HAVANA — It's the equivalent of buying a Gucci bag on Canal Street.
Vendors who fill Havana's streets selling black-market cigars to unsuspecting tourists are salivating over President Obama's decision to try to normalize relations with Cuba.
American stogie lovers may be salivating at the thought of a good Cuban cigar. But buyer beware: With a box of 25 high-end Cohibas selling for more than $500 in Havana, some may fall for the too-good-to-be-true offers at half that price being offered by workers from the Cohiba tobacco factories.
"You wouldn't buy a Rolex on the streets; you'd go to an authorized store," warned an official state vendor in the Melia Havana Hotel, who asked not to be named. "There is no doubt about it that they will be fake if you buy them on the streets. And there's no way you can tell if they're real or fake."
The Post was approached twice in Old Havana by two friendly Cubans — both with the same story.
"There is one day per month where Raul [Castro] gives tobacco workers a break on boxes of cigars," one seller said. "I can get them for you at half the price of the hotel."
A hotel maid, working for a black-market distributor, made the same pitch, and provided an insider's look at a market where the discounted cigars were sold.
The cigars looked, smelled and tasted the same as the real thing, and even had an authentic Cohiba wrapper.
The one thing missing? An official state seal.
An official dealer at the Hotel Inglaterra in downtown Havana explained that the black-market dealers work in the factory but they're collecting the scraps and rolling them at home.
The cigars burn evenly, but experts say that is not a mark of authenticity. So, to the cigar novice, it's nearly impossible to tell the difference.
"The entire cigar needs to be hard when you squeeze. There can be no soft spots," she said. "Because they're rolling them at home, there can be bacteria in them."
Under new regulations, tourists would be allowed to bring back $100 worth of tobacco, which, according to experts, amounts to about four good Cuban cigars.
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