oh wow, I didn't realize the "Cuban seed" tobacco being grown in other countries was from such old stock. Is it that hard to smuggle out some more recent seeds? Considering the financial benefits to be gained from doing so, I would think someone would have done so by now.
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It certainly is that hard to smuggle out seeds. Certain tobacco farms are relegated to producing seed stock rather than tobacco in a very specialized system, as the farms that grow for leaf grow plants that do not seed or something like that (this is from what I remember reading in places, I could be wrong about that); for example, one of the major benefits of the new Capero No. 1 strain is that it does not even flower.

The farms that grow seed in Cuba are very highly-guarded, to the extent that only a few individuals even know where they are. Tobacco fields look like tobacco fields, but only the farmer and the very high-ups in Cubatabaco know which ones grow the seed stock, and the farms themselves, let alone the seed stock farms, aren't just openly available. Visitors to Cuba, unless granted particular permission for some particularly good reason, cannot visit any tobacco farms, regardless of their purpose. Seņor Robaina's farm is the most commonly visited (at least, I haven't seen or heard of any other farms ever visited; whenever a tobacco farm is visited in Cuba in whatever article, it's Don Alejandro's), and that's a wrapper leaf farm. The only thing that people come away with on those visits are occasionally some cigars the vegueros sneak to them on the way out, or gifts that Seņor Robaina gives them himself. With that, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think the seed stocks themselves are kept somewhere else even more secure, such as at El Instituto de Investigaciones del Tabaco in Havana.

So smuggling seeds out of Cuba sounds a little harder than one might think on the surface, especially since one would have to abscond with a hefty amount to make the endeavor productive or profitable.
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Who wants to smuggle seeds out of cuba with me?
I'll build a sailboat and see ya'll in miami a week from now. We'll set our sails due south!
:-)
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I'm down; we'll be rich, see, rich!
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I'll get right on that, Gilligan. :-)

Better bring the soil, climate and all the other intangibles back with ya too. :-)
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I better build a frickin' big boat.

This is about par. An insightful post has quickly turned into banter.
I guess I should not expect anything less from myself.
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Insightful according to whom?


:-) :-) :-)
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I thought it started getting good when we were headed down the "Ginger or MaryAnn?" road with this.
I'm staying tuned, just in case. :-)
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That won't be hard...you just wait...
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Alright, Alright.
I get it!
The next time I try to talk about cigars in a half way intelligible manner...









I'll just skip straight to talking about building a sailboat so we can sail to cuba from florida and steal their tobacco seed.
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You do realize that in some third world countries they punish thieves by cutting off their hands, right?

But then you could start your own banter thread.

"The Official Banter With 'Stumpy' " thread. :-)
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It's all for the good of the populous! Think of Robin Hood.
He stole and gave to the poor, right?
I'd be stealing to give to the cigar community as a whole.

And, being able to have my own banter thread would be amazing. However, if I had two stumps instead of hands, I'm afraid most of my banter would look like this.

,;;ldsf mnsldf;kkm km;k;ml kklre;ls.xs
kldefklreds;:-)d
dsfkierpds;kdskdskioes:-)sedrf
;pkiwjedsf
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A lot of the cigar community appears to be getting Habanos without stealing, Whippersnapper. :-)

Good point! :-)
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Tell ya what Tom. I've got a better idea.
I'm gonna build a Steamboat instead, and take it up the Missouri, through the Mississippi, and finally into the Illinois river, show up on your doorstep, and....































Ask you if you want to help me build a sailboat to sail to Cuba in.
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Sure, just let me see if Mr. and Mrs. Howell want to tag along.
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