Thursday, March 31 2011
EASTON, PA -- March 31, 2011 -- Cuban cigars will soon be available from an American-based cigar retailer thanks to a temporary license issued by the U.S. Treasury Department. After almost three years of legal wrangling and a mountain of paperwork, Famous Smoke Shop, the nation's leading cigar cataloger and retailer of premium cigars online, has been granted an "exception" by the Secretary of the Treasury under Title 31 C.F.R. Part 515 - Cuban Assets Control Regulations, Subpart B-Prohibitions, specifically with regard to §515.204 "Importation of and dealings in certain merchandise."
Additionally, Cuba's recent devaluation of the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), now pegged to the U.S. dollar, gave the Treasury Department the go-ahead to approve a pilot program which will help them estimate Cuban tobacco import tax revenues. Under the new provision, the Easton, PA-based cigar store was granted "exclusive authorization" to import up to 10,000 Cuban cigars a year for a two year period. The license will be effective starting July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2013.
"This is the biggest shot in the arm we could ever have hoped for," said Famous Smoke Shop president, Arthur Zaretsky. "Our customers are going to be bowled over by the opportunity to get Cuban cigars without having to go outside the law."
Due to the limited supply of Cuban cigars Famous will be allowed to import, the company decided the fairest way to get them into as many of their customers hands as possible would be to have them made into 5-packs that will be limited to one (1) pack per customer. Moreover, Famous is giving its best customers "first dibs" on the Havanas via a private email campaign. The remaining 5-packs will be sold on a first-come-first-serve basis.
"If the program works for Famous Smoke Shop, we will consider expanding it permanently, which will allow other U.S. tobacconists to apply for the licenses." said a Treasury Department spokesperson.
For now, the company has posted a landing page on their website where customers who want to purchase the Cuban 5-packs can input their names, email addresses and customer numbers. The landing page also has information explaining exactly how the Cuban 5-pack program will work.
For complete details on this story and the
Cuban 5-pack program visit
http://www.famous-smoke.com/cuban-cigars.cfm.# # #
This press release was created solely as an April Fool's prank. Though the statutory information cited is correct, the story itself is not true. - G.K.
