Alas, Cuban cigars are still unavailable in the USA - legally, that is (and, I'm sure, to the great joy of cigar producers in other nearby countries). Many people buy Havanas when travelling outside of the US for personal import; my understanding is that Customs generally don't mind as long as you're not bringing in more than a box or two. Naturally, no-one's going to declare them, anyway. I've also found that many Americans are able to get Cuban cigars rather easily. Cigar shop proprietors often keep Havanas tucked away and will sell them to their trusted regular customers, albeit usually at a premium....
When I was a university student, every time I'd go back home to Paris I'd make sure to stop in at La Civette on the Rue St. Honoré to buy some cigars; my friends all knew that whenever I returned to school, they could look forward to a pleasant smoke-filled evening. Pretty soon the ladies at La Civette came to recognise me, and they did me well with some excellent recommendations over the years. I'm afraid it's been ages since I've been in, as I took to buying cigars in Spain, which I found was much cheaper, although lately, Spanish prices have looked much less like bargains, and so I think I'll have to start shopping around again when the current box is empty.
Ruth's Chris, by the way, is the restaurant at which we began the Mens' Night tradition: one year, when we seven all found that none of us had a chance of female company on Valentine's Day, we decided that we would go out together - to Ruth's Chris. The restaurant in Baltimore is the best American steakhouse I've yet seen; the steaks are always impeccably marbled, flavoured and cooked, and I have very fond memories of a salad of hearts of palm and artichoke - as well as of their garlic mashed potatoes, although I hesitate to think of the amount of butter and cream they use! All this in an atmosphere that reeks of quiet opulence, and with an excellent wine list to boot. As I write this, the memories are flooding back: That first Mens' Night, reunions with several old friends, evenings in the company of the first woman I truly loved....
Thank-you, Lord Arran, for that little trip down memory lane!