The cuban cigar
The indigenous inhabitants of the islands of the Caribbean Sea and Mesoamerica have smoked cigars since as early as the 10th century, as evidenced by the discovery of a ceramic vessel at a Mayan archaeological site in Uaxactun, Guatemala, decorated with the painted figure of a man smoking a primitive cigar.
The first modern observation of the cigar occurred with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World. On October 28, 1492 Columbus noted in his log reports that the natives of San Salvador burned and inhaled the leaves of a local plant. The Indians in South and Central America did not smoke cigars as we know them today. The natives smoked tobacco wrapped in maize, palm or other native vegetation.
During his 1492 journey, two of Columbus's crewmen, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, are said to have disembarked in Cuba and taken puffs of tobacco wrapped in maize husks, thus becoming the first European cigar smokers. Rodrigo smoked on every subsequent day of the expedition.
Once in Cuba, the Spaniards met with the native people in what must have been a remarkable meeting of cultures, dress, languages and intentions. Included was an interchange where the explorers were invited into the village house (the Caney) to speak with the chief of the tribe (the Cacique) and to meet the priest (the Behique). As a gesture of friendship, the sailors were presented with a gift of a roll of dry leaves called Cohiba.
After sharing a meal with his guests, the chief employs a Y-shaped tube called a tobacco, placing dried leaves into it, lighting them with a piece of wood called a cuaba and inhaling the bitter smoke into his nostrils. He offers the visitors both cohiba and tobacco, but they decide to pass, returning instead to the ship.
Columbus returned with the leaves, introducing it to Europe under the incorrect name of tobacco, mixing up the native names for the leaves and the pipe that was used to smoke them. It has been settle that Admiral Christopher Columbus is generally credited with the introduction of smoking to Europe. The Spanish created the cigar industry, and are given credit for creating the modern cigar.
The Origin of the word cigar comes from the native language of the ancient Mayans. The Mayans called the cigar a "Ciq-Sigan" which the Spanish word "Cigarro" is derived from. The New English Dictionary of 1735 called the cigar a "seegar", and was later adapted into the modern word "cigar".
Spain assumed control of the island by 1511 and by 1515; Cuba had become a base in the Spanish conquest of the Americas and the Caribbean, with the present site of Havana settled by 1519. In addition, African slaves were imported to the island to aid in the development of sugar cane, an important cash crop for the conquerors. In a short time, the practice of smoking dried leaves spread from native to slave to conqueror to sailor, leading to the spread of tobacco through the movement of seeds around the world.
Around 1592, the Spanish galleon San Clemente brought 50 kilograms (110 lb) of Cuban tobacco seed to the Philippines over the Acapulco-Manila trade route. The seed was then distributed among the Roman Catholic missions, where the clerics found excellent climates and soils for growing high-quality tobacco on Philippine soil.
Havana: the cigar capital
In 1614, the Spanish crown authorized LA CASA DE CONTRATACION DE LA HABANA for the development of tobacco production in Cuba. Most of the tobacco went for snuff in Spain, with a small amount saved for production of cigars in the Spanish city of Seville. However, there was production in Cuba itself and it was not long before there was growing demand for cigars in European capitals, which had to be of a quality at least equal to those produced by the Spanish crown.
Enzo Infante, in his excellent history, Havana Cigars 1817-1960, notes that 1817 is the key year in the growth of cigar production in Cuba. On June 23 of that year, King Ferdinand VII of Spain ended monopoly control of the tobacco industry by the colonial government and opened opportunities for private companies to begin producing and selling Cuban cigars and leaf. Within ten years, exports had grown to 407,000 units, but by 1836, the total was 4,887,000 with 306 factories and 2,152 workers! But the boom was only starting.
In the 19th century, cigar smoking was common, while cigarettes were still comparatively rare. The cigar business was an important industry, and factories employed many people before mechanized manufacturing of cigars became practical. Many modern cigars, as a matter of prestige, are still rolled by hand: some boxes bear the phrase totalmente a mano, "totally by hand".
