The only thing I would bring back is Pictures and or video. That will be my souvenirs. Maybe plant some seeds while in the campos.
lol

I would advise any friend not to buy any liquor of any kind to bring to the USA, price wise is not worth it and the hassles are terrible, specially with carrying heavy bottles, being exposed to breakage, and going through security, again, as some airports now make you do, and either losing your liquor or having to cram into your bags and expose to ruining everything else in there, if the bottle breaks.
Regarding the most coveted Cuban export product, cigars, most Cuban cigar that are sold in the streets are phony and a bad copy of the originals, it takes a real expert, and sometimes even them are fooled.
They all have the same story, "my friend or relative works at the cigar factory and he steals them", that right away is a tell tale sign.
Corruption is so ingrained in Castro's paradise that even in the official Cuban cigar stores (Cubatabaco), the employees will tell you that they have the same thing in their car parked outside for a better price.
I had a friend that related to me, that he was very disturbed when asked by an immigration official upon arriving at Habana airport, that if he didn't want his US passport stamped he would have to pay $20 US, and when he proceeded to take a $10 out of his wallet the official advised him to be "discreet", and place it in the passport.
Even bringing Dominican cigars to the US, you are subject to close inspection and search if you declare them, as many camouflage Cubans as Dominican cigars, by taking the labels off, I would strongly recommend "Don't do it".

If you want to smoke a cuban cigar, then you need a cuban cigar. my self i like a good cigar. and find a dominican cohiba too just fit the bill. take out the hassle of getting and keeping and it makes it even better. ad a fine cup of coffee served by a ladie with a pretty smile at a caffe on a sunny afternoon and------- i have got to stop i'm tormenting myself . when sometimes asked, whats a good cigar ? my reply is always the same --THE ONE YOU ENJOY--

So true, curios1, Cuban cigars just have a better reputation worldwide, because they started massive exporting and production years before the DR. Also they had better quality leaf and wrapper than DR cigars, and their manufacturing, aging and storage methods where more advanced.
All that changed after Castro, and the quality began to drop, and many Cubans formerly in business in Cuba decided to move to the DR, and bring with them the seeds and know how, that where later transplanted into rich Dominican soil.
A good Dominican cigar today is just as much in demand as Cubans, and generally smoother and mellower, without that strong, bitter aftertaste.
PS: Cohiba cigars from Vuelta Abajo, Cuba, are the most recognized and famous brand, but highly over rated, and also the most copied and counterfeited.

Cuba was always the pearl of the caribbean trade, because the Spanish ships coming from Mexico with the silver and gold, stopped by for provisioning, in route on the way back to the motherland. So it is not strange than Dominicans would ship tobacco to Cuba to get better prices.
Dominican high mountain coffee ( Barahona) was shipped to Jamaica, in the 80's, and sold as Jamaican Blue Mountain, mainly to Japanese high dollar importers that paid huge amounts, for that particular provenance.
To my taste the most under rated and best arabic coffee bean in the world is not Sumatra, but believe or not Puerto Rican coffee.

Atabey:
"I once read that back in the 19th century a significant amount of the tobacco export from DR was diverted through Cuba and sold as "Cuban tobacco" in order to get a higher price."

Interesting. If you can recall..where did you come across that?

Cib, what kind of car are you going to rent??? Brand new 50's car? Man I bet they don't have all of the rent a car places like in DR Well, I think that DR has the most rent a car places then anybody