Cuban Cigars by FedEx
Our staff visited Argentina this past week. For anyone who is into duck or dove hunting, Cordoba, Argentina cannot be beaten.
After a long day of shooting (two of us shot over a thousand shells in an afternoon!), we smoked some fine Cuban cigars with an American hunter. I asked him where he purchased the cigars, noting that they were of very fine quality for an airport duty-free shop, and he told me that he bought them from StrictlyCuban.com, a Kiwi firm that ships Cubans to Americans.
Intrigued by the conversation, I did a little more research: StrictlyCuban offers a wide variety of the highest end Cuban cigars. For shipments to the US, they package the cigars as board games, so as to avoid international customs detection. If the package is nabbed by customs, then their customers receive a polite message that their credit card will be recharged, and StrictlyCuban reships the order automatically. The service claims that 80% of their shipments avoid detection, so that customers infrequently have to pay for their cigars twice.
Is this not text book macroeconomics? Supply follows demand. Where there is a government imposed supply restriction, black markets will grow to correct for the imbalance.
StrictlyCuban seemed worthy of a post, given the fact that its growth, similar to many online gambling establishments (e.g., Bodog), is in many ways a direct response to the US government's prohibition of a product desired by many Americans. Food for thought...
Live life well,
Ronin
Disclaimer:
This site is for informational purposes only. We do not endorse importing Cuban cigars illegally through StrictlyCuban.com. Admittedly, we are not big fans of the US trade embargo on Cuba; it seems like an anachronistic law from a different age. However, we ask our readers to respect international trade laws. If you are an American, please recognize that if you import Cuban-made cigars from StrictlyCuban.com, you are breaking the law.
After a long day of shooting (two of us shot over a thousand shells in an afternoon!), we smoked some fine Cuban cigars with an American hunter. I asked him where he purchased the cigars, noting that they were of very fine quality for an airport duty-free shop, and he told me that he bought them from StrictlyCuban.com, a Kiwi firm that ships Cubans to Americans.
Intrigued by the conversation, I did a little more research: StrictlyCuban offers a wide variety of the highest end Cuban cigars. For shipments to the US, they package the cigars as board games, so as to avoid international customs detection. If the package is nabbed by customs, then their customers receive a polite message that their credit card will be recharged, and StrictlyCuban reships the order automatically. The service claims that 80% of their shipments avoid detection, so that customers infrequently have to pay for their cigars twice.
Is this not text book macroeconomics? Supply follows demand. Where there is a government imposed supply restriction, black markets will grow to correct for the imbalance.
StrictlyCuban seemed worthy of a post, given the fact that its growth, similar to many online gambling establishments (e.g., Bodog), is in many ways a direct response to the US government's prohibition of a product desired by many Americans. Food for thought...
Live life well,
Ronin
Disclaimer:
This site is for informational purposes only. We do not endorse importing Cuban cigars illegally through StrictlyCuban.com. Admittedly, we are not big fans of the US trade embargo on Cuba; it seems like an anachronistic law from a different age. However, we ask our readers to respect international trade laws. If you are an American, please recognize that if you import Cuban-made cigars from StrictlyCuban.com, you are breaking the law.
|