I am holding a package of Cuban Popular  brand cigarettes that a friend of mine sent me from Havana, but these are not the regular strong Popular cigarettes I was used to see, but a new menthol flavour strong Popular that it was recently introduced to the market.

No luck at all with me. I could not finish one whole cigarette. In Cuba, I always smoked Hollywood (red) which is considered to be a light cigarette there.  I can compare red hollywoods to red marlboros since they are my favourites outside Cuba. For most of the foreigners visiting the country the “hollywoods” are a bit strong and “populares” are super strong. I do not think they care about trying H.Upmann unless they really enjoy strong cigarettes without a filter.

In the case of these green Populares the flavour is still really intense but then the mint added to the cigarette is also really agressive for your throat. Maybe it they lower the amount of menthol you would not feel like dying a little bit…

Not recommended, at least for now.