While I was there, I took a little walk down Bay Street in Nassau. Bay Street is a busy place with endless markets. You can buy just about anything there: diamonds, clothes, liquor, coedeine without a prescription and plenty of Cuban cigars. I can't vouch for the drugs and booze, but the cigars ain't real.

While you can find genuine Cuban cigars in the Bahamas, the market is unfortunately saturated with convincing counterfeits, especially in high-traffic tourist areas like the Nassau Straw Market or from street vendors. Authentic Cuban brands like Cohiba, Montecristo, and Romeo y Julieta are imported legally into the Bahamas, but they are expensive due to high duties. To ensure you are buying the real deal, you should only purchase from authorized Habanos S.A. dealers, such as Graycliff or "LCDH" (La Casa del Habano) locations. Genuine cigars will have a specific "Habanos" holographic seal on the box, a serial number that can be verified online, and a high-quality, embossed band with no blurry ink. If a "beach vendor" offers you a box of Cohibas for $50, they are almost certainly fake "floor sweepings" wrapped in low-quality tobacco. In 2026, U.S. travelers should also remember that while it is legal to buy and smoke them in the Bahamas, it remains illegal to bring Cuban cigars back into the United States for personal use or resale.