I have found that today's cuban cigars are inferior to most others. Considering that all the best cigar maufacturers left Cuba and learned to make fine cigars from Nicaraguan, Dominican, Honduran and Mexican tobacco to say nothing of peruvian, american and brasilian wrappers, Cuba winds up being less than what it was. The famous cigar families were always the key to a great cigar, not the region necessarily. I find that cubans often taste flat or stale or bitter and many are poorly rolled. That being said however, the best of the Cubans are often the best cigars in the world, but I would far rather purchase a box of Padron 1924 maduro than just about any cuban figuring the price is fairly comparble. And as MrDuck says, you can get a hell of a lot of good smoke for the price of a cuban, sometimes an nearly an entire box.
The escepcion I had today is very reminiscent of a light cuban and they are less than 10 dollars each.