then again I never CLAIMed to be a very good spell'r. (sorry dude, I could resist!)

You lie to Customs and it can get a lot more difficult. You did the right thing. Let the boss bring them back next time. They will let you bring back a few, I do that all the time but not several boxes.

Alternative is to take the wrappers off of them and put them in another box, but that is pushing the "tell the truth" factor.

JoeA

Steve you little sneek - you edit'd your post!

Lube
No sweat. I should learn to use my spell check or cheque as they say in Canada. Sorry you had to lose some great cigars
Steve

You should have pulled one out, bit off the end, took a good long sniff and then asked the pretty little agent if she knew the story of Monica Lewinsky...no, seriously.

Same thing almost happened to me in BC. But I asked before I bought: "Can I get these through customs?" The guy just chortled.

FWIW: any of you guys see the movie "Smoke"? You should see what happened to a few boxes of Cubans that did make it over the border and ended up in Brooklyn, NY. Hint: they didn't get smoked; more like drowned.

It was heartbreaking...:(

Or offered to have her her smoke one with you...seriously...

Who suggested that ridiculous law ???

Mr Bush afraid a little bit of Fidel is hiding in that tobacco ? Afraid their are contagious with the Communist Flue ?

Bush hates Cuban cigars.;)

I hear that real cuban cigars are hand rolled on the thighs of naked virgins.

Most cigar shops in Jamaica will give you a box and wrappers from a Dominican cigar to wrap up the cubans. This way customs thinks they are not cubans.

You should have just called me. I would have been glad to do an airport pick up.

BTW for Cuban cigar pricing see Marty's. These are prices in Cuba - to give a baseline. And even in Cuba, any cigar you buy on the street or from a guy who knows a guy will be fake - let alone in the US . . .

Ian

I don't think you want to see her though.

Ian - the link wasn't working for me, what would a box of R&J Churchills and a box of Montecristos go for?

Just stick with the Dominican cigars. Taste better and aren't so overpriced.

In Cuba:

Romeo Y Julieta CHURCHILLS 8.06 ea Box of 25 $223.67
Montecristo NO.2 6.85 ea Box of 25 $190.08

Prices would be 2 to 4X that in Canada, Europe etc. Real Cuban cigars are not cheap anywhere.

I'm surprised the link doesn't work - http://marty.514crew.com/cigarprices.html

These are priced in USD although Cuba no longer accepts it. I'm going in April & I'll let you know first hand. We're flying into Holguin, renting a car & filling it with rum & cigars for a 7 day roving adventure (and to attend my sons wedding).

Ian

in holland

Montecristo#2

box of 3 ... 33Euro's
box of 25 ... 282.5 euro's

multply by 1.2 if you want it in dollars...

but hey , at least we can smoke ourselve silly on them , and other smokables here :D



Lube, if i were you , i'de learn how to lie to badge holders
if you have to , frigging strip the labels off the box and the cigars

they'll loose the bling factor, but not the smoke factor...

We can buy crap all day long from communist China, but try and smoke a Cuban cigar.....

i wonder if there are a bunch of INS agents smoking those? i would have shredded them prior to dumping them.

I went to TO a few years ago purchased a box and emptied it. I put said seegars in a plastic baggie and in my jacket pocket. I put the empty box in my luggage I told them I collect boxes and was on my way. Hmmmm. Yummy...

Loonie Toonies!! Eh..

And it's damned tough to train a five year old girl the art of cigar rolling!

You anti-Bushies need a bit of a History lesson. JFK ordered an aide to go out and buy up hundreds of his favorite cuban stogie, just hours before he imposed the embargo on Cuban goods. It wasn't about Cuba as much as it was a little disagreement JFK had with Nikita over some missiles Nikita deployed in Cuba with Castro's permission. It was a pretty antsy time for a few days back then.

Sorry to break the news to you but any amount of Cuban cigars are illegal in the US. You're mixing up cuban cigars with legal products which are allowed to be brought in duty free.

Yes,
It was quite antsy for a while back then. Thousands of bomb shelters built within a few weeks time......

However, looking to the future, after Castro gives up the ghost Cuba's economy will start to boom.

Sorry to hear about your seegars dude. At least you didn't have to have your name put on any lists or anything like that.