{"id":249451,"date":"2026-05-11T20:24:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/?p=249451"},"modified":"2026-05-11T20:26:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:26:44","slug":"what-s-new-from-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/what-s-new-from-cuba\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s New from Cuba?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>by Christos Zabounis<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the past, we used to wait for the latest issues of Cigar Aficionado or L\u2019Amateur du Cigare to arrive at the kiosks in order to learn what was new in the world of cigars. Some of us, who had connections with the then-importer Mary Bali, would rush to the Spyromiliou Arcade like thirsty men to a fountain, eager for information. Today &#8211; alas! &#8211; with a simple search on ChatGPT, one can discover astonishing details in no time at all: for example, how many acres are no longer cultivated due to drought in the Vuelta Abajo valley, or a price comparison of the exquisite Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill between Havana and Athens (21 dollars in the former and 31.55 in Miami). What is truly interesting, however, is the footnote: there is often a shortage of stock in Cuba. This is linked to declining production, which has been hit by continuous power outages caused by the American embargo. If one adds to this the loss of crops due to adverse weather conditions, then we are dealing with an explosive mix to the detriment of consumers. The disaster &#8211; for that is what it is &#8211; began during the pandemic in 2020, when an investment group from Hong Kong, Allied Cigar Corporation, acquired 50% of Habanos S.A., the global distributor of Cuban cigars. The acquisition price amounted to 1.5 billion dollars. The Chinese immediately proceeded with two moves: drying up the market and raising prices. At the same time, China was prioritized as a customer, resulting in shortages, especially in Europe. However, a new factor has further complicated the situation: the \u201cMaximum Pressure\u201d policy being pursued during President Trump\u2019s second term. The recent energy blockade he imposed has led to irrigation problems as well as the paralysis of factories due to constant blackouts. Last but not least, the Festival del Habano, which had been scheduled for February 23\u201327 of this year, was postponed indefinitely, with the resulting loss of revenue considered significant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Christos Zabounis In the past, we used to wait for the latest issues of Cigar Aficionado or L\u2019Amateur du Cigare to arrive at the kiosks in order to learn what was new in the world of cigars. Some of us, who had connections with the then-importer Mary Bali, would rush to the Spyromiliou Arcade [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":249446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18496],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249451"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249453,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249451\/revisions\/249453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}