I've given this question a lot of thought. I mean a lot. The best way I can explain it is this:
Cuban cigars are like Buffalo wings.
Now hear me out...
I like hot wings. No, I mean I really like hot wings. Like, I'm from Florida, and I went to Buffalo, New York so that I could eat real Buffalo wings at the Anchor Bar where they were invented.
I had to try the archetype for myself, to see if they really were better there.
And you know what? They were good. But were they better?
If you're from Buffalo, or you've grown up eating real Buffalo wings, then that's what Buffalo wings taste like to you.
They are the archetype.
Anything else is just different, and in this case, since they were invented in Buffalo, "different" means "not as good."
But I can make a pretty good batch of hot wings in my kitchen at home, even using the sauce they sell at the Anchor Bar, and they're also pretty good.
But I assure you, even using Anchor Bar branded sauce, they're not the same.
If you're from Cuba, or you've grown up smoking real Cuban cigars, then that's what cigars taste like to you.
They are the archetype. Anything else is just different, and in this case, since they were invented in Cuba, "different" means "not as good."
But I can get a pretty good cigar from Nicaragua, even using leaves grown from Cuban seeds, and they're also pretty good. But I assure you, even using Cuban-seed tobacco, they're not the same.
I have this argument with my father-in-law all the time.
He grew up in Brooklyn eating real New York pizza,
and he assures me that however good a pizza in Florida may be,
it's not as good as a New York pizza.
Cuban cigars of almost any brand have a distinctive taste, and there is no other cigar that tastes like that.
And since that's where cigars were invented (at least in popular perception), then anything else that doesn't taste the same simply isn't as good.
This is, of course, total hogwash.
There is excellent pizza to be found in many places other than New York,
and a few of them are even better than the pizza I've had in New York (and I've had a lot).
And just because the hot wings I make at home don't taste like the hot wings I had in Bufffalo,
doesn't mean they aren't good... or possibly better.
The same goes for Cuban cigars.
But how can something be better than the archetype?
Ask the Scottish, who borrowed whiskey distillation from the Irish, and (arguably) perfected it.
No, in my opinion (remembering that all of this is subject to personal preference),
the best cigars in the world are Nicaraguan, not Cuban.
This may be blasphemy to some, but I defy anyone to prove otherwise. You can't, and neither can I, because it's
subjective.
Ultimately, Cuban cigars are just like any other cigars.
Some of them are quite good, many of them are just okay, and even a few aren't very good at all.
But one thing Cuban cigars all have in common is that they are
staggeringly overpriced.
So for my money,
I'll stick with the cigars that I prefer in flavor and value. And those are generally
Nicaraguan.