THE CIGAR DIARY

The Adventures & Misadventures of a Sojourner in Fidel Castro’s Cuba

 

By

Daniel Orion

 

 

THE CIGAR DIARY is a fictional account of the adventures of Daniel Orion who was drawn into a five-year odyssey that revolved around cigars and the cigar boom that swept the United States in the mid-1990s. Narrated by the thirty-nine-year-old Orion, he tells the whole story of his trials and tribulations as a cigar smuggler during the heyday of the Cigar trade.

In his quest to find the best cigars in the world, he was thrust head first into a world of adventure centering on Cuban cigar smuggling and rum running all the while surrounded by shady characters, corrupt custom agents, and lots of hot Latin women. The story takes place between Los Angeles and the fantasy island of Cuba.

The Cigar Diary begins with his quest to supply the ever-increasing demand for the finest cigars available, Daniel found himself on the forbidden island of Cuba, under the watchful eye of Fidel Castro and his communist revolutionaries. As a one-time Hollywood film producer, Daniel traveled under the guise of a writer/documentary filmmaker.

His main goal was to become a supplier to high-end clients that would not otherwise, have access to the finest cigars on the planet. But the transportation of cigars from Cuba i.e., smuggling, was not without risks. After all, it was 1994 and illegal to bring even one Cuban cigar into the United States due to the longstanding trade embargo the U.S. had against Cuba.

At the time, very few Americans had visited Havana as tourists, he was as literally leaping into the unknown, hoping to land safely. The plan was pretty straightforward. He would have to figure out a way to get to Cuba, find the best cigars available, and return to LA with his precious cargo without getting busted along the way. There were lots of moving parts to his wild scheme.

The logistics proved difficult since there were no references to walk him through it. Step number one was arranging travel to Cuba. In the 1990s, there were no direct flights to the island so it was necessary to travel there from a third country. Since Daniel was based in LA, the nearest city with direct flights was Cancun Mexico. But where does he get his visa?

There were no travel brochures to suggest where to stay once he arrived. No cell phones or internet for research. If he got into Cuba safely then his first order of business was to source the product. Visiting the famous cigar factories in Havana was the natural place to start but Cigars are expensive in the factory retail stores.

To increase his profit margin, he had to comb the city to find someone in the black market who could undersell the factory prices and supply him with the desired quality and quantity of cigars he needed regularly.

Once he had a supplier, he would have to find a way to get the product back to California. He had to carefully plan his routes and methods to avoid detection by law enforcement agencies and customs authorities. He would have to study border control measures, identify vulnerable points of entry, and devise strategies to slip through undetected.

How would he conceal the cigars? He would need to employ various creative methods to conceal the contraband depending on how he was transporting them. In suitcases, there wasn’t much choice. He just placed them under his ordinary items and hoped he wasn’t stopped and searched. If he came across the border in a car there’s a couple of options to conceal them in various compartments but again, if he’s searched, they’ll find them. On a boat, there are more places to hide the stash.

Now returning on a commercial flight through Mexico posed another problem. Visitors are only permitted to enter the country with 25 cigars.  If he were lucky enough to clear through Mexican customs without a glitch, he still had to face militant U.S. customs agents upon arrival into the United States. The US had strict regulations in place and taxes involved for anyone bringing tobacco products into the country. Cuban tobacco in particular was completely banned.

His adventurous life as a cigar smuggler was not without risks. Daniel faced the constant threat of being caught by authorities, which could lead to hefty fines, imprisonment, or both. The best-case scenario if he’s popped is that they just confiscate his cigars and fine him but which would also mean he and/or his investors would be out thousands of dollars.

Once he had the cigars successfully smuggled home, he needed to distribute them to his intended buyers. With the demand so high, Daniel often had established networks of clients who were willing to pay a premium for the illicit product. Sometimes he sold the cigars directly to buyers and sometimes he went through intermediaries to ensure his anonymity.

The upside to the venture is that Cigar smuggling can be a highly profitable enterprise and the price difference between legally available cigars and Cuban contraband cigars can be substantial

What kept Daniel in the game for so long? Primarily the enchanting island of Cuba and its women. Besides the trials and tribulations, he encountered smuggling cigars, he’ll tell you about some of his sexual encounters, the ménage à trios, the crazy orgies with scores of willing young ladies he went through during his years-long odyssey.

The Cigar Diary opens in the early 1990s when a nationwide interest in cigars was at an all-time high. Daniel’s adventure story would last until the dawn of the new millennium. All of the topics relating to Cuban cigars, their world-famous brands, and the ins and outs of the smuggling trade are relived in The Cigar Diary.

In the end, you’ll find that Cigars would only serve as a metaphor for a seduction that was so complete, it captivated Daniel for almost a decade. It’s his story about the people he met, the places he went, and the life he lived along the way.

 

 

 

 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or deceased, events, or locales is entirely coincidental

 

Interested in Authentic Cuban Cigars at discount prices from the official Cuban distributor La Casa Del Habanos? Contact us at: TheCigarDiary@skiff.com