Let me try and decipher your questions best I can...
I used to rent a small office in downtown Melbourne FL. In the office next to mine there was an art dealer. She somehow had permissions to travel legally to Cuba... it had something to do with her business. So she is the person who gave me the info down in Cuba for the cigar contact. Without that, our smuggling operation would have never happened. Plus, she had also given that contact to another guy who had already made several trips to buy from this contact and he gave us all the water info etc before we ever decided to take the plunge.
We took my friend's boat on our trips. It was a center console cat like the boat I have. It was just smaller than mine. Cats like ours have fully planing hulls and that allows tremendous miles per gallon compared to all other boats. As an example... I've traveled 150 miles one way to Walkers Cay Bahamas from Ft Pierce FL with my boat loaded down so much that it sat down in the water about a foot lower than normal and only burned trough less than 35 gallons of fuel. We obviously took his boat over completely empty basically. So making the trip there and back without refueling is absolutely no problemo. Most boats that size (especially back then) probably wouldn't make it across from where we left from without carrying extra 55 gallon drums of fuel on the deck. So we looked like a boat that was far too small for this kind of trip in the first place.
We also made sure that we looked like we were just fishing by having rods in all the rocket launchers and we left out of Marathon Key FL (the middle Keys). Leaving out of the middle Keys is way less obvious than leaving out of Key West, but it adds about 60 more miles to Cuba. If I remember right it was about 150 miles one way for us. We also took a round about path that I won't go into... but we did our best to appear as just a recreational fishing boat. We didn't fish on any of the trips but we did put fresh caught fish (that we'd catch the day before) in the fishbox in case we happened to be stopped by Marine patrol. We left and returned in the dark too even though that probably wasn't even necessary.
I don’t remember exactly how much we sold them for when we got back, but we both made between like $12K - $20K each to put in our pockets each time. We made more after our first trip because we found better paying buyers. That art dealer had rich clients and she was able to hook us up with some of them who loved those Cohibas. Honestly, I think they would buy them more for the fact that they were illegal here than the quality. They are good, but there are many other legal ones that compare very close if not better. I think back then there weren't as many comparable producers though.
Bottom line is we were young and dumb and somehow luck was with us. I know that it helped that we did this prior to 9/11, but we were still very lucky. I wouldn't even think about trying it today.
@Selassie I that's a totally amazing story! lmao Totally my personality, love in ingenuity. The devils in the details and sounds like you guys had them locked down pretty good. That was some pretty damned good extra cash there! haha IMO and isn't a crime that hurts anybody with laws that are pretty antiquated.
Man that Florida life and hoping over the Bahamas, the Keys, Cuba or wherever sounds so amazing and just the fishing part as well with that.
Reason I was inquiring is with the products I sell in South America looking to start bringing back goods and one that struck me was cigars besides the normal ass coffee/panela, vanilla, etc. I bring back now.
I'm defiantly planning on moving to Florida in the near future to make the plane rides a lot shorter and want to get a Cat to, so basically with a center cat you can easily get around for about 150 miles? How much does the tank take out of curiosity? How much is a decent cat to fish travel decently and live comfortably cost?
Most importantly which is the reason I haven't moved there yet is what the hell do you do when a Hurricane comes? With your boat, house etc etc.
P.s. a passion of mine was reading up on that 1715 Spanish fleet? You have any stories regarding those?
Haha Could talk all day about this stuff!
@Corbin Toothier is grainier and more fuller bodied. I’ve always purchased from Cigars International (not an advertisement). But if you want really fresh, purchase them at your local cigar shop.
Make sure the humidor is at least lined with cedar if not fully cedar. It should seal well and is recommended you get one with a hygrometer attached to let you know the moisture/humidity within the box.
I recommend cleaning it every couple of months. I wet a cloth in distilled water and rub down the interior of the humidor (remove cigars first). You may also use hydration packets, I prefer about 68-70% humidity to keep my cigars fresher.
Never heard of that adjective before!
I was thinking you could chew on it more! lol Wow that's very interesting, I'll look into getting one now for the Dominicanos I have left. I do a shit ton of business and travels to Ecuador so apparently in Manabi they make those. have to see if if I can get a good source there.
As with so many things, it’s all subjective.
I hated any semblance of dryness in my cigars, so I’d go for 72-75 humidity.
Hmmm so how do you go about making it more humid? Do you put water in that hygrometer and it controls the percentage in the box? Also, can you tell a difference when you smoke it at all? Burns slower?