By 1840, official statistics showed that cigar production had exploded 29-fold to provide exports of 141,638,000 units and the figures only go up from there.
In 1898, when the Spanish-American War brought Cuba under United States control, American firms began to dominate island industries, including the Cuban cigar industry. The explosion of entrepreneurship in the Cuban cigar industry just after the turn of the century led to the issuance of the Cuban Warranty Seal in 1912 to try to bring some sanity to the proliferation of brands, styles and sizes.
In the 1920s, the introduction of the cigar-making machine in the Por Larranaga factory led to a crisis in the industry, as rollers saw their jobs threatened. A boycott of the machine-made products led to the removal of the machines in 1937 until 1950, but American companies interested in this technology and in traditional, hand-rolled cigars began importing large amounts of Cuban leaf into the U.S. for production there instead of in Havana. These cigars, made of all-Cuban tobacco, were known as "Clear Havanas."
In Cuba, even harder times were ahead as German submarine attacks in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II made Havanas almost unavailable in Europe, their principal market. But after the war, the popularity of Cuban cigars was reinvigorated by the image of the cigar-loving British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and by machine-made cigars, which satisfied the European desire for inexpensive smokes from Havana.
With its markets restored, the Cuban cigar industry moved ahead until 1959, when the Cuban Revolution changed the political situation and the tobacco industry was nationalized.
The making
Like any agricultural product, the story of Cuba's fabled tobacco starts with the soil.
Cuba's tobacco-growing regions are spread from west to east, with the prized Vuelta Abajo fields in the far western section of the island in the Pinar del Rio province. Also important is the San Antonio de los Banos region of the Havana province, just southwest of the capital city of Havana; these two regions grow almost all of the tobacco used in Havana cigars prepared for export. Tobacco which is generally of less quality results from the Vuelta Arriba: fields in the Las Villas area in the center of the island and from Oriente, located at the far eastern edge of Cuba.
In the Vuelta Abajo and San Antonio areas, nature's natural humidor provides an average temperature of 25 degrees Celsius (77° F) and average relative humidity of about 79 percent, in addition to 1.5 meters (nearly five feet) of annual rainfall.
Tobacco crops are planted, depending on the weather, anywhere from late September to early November, in the sandy or lathosolisized soils of the region. These areas are excellent for tobacco because of their light density, a characteristic that allows easy plowing, excellent penetration of water and enough room within the soil to allow young tobacco plants to grow deep roots easily. Vuelta Abajo and San Antonio region soils also require only a modest amount of water for proper irrigation.
The planting program also takes advantage of the nature of tobacco, a voracious consumer of minerals and nutrients. Knowing this, the men and women who tend the fields – the vegueros – plant the seeds in ground which has only part of the "food" that a tobacco plant needs, forcing it to reach for another source of energy, namely the sun through the process of photosynthesis. Planting tobacco in fabulously rich soil would result in a happy plant which sprouts glorious, thick leaves that would be useless in cigars. Instead, the tobacco is conditioned to sprout more leaves to gather more of the sun's energy, yielding thinner and larger leaves which are perfect for cigars.
This process requires considerable attention to the plants, which are visited almost daily during their 90-day lives. The basic variety of Vuelta Abajo or San Antonio de los Banos tobacco used for binders and filler is the Creole (in Spanish, Criollo) type.
Wrapper leaf is obtained from the Corojo variety of tobacco, planted using the same procedures. This plant was also developed in the 1940s and is usually grown under shade, usually cheesecloth. A normal yield from Corojo is 16-18 leaves; in a typical harvest, about 20 percent of the leaves will be used for cigar wrappers.
After 6-8 days, germination occurs and within the 35-45 day period, the young plants are ready for relocation. The healthiest plants are gathered in groups of 100; typically, the best specimens are 19-21 cm (about 8 inches) long and 4-5 mm (0.2 inches) thick.
