That means nothing anymore. Altadis just makes legal knockoffs of the real thing. Dont kid yourself. Cuban tobacco is far better than dominican, that is if you have a pretty educated palate.
Most NSers would never tell the difference though.
Same here, I'm from Canada and we are going to NY with school. I'm probably gonna check how much they analyse the bags and stuff at the frontier (we go in bus) and if its not a tough check I'll bring back some fun shit.