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The TTAB’s 22-page decision examined the opposition’s claims in detail and boiled it down to these key issues:

  • The term “Guantanamera” means “a woman from Guantanamo” in Spanish and the judges felt cigar smokers – already keen on all things Cuban – would know both that Guantanamo is a city in Cuba and that the term “Guantanamera” refers to a female resident of that city.

  • The reliance of the Florida company on its brand name as a reference to the popular Spanish-language song of that name recorded by The Sandpipers in 1966 doesn’t help it because the song’s lyrics include the phrase “guajira guantanamera” which means “a country girl from Guantanamo,” referring to the city again.

  • The use of the name “Guantanamera” as a brand name for cigars could be deceptive to consumers because they might believe that such cigars were either made in Guantanamo or contain tobacco from that area. The opinion (on pages 19-20) noted specifically that “Applicant itself has sought to foster an association of its goods with Cuba. In early packaging bearing the mark, applicant falsely included the description of origin ‘Guantanamera, Cuba.’ . . . On such packaging, applicant also included the false claims ‘Genuine Cuban Tobacco’ and ‘Hecho Por Cubanos 100%’ (‘Made by Cubans 100%’), although applicant’s cigars, which are sold in the United States, do not and legally cannot, contain genuine Cuban tobacco due to the United States’ embargo on Cuban goods.”

    Habanos will now undoubtedly try to complete its registration of the mark and Guantanamera Cigars may try to appeal; Habanos could also ask to have sales of a “Guantanamera” brand stopped in the U.S. In the world of cigars, any reference to Cuba and to even the smallest of brands, is cause for a protracted legal battle.

    Puro Express of Spain moved to top position in Havana retailer rankings:
    In a first for us, our International Retailer Rankings for Havana Cigars has been revised with the de-listing of the top-ranked retailer from our January survey.

    Continuing reader complaints about QualityCubanCigars.com, which lists a telephone number with an area code from New Brunswick, Canada, have led us to remove the company from the top spot in our Havana Retailer Rankings survey. The top spot in our survey now belongs to Puro Express from Spain.

    In addition, the price listings for QualityCubanCigars.com have been removed from our Comparison Shopper for Havana Cigars and replaced by AbsoluteCigars.com, which takes orders from a call center in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and ships from Geneva, Switzerland.

    We appreciate all comments which are sent to us by our readers and encourage feedback on retailers listed in our Comparison Shopper for the U.S. market and our version on Havana cigars for our non-U.S. readers. Please note, however, that comments submitted to this site are moderated and will not be posted if impolite or are obviously designed to be prejudicial. Thank you.
    ~ Rich Perelman
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    “Although the preferred humidity setting for cigars is 70%, temperature control of 70-75 F is equally important.