U.S. cigar smokers watch Castro's health
Source: UPI

CHICAGO (UPI) -- The medical condition of Cuban leader Fidel Castro has become of great interest to U.S. cigar smokers, hoping for an end to a trade embargo.

A week ago, Castro was hospitalized for gastrointestinal surgery, and he ceded power to his younger brother, Raul.

In Chicago, Mark Thomas, owner of the Blue Havana cigar shop, said hopes among cigar smokers soared that the political change could bring about the eventual end of the U.S. embargo on Cuban goods enacted by the Kennedy administration in the early 1960s.

However, Rhoda Bogardus, co-owner of the Hubbard & State Cigar Shop was less enthusiastic, saying if the embargo ended tomorrow, Cuba doesn't have the capacity to supply the U.S. market.

True Cuban cigars have what aficionados call a distinguishable full-bodied aroma.

"With Cubans, when you open the box, it can smell like a wet diaper," Bogardus said.

While illegal, Cuban cigars sell for between $20 and $25 each in the United States, but experts estimate 90 percent of them are counterfeit.