On the plantation (in Spanish, vega), the transplanted Criollo plants are placed about every 35-40 cm (12-15 inches) in open sunlight; the Corojo plants are covered by cheesecloth. The transplant effort to a standard-sized field of 8.38 hectares (20.71 acres) usually requires ten days and is completed in November or December.
About 18-20 days after planting comes a light plowing of the soil followed by water and fertilizer. From 25-28 days after planting, the first buds appear and what will be the bottom of the tobacco plant. These are removed manually to help spur further growth.
When 30 days have passed since planting, the top of the plant is cut, which has the effect of stopping its vertical growth and encouraging growth of the leaves. Now the final stage is at hand, during which the tobacco plant reaches maturity between 45-85 days of age.
Unfortunately, tobacco also has many natural enemies which must be fought before a successful harvest can occur. Various measures have been adopted to try and control — or stop — these problems, but none have been completely successful.
Unification of the industry
Revolutionary forces took control of Cuba on January 2, 1959. The Cuban cigar price list effective as of January 1 showed 140 brands in production for export, offering 999 in-production shapes and another 186 shapes not in production, but available for sale (1,185 total).
In 1960, the Cuban cigar industry was nationalized and in 1962, "Empresa Cubana del Tabaco" known as CUBATABACO was formed and the number of marques declined to less than 40.
Between 1959 and 1973, a total of three new brands were introduced (Diplomaticos, Davidoff and Quai d'Orsay). None were introduced from 1974-81, then Cohiba and Dunhill started in 1982.
There was little additional activity until 1989 when three machine-made brands were introduced for sale in Eastern Europe: Belinda, Cabanas and La Corona.
Fourteen years after the introduction of Cohiba, however, a series of new brands began introduction in 1996. Cuaba started that year and Jose L. Piedra was revived as an export brand. Vegas Robaina and Vegueros followed a year later, then Trinidad in 1998 and San Cristobal de la Habana in 1999. The Edicion Limitada started in 2001, the Coleccion Reserva in 2003 and even a new machine-made brand, Guantanamera, was introduced in 2002.
Myths, history and factory codes
The history and romance of Havana cigars are very much tied up in the factories which produce them.
Contrary to some reports, factories do not produce the same brands year after year. Although some factories have "home" brands which they will always produce — Cohiba at the El Laguito factory, Partagas at the Partagas factory and so on — the actual determination of which brands and sizes will be produced each year is made only after annual meetings of Habanos, S.A. and its distributors around the world. Once the production promises have been made, the factories are then assigned their quotas for brands and sizes.
The history of each factory is quite interesting, although details are often sketchy. One odd item is the relationship between the "Romeo y Julieta" factory (now called "Briones Montoto") and the "El Rey del Mundo" factory (now called "Carlos Balino"). After some research, it became clear that the old headquarters of the El Rey del Mundo Cigar Co. at 852 Padre Varela is now, in fact, the "Romeo y Julieta/Briones Montoto" factory. The actual former headquarters of the Romeo y Julieta brand at 152 Padre Varela burned many years ago. Now, the two plants are located only one block apart from each other, with the El Rey del Mundo factory denoted by not so much as a sign for many years.
Travelers to Cuba can strike out on their own "historic factory tour" if desired.
An enormous interest in which cigars were produced in which factories sprang up when Cubatabaco began applying coded stamps to the bottom of boxes produced in 1985. Two stamps were used: one designating the factory of origin and one designating date. This led to code revisions in 1998, even more interest and finally a decision in 2000 to adopt new factory codes but present an easily-understandable date code, showing the month the cigars were boxed. A fourth set of factory codes was adopted in 2003, which have not been disclosed, although some educated guesses have been made.
Cigars manufactured in Cuba are widely considered to be the best, although many experts believe that the best offerings from Honduras and Nicaragua rival those from Cuba. The Cuban reputation is thought to arise from the unique characteristics of the Vuelta Abajo district in the Pinar del Rio Province at the west of the island, where the microclimate allows high-quality tobacco to be grown.
