Maybe it isn't me (Cuban Edition)

Alert readers have probably noticed that I like cigars.

The esteemed Michael Ledeen notices something about Cuban cigars:

I spend a fair amount of time in Europe, where there is no Cuban embargo, and thus you can buy all the Cuban cigars you want. I’ve had some, but for the most part I’ve given them up. The Dominicans and Nicaraguans are much better cigars nowadays. The great Cuban cigar makers brought tobacco seed with them when they fled Castro’s tyranny, and over the course of the past half-century they have gotten better and better. More important, they have good quality control, whereas the Cubans don’t.

Of course, one cannot get Cubans in America. Like all American cigar smokers, the first thing I do when out of the country was try to get my hands on some Cubans:

Got some in Bermuda once, Canada another time. I have to say, I was extremely disappointed. I felt like I was smoking a rolled up wet newspaper. The first few times I thought the problem was me. I am, after all, merely an American, with an American palate. Mine simply wasn't refined enough for a true Cuban. But Michael Ledeen is noticing the same thing.

Honestly, the cigar manufacturers have been producing cigars outside of Cuba for nearly 60 years. They've probably gotten pretty good at it by now.

Cuban cigars exist on reputation only. I'll take a nice Dominican.