Does anyone know the legal penalty for being in possession of cuban cigars?


Long story short, One of my friends is a mexican. He holds dual mexican-american citizenship. Hes also a Buddhist. Not sure why i mention that, but comon! Have you ever heard of a mexican Buddhist?? Thats hilarious. anyway. Well in 2 weeks he is going to cuba to volunteer.(obviously on his mexican passport)

And we had a very interesting conversation. What if, he buys the cigars there, and ships them to here (through his uncle in mexico)


Would the cigars be treated as drugs? ie possession with intent to distribute? Would there be just a civil fine, would there be a mix of the 2 depending on how much he ships? Would they even clear customs? Its not like they open every package to see whats inside.

Cause the possibility of selling them here is very tempting to me. Im jobless right now. So if its a slap on the wrist I dont see why I shouldnt do this. Seems like a great investment.

Criminal penalties for violation of the Regulations can go as high as $1 million for corporations, and $250,000 for individuals plus up to 10 years in prison. In addition, civil penalties of up to $65,000 per violation can be imposed by OFAC.

but thanks for the quick reply.

Well, you can always buy knock offs of Cuban cigars and use that story of your Friend going to get them. I mean, as far as I can tell the average person or even casual cigar smoker cannot really tell the difference between them.

Other than that though, you'd be fucked if you were caught with real Cubans.

Thank god I live in Canada.

This too.

Wtf .. didnt realise that cuban cigars were illegal just because of some political reason ..... just another reason why USA administration is FUBAR

LOL...my parents went on trip to cuba. They sent back 5 cuban cigars, all different. The package was ripped open, the cigars were taken out, and the box was taped back together. This isnt a guarantee of what will happen, but if you try and do this on a larger scale, you definitely will be fucked.

Why don't you take off the labels so customs doesn't know that they are Cuban, then ship the labels separately and stick them back on in the USA?

I would have thought a Scot has heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

This. I bought some Cohibas in Mexico. The guy told me you can legally bring five through customs per trip. If you buy a box, they swap the labels out for Mexican ones. Easiest way to go, since crossing, buying 5, crossing, buying 5, so on would get suspicious quickly and end you up with a gloved finger up your butthole in no time flat.

Cigars in a box from cuba eh?

Clever.

Thank fuck I'm Australian.