Cuban cigars are rolled from tobacco leaves found throughout the country of Cuba. The filler, binder, and wrapper may come from different portions of the island. All cigar production in Cuba is controlled by the Cuban government, and each brand may be rolled in several different factories in Cuba. Cuban cigar rollers are claimed to be the most skilled in the world.
Habanos S.A.and Cubatabaco between them do all the work relating to Cuban cigars, including manufacture, quality control, promotion and distribution, and export. Cuba produces both handmade and machine made cigars. All boxes and labels are marked Hecho en Cuba (made in Cuba). Machine-bunched cigars finished by hand add Hecho a mano, while fully hand-made cigars say Totalmente a mano in script text. Some cigars show a TC or Tripa Corta, meaning that short filler and cuttings were used in the hand-rolling process.
Cuban cigars brands
Bolivar Cigars. . In 1927, the Spanish industrialist Jose F. Rocha registered a cigar trademark with the name of the liberator Simon Bolivar.
Cohiba Cigars. The first Cohiba cigars were manufactured under Ernesto Che Guevara's distinction, in the 60's, when he had the position of Minister of Industries, in the newly born revolutionary Cuban government. Che selected the most outstanding specialists in terms of habanos, as Avelino Lara and Eduardo Rivero, from Larranaga.
El Rey del Mundo Cigars . (The King of the World) In 1848, the Spaniard Antonio Allones settled in Havana, into the tobacco business. Four decades later, in 1882, being already an important tobacconist, he introduced a very special cigar, elaborated with leaves from Vuelta Abajo, Pinar del Rio, to which he distinguished with the name of El Rey del Mundo (The King of the World).
Flor de Cano Cigars . This brand was created in 1884 by the brothers, Tomas and Jose Cano Sainz, and it has kept its undeniable quality, which makes it one of the favorite ones and most well known by the expert smokers worldwide.
Flor de Rafael Gonzalez Marquez . In 2006, Flor de Rafael Gonzalez Marquez celebrated its 70th anniversary. Two stories are known about the origin of these cigars. The first one is related to the presence of the Marquis Rafael Gonzalez in Cuba, who spent his time on tobacco businesses.
Fonseca Cigars The brand Fonseca was registered in Havana in 1907, by the Spanish Francisco Fonseca, whose picture is still reproduced in the boxes' top of these cigars.
H. Upmann Cigars It is one of the most prestigious cigar's brands of all times. Its fame surpassed the expectations and dreams of its creators, the German brothers Hermann and August Hupmann, who established in Havana in 1843.
Hoyo de Monterrey Cigars The trademark Hoyo de Monterrey (Hole of Monterrey) was registered in Cuba in 1867 by the Spaniard Jose Gener, one of the most important barons of the tobacco industry, who acquired his fortune by cigars and sugar cane.
MonteCristo Cigars . Almost a century after the publication of the novel The Count of MonteCristo , Alonso Menendez from Asturias, who already had a cigar business in Cuba, created and registered a trade mark of cigars after the name of the main character of that novel.
Partagas Cigars . In 1845, Don Jaime Partagas gave his name to a new cigar brand, the one that achieved celebrity very soon. In that way was opened the Royal Factory of Cigars Partagas.
Por Larranaga Cigars . Use tobacco leaves coming from Vuelta Abajo (Pinar del Rio). Enveloped in a fine cedar lea; they are a true work of art because of their exquisite display.
Punch Cigars . Punch is the third oldest trademark in Havana; the other two created previously are Por Larranaga, founded on 1834, and Ramon Allones, founded on 1837.
One of the main tourist attractions in Cuba is the possibility to visit some of these factories where the unique Cuban tobacco is made as well as to visit some of the tobacco plantations where the becoming famous Cuban cigar will emerge. Just do not miss the chance to live this experience.
