Brentwood Shop Offers 'Cuban Cigars'

By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
Aug. 8, 2001

BRENTWOOD -- It's a small but powerful roadside ad that forces scores of motorists to crane their necks in disbelief: "Cuban Hand Made Cigars."

Apparently, drivers may think, the federal trade embargo against Cuba has been lifted in Brentwood. Not quite.

Anthony Hemenes, who calls himself the CEO of Brentwood Fine Cigars, says his shop has never sold a Cuban cigar, which would be illegal.

Then is the sign that faces Brentwood Boulevard deceptive advertising or a clever marketing strategy?

The latter, with a nifty play on words, Hemenes answers.

"Most people come in thinking I sell real Cuban cigars, but I don't," says the 42-year-old Discovery Bay entrepreneur, sitting in a crushed velvet chair inside his shop. "I sell those that are handmade by Cubans but not in Cuba."

The Cubans to which Hemenes refers are a group of Cuban men who roll the tobacco in Sacramento.

The red-and-white sign itself has been in place since the shop opened in February 1999. And people are not reading it carefully, he says.

"If you read the sign, it says hand made.' If it had said Cuban cigars for sale,' that would be a problem," he explains. "It's just a play on words."

In any case, it's hardly a Cuban stogie crisis. No one in the area has asked to have the sign removed.

"I don't have a problem with it," Brentwood Mayor Mike McPoland says. "I don't think he's trying to fool anyone."

The display is being used to steer more customers into Brentwood Fine Cigars, which is hidden in a corner of Liberty Link Center, a strip mall off Highway 4.

City officials, however, considered removing the sign after passing an ordinance that bans tobacco advertising near schools. Liberty High School is across the street.

But Hemenes persuaded city staffers that his business would go up in smoke if the ad were removed. So it stayed.

Nevertheless, it continues to command attention.

The enduring appeal of Cuban cigars is widely known. The words alone evoke images of sophistication and wealth.

Of course, they also stir images of smuggling rings being cracked by customs officials.

An estimated 8 million to 10 million Cuban cigars are smuggled into the United States each year, according to the Cigar Association of America. The U.S. economic embargo against Cuba began in 1962, a few years after Fidel Castro came to power.

But because Cuban cigars are so difficult to obtain and illegal to sell -- Americans pine for a whiff of the world-renowned stogies.

Hemenes, whose family runs two additional cigar stores in the Bay Area, says he would never attempt to sell one. If so, his business could be reduced to ashes by state or federal authorities.

"If you were caught, you'd have your license taken away and face a $250,000 fine," he says. "It's not worth the risk."

His cigars, which fetch between $2.50 and $25 apiece, were procured from places like the Dominican Republic, Honduras and the Canary Islands.

Still, the mystique of the Cuban cigar lingers like a smoke ring. And a few curious motorists will ultimately find themselves steering into the shopping center for a sniff.

But the funny part of the story, Hemenes says, is that most folks couldn't handle the throat-stinging sensation of a true Cuban stogie. "They'd take three or four puffs and go Oh my God,'" he says, chuckling. "You're probably better off with a Dominican."