I'm alarmed at a new trend of delivering Cuban Cigars by "remail" partners. There are at least 3, count 'em, 3 long time and legitimate vendors using "partners" from within the USA. One of these vendors has recently admitted that he has a partner in the US, and plans on breaking that relationship after cigars sent out by his partner appear to have been fakes. However, two of these vendors do NOT mention this fact and continue to sell the cigars as their own.
There are many problems with this practice (beside the shadowy way two of these vendors misrepresent the product). First of all, two of these vendors sell these cigars for the same prices as their usual stock, meaning that the high taxes they claim raise their prices is really more profit for them since these cigars never see their countrys shores.
Secondly, the cigars must be imported by some means. During a long discussion with the manager of a LCdH in the Caribbean, I was told that two of these vendors are trucking it in via Mexico. So how can they explain the manner of acquisition as legitimate? To say they are being acquired directly from the factories in Cuba has HUGE issues that include:
a)They could be purchased at retail from the shops which is very doubtful because at current prices in Cuba there would only be a small profit margin.
b)They may be bought at some wholesale price from the "back door" of a factory (I'm sure this is illegal) and not through an official Habanos distributor.
c)They may simply be street cigars, fake Cuban black market cigars, or worse, of Mexican or Costa Rican origin.
I would be remiss to point out that this practice does not allow these 3 vendors the ability to monitor and manage the product and quality of service. Also, even if the initial product is legit, the ability for these US partners to slip in fake cigars to boost their profit margins would be easy. In my mind these 3 vendors no longer have a solid reputation for THIS kind of business practice.
I urge all of you, if you receive product that has been shipped and or mailed from within the USA to return it and tell these vendors this practice is totally unacceptable. In the very least scrutenize what you receive on every point.
