3 Simple rules of Club Stogie...plus 1

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pds

Enjoying today
Staff member
With the desire of making your experience at Club Stogie an enjoyable one, there are three simple rules that can help new members in the forums.

1) DO NOT ask how to buy Cubans in the United States. Cuban cigars are illegal in the U.S., end of discussion. We suggest reading through the forums for more information, or you can check out the following link from the United States Customs Department.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/alerts/restricted/cuban_cigars.xml

Along these same lines, please don't ask which retailers ship to the US, how they perform, etc., again, Cuban cigars are illegal in the U.S. We do delete posts related to these subjects. If you happen to live in a country where Cubans are legal...you have many envious friends!

2) DO feel free to use the search function. There are a ton of questions already asked and answered. You may be able to save yourself some time by searching for the answer before asking it. At the same time, don't feel bad if you ask a quetion that has been asked before...it happens!

3) DO enjoy yourself and practice respect and tolerance with others. Respect is the key word. There are people that join this forum from other forums for the sole purpose of starting flame wars. It won't be tolerated. We are all here because we enjoy cigars.

4) Club Stogie can not allow threads involving the sale or trade of Cuban cigars. There is a quote below from the user agreement all members agreed to when registering.

Due to continued abuse of this policy, and the legal exposure to CS we have been forced to adopt this new rule since we are a United States based forum. This was not done to the actions of any single member. There will be no exceptions to this rule, and continued violation is grounds for loss of membership.

Quote from user agreement:

You also agree to not use this site for any illegal activity including, but not limited to the trading, selling, or exchanging of cigars in locations where they are not legal.


Of course, always remember...

CLUB STOGIE STRICTLY ADHERES TO THE 1997 "NO CIGAR SNOB" TREATISE DEVELOPED BY TOP 25 CIGAR.
- circa 1997 Top25Cigar.com

(AKA...If you can taste hints of burnt 7-year old Madagascar Vanilla...smoke elsewhere! :D

Thanks
Club Stogie Staff
 
Re: 3 Simple rules of Club Stogie...plus 1 + 1

At this point in time, there is also need to add one more to our short list of non-negotiable rules.
This involves pictures, detailed descriptions, and even sometimes packaging pics.

If you have not already read the "A little discretion--please" thread, here is a copy & paste of the original post by Mo.

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I've been following quiet a few threads in the Habanos lounge lately.

I congratulate the all the brothers & sisters on all their newly acquired Habano acquisitions. Welcome to the darker side (LOL) of the slipery slope, I remember my early Havana acquisitions as well.

BUT, we may need to become much more discreet, at least for the next few weeks & months.

Here's what's got me worried. Every day I'm seeing 2 or 3 new threads about box purchases, many persented with pictures. All good. BUT, this is going on EVERYDAY and I fear that it's ony a small matter of time before we start attracting unwanted attention, I'm talking about the OFAC and US Customs. I've been watching these threads go up and everyday I worry that we maybe attracting unwanted attention.

Club Stogie is a BIG discussion board, we're an easy target because of the number of the sheer number of members here. We could readily attract unwanted scrutiny that could hurt or cause a lot of grief to a lot of members.

A couple of stories to illustrate. Back in Christmas '04 some nimrod of a newbie on another board (CW), in all his enthusiasm, blabbered very openly about EXACTLY how he was acquiring Havanas from overseas & getting them shipped right to his house in the US. Well, needless to say, that havana merchant was nearly out of business for three months as everything he was sending to the US qwas getting seized. On top of that, another two merchants had to slow their shipping quantities as well till this blew over.
Now, it didn't all end there. Here's the second part of the story: The letters from the Office Foreingn Asset Control (OFAC). Here we are a couple of years later and all of a sudden it seems that the justice department is just getting started. Beginning sometime late last October ('06), many Havanophiles I know who were buying cuban cigars around that time (X-mas '04) started receiving letters from the OFAC requesting (no, demanding) an explanation of transactions appearing on their bank statements around 12/04.

No CHIT! This is serious stuff. I know dozens of brothers & sisters who are sweating it out waiting to see what happens next. Not a good thing to have.

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So, in order to pervent a potential problem, I'll be scrutinizing posts in the Havana Lounge more closely for the next few months. I'll be doing some editing and deleting pictures if necessary. Honestly, I just want to keep things low key. Don't ask, don't tell is a good philosophy to live by.



Now, I'll apologize in advance if I'm ruffling people's feathers a bit here. I'm alerting all the mods of this action - many of them know people first hand who've received those dreaded letters from the OFAC. My actions may have to be modified or reversed, we'll see, it'll depend on the consensus.

DANG!! You know, I should be one to talk. Heck, all you have to do is take a look inthe gallery at all the pics I've posted . . . there's plenty stuff there. BUT, despite everything, I luike to keep a low profile, keep under the radar, something I'm afraid we're not doing too well right now.

Thanks everyone for your attention.


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Now, anyone who dosent know of the new letters being seen, trust me they are out there & people I know personally have recieved them. The new letters demand that you disclose what what purchased and attach legal ramifications. Its a no win situation. If you disclose what you purchased, you can & probably will be fined by OFAC. If you dont & try to fight it, you end up with a large legal fee. If you fight & lose, you pay both the fine & legal fees. Like I said, theres no winning once you get this letter.

Lets not draw more attention to Club Stogie that what is necessary. The owners, admins, and moderators ask for your cooperation with this.
 
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