Cigar makers hope for big bucks

Arnaldo Alfonso has spent more than six decades rolling premium cigars with his small, wrinkled hands, and has been proud to see his "habanos" sampled by visiting heads of state and other dignitaries.

Now he's delighted by the idea of customers lighting them up in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the United States, where Cuban cigars have been outlawed since the US embargo took effect in 1962.

"It's a very beautiful thought," said Alfonso, 78, who works in the tobacco shop of the Palco Hotel in western Havana.