My Havana haul


Guest ripper

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Guest ripper

I wrote boxing for big-city dailies for 21 years – 1973-94.

In 1993, I was writing boxing for the Tacoma News Tribune and got sent to Mexico City to cover a big fight – 136,000 in a soccer stadium, a kid from Auburn WA named Greg Haugen, tough guy, vs. the great Julio Cesar Chavez.

The Mexican government promoted the fight in cahoots with Don King. They deserved each other. Two federales, Jorge and Oscar, were assigned to take me anywhere I wanted to go that week. They squired me all over Mexico City in a new Mercury Grand Marquis, looking for Cuban cigars. Couldn’t find good prices. Saw plenty of junk, many fakes. Bought nada.

Haugen got iced in round 5. Was not a good fight.

The day after the fight, I’m at the Mexico City airport, headed home. There’s a duty-free shop with a wall of Cubans in boxes. Jorge, one of the federales, was still wth me. He told the shop manager that I was a special friend of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. I met President Salinas on that trip but was nothing more than a grip and grinner – a handshake.

The store manager smiled and said everything was priced at $25 U.S. to $40. A box!

Jorge nudged me. I bought a duffel bag. In a dream moment, I handed the bag to a lady working in the shop and said, “Fill it.”

Bought $850 worth of Cubans – Cohibas, Partagas, Montecristo, Punch, the works. 28 boxes.

Went through customs at LAX. What are they going to do, put me in jail? My criminal record was a speeding ticket at age 16. The dark-skinned folks got herded to a security area and had their bags searched. Us gringos were herded to another line. All they asked was where I’d been and where I was headed. I could have packed the bag with black tar heroin.

Handed out Cubans for years. Smoked last of the Montecristo No. 2 torpedos in 2016.

Dufry Mexico City Airport.jpg

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I wrote boxing for big-city dailies for 21 years – 1973-94.

In 1993, I was writing boxing for the Tacoma News Tribune and got sent to Mexico City to cover a big fight – 136,000 in a soccer stadium, a kid from Auburn WA named Greg Haugen, tough guy, vs. the great Julio Cesar Chavez.

The Mexican government promoted the fight in cahoots with Don King. They deserved each other. Two federales, Jorge and Oscar, were assigned to take me anywhere I wanted to go that week. They squired me all over Mexico City in a new Mercury Grand Marquis, looking for Cuban cigars. Couldn’t find good prices. Saw plenty of junk, many fakes. Bought nada.

Haugen got iced in round 5. Was not a good fight.

The day after the fight, I’m at the Mexico City airport, headed home. There’s a duty-free shop with a wall of Cubans in boxes. Jorge, one of the federales, was still wth me. He told the shop manager that I was a special friend of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. I met President Salinas on that trip but was nothing more than a grip and grinner – a handshake.

The store manager smiled and said everything was priced at $25 U.S. to $40. A box!

Jorge nudged me. I bought a duffel bag. In a dream moment, I handed the bag to a lady working in the shop and said, “Fill it.”

Bought $850 worth of Cubans – Cohibas, Partagas, Montecristo, Punch, the works. 28 boxes.

Went through customs at LAX. What are they going to do, put me in jail? My criminal record was a speeding ticket at age 16. The dark-skinned folks got herded to a security area and had their bags searched. Us gringos were herded to another line. All they asked was where I’d been and where I was headed. I could have packed the bag with black tar heroin.

Handed out Cubans for years. Smoked last of the Montecristo No. 2 torpedos in 2016.

5955738b3c018_DufryMexicoCityAirport.jpg.8fb861d6e37407a2c5203588710757cc.jpg


Amazing! Recently returned from Cabo, bought a few over priced sticks from j&j while there, at the duty free airport I inquired about a box of Monte edmundos...they wanted $630 usd, laughed and walked away.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

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Great intro and first posts, ripper.  Not sure about you yet, but you sure are entertaining.  Welcome to the forum.  Can't wait to see what comes next. 

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